Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,82
that allowed him to do his job and still sleep at night.
Stay objective, Emmy.
“Yes,” I told Ana. “Somebody needs to make a test jump.”
CHAPTER 33 - EMMY
“TELL ME AGAIN why I’m doing this instead of, say, Mack?” Luke asked. “Or you know, just asking Nate to do a search on his inbox instead of us digging through years’ worth of archives.”
“It’s a potential personnel issue. I don’t want anyone from Blackwood involved at this stage in case it turns out to be nothing.”
“The old ‘no smoke without fire’ gossip.”
“Exactly.”
“What did they do? Steal roof tiles?”
“At the moment, I’m not sure they did anything.”
“Okay, I’m in. Give me the time frame again?”
“Eight years ago. Early summer.”
I paced the den in Luke and Mack’s apartment. I didn’t go over there often, and I’d brought a box of cakes from Mrs. Fairfax as a cover story. Would it be rude if I ate one? I suspected Bradley visited from time to time, though—the army of throw pillows lined up on the floor next to Luke’s leather couch was a dead giveaway, as was the sparkly pot of pens that was about to fall off the edge of the desk. I nudged it closer to the nearest monitor and picked up a mini chocolate muffin.
“Don’t drop crumbs,” Luke told me. “Not on the keyboards, anyway.”
“When you have kids, they’ll get crumbs everywhere. And toys, and mud, and baby vomit.”
“Mack told you?”
“That you’re trying for a baby? No, she just said you were looking for a house with a yard, and it seemed like the logical explanation.”
Plus she had two assistants now. If she wanted to take maternity leave, it was the ideal time. Not that I could see her staying away from a computer for six months or even six hours. She’d probably be coding in the delivery room.
“I suppose it is. You’re not upset?”
“Why would I be upset?”
“I guess… I guess because of our past?”
“We broke up over three years ago, and I don’t even want kids. Just don’t expect me to babysit.”
Yes, I was fine. My husband might have ruined my ex-boyfriend’s life and nearly gotten us both killed, but everything was tickety-boo.
“We’re planning to get a nanny.”
“I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say. Good luck? Have fun?”
“Hey, here’s the email.” The relief in Luke’s voice was evident because neither of us wanted to have that conversation. “Twentieth of June, Nate said he’d come and fit the new roof sensors the following Friday when he’d returned from Mexico.”
Right. He’d been away, hadn’t he? It was coming back to me now. A carnival in Carmen’s home town and her little brother’s birthday bash. And when had the Emerald shit gone down? On the twenty-third.
Fuck.
“Thanks.”
“You don’t sound happy. Is that everything you needed?”
“I really appreciate you doing this.” And at that moment, I was thinking perhaps I’d been a little hasty in ditching Luke. He wouldn’t pull this next-level shit with Mack. No way. Sure, he was boring, but he’d never parachute onto a roof then creep through a tunnel and steal ten million bucks. “Please, just keep it between us?”
“I won’t lie to Mack if she asks a direct question, but I won’t volunteer any information either. Good enough?”
“Good enough.”
See? Luke was a straight shooter.
My heart sank faster than the elevator as I made my way to the basement parking garage. For a moment while I waited on the top floor, I’d considered opening a window and taking the quick way down. If Black had done this, the entire foundation of my world would be shaken. He was my rock. My mentor, my lover, my friend. I’d put my life in his hands a hundred times, a thousand, and I could only do that because I’d thought the trust between us was absolute. Now? Now, I wasn’t so sure.
Last night, I’d had to lie beside him in bed, make love to him as if nothing had happened. When he asked what was wrong, I was the one who’d had to lie and tell him Ridley’s drugs had left me feeling weird.
Damn him for forcing me into this position.
Ana was waiting for me back at Little Riverley. But before I could go inside, I had to get past the truck in my driveway.
“What the hell is this?”
Tension hummed through me, and I didn’t need any more shit to deal with. Enough was enough. One of the security guards who usually manned the gates was standing beside said truck, watching with his hands