the setup.”
“I’m sure the setup is top-notch, but I’m not going to lie, I would feel better if Malcolm—”
“Trey,” I corrected. “As in Malcolm Jacob Coben the third, so Trey. That’s what everyone but my family calls me. It’s to avoid confusion.”
“Really, I didn’t notice any of the reporters refer to you as Trey,” Roman said.
“My father frowns on it.” I shrugged.
“Anyway, I would feel better if Trey”—he paused and nodded at me—“stayed in the pool house with me. I assume there’s more than one bedroom, but if not, the couch is fine for me.”
“Is that really necessary? It seems extreme since we aren’t even sure if the letters are directed at me.”
“Roman, if that’s what you think is best, then that’s what we’ll do,” my father said, ignoring me and ending any discussion. Because it wasn’t up to me. Nothing was. “It is up to you two if you want to come to the house to take all your meals. If not, the pool house has a small kitchen.”
“Thank you, sir. That sounds perfect. It’ll allow me to be close to Trey, but it shouldn’t upset your schedules too much since he’ll still be close to home.”
“Yes, that will work out well. Now is not the time for us to get distracted.” My father nodded and turned to me, “Malcolm, we have numerous appearances lined up over the next couple weeks, and I need you to be at your best.”
“Don’t worry, sir. I will be.” I glanced over at Roman to find him watching us. I saw the wheels turning, like we were a puzzle and he was shifting the pieces around trying to figure out where they fit. Well, good luck with that Roman Barnes. There are pieces you’re missing, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.
Roman
“I need to go up to my room and pack up a bag. I’ll send Alejandra to take you to the pool house,” he said, standing up to leave.
“That’s okay, Fredrick’s going to show me the security set up so he can take me there when we’re done. Just don’t leave the property without me.”
“Whatever.” He grumbled as he walked off. Obviously, Trey Coben was less than thrilled about the situation, and not only because he had to share the pool house with me. I suspected he knew more about the letters than he was saying. I doubted he knew who was writing them, but I thought he had some idea what the letters referred to. However, if he had committed some transgression as his father called it, he wasn’t about to confess that with the Senator present.
“Are you ready to show me around?” I asked Fredrick.
“Senator, you don’t need me for anything, do you?” he asked.
“No, I’m going to be working right here all afternoon.
“Okay, I’ll show Roman around, and then I’ll check back in on you.”
We left the office, and he directed me out the closest door, stopping on the patio that looked out over the river. “The Senator has top-notch security in his DC apartment, but the security here at the house is lacking. That’s the primary reason I insisted Trey get his own close-protection. If we were in the city, I could’ve kept him safe, but here, damn Roman, I’m not sure. There are entry points there”—he pointed first to the left on the beach area, then the right side—“and there. The fence is scalable. and while the house itself would be hard to get into when it was all locked up, half the time this door is wide open, even though I’ve told them they need to keep things shut up.”
“Shit, should I take him somewhere else?” I asked.
“No, the Senator wants him available for rallies and interviews. He’s the campaign's media darling, and the Senator won’t let these letters prevent him from taking advantage of that this close to the election.”
“Even if it means Trey’s at risk?”
He gave me a meaningful look and then said, “Even if.”
“Okay, good to know. Now, why don’t you show me what is here.”
It didn’t take long for him to walk me around and point out what security was installed. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing. The good news was the pool house ran on its own system. He said they did that so that they didn’t have to worry about people going in and out of the pool house setting off the house alarm. I didn’t care why. What I cared about was that I had