by Freya Barker
For a moment it looks like Yanis might take a bite out of his brother, but then he collects himself and nods sharply.
“Delbert left an urgent message for me to call. Reason for the urgency was to try and get to me before the Denver PD did or the first news story hit.” His nostrils flare as he takes in a deep breath. “For the past three years, Bobby Lee Rose has been receiving increasingly alarming anonymous gifts and messages Delbert opted not to tell us about.”
“Fucking great.”
This from Jake.
“That’s ridiculous, why would they keep that kind of information from us?” I want to know.
I’m shocked, trying to process what this means.
“Apparently, not even Bobby Lee herself knew about it until recently. They have that woman wrapped so tight; the admirer’s offerings didn’t even make it to her.”
“Sue Paxton?” I mention the personal assistant and he nods.
“Among others. Her personal security detail, her publicist, her manager. They shield her from everything. Don’t want to upset her delicate creative spirit or some such bullshit. They don’t want the press to find out for the same reason.”
“So I’m guessing she’s not at a rehab center?” Radar pipes up.
“Last message they received included pictures of her in her dressing rooms at different concert venues. That had them whisk her off into hiding.”
I feel Jake’s eyes on me at the same time my mind leaps ahead. He’s faster with the conclusion, though.
“Let me guess; they used Bree as bait.”
Yanis slams his fist on the conference table so hard it has me jump in my seat.
“Fucking prick said they saw an opportunity to take care of business without risking this going public.”
“Except they didn’t,” Dimi points out.
“Wait a minute.” I hold up my hand trying to get the full picture. “Sam…I don’t remember his last name, he’s part of her regular detail…he helped me out of my corset in the limo, gave me his shirt to cover up, and then had the driver go across town so I could have a burger.” The realization the friendly security guard had used me hits me like a fist in the gut. “He was stalling…waiting for someone to make a move, but no one did.”
“Not until the next morning,” Radar supplies.
No wonder I haven’t heard a thing from Boulder Records or Sue Paxton. No, “Glad you’re okay,” or “How are ya?” from any of them. Now I know why and I know I shouldn’t give a flying fuck, but betrayal is always a bitter pill.
“Why come forward now?” I want to know.
“Evans.” Yanis, who’s stayed standing suddenly sits down heavily, turning his troubled eyes on me. “He’s been following up with some of the witnesses and went to speak to Sue Paxton to clarify a few things yesterday. Found out from her, Bobby Lee was found dead this morning at a mountain retreat near Aspen.”
“Dead?”
It slips out in shock.
“Looks like an OD—pills and booze—Delbert says her agent will be issuing a press release later this morning. I called Evans who shared that Sue was so upset, she came clean about the stalker, and he immediately called the record label. He’s on his way to meet with the bigwigs now. Autopsy is scheduled for later today.”
“Jesus,” someone says.
I don’t know who, I’m still trying to process all this information. Bobby Lee, dead. Holy hell, that’s going to stir up a media frenzy. No wonder Delbert is scrambling.
Then another thought occurs to me just as Dimi calmly voices it.
“What if it isn’t suicide?”
Exactly.
Yanis
Trust my brother to zoom in on what has had my stomach in knots since I got off the phone with Bill.
Whoever is obsessed with Bobby Lee must have been pissed at that little stunt her security team tried to pull with Bree as their bait. What if he found the singer’s whereabouts and acted his anger out on her? Wouldn’t be the first time a stalker kills his obsession. Hell, even if it does turn out a suicide or accidental overdose, the guy is gonna be off the rails either way.
I look at Bree, who is chewing her bottom lip with her teeth. She’s worried too. Good. That’ll keep her alert. Who knows if a nutcase like that may not decide to come after her?
Fuck. So much for the relaxing date I had planned.
“We’ll have to wait for the autopsy outcome on that,” I finally respond to Dimi. “Regardless, this guy could be a loose cannon out there. Bree…” I turn to her. “I need you to put together a profile on him. Evans said he’d shoot over pictures of the notes and gifts Delbert handed over to him last night. Use those, and your personal knowledge of the guy to give us some idea who is out there.”
I spend another twenty minutes giving the guys a briefing on the floater in the reservoir, the missing blood and fingerprints on the fire poker, and Evans’ unspoken but implicated intent to look into his own department for some answers.
Then I firmly steer the meeting to work that actually pays bills. The Jelnyk mine, the vineyard, other smaller contracts, and new business. I’m handling Peru, Dimi and Radar are collaborating on Flynn’s Fields, and Jake is taking care of smaller contracts with Kai’s help.
I feel moderately better when I walk back into my office after the meeting.
“Are you okay?”
I swing around to find Bree followed me.
“Fine. Why?”
“You got a little tense in there.”
I resist the knee-jerk reaction to blow her off and instead grab her upper arm and pull her inside, shutting the door behind her. Then I cup her face, tilt it up, and take her mouth in a deep kiss.
The little whimper escaping her lips when I let her come up for air sends a ripple down my spine. Damn, I better watch myself before I strip her naked and have my way with her on my desk, in the middle of a workday, with the entire office within hearing.
I rest my forehead against hers.
“All relaxed now.”
She chuckles and shakes her head lightly.
“It’s that easy, huh?”
“With you it is.”
She lifts a hand, placing it in the center of my chest where I know she’ll find my heart racing. All she has to do is look down at my crotch to find me hard as a rock as well, but I’m sure she already knows that. She has that effect on me.
“Look, if you wanna cancel—”
“No,” I interrupt her. “I don’t. And unless there is some major crisis that can’t do without us for a night, I won’t.”
She lifts her chin and purses her lips. I gladly accept the invitation.
“I’d better get to work then,” she says, smiling warmly.
I don’t know how many times I’ve fantasized about this exact scenario. The two of us in my office, door closed, and her smiling up at me like that. So much time wasted.
“You’d better. I hear your boss is a hard-ass.”
The smile turns into a smirk as she shrugs and turns to the door.
“Oh, I don’t know, turns out he’s a bit of a softie underneath all that snarling.”
Despite the fucked-up way this workweek started, I’m smiling when I sit down behind my desk.
Bree
“Are you serious?”
I notice the trailer with the Rimrock Adventures logo on the side right away. A young kid, maybe early twenties, is hauling a raft down and carrying it to the bank of the Colorado River.
Yanis still wouldn’t say where we were going when he picked me up twenty minutes ago. All he did was scan me from head to toe and nod his head approvingly.
We’re in Fruita, just west of Grand Junction, at a small boat launch. I’m not sure what he’s thinking, because in another hour and a half that sun is going to go down, but it looks like whatever it is involves a raft.
“Hey, are you Yanis?” the kid calls out when I’m helped out of the vehicle.
“Yup. You Kevin?”
The young man nods
before looking at my crutches with some concern.
“Is she going? I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”
I open my mouth to speak but Yanis beats me to it as we approach the trailer.
“Kevin, I’d be careful. This one could wipe the floor with you blindfolded on a bum leg with one arm tied behind her back. Don’t piss her off, she’s got a nasty disposition.”
I stifle a grin at the man-child’s facial expression.
“Babe, be nice to the man while I get the rest of the stuff, okay?”
Instead of getting my nose bent out of joint for being called ‘Babe,’ I double over laughing instead.
Christ, it’s been a long time since I’ve laughed like this. Turns out there is a side to Yanis I didn’t know about. Like a sense of humor. Where the hell has he been hiding that?
Kevin busies himself with life vests and paddles, taking his sweet time until he sees Yanis walking up. He’s carrying two coolers he takes right over to the raft, strapping them down between the two seats.
“If that’s all, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
He waves and climbs into the van towing the trailer.
“You gonna stand there all night?”
I look back at Yanis who is waiting by the raft, grinning wide.
Oh boy. I can feel my heart giving that extra little pump, the one that releases all the emotions.
I have to hand it to him, when I asked him to surprise me with the date, this is not what I had envisioned. My eyes burn as I walk up to him and instead of climbing in, I toss my crutches in the float and lift my arms around his neck.
“You are good,” I admit before showing him exactly what I think of our date so far.
“Fuck, you’re gonna kill me,” he mumbles when we come up for air. “We should get out there or we’ll miss it.”
“Miss it?”
“The sunset over McInnis Canyon. We can watch it from a flat rock in the middle of the river right below the Pollock Bench Trailhead.”
I get in the raft, mostly because I don’t want to let on I’m getting emotional. As soon as I’m seated, he shoves me and the raft the rest of the way into the river before jumping in at the last second.
“You okay?”
I smile for him.
“Perfect.”
“Good. Want to lounge back in the front? You can keep your leg elevated on the seat or do you want to get in on the action?”
There isn’t much more than an occasional ripple in this part of the river, but I’m afraid I’ll be a sniveling mess if I don’t have something to distract me.
“What do you think? Action, of course. You said we’re cutting it short.”
Turns out, even with the river flowing at a decent clip, it takes both of us paddling briskly for a good hour to get to our destination. Yanis manages to jump on the rock without getting wet and pulls the raft partially out of the water before helping me out.
Then he has me rest on the edge while he brings out the coolers, taking a folded blanket out of one and a few pillar candles out of the other. He throws the life vests down as pillows before turning to me.
“Are you crying?” he asks, catching me rubbing my eye.
“Nope. Just some dirt,” I lie as he helps me sit down. “By the way, how are we getting back?”
If I were with anyone else, I would’ve made sure I knew what the plan was, but I guess I trusted Yanis to have things in hand.
“Kevin. He’ll pick us up over there.” He points to the far shore on the north side where I can just make out a small clearing.
I watch as he starts unpacking, amazed he’s thought of everything. One of the coolers holds cold beers and the other a smorgasbord of Mexican food from Aztecas, another favorite restaurant of mine.
We talk about random things—none of them work-related—as I gorge myself on dinner and we keep an eye on the horizon where the sun is sliding behind McInnis. When it’s almost down, and the deep reds and golds spread through the sky, Yanis braces himself against a rock and pulls me closer so my back is resting against his chest.
We stay like that, only occasionally talking in hushed voices, until the first stars appear in the sky.
Bar none, best date ever.
Chapter Sixteen
Yanis
It’s still dark so the employee parking lot only holds three cars when we pull in.
Dimi and Radar followed me in the PASS van, stocked with tools and the additional security equipment Radar picked up yesterday.
We’re hoping to install the bulk of the cameras before staff comes in, which is why we’re here at this ungodly hour.
I left Bree in bed at my place, where we’ve stayed since my parents left on Monday. If it were up to me, she’d give up her apartment and just move in—she belongs in my house—but I know she still has some reservations and I’m trying hard not to press.
Yesterday I was about to make arrangements for Lena to swing by and pick her up at my place on her way to the office, but Bree’s scathing look stopped me. She was brewing the rest of the day and I got an earful when we got back home.
She reminded me, just because she couldn’t operate a car didn’t mean her brain was out of commission as well, and she wasn’t exactly helpless. Then she mentioned maybe it was time for her to head back to her own apartment. It was abundantly clear I’d overstepped, which was a damn shame since I’d scored some serious points on our date the night before. Two steps forward, one step back.
She ended up staying the night anyway, but I have no doubt she’ll be at her apartment tonight. I’ll give her that space, not because I want to, but because I think she needs it. Heck, maybe we both do.
As a result of circumstances, things have moved fast these past weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I know what I want the outcome to be and keep my eye on the prize, but perhaps a small step back is the smarter move for the long run. And I want our run to never end.
A sharp knock on my window shakes me from my headspace.
“You gonna sit there all fucking day?”
My brother wasn’t too keen on getting his ass out of bed early. Probably because he’s as sleep deprived as his wife is since the arrival of Max. If things weren’t as crazy and Bree wasn’t on limited duty, I would’ve told him to take a damn month off, but circumstances suck at the moment so that’s not really an option. He knows.
Joe is waiting when we walk in.
“No need for you to be here this early,” I tell him.
We spoke yesterday and discussed where the added cameras were going to go. There really is no reason for him to get out of bed.
“I never left,” he clarifies. “Couch in my office is comfortable and until this shit is sorted out, I plan to stay close.”
“You can’t be married,” Dimi suggests, making the other man grin.
“Nope. Dodged that bullet once, not walking into that battle again.”
“Amen to that,” Shep—who just comes walking into the lobby—agrees.
He’s been a good addition to the team. A good guy overall. He also has the ex from hell and two little girls he doesn’t get to see much, courtesy of their mother. Until I offered him full time with benefits, he’d been juggling three jobs just to keep up with child support and alimony, and have something left to live off, which wasn’t much.
I send the three of them off to start with the installations and accept Joe’s invitation for coffee in his office. This is a good opportunity to get him up to speed on some of the stuff Radar was able to uncover on Dan McNeely. I haven’t mentioned his name to Joe yet because I didn’t want to run the risk he’d do or say something that would raise McNeely’s suspicion and cause him to bolt.
He motions to a chair and pours a coffee from the pot sitting on his filing cabinet.
“Thanks,” I tell him, when he hands me the cup and wait until he takes a seat before I dive in. “What do you know about Dan McNeely?” When he looks a little confused, I add, “On your cleaning crew.”
/> That seems to flip a trigger and he swings his chair around, pulls open a drawer in the filing cabinet, and pulls out a folder.
“Dan McNeely. Twenty-nine, worked at Falcone Scrap and Metal before starting here back in July. Nothing notable in his file.” He looks up. “Why? What about him?”
“Just clearing up some stuff. Did you put out an ad for that position? I’m trying to figure what made him stand out from other candidates.”
He looks back at the file and pulls out a note torn off a yellow legal pad.
“No. I remember now, he walked in one day. We weren’t open to the public yet but had a sign out front indicating we had several positions open and to call to inquire, but he chose to come right on in. Showed moxie. I didn’t interview him, my manager did.” He appears to study the notes. “Says here his references checked out.” Then he looks up. “I assume there’s a reason for your interest in him?”
There’s an edge to him I can’t quite place. I wish I had Bree with me, she’d be better at reading him.
“There is,” I confirm but don’t elaborate. Instead, I ask him another question hoping to shake something loose. “What if I told you Falcone Scrap and Metal was a subsidiary of Patria Holdings?”
I note the recognition in the way he stiffens in his seat, his face suddenly like a carved mask. Oh, yeah, he knows what it means. Question is, will he admit to it?
Almost as fast as the mask appeared, he forces his expression into something that probably should pass as confusion or surprise.
“I did not know that.” That much is probably true, judging by his reaction. “I don’t think I’ve heard of…Patria, you said?”
And there is the lie.
Patria Holdings is the Albero family umbrella covering about two-thirds of their business ventures. Most of those are legit, or at the very least appear to be. Patria had been in the news about ten or twelve years ago, when Guiseppe Albero had been charged with money laundering. He ended up walking away scot-free on some stupid technicalities, after a lengthy trial.
There is no way in hell if you knew anyone associated with the family that you could’ve missed it. Which tells me Joe is not comfortable being associated with the man we saw leave here in a cloud of dust on Monday.