Why am I surrounded by so many people who care about me? Why couldn’t I have one person in my inner circle who doesn’t give a shit? I need to rethink my hiring practices. Next time I’m only getting people who are self-absorbed and won’t care if I get shot. I actually thought that was Quinn. She’s very attached to her job. “How long were you gone on vacation?”
“We aren’t talking about me, are we?” She holds up her phone.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Taking photos of you to send to Dally. She suspected you wouldn’t listen to the doctor’s orders and that I should send her a text when you decided you knew more than someone who went to school for ten years.”
I reach out and swipe the phone from Quinn, ignoring the twinge of pain the motion causes.
“Ha! I saw that.”
“Saw what?” I mumbled, deleting the pictures off the phone. I’m about to give it back when I see a number of photos featuring an unfamiliar dark-haired man. I squint and try to make him out. “Who’s this?”
“Give me my phone back right now.” Quinn leaps at me. I hold her off with one arm.
“Nah. Did you have a vacation fling? Good for you, Quinn. I thought you lived and breathed spreadsheets.” I select a couple and send them to Dally with a message that Quinn has a new boyfriend before handing the device back to my assistant.
She shrieks when she sees what I’ve done. “Oh my God. He’s not my boyfriend.” She types a denial to Dally in furious taps. “I was taking his picture because I thought he was going to murder someone.”
While she tries to clear the air, I go fetch myself a cup of coffee. The phone rings seconds later. I lean against the counter and watch in amusement as my assistant tries to wriggle out of this.
“No, Dally, I’m not dating anyone. I didn’t text that. Your boyfriend did. Yes! He’s off the sofa. I was taking a picture of him to send to you when he stole my phone. Okay, I did take those photos but I have a really good explanation.”
I set down my mug and head for the garage. This will take some time and while my assistant is distracted, I can go get some flowers. I have a seduction to plan.
“He’s escaping,” Quinn yells behind me.
I hop into the driver’s seat of my Mercedes and wave. That worked out well, I think, smirking. Only two seconds later, my car phone rings.
“Darling, don’t you have people to save?”
“Why can’t you stay in bed for one more day?” she asks instead of answering me.
“You weren’t there with me.” I maneuver onto Main Street and head toward a suburban area across town. The address was sent to me by the head detective in charge after she secured my promise that I wasn’t going to do anything that would land me in jail. Initially she wanted me to swear I wasn’t going to hurt anyone but we settled for the “no acts of illegality” clause before she agreed to hand over the personal information of the man who shot up the lab. He’s out on bail and I just want to talk.
The suburb looks nice. The trees are trimmed and the grass is cut. There are kids riding skateboards in a cul-de-sac. Seems nice enough. I get out of the car and amble along the plain concrete walkway to a front porch. The door opens before I get there and a pale woman steps out. Her face is lined and her eyes are puffy and swollen. An apron covers a very rounded belly.
I stop and shove my hands in my pocket so I don’t look too threatening. “Ma’am. I’m—“
“I know who you are,” she says. “My husband’s not here.”
“I thought he was under house arrest and wasn’t allowed to leave?” That’s what the detective told me.
“He had a heart attack last night and died.”
“Oh shit.”
The woman wipes her eyes. “He was sorry. Really sorry.” She starts weeping in earnest, folding over like a piece of paper.
I bound up the steps and put an arm around her shoulder, leading her to one of the rocking chairs sitting on the porch. “You have family around?”
She shakes her head. “My momma is coming but her plane doesn’t get in until tonight. Daniel was an orphan. It’s just me and this one now.” She rubs her hand over her stomach. “I suppose you’re here for answers. Ever since I got pregnant, Daniel became obsessed with finding his birth parents. He thought he’d tracked down his mama. She denied that they were related but he wouldn’t believe her. Finally she agreed to take a DNA test. Well, the results showed that there was less than 4% chance of them being related and it just set him off.”