Sinful Love (Sinful Nights #4) - Lauren Blakely Page 0,34
before he died. That conversation took place at your father’s work.” That was why it mattered to the investigation that Dora had likely met Luke at West Limos. John needed to tie Luke to T.J., and if he could just pull those threads a little tighter together, he’d be able to do it. “I’d like to know why, and what was said.”
Michael nodded, an intense look in his eyes. “If you’d like to know, then I’d like to know, too.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
On the way to gym that evening, Michael tried to reach his father’s friend once again. Becky answered, but when he asked for Sanders, she said, “He’s busy for a few days, hon.”
“Busy with what?” Michael asked, trying to sound casual rather than suspicious, even though he was starting to feel that way.
“He got called out of town. He has things he needs to get done before he finishes work,” she said as he turned on the blinker of his black BMW to exit the highway.
“Hmm. Okay. But I’ve got to see him soon, Becky. Can you have him call me as soon as he can?”
“Of course, love.”
The line went dead.
As Michael hoisted a barbell a little later, he replayed the conversation with John, then the brief chat with Becky, trying to read between their words, to line them up like missing puzzle pieces alongside his conversation with Annalise earlier. As he pushed up the heavy weight in his bench press, he zeroed in on some ideas, but they were fuzzy, hazy around the edges, and he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. He lowered the bar, wondering if there was more to Becky’s odd behavior, to Sanders’s absence, and to the conversation T.J. had with his father.
Now, that—he’d sure as hell like to know more about that.
He’d seen Sanders a few weeks ago, along with his dad’s other friend, Donald, at the Golden Nugget. That was where Donald dealt cards, and Michael had joined them for a few rounds, winning handily each time.
“Just like his dad. Thomas always beat us at poker,” Sanders had said, shaking his head and laughing, a hint of pride in his voice. Michael had reined in a grin because he loved those comparisons and ate them up like candy.
Anything to connect him to his dad.
They’d all got to talking when Donald’s shift ended, and the older men mentioned something about trouble at his dad’s company way back when. They didn’t have a ton of details, nor did Michael, but he could recall his father mentioning something similar at one of their Chinese restaurant meals. He just wished he knew what sort of trouble, and if that trouble was connected to Luke. He had nothing to go on now, since West Limos had come up clean in his research into the company. But the details nagged at Michael as he poked and prodded at his own memories of things his dad had said to him.
He wished he had Annalise’s memory—precise and, not surprisingly, photographic. His was blurrier, and he often wondered if it was because of how he found out his dad was gone. The image splashed cruelly before his eyes, and he grimaced as he jammed the weights back in the holder. He sat up straight with his hands on his knees, trying to shake off the scene that sometimes replayed unexpectedly.
Taking measured breaths, he focused on the small details around him now. The pounding music in his earbuds. The clang of barbells. The whir of bicycle machines.
They reset him to the present.
But the problem was the present was mired in so much uncertainty. He was on the outside, peeking in, trying to assemble the picture while only having access to the barest bits and pieces. He tried to fill in the blanks as he cycled through all the weights then headed to the rowing machine. Sixty sweaty minutes later, he called Mindy, his sounding board, as he drove home.
“Should we get Morris to look into the company my dad worked at, too?” he asked, mentioning the private eye’s name after he’d relayed his conversation with the detective.
“Hmm,” Mindy said, seeming to mull over the idea. “I’m not so sure. That’s a bit different than having Morris tail Luke Carlton.”
“I know,” Michael said with a sigh. “That’s the issue. Which path to send him down.”
“Honestly, I think we need to keep him on Luke, since you know there’s likely a connection. And I think you need to talk to the people your dad knew