At least he wasn’t coming at him armed and ready for a showdown. “That’s a nice little goat you got there. What’s its name?”
The man smiled. He had all his teeth, but as he smiled his neck muscles shifted and exposed the tattoo at the base of his throat. Dollars for doughnuts, the goat’s name was Adolf.
“He’s Arnie and he’s a real dumbass, and yeah, I’m Steve.” He didn’t extend his hand, but some of the steeliness that he had greeted Grant with had melted off. “That dumbass loves to eat all my goddamned flowers in the spring. Last year, I spent a buncha money on petunias at the store and he ate every damned one of ’em. He’s lucky he ain’t goat burger.”
It was working; the man was letting his guard down and he wasn’t even really aware he was doing it. This was one of Grant’s favorite aspects of his job—figuring out how to relate to people to get them to open up. People, by and large, were creatures of habit. They ran by a system of social mores and cues that dictated their behaviors until drugs, alcohol or stress affected their judgment.
“I ain’t owned a goat. I bet they’re a lot of work.” He smiled at the man, the action easy and coated with the proverbial butter. “I was always more of a dog person, myself.”
The man laughed. “Oh, dogs are good, man. I always had ’em around as a kid, but goats... They the best watchdogs I ever owned. Ain’t no one gonna sneak up on me at night with ol’ Arnie around.”
This just kept getting stranger and stranger, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to dig a whole lot more into the man’s way of thinking, or else it might dirty his boots. He could empathize all day with odd thinking, but he had to remain objective in order to get this job done.
“I can’t imagine who would be sneaking up on you. You got one nice little spread here.”
The man puffed up with pride. “I worked real hard getting this place together. I worked for every dime I ever earned, and there ain’t no one that is gonna think they’re gonna step foot on here and take it away from me.”
Though he didn’t completely understand the man’s ramblings, Grant got the general idea he didn’t want to be screwed with. “I bet. What kind of work you do?”
“A little of this and that. I’m telling you, I worked harder than an ugly stripper for each and every dime.”
He didn’t doubt that for a minute; money was hard to come by for those who weren’t born into it in this state. “You look like the security type. You workin’ at the mall?” he asked, playing dumb.
The man huffed, clearly a bit put out by his assumption. “Damn, man, what kind of weekend Rambo do you think I am?” He snickered. “I just got back from spending the last six months overseas.”
“Overseas, huh? So you’ve not been around here long? Know anyone named Clark? A girl named Lily?”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Clark’s a pretty common name, and like I said, I ain’t been back home long. Had a gig in the sandbox.”
So, he was likely a contractor. But somehow it just didn’t jibe. This man wasn’t like any of the other contractors he had ever met. He was more like something out of an FBI video about who not to trust.
“What were you doing over there?” He leaned back a bit, flashing his badge like it had the same effect as truth serum.
The man glanced down, his eyes drawn by his reflexive action. “Well, I ain’t supposed to be talkin’ about it, but I’ve been cleaning up a few governmental messes here and there. You know, taking care of business that needs seein’ to. That kind of thing.”
“You’ve been contracting for the government, eh?”
The man beamed like he couldn’t have been prouder if he had won a gold medal at the dumbass Olympics.
“Which outfit you work for?” Grant asked, giving the man an attaboy bump to the shoulder. “That’s some cool shit right there. I got a couple of buddies who have spent some time over there in the sandbox, doing that kind of thing. Good money in it.”
The man couldn’t have puffed up any bigger or else the buttons on his shirt would have popped open. “Yeah, real good money. But ain’t no picnic. You gotta be tough. I seen shit over there...man, there just ain’t nothing like it.” He stared off into space like he was picking up some memory, likely one that had the power to keep him up at night. That, or he was thinking of a woman. Either way, this man wasn’t sleeping anytime soon.
As Rubbick spoke, Grant couldn’t help but notice that he had carefully maneuvered around his pressing question. He was probably used to not giving answers, which was something Grant knew a little about himself.
“Who’s the woman ya got out there?” the man asked, waving his hand in the general direction of his truck. “She a rider?”
He was a bit surprised Rubbick didn’t at least recognize Elle if this was the same person who had been at the Clarks’ house. Then, she had said that they had only briefly seen one another, and it was as she had been making her way out of the house. It was more than possible that she had just been a blip on Steve’s radar.
“She is a friend of mine,” Grant said, trying to sound relaxed and as if her presence was just a normal thing. “I know you can’t tell me a whole lot, thanks to the NDAs in your life, but I need to get a few answers to my questions in order to cross you off my list in a murder investigation. You tell me the crew you’re working with, and I’d be more than happy to give your boss a call and get you approvals to talk.”
The man’s eyes narrowed as though he was studying Grant for signs of weakness, but he wasn’t about to find any that Steve hadn’t already inadvertently pointed out.
“Me and my brother, we’re with STEALTH. They are out of Montana here.”
The blood drained from his face and Grant had to put his hand against the house and pretend to lean in order to keep himself from swaying. The man had to be screwing with him. “Excuse me, you and your brother work for STEALTH? What’s your brother’s name?”
“My brother goes by Ace.” The man nodded, sending him a crooked smile. “And yeah, STEALTH’s a great crew.”
He swallowed back the frog in his throat and tried to keep his gaze from skirting over to Elle. He didn’t think the STEALTH crew was large enough to have members, especially in the same town, who didn’t know each other. So, one of them had to have been lying to him, but who was it, Elle or this man?
“How long you guys been with that group?”
The man tapped his chin. “I guess it’s been about a year now.”
“Hmm.” He couldn’t remember how long Elle had been working with them, but he assumed she had been there for a long time. Maybe he had assumed incorrectly.
Or maybe they were both working for STEALTH but were intentionally kept away from one another and used as a system of checks and balances by their superiors. He’d heard of other organizations, the military usually, that used counterspies as a way to keep their troops accountable and from swaying in the wrong directions.
All the possible explanations he could come up with seemed unlikely, but for the life of him he couldn’t wrap his head around everything the man’s admission had just done to complicate his case—and Grant and Elle’s burgeoning relationship.
Chapter Twelve
When Grant came back to the truck, he was oddly quiet. His eyes were shadowy, and he avoided meeting her gaze as he got in and buckled up. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she doubted Grant would tell her.
He slammed the door shut and rolled out of the driveway and onto the main road without a word.
“How did it go?” she asked, already somewhat knowing the answer, but not sure what else to say in order to alleviate the tension which was reverberating around inside the cab of the pickup.
“Fine.” He scowled.
Oh shit.
She hated that word. Fine could mean a million different things—from calling out a hot woman on Venice Boulevard all the way to being the las
t word spoken at the end of a relationship.
In this moment, she had a feeling it was the end of something, and she hated the word even more.
“Did he admit to being at the Clarks’ place the day Lily disappeared?”
“No.” His jaw was set into a hard line.
“Did he know anything about Lily’s current whereabouts?” She tried to unlock his jaw with another question.
He shook his head.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to think of a way to stop whatever it was that was happening between them. What could Steve have said that would have upset Grant like this? Grant hadn’t arrested him, so that had to mean that he didn’t believe, or at least couldn’t prove, the man had anything to do with the crimes.
“Where are we going now?” she asked, hoping what he needed most was just a change of focus and then they could get back to being where they had been with one another before he had gone up to that damned house.
“I’m going to take you to your place. What’s your address?” His words were short and hard, and they hit her like stones.
The air in her lungs escaped her as his words struck her. “I... You...” She motioned back toward the man’s place. “What in the hell happened back there? We were doing good. We were a team, and now you come in here and act like I’m your enemy.”
He let out a long sigh, and it reminded her of Daisy when she was trying to relieve her body of stress. It was funny how people liked to pretend they weren’t animals. In all actuality, Daisy was a far better soul than either of them could ever hope to be. All Daisy cared about was loving and pleasing her, through her work and through her play. There were no complications, no games—only love.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be an ass with you. Not my intention. I’m just... I guess I’m trying to sort through some new information. That’s all.” He put his hand out, palm side up and open and closed his hand like he wanted to hold her hand.
Was that where they were now? Could she hold his hand? Five seconds before he had been furious. Did he think he could just give her his hand and everything between them would go back to being all good?
She couldn’t help herself. There were all kinds of pains that could be healed with the complexity that came with a lover’s touch. Not that he was her lover—not yet, anyway. And even if his touch didn’t fix the weirdness that had come between them, at the very least she wouldn’t feel quite as alone. They could navigate this as long as they were in it together, no matter what the world had in store for them.
She slipped her hand into his, and he wrapped his fingers around hers. His hand was so much bigger than hers that he nearly encompassed her completely. She liked that feeling of solidity that came with being touched by a man who was so much bigger than her; he made her feel as if he could protect her from almost anything.
“I know you don’t want to tell me what happened, but I hope you know that I’m here if you need anything—even just someone to listen and help you sort through your thoughts.”
He twitched as he looked over at her. There was something in the way he stared at her that made her feel as if he was trying to read her for secrets and lies. The warmth and sense of protection in his touch began to dissipate and be replaced with the bitterness of distrust. She tried to swallow back the flavor of it from her mouth, but it lingered on her lips.
He finally looked away. “Where are you staying?”
She tried to pull her hand back, but his grip tightened ever so slightly. “Why do you want to get rid of me?” she asked, trying to say the words lightly when all she really wanted to do was yell at him to just open up and tell her exactly what it was that was bothering him so much about her. “Why won’t you tell me anything about your conversation? Did he tell you something about Lily? Something bad?” This wasn’t merely new information—this had to be something to do with them. She could feel it. It couldn’t be about Lily.
He let go of her hand. “Seriously, it’s not about Lily. He...he didn’t have anything valuable to give us. There hasn’t been anything you’ve lied to me about, is there?”
“What?” she asked, frowning. “No, why? Did the guy tell you something, something that is making you question me?”
He stared out at the road like it was all he could focus on, but he wasn’t blinking. She had hit on something.
“He did, didn’t he?” she continued. “What did he tell you?”
“I just need to talk to your bosses. That’s all.” Finally, he let go of her hand, as though he was getting as frustrated as she was.
“Why? Please, Grant, talk to me.” It felt weak having to beg him like she was, but she was out of ideas.
He ran his hand down the back of his neck and pulled his truck over to the side of the road.
What terrible thing had Steve told him that it required Grant to pull over in order to talk to her about it? She had seen cops talk on the phone, text and work on their computer, all while driving. She couldn’t imagine anything that would have made him respond as he was.
“How long have you been working with your team?”
“The Shadow team or STEALTH?”
He shrugged. “Both.”
She looked up and to the left as she tried to pull numbers from her memory. “My family and I have been working together, in some facet or another, for the last ten years. We are the only members of the Shadow team right now. As for STEALTH, we’ve been working for them for a couple of years. Why?”
“Do you know everyone who is employed with them?” he asked, staring over at her as he clenched the steering wheel.
“I know most, but they have contractors that work for them all over the world.” She wasn’t sure what he was getting after.
“Ah,” he said, and his grip loosened on the steering wheel. “So, it’s possible that there could be someone working out of here that you didn’t know.” He huffed. “I gotta say I’m relieved. I thought for sure that you would know everyone working here.”
“I do. Or at least I think I do,” she said, as what he was implicitly telling her sank in. “Wait, did Steve say he works for STEALTH?”
“Both him and his brother...Ace.” He nodded. “I have to wonder if he was trying to screw with me.” He chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. “Not gonna lie, I’m not quite sure what the hell was going on back there. He threw me. I was worried you were hiding something from me. Something that could have screwed this investigation.”
A pit formed in her stomach. She wasn’t intentionally keeping anything from him, but that didn’t mean anything. There could be any number of things he could have needed to know that she had at her fingertips and yet he was just failing to ask.
“I’m not going to hold anything back from you, Grant. I told you, you can trust me.”
A smile finally flickered over his features. “You don’t know how much that means to me. Seriously. I have to admit, it freaked me out...the thought of you keeping something like that intentionally from me. I guess, without meaning to, I have come to trust you without you ever telling me it was okay. I felt a bit like a fool.”
She smiled back. “There are only a few people in this world that I would say I trust with my life, but you are one of them. I feel lucky to have met you.” She looked down at her hands, wishing she was still touching him. “But I have to say, you freaked me out, too. I want you to know that whatever you are thinking, just ask. I can’t stand the thought of you thinking I’m something I’m not. And sure, I have a lot of secrets and I have made more mistakes and done things others would judge me for, but I don’t want to ever have to hide anything from you.”
She wanted him to be hers and for her to be his. She didn’t know if he wanted the same, but if she didn’t put herself out there and take advantage of these quiet and raw moments that seemed so scarce between them, she would regret it later.
“Why didn’t you call me after the night in the woods?” he asked, and she couldn’t ignore the faint hurt that flecked his voice.
She pressed her palms together as she tried to find the words. “I...I didn’t know how to handle that—you. I just was such a mess. And to be completely honest with you, my team and I had been working hard to locate Lily.”
“If you had found her, would you have even called me? Or would your team leaders have made the phone call to the department?” There was a note of insecurity in his words, and it made her chest ache.
“I would have called you. I just... I was a mess.”
“But you aren’t now?” he asked.
Though she was aware he was just trying to feel her out and measure what she was feeling toward him, she couldn’t help but be a little hurt. “I know we’ve only just started hanging out. But being with you—” she paused, finding her words “—actually, just being near you is incredible. You drive me wild. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that I would kiss a man in the middle of a job.”
He laughed.
“You can laugh all you want,” she said, sending him a little smirk, “but I’m serious. I’m normally all business when I’m working. Especially when I have Daisy with me. And with Lily and Catherine, I needed to give them my solid focus, but up there on the mountain, sitting with you... I don’t know how to explain it.”
“But it felt right?” he asked, finishing her thought.
“Yes. Right.” She smiled as he reached over and took her hand. He drew their entwined hands to his lips and gave her knuckles a kiss. “But it’s something more than that. I just can’t even—”
“I know exactly what you mean,” he said, pulling his truck back on the road.
She wasn’t sure that he did, but she was glad they were at least on the same page, a page that could serve as the first of many in building their full story together.
“If you want to talk to Zoey, I’m sure she would be happy to answer any questions you have,” Elle said, glad to take some of the pressure off the emotions she and Grant were feeling and trying to navigate together.
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