deeper. He thought that he’d finally hit pay dirt.
Heartbreak in London. The Hastings’ Murders Horrify City.
The headlines had him leaning forward even more.
The picture of Chloe—a young, thirteen-year-old Chloe—made his throat tighten. Her parents had been murdered by a masked intruder at their estate. The intruder had broken in during the middle of the night. He’d killed them, but Chloe had been unharmed.
She’d found their bodies when she woke the next morning.
The reporter said that Chloe had tried to revive them. Their blood had covered her night gown. Soaked her skin.
The mysterious killer had never been found.
Never been brought to justice.
But…just one year after her parents had died, there was another headline…
Hastings’ heir returns. What? He shook his head. Tapped on the keyboard. The reports were from some old paper in England. The website was shit, and half of the articles were cut off because they were so old and—
Another knock at his door.
His shoulders tensed. This time, when he walked to the door, he wasn’t expecting Chloe to be waiting for him. How could she be? Chloe was on her date. He curled his hand around the doorknob and hauled open the door. “Look, Marie, I’m not in the mood for more—”
Reese blinked at him.
“What the hell is this?” Joel demanded. “Unwanted visitor night?”
Reese held up beer. “I know how fond you Americans are of your six packs.” He grinned. “After your first day of working with my sister, I thought you might want to unwind a bit.”
Joel stared at the beer. Then at Reese. “All right. You can stay.” He hurried back to the desk. He needed to shut down his laptop before Reese could see—
“Researching us, are you?” Reese called out cheerfully. He didn’t seem even mildly upset. “Chloe said you’d do that.”
“Chloe likes to think that she knows everything that’s happening. And that she knows everyone.” He snapped shut the laptop. Turned around.
Reese tossed him a beer. “She usually does know everyone. Always been good at figuring out what makes people tick.”
“She doesn’t know me.”
Reese took a beer for himself and put the others on the coffee table. He popped the top and enjoyed a very, very long pull. “You’d be surprised.” He threw himself down on the couch. “But how about you tell me what you’ve discovered so far? I can let you know if you’re going in the right direction or just reading some tabloid bullshit.” Another long pull on the beer and then, “That site you were just on? That would be tabloid bullshit, in case you were wondering.”
What he was wondering…“Did Chloe send you out here? She wanted to see what I was digging up on her or something?”
“Looked to me like you were digging up info on me, not her.” Reese tilted his head. “And I haven’t seen Chloe tonight. I think she’s gone out.”
“On a date,” Joel growled. He popped the top on his beer. Chugged it all down and crushed the can.
“Chloe isn’t dating anyone. Don’t know where you got that idea.”
Joel stared at the smashed can. “Marie.”
Soft laughter.
He looked up.
“She was messing with you. Probably wanted to see your reaction. Marie has this idea that you’re infatuated with my sister.”
“Infatuated? Who uses that word?” He trashed the can. “I need another beer.”
“Have at them. And I use that word. I was trying to be polite but if you’d rather…”
Joel lifted the second beer can toward his mouth…
“I could just say that Marie is convinced you want to shag my sister.”
“Shag your sister.” He almost choked on the drink. “That’s not much better than infatuated.”
“You’re not denying either charge.”
“I just met your sister.”
“Yet you’re already living here and getting possessive when you find out that she might be with another man.”
“I don’t get possessive.” With the beer can, he pointed toward Reese. “I know what you’re doing.”
Reese pursed his lips. “I completely suspect that you do not.”
Joel had to laugh. “God, you sounded exactly like her for a moment there.”
Reese’s face darkened as he drained his beer.
Joel took the seat near him. Kept a loose grip on his beer. “You’re trying to distract me. But you’re the one who told me that you’d let me know if I was heading in the right direction or not.”
“And I will tell you. But for every question I answer, you have to answer one for me, too.”
“Whatever. Sounds fair.”
Reese put down his beer. “Want to go first?”
“Why weren’t you in the house when Chloe’s parents were killed?”