Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,39

seat.” Merlin put the sympathetic hand on Sharon’s shoulder. “Nothing’s happened to your mom. We just need to know a little about her care.”

Sharon’s brow furrowed and she shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why do you need to know about my mom’s care?”

Heath answered. “She’s in a very expensive care home, isn’t she? Do you want to tell us who’s paying that bill for you?”

He watched as understanding dawned on her face.

It was followed quickly by anger. “You think I’m the one selling information about Eleanor. You think I’m working with whoever’s been trying to hurt her.” Her eyes flashed and she looked ready to take their heads off. “I would never hurt Eleanor that way. Never.”

Merlin pulled the chair over and sat opposite Sharon. His voice was soft when he spoke. “We have to go through everybody Sharon, tear apart everybody’s lives. It’s something that has to be done. Even if it’s just to rule you out so we can find the person who is doing this to her, we need to make this happen so we can move on and find the right person. You understand that, don’t you?”

Sharon nodded, just as Merlin had wanted her to. Heath knew Merlin wanted her agreeing with him so that when it came time, she agreed to answer his questions, too.

Merlin continued. “You know how important it is that we stop these people, right?”

She nodded again.

“And you know how important it is that these talks aren’t derailed, don’t you?”

Another nod.

“Help us out. Let us cross you off the list. That’s all we want,” Merlin said. “Tell us how your mom’s care is being paid. When Duff was looking through your files, the cost of your mom’s care home stands out as a pretty major expense. You understand we have to account for that.”

Sharon sighed. “My brother pays for her care and I don’t ask how he does it.” She looked away, wrapping her arms around her middle.

“I should ask, but I don’t because my mom needs the home and the medicine and physical therapy she gets there. My brother has never been one to follow the rules, and more and more I’m pretty sure he’s not really living off honest money right now. But I don’t have any contact with him, I’ve got nothing to do with whatever he’s doing. He pays the bills and that’s all I know. So it’s got nothing to do with Eleanor or my work or whoever it is that’s trying to derail these talks.”

He watched her. Her face was flushed pink and he could see she was miserable at having to admit that her brother might be involved in something illegal. And that she was turning a blind eye to it.

Could he really throw stones, though? If someone he loved needed the kind of medical care her mother did and somebody was paying the bills for it, would he look very deep to find out how that was happening?

His thoughts went immediately to Eleanor. What would he do to keep her from pain? To pay for her medical care if she was sick or worse? Even the thought of it gutted him.

Heath didn’t know. But he did know he believed Sharon. He didn’t think she was the one leaking information. Just to be sure, though, he followed up. “And there’s no way your brother could be getting information from you?”

Her voice rose but she met his eyes when she answered. “No. Absolutely not. I don’t talk to my brother. He visits my mother and I visit her, but we both go at different times. And I don’t share any information about my work with my mom. I don’t share that information with anyone. I’m not someone who engages in pillow talk with the guy I’m dating, I don’t brag about what I do in bars, or share details with family members that might get my team into trouble.”

She looked to Merlin. “This information is getting out there, but it’s not coming from me. I promise you that.”

Heath believed her and that really sucked because it meant they were back to having no leads. They were back to a situation where they couldn’t trust the people around Eleanor but they couldn’t send them away either. She had to have her team with her during the talks, as much as Heath would like to just isolate her so he’d know she was safe.

They were back to a place where he hated to be, a place where