Deadly Secrets (Hardy Brothers Security Book 11) (15 page)

“So this is the security office,” Cara said, glancing around Hardy Brothers Security dubiously the next morning. “It’s not much to look at, is it?”

Jake ignored her as he sat on the small couch next to Grady. “How was your weekend?”

“Other than carrying furniture, it was great,” Grady said. “How was yours?”

“It got better as it progressed.”

Grady smirked. “I heard. You took Ally on a picnic yesterday and did a number of absolutely dirty things with her.”

Jake stilled. “How can you possibly know that?”

“Because Ally called Mandy last night,” James said. “And since Mandy was taking a bath, she put the phone on speaker so she didn’t get it wet. Ally is loud when she’s excited.”

“Oh,” Jake said, his cheeks coloring. “I didn’t know she did that. It must have been while I was out picking up dinner.”

“You know you two could get arrested for public indecency for having sex out in the open like that, right?”

“I … we do it all the time,” Jake said, refusing to be embarrassed about one of the best afternoons of his life. “No one goes up there but us.”

James arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to know what the best part of Ally’s call was?”

“Probably not.”

“I’m going to tell you anyway,” James said. “I was in the tub with Mandy during the call. She didn’t want Ally to know that, so she kept shoving my head under the water. I almost drowned.”

Grady snorted. “What a way to go.”

“Shut up,” James said. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the bubbles.”

“You took a bubble bath?” Grady asked. “That’s so … manly.”

“You deep condition your hair,” James reminded him.

“Who told you that?”

“Sophie told Mandy in New Orleans.”

Grady scowled. “You get off painting Mandy’s toenails.”

“I don’t get off on it,” James countered. “If I don’t do it they don’t look right.”

Grady rolled his eyes. “If that’s your story … .”

“Really?” Cara arched an eyebrow, lifting her fingers delicately to her sore cheekbone as she flinched. “Are we going to spend the whole morning talking about all the sex you guys had this weekend?”

Grady was nonplussed. “Just a few more minutes. Sit down.”

Cara started moving for the slip of space between Grady and Jake, but Grady’s insistent head shaking gave her pause. “What?”

“There’s an open chair over there,” Jake said, pointing.

“Oh, you can’t be serious,” Cara said. “Now I can’t even sit next to you on the couch?”

“No,” Jake said. He turned his attention to James. “Do we have anything on the searches?”

“We do,” James said. “We found a Mitchell Cameron registered at a hotel on the east side. It’s a real hole.”

“Do you think he just switched his name around?”

“We wanted to be sure, so we ran Mitchell Cameron,” James replied. “He didn’t exist until three weeks ago. It seems he just popped into existence.”

“Well, that’s too much of a coincidence to ignore,” Jake said. “Is he still registered there?”

“He is,” James said. “Peter sent some men over to stake the place out this morning. He didn’t want us to miss him. He was seen leaving around ten. Unfortunately, he knew he was being tailed and he shook Sven in traffic on Gratiot.”

“So we know he’s here, but we have no idea where,” Jake said. “I don’t like this. If he knew he was being tailed that means he knows we’re on to him.”

“Maybe it was just a coincidence that he lost the tail,” Cara suggested. “We might still have the upper hand.”

“Cameron is too smart for that,” Jake said. “He knows.”

“Can I ask who this Peter guy is?” Cara asked. “I’ve heard you mention him before.”

“Peter Marconi,” Grady replied.

“Why does that name sound familiar?”

“He’s a local player in the Detroit mafia. He’s well known around these parts.”

Cara’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “And you guys work with him? How did that happen?”

“We don’t technically work with him,” James explained. “We’ve collaborated on a few things, and he’s provided protection in certain instances. We’re not involved with any of his business … ventures.”

“That’s really vague.”

“He’s Sophie’s foster father,” Grady said. “We do each other favors when it becomes necessary.”

“So you run drugs for him?”

“Absolutely not,” James said. “We don’t do anything illegal.”

“Does he do illegal things for you?”

James shrugged. “I guess that’s a matter of opinion. It’s safe to say he’s straddled certain lines for us.”

“But … .”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “It’s none of your business.”

“I’m sorry,” Cara said. “I thought we were all in this together.”

“We’re all in this together,” Jake said, gesturing between himself, Grady and James. “We’re letting you sit in on our meeting and putting you up in a hotel until this is all over with.”

“Then you’re getting out of our lives,” James said.

“You know, you guys are really full of yourselves,” Cara said. “You act like you have a say in what I do. I’m an adult. I make my own decisions. If I want to stick around here, I’ll stick around here.”

“You can stay in this area all you want,” James said. “You just won’t be interacting with any of us, and you especially won’t be going near any of the women in our lives.”

“Are your precious Mandy and Ally so insecure they can’t take a little competition?”

“You’re not competition,” James said. “As far as Mandy is concerned, she has no competition. Anywhere. Not ever.”

“Ally doesn’t either,” Jake said. “You can’t touch either of them. The faster you get that through your head, the faster we can handle Cameron and you’ll be out of our lives.”

Cara ran her tongue over her teeth as she regarded Jake and James with dark eyes. “This is like living in a soap opera. You two are walking around spouting platitudes to insipid women who offer nothing to society but shopping and whining. The young one, who can’t bother to come to work, is marrying a model – but only after he knocked her up.” She gestured toward Grady. “This one has hair like a super model and he struts around like he’s on a runway. It’s just so … stupid.”

James’ face was unreadable as he regarded Cara. “You’re out.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re out,” James repeated. “We’ll handle all the heavy lifting from here on out. You are obviously irritated by the way we do things, so it’s no longer your concern. Have a nice day.”

“I’m a part of this,” Cara said, tapping her foot irritably. “I was the one beaten. You wouldn’t even know about any of this if it wasn’t for me.”

“You can stay at the hotel where you’re safe,” James said. “We’ll email you updates. Once it’s safe to leave, you can just go. This is the last time any of us will be in the same room together.”

Cara turned to Jake, exasperated. “Do you want to correct him on that assumption?”

“No.”

“We’ve been friends for years.”

“We were never friends, Cara,” Jake said. “You were my subordinate, and I made a mistake by sleeping with you. I also put you in danger because I was obsessed with bringing Cameron down. That’s on me.

“Your behavior since coming to this town – my town – has been something out of a horror movie,” he continued. “Even when called on it, you have refused to adjust your attitude. The truth is, you’re holding us back now. I want Cameron eliminated as a threat as much as you do. I just don’t need you to do it.”

“And what happens if Cameron finds me?”

“Call the police.”

“You’re just cutting me out of your life?”

“You’ve never been a part of my life,” Jake said.

“I guess this is what you have to do to keep your whiny girlfriend happy,” Cara said. “When you get tired of kowtowing to her, you know where to find me.”

“That’s never going to happen, Cara,” Jake said. “I have what I want in my life. It’s impossible to get tired of it because I can’t live without it. You’ve been asked to leave. For once, do what’s best for everyone and just go.”

Cara stalked toward the front door, stopping long enough to cast one more derisive look over her shoulder. “You’re going to be sorry you did this. I can promise you that.”

“Somehow I doubt it,” James said. “Now go.”

ALLY
left the law office early in the afternoon, a perpetual smile on her face. She hadn’t stopped smiling since the previous afternoon. After days of heartbreak, it felt like things were back on track. Actually, they were better than ever.

Luckily for her, the attorneys she worked for didn’t expect a lot from her. She was supposed to smile at clients, make a few calls, and type when it was absolutely necessary. That was it. And since she’d spent the bulk of the day in a fog, they sent her home early. It was obvious she wasn’t going to be overly productive.

Ally’s phone dinged with an incoming call as she climbed in her car, and she answered it excitedly when she recognized who was calling. “Hi.”

“Hey, angel,” Jake said. “How is your day going?”

“I just got off work.”

“Aren’t you scheduled to be there for another two hours?”

“They said I could leave early.”

“Why?”

“Because I worked so hard I finished everything ahead of schedule,” Ally said.

“Well, you are diligent,” Jake said. “Why did they really let you leave early?”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

That was a delicate question, especially given everything that had transpired over the past few days. “I … .”

“I was just kidding,” Ally said. “They said my head was in the clouds and I wasn’t going to do anything but shop for shoes online anyway so I might as well go.”

Jake chuckled. “That sounds like my angel. What do you want to do about dinner tonight?”

“I don’t care. I’m easy.”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Jake teased. “I was thinking I would pick up Chinese and meet you at your house. I didn’t realize you were getting off early. I can leave in a few minutes and be there within the hour.”

“That sounds good,” Ally said. “I’ll start stripping as I drive. That way, I’ll be naked when I pull into the driveway.”

“That’s … a way to go,” Jake said.

“I thought that would excite you.” Ally was miffed.

“That does excite me, angel,” Jake said. “I just have one question.”

“What?”

“How are you going to get from your car to the house without anyone seeing you naked?”

“I don’t care what the neighbors see.”

“Well, I do,” Jake said. “I’d prefer not to have to beat anyone off with a stick tonight. Besides that, if you’re naked before we have dinner, we won’t eat. I happen to be starving.”

“I could probably make you forget about that.”

“I’m sure you could,” Jake said. “How about we compromise? We eat dinner together on the floor and then I’ll take your clothes off with my teeth. How does that sound?”

“I heard that,” James said in the background. “Don’t make me beat you bloody.”

“I can live with that,” Ally said.

“I have good news for you, by the way,” Jake said.

“What? Did you find Cameron Mitchell?”

“Kind of,” Jake said. “That’s not the good news, though.”

“I could use some good news.”

“I’ll tell you when we’re together,” Jake said. “I want to see your face when I tell you.”

“Well, now I’m excited to get home.”

“I can’t wait to see you,” Jake said. “Drive safe.”

“I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Ally pulled out of the law office, distracted by fantasies of the night she was about to have, and when a dark Suburban pulled up behind her she was only vaguely aware. Two blocks down the road, she stopped at a stop sign. The Suburban didn’t stop, instead plowing into the back of her car and jolting her forward.

“What the … ?”

Ally glanced in her rearview mirror, slamming the car into park and jumping out of the car. This was going to ruin her night. She just knew it.

The man who climbed out of the Suburban greeted her with profuse apologies. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you. I was distracted by my phone. I just looked down for a second. I swear.”

Ally scowled, studying the back of her car. It wasn’t totaled, but it was going to be in the shop for days. “I hope you’re insured.”

“Of course I’m insured,” the man said, moving closer. “You’re my insurance.”

“Excuse me?”

The man pulled a gun out of his coat and leveled it at Ally, his face shifting from amiable to menacing in a split second. “I need you to come with me, Ms. Hardy.”

Ally swallowed hard. “You’re Cameron Mitchell, aren’t you?”

The man smiled. “And you’re Jake Harrison’s girlfriend. Now, come with me.”