“If you want me to put it simply, Jonah’s actions were justified.”
Clayton leaned against the table, visibly losing his patience. “You may be seated.”
Kaylyn placed her palms against the table to meet Clayton’s stare. “I’m not done; you didn’t call us in here for a simple one sentence answer, did you? You could have done that with a phone call, and certainly without flying in Council members from around the world. Jonah saved my life; he made his decisions based on the information we had at the time. If he had taken me off the case and sent me home, he still wouldn’t have known not to send anyone to the Teague Hotel to grant Mr. Roarch’s request for an investigation. The entity still would have been released and still would have come after me and everyone else I care about along the way. Unless that was the council’s original intention—”
Clayton stood, smacking his hand against the table. “I warned you.”
Kaylyn still didn’t back down. The two of them leaned over the table, face to face, while everyone else around the table watched with wide eyes to see who would be the first to crack. “Then disprove me. Tell me differently. Look me in the eye and tell me that you had no idea what was waiting for us in that hotel. That sending Jonah here and telling him to suspend me right before that case was all a coincidence.”
Clayton’s jaw twitched, his gaze falling to the table. “We did what we believed was in your best interest.”
I’ll be damned. The first sign of hope tugged at the edges of Jonah’s hard expression, but he held back a smirk at his employee’s small success.
Straightening, Kaylyn took a step back, but her voice didn’t lose its cold tone. “Keeping me in the dark for twenty-four years while some entity, hell-bent on claiming my soul, hangs out in a hotel in my own hometown, is not in my best interest.”
Clayton lowered his chin, glaring up at the young girl. “We believed that our intervention—”
“Intervention? With all due respect, that was the most passive, pansy-assed intervention I’ve ever seen in my life. If Jonah hadn’t acted as he did, I’d be dead. Another set of investigators would have entered the building allowing the entity to feed off their energy. What then? Were you all going to protect me from your offices hundreds or thousands—” she thrust a hand in Valence’s direction “—of miles away if the entity came after me in my sleep? It had already been disturbed by the work on the hotel. It was looking for me long before you sent Jonah here to act as your pawn.”
Clayton and Valence scowled, but the other three wore impossible to read expressions. All eyes were on Kaylyn, but no one jumped in to interrupt her again.
“Jonah risked his job for me, and his life,” Kaylyn’s voice lowered—barely above a whisper in the quiet room. “I should have gone to someone for help sooner—not that I would have gotten any answers—so, if you want to hold someone responsible for what happened—”
“No,” Jonah said, sliding his chair back. He’d give her plenty of room to speak her peace, but like hell, he’d sit by and let her take responsibility for everything that happened.
“It should be me,” she finished, staring him dead in the eye and daring him to argue.
“And me,” Cole said, standing next to her sister. Now all eyes in the room fell on the younger girl. She shrugged, “Can’t let my partner take all of the credit. I knew something was up, but I didn’t figure it out. Jonah did. I don’t think we could have done it without him.”
“Well, hell,” Leon said with a scoff. He looked around the room with wide-eyed amusement. “I haven’t been back long, but I have to throw my voucher behind Jonah. He’s already got me impressed.”
“So, you’re all willing to go down with the ship if it comes to that?” Clayton asked.
Kaylyn nodded. “I respect Jonah more for what he did, than I can ever respect the people and decisions that put us in that position. Maybe what happened was meant to come, but if I’m putting my life on the line for my job, I want people watching my back that I can trust. So, yeah, I’d rather go down with Jonah’s ship than have a new boss imposed that follows blindly and looks the other way when someone is in trouble.”
“You think that’s what we would condone?” the blond Australian woman asked, speaking for the first time during the meeting.
“You tell me,” Kaylyn’s voice came out in a whispered hiss. “You wanted him to follow your orders to suspend me without question. That’s the core of what this is about, correct?”
“Only part,” Valance said, his voice growled from low in his throat, and his face took on the red splotchy hue of someone who’d run a marathon during a snow storm.
Kaylyn shook her head and dropped into her seat.
Valence rested the pads of his fingers on the portfolio in front of him. He tried to put on a calm exterior, but his reddened skin and pulsing veins told another story. “And what if we put someone else in charge that you already trusted?”
“I still stand behind Jonah.” Kaylyn’s voice took on a deep rumble and she leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms—thoroughly done with the entire situation.
“Well then,” Valence said, “how about we address the second concern of the review committee—fraternization.”
Jonah felt a thud in his chest as every muscle tightened, and next to him, Kaylyn made a sound in her throat as if she couldn’t swallow. He’d never known Aicil to follow through on claims of fraternization—office relationships were so common that he’d wager that at least three-quarters of the people in the room had attempted one at some point. The people you worked with were more than employees and co-workers. In this line of work, they became your family and friends, and those relationships were tight and sacred.
However, if anyone wanted to look at it in “by the book” terms, he and Kaylyn were quickly sliding past that boundary.
“Please,” Cole said with a sardonic tone.
“You deny that they have an inappropriate relationship?” Valence asked.
“They’re both still alive, aren’t they?” Cole squinted toward Jonah, “Mostly anyway, but that’s not the point. Their relationship is entirely professional.”
Valence frowned at Cole and patted his hand against the papers in front of him as if they backed up any of his claims. “Were you aware that Kaylyn was staying in Jonah’s house?”
“Yes,” Cole said without faltering.
“It was the safest place for her to be,” Jonah added. “I wasn’t sure at first if her problem was paranormal, but after I had witnessed the fire in her house, I knew I had to keep her somewhere safe.”
“Why didn’t you simply report what was going on?” Clayton asked.
“Simply report?” Jonah cocked his head and, one by one, met the gaze of everyone who sat on the other side of the table. “Is that what you would have me do from now on? Simply report that there might be an entity out to kill one of my employees. I know a set up when I’m stuck in the middle of it. There was a reason Kaylyn was being pushed out at the exact moment something was after her. It’s our duty to protect people, unless I’ve gotten it all wrong. I took action to protect Kaylyn, and I made that my priority. All details of the event have now been documented.”
Valence snorted in disgust, his fingers curling the edge of the papers in front of him. “You took matters into your own hands without following protocol. Need I remind you that your family’s tactics for dealing with spirits aren’t fool-proof?”
“They worked this time.” It wasn’t the first time that had come under scrutiny. As much as Aicil employees were expected to accept, they’d always had a problem with his mother’s special talents. He suspected that it had more to do with their lack of control over it—and his mother’s refusal to reveal many of the details. But there was also something more to it. He could feel it.
“And, yet again, it’s not like you were doing jack shit to keep me safe.” Kaylyn waved her hand toward Valence then leaned against the back of her seat so abruptly that it popped and squeaked.
“Dr. Emmerson knew what was after me. Yet he stood by while I joined Aicil—was it to keep an eye on me?”
“I don’t believe you should be the one asking questions in this case,” Valence said.
“Then, when should I?” Kaylyn said, locking eyes with Clayton.
The elder man sighed, propping his elbows on the table and tenting his fingers. “Careful how you tread. I’m afraid we’re not in the capacity to answer your questions. A formal inquiry—”
“We’ve tried that route,” Jonah grumbled. “But I believe Kaylyn has a point. How can we put our trust in a council when we’re deliberately denied the information we need to make sure all of our investigators are safe. If Emmerson had been up front with me, instead of all the underhanded puppetry, we would have known how to properly address Kaylyn’s problem.”
“Would you?” Valence asked. He was by far the most hostile member of the committee, which made Jonah wonder how much of a connection he had to Emmerson.
Probably not, was Jonah’s simplest mental answer. He took a slow breath and held Clayton’s gaze. “I respect the authority of the Council. I understand the importance of the way our organization is structured—”
“Yet you belligerently went against orders,” Valence yelled, smacking his portfolio against the table.
Kaylyn opened her mouth, but Jonah put his hand on her arm, silencing her. Then her gaze jerked across the room to an empty space along the wall. Jonah tried to follow her line of sight, but she leaned back in her chair.
“Valence,” Clayton raised his hand, “let Jonah continue.”
The Scot’s steely gaze didn’t diminish, but he straightened his collar and leaned back with a dismissive shrug. “Fine, I have no problem with giving him enough rope to hang himself.”
Next to Jonah, Kaylyn twitched again, uneasy in her seat, but she kept her mouth closed.
“We’re taught from the moment we start to follow our instincts,” Jonah locked eyes with Clayton, then Fuller, his former boss—the two he felt might be the most likely to sympathize and understand, “not to take anything at face value. To look at all of the evidence we have. And not to stop digging until we have the full truth. I apply that to every case that I work, and when my instincts tell me that there’s something going on, especially when it means that one of my investigators is in danger then, you can bet, I’ll do exactly what I did again.”
Finally, his eyes fell on Valence. “If you want to call it belligerence, that’s fine. Dr. Emmerson purposefully hid Kaylyn’s past from anyone who could help her. When he came here, he didn’t offer us any solutions to help her. Instead, he tried to divide and blind us even more.”
“He did what he thought was best,” Clayton said.
Jonah started to open his mouth but gave Clayton enough time to rethink his words.
Clayton took an audible breath and nodded. “And I understand that you did as well.” His voice was much quieter than before. “I think we’re done here. We’ll still need to speak with the rest of the staff, but Cole, Kaylyn, and Leon, you are dismissed.”
Jonah took as deep a breath as his ribs would allow before straightening. He caught Kaylyn’s gaze for a second, before she ducked her head and left the room with her sister. Leon patted Jonah’s shoulder and then joined the girls.
“Jonah,” Clayton said, “I suggest you rest up. Looks like you’ll have your hands full when you resume your duties.”
“I’m clear?”
“From any serious charges. Given the circumstances, I think we would be doing this office a disservice if we even considered removing you from your position. Not only because it would be unfair to have another change in leadership so soon, but also because you’ve obviously won the loyalty of your staff. They respect you for sticking up for one of their own.”
Our own, Jonah corrected mentally. He still felt like the Council was trying to isolate their office from the rest of Aicil.
“However,” Clayton continued, “Our investigation will continue, and there may yet be consequences. We’ll be interviewing the remainder of your staff and keeping a close eye on all activities of this office. If you’re all as good as you think you are, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Jonah swallowed his initial reaction. He did have a house full of cocky investigators—probably the youngest team in the organization, and he was the youngest to take a leadership role. In many ways, he expected the condescension. He could also live with it. Let them underestimate us, he thought, his muscles relaxing in relief. He stretched out his hand and shook Clayton’s hand. “Thank you, Sir.”
Clayton chuckled then nodded toward the door. “Putting up with this motley crew may well be your punishment.”
Jonah cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. “You have no idea.”
Two weeks ago, he’d already accepted that as his punishment—his broken ribs were a constant reminder that it could have gone better. But, the opposite was true as well. They may be a “motley crew,” but as Kaylyn mentioned, they were the people he wanted watching his back.
Chapter 13
Leon’s heavy arm draped around Kaylyn’s shoulder as they reached the refreshing comfort of the hallway. The temperature seemed at least ten degrees cooler than the stuffy conference room, and Kaylyn almost felt like she could breathe again.
Except for the pang in her stomach that reminded her that once again she’d let her mouth run faster than her brain. And that wasn’t the half of it. Nothing had happened with Jonah, but their relationship had already jumped far beyond a professional level. She couldn’t escape the fear that she was letting it happen again—more than that, asking for it. She was putting everything on the line for a man she barely knew. He was a man who had already won her trust, and now, apparently her loyalty.
Running her hands over her face, all she wanted to do was collapse for a while.
Maybe now, she could get that week off she was supposed to take. She certainly hoped her day wasn’t going to get much worse, but her muscles still squeezed her chest in a bear hug that she couldn’t escape.
“Could have been worse,” Cole said and squeezed Kaylyn’s shoulder. “I meant it all, you know. If they had told you what was going on—”
“Todd might still be here?”
Cole’s response was nothing more than a subtle nod.
“I need to talk to Leon for a second. I’ll catch up and we can head over to the farmhouse.”
After her sister disappeared into the office, Kaylyn and Leon stood in the quiet hallway. It seemed that recently everything about the office was quieter than normal. First, with Jonah’s abrupt arrival, and now the committee’s investigation.
“What’s up, Little Dude?” Leon said with a smirk.
She’d never live down that nickname, especially since it had become Leon’s favorite thing to call her. Although it had its downsides, it reminded her of the laid-back relationship she had with him. The kind she hadn’t quite mastered with anyone else.
Kaylyn waved to the door, but Leon simply raised his eyebrows and leaned against the wall waiting for a more specific explanation. He didn’t seem fazed or concerned with anything that had transpired, but Kaylyn felt her intestines twist into a nervous knot.
“Please tell me I didn’t just do something incredibly stupid by calling them out.”
“You defended your boss. And yourself,” he said with a huff. “I don’t have the whole story yet, but seems to me they kept a lot from you that you had a right to know—and as far as I’m concerned, they had a duty to tell you. I think you did the right thing, but I can’t guarantee they’ll appreciate it.” Leon gave her a sympathetic smile and wrapped her in a hug, just as the door to the conference room opened again.
Kaylyn stiffened until she saw Jonah’s pain-worn face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, unable to look him in the eye.
“You did as I expected.”
She didn’t know whether to take that as admonishment or praise until Jonah smiled—it seemed half-he
arted and pained, but it was a smile nonetheless.
He tugged at the cuffs on his shirt then straightened against the wall. “It’s not over yet, but all we can do is get back to work, and be thankful that we still have jobs to get back to. Right now for me, that means going home. Enjoy your week in charge, Leon,” Jonah said with a sly smirk.
Leon grunted, and Kaylyn couldn’t suppress a chuckle at the posturing men, but she had a feeling they hadn’t seen anything compared to the strict Jonah who’d resume his mantle of leadership in a week.
“Well, given my current duties,” Leon said, “I’m driving you home.”
Jonah scowled, “I’m fine, and I’m not leaving my car here.”
Kaylyn was surprised that he’d driven in the first place, but she hadn’t exactly taken the time that morning to inquire about his transportation arrangements. Once she’d slept off the remainder of the alcohol, she felt like she’d been stripped bare in front of him—even though she’d been fully clothed the entire night.
He didn’t look remotely fine, and as much as she wanted to avoid getting involved, she also hoped to keep the bickering to a minimum. “Cole and I will be heading to the farmhouse; we can drop off your car on the way.”
“Well then,” Leon began, and Kaylyn expected him to support her suggestion, but Leon turned to her instead, “you may as well drop him off, too.”
That’s exactly what the committee needs to see.
“I’m perfectly capable,” Jonah said, before Kaylyn could argue.
Now she wasn’t sure whose side she was on, but.... she sighed. “Come on, boss, you have to know when to accept a little help.” She knew exactly how ironic her words were, but she lifted her eyebrows and hoped that Jonah would recognize the significance.
He squinted at her, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Look who’s talking.”
“Exactly. So, listen to the big man—I think he can take you down. I need to catch up with Cole. I’ll throw my stuff in her car.” She didn’t wait for an answer, leaving Leon to work out the rest.
Beyond the Divide (Fractured Legacy Book 2) Page 11
