Brianne hadn’t lived a wild life or hung out with off-the-wall people. They hadn’t gotten involved in things they shouldn’t and had lived a really good life. They’d even been talking about having a baby.
Peter Kendrick and his son had both been at the funeral, appropriately solicitous and saddened. At that time, they’d given her their cards in case they could be of any help. He’d repeated it the first time she’d called him. By the second call, he’d sounded more reserved.
The last conversation she’d had with him had been far from satisfactory. At first, he’d been just as considerate and comforting as he’d been when he’d called her about the disaster, as well as in their first conversation. But when she’d started to probe for any additional information that could help her, maybe something to do with a lawsuit Dane was working on, his tone of voice had hardened and he’d shut her down. He’d reminded her they were all grieving the loss of her brother-in-law, and more so because it looked like whoever did it might never be located. Told her the police had done what they could. If the police couldn’t find anything, then sadly and unfortunately, it meant the person responsible had become invisible. She needed to focus all her energies on her sister’s recovery.
It hadn’t taken her long to realize she’d reached a dead end with the man. He wanted this over and done with, whether because he knew something or he just didn’t want the firm involved any more than it already was.
Which of course only made her more suspicious.
She’d met plenty of people like Peter Kendrick in her life. Wealthy, powerful, privileged. Rules didn’t apply to them, and if they were in the legal profession, they could bend them to their own advantage. What she’d managed to find about the firm told her little to nothing. And of course, client lists were private, so she couldn’t learn anything that way.
But she had a feeling. She’d been an author for fifteen years, a pretty successful one at that, and had developed a good sense of intuition. In preparing her books, she’d conducted a lot of interviews, so she’d learned to read people pretty well. She didn’t know for sure if Peter Kendrick was hiding something that involved him, but she knew he wanted her to go away. Maybe he was just worried about blowback on the firm, but whatever it was, he definitely was trying to get her off the tack she was taking.
She kept thinking this had to involve one of Dane’s clients, but how could she find out?
That’s what you hired Galaxy for, remember?
And she’d do well to keep that in mind. She opened yet another bottle of water, took a deep swallow and leaned forward.
“Hey, Brianne. Let me tell you about this guy I met yesterday. I had to find someone who could get at the truth about the accident and your sexy Dr. Hamilton turned me on to his brother. Believe it or not, he runs some kind of civilian black ops operation.” She chuckled. “It was like being in an episode of a television show. They don’t even have an office. Their office is on a plane that I think was designed for gazillionaires.” She paused. “Oh, wait. They are gazillionaires. They won the Powerball lottery. Anyway, so far, I’ve only met Dr. Hamilton’s brother. He’s taking the lead on this. I think you’d really like him. His real name is Scott, but his nickname is Blaze. They all use their military code names.”
She took a sip of coffee. “I have to say, his suits him. He’s definitely one hot guy.”
She studied her sister. Did her eyelids just move? Maybe a teeny bit? Was she trying to smile? God, she was going to drive herself crazy.
Just keep talking.
“What’s that? What’s he like? Oh, well. Incredible. Big. Athletic. Lots of muscles. Carries himself with that military bearing that turns women on. But smart, too.” She leaned in a little closer. “And very, very sexy.”
“So my patients tell me.” The deep voice came from behind her, breaking into her little speech.
“Oh, my god. Dr. Hamilton.” How embarrassing. She felt heat creep all the way up her body and was sure her face was bright red.
He winked. “That’s okay. I assume that’s my brother you were talking about.”
Peyton took a deep breath and managed to settle herself.
“You never know. I might have been talking about you.” Could she be any more embarrassed?