Recluse (Wolfes of Manhattan 2)

No, couldn’t go there.

But had to.

Had to eventually.

Not today.19CharlieWow. What a conference room! Refreshments, including Champagne, had been set up. My stomach growled, but I took a ladylike portion of fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate and a cup of coffee.

Roy helped himself to a heaping plateful of everything else.

Apparently our guests hadn’t arrived yet.

That soon changed with a knock on the door.

The hotel manager from this morning peeked in. “I have a Horace Stiers and Leta Romero to see you.”

Roy nodded. “Come on in.”

I sat down at my place at the table and turned on my laptop.

Roy stood and held out his hand. “Good to see you again, Hoss. Ma’am, I’m Roy Wolfe.”

He sounded so professional. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Introverts could still be professional.

The woman was lovely—dark hair and eyes with fair skin. She nodded to Roy.

“Please have a seat,” Roy said.

They sat awkwardly. Hoss was tall, lanky, and bald. A little creepy looking, actually. Creepier than I remembered.

“Mr. Stiers, you remember our executive assistant, Charlie Waters?”

“Yes, ma’am. Good to see you again.”

“And this is Ms. Romero.”

I nodded. “Nice to see you both.”

“Ms. Romero,” Roy continued, “thank you for being willing to speak to us privately like this. I assure you that we will keep this conversation confidential as best we can.”

“What do you mean, ‘as best you can’?” Hoss asked.

“As you know, my siblings and I have been implicated in our father’s murder. If Ms. Romero has information that can exonerate us, we’ll need to call her in as a witness.”

“I don’t even know any of you,” Leta said.

“Then how did you know Rock had left Montana?” Roy asked.

“I heard it from my sister.”

“Your sister?”

“Yes. Nieves. Nieves Romero.”

That piqued my interest. Lacey had mentioned that Rock had a previous girlfriend who’d showed up in Manhattan wanting to start things up again.

“How would she know?”

“She and Rock are close,” Leta said.

“In what way?”

“They’re sleeping together.”

Roy’s eyes widened. “My brother’s a married man, Ms. Romero.”

“What? You think married men don’t sleep around?”

“He’s newly married, and I don’t think he’s sleeping around.” Roy paused a moment. “We’re starting out on the wrong foot. Perhaps your sister and my brother had a relationship in the past, but he’s devoted to his new wife now. But it really doesn’t matter whether you think your sister is still sleeping with Rock. We need to know everything.”

Her cheeks reddened.

“It’s okay,” Hoss said.

“Just a rumor,” Leta said. “A rumor I heard from my sister.”

“Can you elaborate?” Roy asked.

“Well, she’s close to Rock, and he said once that…”

“Go ahead,” Roy said. “We need to know everything.”

“He didn’t talk much about his previous life in New York. In fact, he hated talking about it. But once, he mentioned something. About his sister.”

“Yes? What about my sister?”

“He said it was because of his sister that he got sent away.”

Riley? She’d been all of six when Rock got sent away. What could she have possibly done?

“My sister was six at that time,” Roy said, echoing my thoughts.

“She was?” Leta shook her head. “That doesn’t make much sense, then.”

“No, it doesn’t. Perhaps your sister misheard what Rock said. Or perhaps she’s lying to you.”

“That wouldn’t be out of the question,” Leta said. “My sister is very self-motivated and isn’t above lying to get what she wants.”

“How would this lie get her what she wants?”

Leta shook her head. “I have no idea.”

“So this is what you said to Manny during your medical examination?” Roy asked.

“Partly, yes.”

“What else did you tell him about Rock or the Wolfes?” Roy asked.

“Another rumor I heard from my sister.”

“Go on.”

“She said there was more to Derek Wolfe than met the eye.”

“And did your sister say this came from Rock?”

“Yes…and no.”

Roy sighed. “I’m trying to be patient here, Ms. Romero, but you need to give us more detail. Please elaborate.”

“She said Rock hated his old man. He wouldn’t say much more than that. But Nieves is nothing if not persistent, so she did some research.”

“And what did she find?”

“Nothing.”

“This is getting us nowhere,” Roy said.

“I’m not finished yet,” Leta said.

“Go on, then.”

Roy held back an eyeroll. I could tell just by looking at him. I continued tapping furiously on my laptop, taking meticulous notes. Also, unbeknownst to Ms. Romero, I was recording her answers. I hadn’t planned to, but something inside me made me do it. I could always delete it later.

“Well,” Leta said, “Nieves didn’t find anything, but then someone called her.”

“Who?”

“They didn’t give her a name. But they told her Derek Wolfe had been killed.”

“They didn’t tell her Rock had left Montana?”

“I don’t think so. She didn’t say that. I think she just inferred that when he didn’t answer his phone at the cabin when she tried to call.”

“Anything else? A Manhattan billionaire being murdered would be pretty common knowledge, even here in Montana. Why would Nieves already know that?”