Wicked and True (Wicked & Devoted 4)

Tessa jerked her stare from her phone and quickly darkened the screen, setting the device upside down on her desk. If he didn’t know her at all, if he’d been evaluating someone he wasn’t in love with and trying to decide whether she was up to no good, that kind of furtive shit would move her into his mental guilty column.

“Yes. A while ago. I got Matt everything he needed, too. He’s got a log-in and I put him at Cutter’s old desk, hooked him up to the printer… He’s set.”

“It’s almost quitting time. Why don’t you get Hallie and get out of here?”

Normally, she would have grabbed her things and run to pick up her baby girl and start the weekend early. Now, she blinked, seemingly reluctant. “That’s okay. I’ll wait the last half hour. Have you heard anything else about the plan to rescue Kimber?”

Her response made him downright suspicious. “Nope. I’ve got to go visit the bosses after I leave here. So if you’ll slide out, I’ll head there now and holler when I’m done.”

“Oh.” She seemed frozen for a minute before she suddenly gathered her things, scooped up her computer, and stood. “I’ll wait to hear from you.”

“It shouldn’t be too long. Afterward, maybe I can take you and Hallie to dinner as an early birthday celebration since I might still be out of town—or out of the country—on her big day Wednesday.”

Zy saw instantly she was wholly unprepared for that offer. “Um, well… I can’t do that tonight. I just remembered. Cash’s father wanted to take us to dinner. For her birthday. It was kind of spur-of-the-moment. But, um…if you’ll come by after nine, I’m sure we’ll be home.”

It wasn’t what Tessa said that convinced him she was lying. It was the halting way she said it. Still, he played along.

“Sure. I can swing by then.”

“Great.” She sent him a stilted smile and tried to make her way past him.

Zy didn’t budge, forcing her to wedge herself between him and the corner of her desk to escape. The tactic flustered her. Her hands shook as she sidled free and tucked a blond strand behind her ear.

“I’ll see you then, baby.”

With a too-quick nod, she shoved out the door and all but dashed across the parking lot.

Oh, yeah. Something was definitely up with her. Granted, that didn’t automatically mean she was EM’s mole, but it did mean she was hiding something.

He intended to find out what.

Zy gave her about five minutes’ head start, then powered down the lights in the office, locked up, and headed out. She should have enough time to pick Hallie up from daycare, but in case she was a little slow or had to make another stop, he took his time, cruising the backstreets on his bike to avoid her catching sight of him as he made his way to her neighborhood.

She was just closing her garage door behind her as he turned onto her street. Perfect timing. Then he parked behind the camper the neighbors were loading up, presumably for their weekend getaway. As the sun set, he strolled across the street to the duplex, settling onto the porch of the unit for sale, in a rocker someone had left so the house would seem homier to prospective buyers. And he waited.

Six o’clock rolled around. No sign of Cash’s father, and Tessa didn’t leave to meet him. Same with seven. He took a call from Joaquin, but it only lasted a few minutes. Matt was already working the Kimber case, and they hoped to have more information soon. In the meantime, he’d been told to give the cowboy whatever support he needed in the office. Zy assured the man he would and that everything was under control before ending the call. His stare never left Tessa’s door.

By eight o’clock, it became clear that she was neither coming nor going tonight. It was possible, of course, that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree and Cash’s dad was as flaky as his son. Or maybe she had decided she couldn’t maintain her chipper facade and cancelled. But he played his part and waited, withdrawing his phone to order a hot sub and a bottle of water delivered to his current location. After he devoured that and took a leak around the shadowy side of the vacant house, it was straight-up nine o’clock.

Time to get some answers.

Tessa opened the door, greeting him in a robe and a smile, looking as if she’d just curled her hair and retouched her makeup. She also seemed nervous as hell.

“Hi.” She stepped back. “Come in. How was the meeting with the bosses?”

She wanted to get right to the point? Too bad. He was going to make her wait.

Zy shrugged. “Intense. It’s a lot of details to work out, especially since we have new information. How was dinner with Cash’s dad?”