“So she knew we were coming?” Jeremiah didn’t really know how he felt about that.
“I’d say she knew you were sniffing around her granddaughter back in the District—likely had known it since shortly after y’all became interested in her.”
“Huh.” Then he thought of the implications of that statement, and grinned. “Does Nancy have any idea that the family kept tabs on her while she lived her ‘independent’ life in Washington?”
“I have no idea. But judging by what I’ve seen of the way these families live, I would guess she did, but knew they were doing so only for her protection.”
“These families? So the Montana branch of the Benedict family isn’t like the Texas branch?”
“No. I love my folks, don’t get me wrong. But they don’t have the same definition of family as this part of my family does.”
“And that’s a good thing? The Lusty definition of family?” Jeremiah already knew the answer, just by the look on Jackson’s face.
“It’s a damn good thing. So although it’s tough not knowing what might be coming down the pike—especially when your woman might be in danger—try to relax a little. This whole damn town has your back, and that includes Cord and me.”
“Thanks, man.” Jeremiah took up the next piece of siding. As he worked, he began to wonder if Kate Benedict knew anything else that he and Eli didn’t. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask the woman.
Even if all she had was a guess as to what the hell was going on, Jeremiah figured it would be a theory worth hearing.
* * * *
It was all Nancy could do the next day to contain herself.
She thought she must be trembling or giving off some sort of “eureka” vibe. As much as Eli and Jeremiah were both curious to see what she’d bought at Discretion—they said some of the men had told them they’d drool like mad dogs—one look at her face and they set her packages aside and hugged her close.
Then Eli asked, “What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. But I think I figured out what the burglar was looking for.” Nancy nodded, and as hard as it was to do, she calmed herself.
Eli took one of her hands in his, and Jeremiah the other. “Okay, baby,” Jeremiah said. “What do you think he was looking for?”
“My cell phone!”
The men looked at each other. “What made you come to that conclusion?” Eli asked.
“We were trying to figure out what had been in my purse that he could have been after, right? But if it had been in my purse, he would have found it. It’s not a very big purse, after all. The wallet was on the coffee table, so he wasn’t after cash. He was still digging when I caught him at it.”
“That’s what you said. Where was your cell phone?” Jeremiah asked.
“On my bedside table. I wanted to be sure to get up early and get on the road, so I set the alarm and put it on my bedside table. And, now that I think about it, my cell phone was the only thing I didn’t have in my purse that I usually do.”
“That makes sense. Where’s your phone now, sweetheart?”
Nancy pulled it out of her handbag and handed it to Eli. “This is going to sound stupid, but after I realized that it was my phone he was probably after, I didn’t use it.”
“That’s why you called from the phone in your room last night,” Jeremiah said.
“Yeah. I wanted to tell you both then but I decided to wait until I could do so face-to-face.”
She watched as Eli thumbed through the data, and looked at her call log, going back, she realized, to the few days before the would-be burglar appeared in her apartment.
“All right, baby. Now that we know that’s what the burglar was likely after, why don’t we sit down, get comfortable, and talk. Let’s see if we can discover why he wanted it.” Jeremiah kissed her hand, and brought her over to the sofa.
She grinned at him. “Are you going to ‘shrink’ my head? Aren’t I supposed to lie down for that?”
He laughed. “If you lie down, we won’t be doing much talking.”
Nancy frowned. Sometimes she said things without using her inner filter. “I’m sorry. That was maybe not a very nice thing to say—referencing the term ‘head shrinker’ to refer to a psychologist. All things considered.”
Jeremiah waved her apology away. “You should hear some of the things Eli has said over the years. The truth is, I do have a degree in psychology, and I’m pretty good at getting people to recall things they’d seen, but forgotten.”
Nancy imagined that would come in handy working with witnesses. “Good. Because I have a feeling that whoever it was that I called or spoke to, or whatever, to precipitate being burglarized, it was something that didn’t have any significance for me whatsoever. That’s probably why I’m so clueless.”
“Sweetheart, you’re not clueless,” Eli said. “You’re just not a trained observer. Very few people would be able to pick up on things they’re not expecting to hear or even see—especially if those things are very subtle.”
He joined them at the table, and set her phone down. “Your cell phone retains a log of both outgoing and incoming calls. We’ll talk about them in a minute. First, we should tell you what Adam has learned.”
“There were no reports of any burglaries similar to mine, were there?” Nancy had really believed, in the beginning, that her burglary had truly been a simple case of big-city crime finally touching her life. She had been more than a little skeptical when Eli and Jeremiah had first come to her with their concerns. But over the last week, as she’d gotten to know them not just as lovers, but as men, she’d begun to respect their cop instincts a little more.
If they believed something to be the case, then she believed it, too.
Nancy now accepted that somehow her path had crossed someone else’s, and that someone believed her to be a threat to them. How that all tied in to Reese Davies, she had no idea. But she was ready to accept there was a connection of some sort.
“No, there weren’t,” Eli confirmed. “Adam spoke to Detective Ridgeway, who was very forthcoming. He was also a little bit annoyed that you hadn’t mentioned to the officers who responded to your call that you’d been on the staff of a high-ranking senator up to that very day.”
Nancy felt the mild chastisement in Eli’s voice. “I told you why, earlier. I wasn’t a staffer when I woke up and found that ski-mask-wearing asshole rifling through my purse. It really never occurred to me to say ‘oh, by the way, I’ve just had my last day working for a United States Senator.’” She hadn’t put that incident in the same category as the “report anyone who makes a strange or unusual approach.” That security precaution was to guard against the possible attempt, on the part of the nation’s enemies, to do harm or create a threat.
Eli just shook his head. “You knew you were no longer on his staff, but likely the burglar didn’t.”
“Oh.” Nancy shook her head. “You guys must really think I’m stupid. I never thought of that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mislead the cops.”
“I think we’re going to institute a new rule. Whenever you say something self-deprecating, you get a spanking.”
A spurt of arousal skittered down Nancy’s spine. She didn’t think Eli had done that deliberately—she really did understand his intent.
That trip to Divine had been beneficial in more ways than one. Not only had she acquired a few very sexy—and sexual—items at Discretion, but she’d met three women, all, like her, curvy, and she’d begun to understand for the first time what it really was these two men had been trying, in their own ways, to tell her. She was a sexy, attractive woman, if that was what she chose to believe she was.
That distance between head knowledge and heart knowledge had begun to shrink and was almost totally gone.
Nancy nodded toward her bags, still sitting on the table. “In that case, I made some good choices.”
Eli looked over toward the bags, then shot her what she could only call a predatory smile
. “Don’t distract me, woman. At least not right now.”
“Man, I am completely distracted myself,” Jeremiah said. Then he closed his eyes. “All right. I’m over it. Almost.”
“Good. We’re supposed to be professionals, here, at least while we go over this situation.” He turned back to her. “You’re not wired to think the same way we are. I’m sure, if someone showed me a piece of legislation, I’d think it was just fine, whereas you might find a hundred problems with it. Sweetheart, we all only know what we know.”
“I get that. So what, in this case, and about this situation, do you—do we—know?”
“We know you had a burglar who was target specific, and you were that target. We know that a senator who has raised the hackles of the DOJ and a whole lot of other people was making inquiries, and those inquiries were target specific, and again, that target was you. It is not outside the realm of probability to make a connection between the two.”
“It could be that he had heard that I was no longer a member of Senator Cordell’s staff,” Nancy said. She felt her cheeks heat. “I don’t like to boast but I’m really good at what I used to do. Once it became common knowledge that I was no longer on Cyrus’s staff, there’d have been a lot of job offers coming my way.”
“And yet you didn’t stick around to find out,” Jeremiah said.
“No. I’d had enough of Washington. I needed to come home.”
“Completely understandable. And your analysis is more than probable. Tell me, would you have gotten those calls—requests to meet, or to feel you out about a possible job, from a Senator, or someone else?”
Nancy frowned. “No, I’d be called by a chief of staff—in fact, now that you mention it, it would be a chief of staff or his or her assistant initiating any inquiry, regardless.”
Eli nodded. “Especially, I’ve been told, in Davies’s case. The man doesn’t like to waste much time, effort, or attention on the minions.”
“No, he saves that for the television cameras.” Nancy shuddered. “I was never so happy as when Senator Cordell told me he couldn’t stand ‘the little pissant.’”
Eli grinned. “He told us the exact same thing.”
Nancy frowned. “Wait a minute. You said he was making inquiries personally about me. Why would he risk that? If his intent was malicious, then wouldn’t his having done so leave him open to speculation? I mean, if he succeeded and managed to hurt me in some way, wouldn’t his inquiries put him at the top of the suspect list? Wouldn’t that be just stupid?”
Her two lovers exchanged a glance that lasted only a moment, but it put her on high alert.
Eli sighed. “Yeah, I think that would be another manifestation of the man’s true belief that he is above the law.” Then he inhaled deeply. “Nancy, we told you that Davies was on the DOJ’s watch list. But we didn’t tell you everything—mainly because we didn’t know everything.”
“Someone in the department has an inside source,” Jeremiah said. “Someone who is very close to the man has been feeding them information. We don’t know who this informant is, but the US Attorney, spearheading that investigation, does.”
“Why do I feel as if the other shoe is about to drop?”
“Because it is.” Eli lifted her hand and kissed it. “We came here for you, and we are on leave. But we had a call last night from our boss. Apparently, Davies’s is in a hell of a state and for whatever reason, it involves you.”
“The good news,” Jeremiah said, “is that when this is over, we go back to being on indefinite leave.”
“But in the meantime, while we’re still here for you, we’re also kind of on duty, too.”
Nancy prepared for her insecurities to raise a clamor—and found only peace. Somehow, she’d made progress over the last week or so. She didn’t doubt for one moment that these two hot, and very good men had been nothing but honest with her, always.
Circumstances had changed, and she accepted that. So she nodded. “So what’s the plan? Use me as some sort of bait to trap the son of a bitch?”
“Hell no,” Eli said. “Not if we can help it. But we may not have any control over the matter.”
“Our boss said only that we should keep our wits about us, as something may be about to happen. He could only tell us one other thing.” Jeremiah scowled. Clearly he didn’t like being kept in the dark. “He said that two days ago, the informant contacted the US Attorney.
“All indications are that Davies—either himself or his lackey—is coming after you and whatever the hell it is he thinks you have.” Eli picked up her phone. “If we can figure out what they’re after, then we can be ready for them.”
Chapter 19
He’d taken his name deliberately, when he’d been just sixteen years old and had met the man who his heart had told him was The One. His birth parents had discarded him, given him into the grasping hands of the papists, when he’d been but a baby.
He never knew who’d given him the name he bore until that fateful meeting, whether it had been his parents or the nuns. He never knew, and he never really cared. But after that day, when he understood that point—that meeting—was his new beginning, he chose another name—to honor the state where this life-changing meeting had taken place. He’d chosen for his own the name of a man about whom little was known. The One had told him that if he was indeed to do this special work to which he had been called, then little should be known about him, too.
Uriah Stone considered it a point of pride and purpose that all these years later, not much truly was known about him.
He lived only to serve The One. For nearly fifty years he’d been privileged to stand back in the shadows, doing whatever was asked of him. He’d lived a true, more blessed life than most.
He’d known, somehow, when that call had come a few days ago, that this time, this mission, would be different.
This time, he would be asked to do more, give more than ever before. This time he was being asked to give the ultimate sacrifice. He was ready.
Uriah believed in being prepared. He’d been warned, and so he allowed himself enough time to do the research he needed to do before meeting with his caller, so he wouldn’t be caught off guard. He knew the boy thought he was back at the ranch, but he’d been much closer to him than Tennessee. He’d been close by, ready and waiting for the last two months.
He’d been well and truly “in the loop,” as those Washington types liked to say—more than the boy could ever have imagined. And finally, knowing the boy, he’d gone into that meeting fully prepared.
Uriah’s plane landed in Dallas, and he’d rented a motorcycle. Before he could proceed, he needed to set the stage. So he purchased the supplies he would need. He made himself familiar with his destination, and he learned, and he assessed. He memorized the route he would take to that small town about an hour west of Waco. He called his employer, and related the facts as he knew them to be. He received his final instructions. At first he’d doubted the words he’d heard—not ones he’d expected. But then, kindly, The One reminded him that sometimes, the Lord worked His miracles even among the heathen. Uriah was going to miss these lessons. As he hung up the phone, he thought that he was going to miss the lessons and the daily words of wisdom most of all.
Now he was on his way, on one last mission, and a part of him felt bereft. He’d received his final blessing. He had always understood that nothing was forever, that all good things must eventually come to an end. He’d been told to feel pride in the job he’d done, and really, he did. He would do what was hard, what was necessary, and do it with honor.
Uriah Stone was going to receive his promised reward and that surely was enough for any man.
* * * *
“There you are, sweetheart.” Anna Jessop looked up from the journal she was reading. Her smile, warm and welcoming, lit Nancy’s heart.
Her mother closed the book and set it in one of her desk drawers. She got to her feet and reached for her purse.
“Sorry I’m a few m
inutes late, Mom. Adam asked me to stop by his office on my way to see you.” She didn’t want to give too many details to her mother, because she didn’t want her or her fathers worrying about her.
She would have accused Adam of being entirely too anal, but both Eli and Jeremiah had agreed wholeheartedly with his precautions.
“To tell you the truth, I really didn’t notice you were late, Nancy.” Her mother’s cheeks turned just the slightest bit pink. “You know how it is when I get involved in my reading.”
Nancy grinned. “I do indeed, because I am the exact same way. When I open my bookstore, I’m going to have an extra loud service bell on the sales counter.”
“Probably wise.” Anna Jessop came around her desk, then gave her a nice, big hug. “It’s so good to have you home. I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too. I missed this town.”
“There’s nowhere else on earth like it,” Anna said.
Nancy followed her mother out of the museum. She waited on the sidewalk while Anna put the “gone to lunch” sign in the window, and locked the door.
It surprised her, when they began to walk toward the restaurant, that she was actually a few inches taller than her mother. When the hell did that happen? Nancy had never gone through those teenage rebellion years she’d heard about from so many of her friends. Her and her mother had always been close.
When Nancy thought of her mother, it was always as a woman who stood head and shoulders above most.
Just after noon hour, the restaurant was busy. Ginny and Emily Anne were both working and each waved as Nancy and her mother picked a seat in the back of the restaurant.
“Where are your young men today?”
Nancy grinned. “They’re bonding with Adam and their new friend, Connor Talbot, over at the sheriff’s office.”
Love Under Two Undercover Cops [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 18
