“Well, hunky f**king dory. Isn’t it my lucky day?”
“Hey, you don’t have to like me any better than I like you. But right now, we have to work together to find her. Every minute that ticks by—”
“Is another minute she slips farther away. I know that, ass**le.” Thorpe gave an agitated huff and raked a hand through his hair.
“Look, whether you believe me or not, my feelings for Callie are real. I have a very vested interest in making sure she doesn’t go to jail, especially for a crime there’s no way she committed.”
That set Thorpe on his ear. “You know she’s innocent?”
“Of course. But is that really the important question?”
“Why does the bureau want her? Murder isn’t really their jurisdiction.”
“Now you’re thinking. That’s something I’ve asked myself over and over. I don’t have an answer, and before you say a word, that’s not a load of crap. I don’t have the time or energy to lie to you, man. They keep giving me a line about identity fraud.”
“Callie wouldn’t steal anyone’s identity.” Thorpe frowned.
“But she’s created personas and gotten fake IDs, sometimes crossing state lines before shedding them and her car, then starting over.”
Thorpe looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “And that’s cause for the bureau to send in an undercover agent for months?”
“Exactly. None of this adds up for me, either. And they’re treating the case like it’s vital to national security.”
“What? That doesn’t make any f**king sense.”
“What makes even less sense is that my directive is just to keep tabs on her and search for anything she may have taken of her father’s.”
“Not to arrest her?” Thorpe looked tense, poised on a knife’s edge waiting for the answer.
A part of Sean wanted to let the club owner squirm in discomfort, but they just didn’t have time. “At least for now. If they really believed she had violated laws, they’d want her behind bars pronto. Two and two isn’t adding up. Something’s rotten in Denmark. Use whatever cliché you like, but it’s messed up. And I’m going to do everything I can to protect her.”
“That makes two of us.” Crossing his arms, Thorpe swallowed. “All right. She mentioned something about L.A. to me last night.”
Sean’s whole body tightened. “Does she know anyone there?”
“Not anymore. Xander moved to Louisiana. And they aren’t close.”
With a shrug of his shoulders, Sean considered the suggestion. “It’s a possibility. They have fairly warm winters. It’s far from here. It’s a big city, so she can get lost.”
“That makes sense.”
Thorpe looked like that notion scared the hell out of him. It worried Sean, too. What if he couldn’t find her there? Or anywhere?
“She’ll definitely head west. Where’s my damn phone?” Sean patted his pockets, then looked around the floor, then the bed. Finally, he spotted the device and nearly pounced on it. The second he tapped in his code, the picture that appeared made him swear a blue streak. “I know why Callie ran. Damn it, she f**king tricked me and figured out that I know who she is.”
He flashed Thorpe the picture of her teenage self, chipper smile, dark blond hair, and those same blue eyes he could drown in.
Thorpe’s sibilant curse filled the air. “That would do it.”
“I scared her.” Sean’s face filled with regret.
“No doubt. If you think she’s going west, I’m going to find her.”
“You?” Sean shook his head. “This is my job. You need to stay here.”
“Not happening. I’m going with you to find Callie and make sure you don’t drag her away.”
“You’ve got to stay here and act like everything is normal.”