“So how much are we going to tell him?” Sherlock asked.
“We’ll show him the treasure and where you found it,” Dot replied. “Lucas thinks Lee is double-crossing us, and has seduced Nhiari, so they’ll need to hint at that.”
Nhiari grimaced. “I can hear his comments already.”
“Maybe he won’t say anything,” Lee said. “If he doesn’t want you thinking too hard about our relationship, it’s in his best interest to let you continue to be seduced by me.” He winked at her, trying to make her feel better, not wanting her to second-guess their relationship.
“If he’s playing his part as lead investigator right, he’ll want evidence from you that you’ve turned,” Sherlock said. “Won’t he demand information about Stonefish? You’ll need to tell him enough to get him off your back, but not too much that will actually threaten Stonefish’s set up.”
It was going to be a very fine line to tread. “Maybe I can get him to interview me alone,” Lee said. “He won’t want civilians present, and if his past behaviour is any indication, he won’t want Nhiari and Dot present either.” And if he could get Rodney in the lounge, the listening device he’d planted months ago would record all of their discussion.
“He’ll want to see all the treasure.” Nhiari gave a pointed look at the bag on the table. “Do we want him to know where it’s kept?”
“No,” Dot responded.
Lee got to his feet. “Want me to wait in the lounge again?”
Dot nodded.
He left the room, moving as quickly as he could without arousing suspicion so he could check the bug he’d planted in the lounge before Nhiari followed him in. As he entered the room, he glanced over his shoulder. Nhiari was still talking to the others. Quickly he ran his hand underneath the coffee table. Yeah, it was still there. He sat as Nhiari entered the room.
She played with the tail of her braid, a sure sign she was stressed. “What’s wrong?”
Surprise danced across her face. “Nothing.”
“You’re playing with your hair.”
She looked down at her hand as if unaware of what she was doing. She released the braid and sighed. “I don’t want to see Rodney’s rat-like face again. I don’t want to deal with him. He makes me doubt myself and feel deeply insecure.”
He pulled her down to the couch with him and wrapped his arms around her. “You are an excellent police officer,” he said.
“Am I?” she said. “Rodney’s going to have a field day with ourrelationship.” She pushed him away. “He’ll make me feel inferior, he’ll question my loyalties and say I have no right to be an officer if I’m so easily manipulated.” There was pure misery in her eyes. “And worse yet, he won’t be saying anything I haven’t already thought myself.”
Shit. His stomach twisted in knots. He had made her feel like this and there wasn’t anything he could say to help her. “I’m making this extremely difficult for you,” he said. “But for what it’s worth, this thing between us is real to me.” He squeezed her hand. “If I had a choice, I would want to spend my life with you, Nhiari.” He hesitated. This might be the last chance he had to be alone with her. He sighed and then said the words that had been in his heart since the night they’d gone on their date. “I love you.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she stood, pacing away. “I can’t. Not until this is all over.”
“I know.” As much as it pained him, he understood.
But at least she knew the truth.
By the time Bennett barked announcing Rodney’s arrival, Nhiari was a bundle of nerves. She left the kitchen where they’d been waiting since Brandon and his friends had fetched the rest of the treasure and stalked down to the lounge to get a hold of herself.
Nhiari shook the nerves out of her arms and exhaled, counting to ten. She could handle anything Rodney threw at her. She had all the way through the police academy where he’d made it his mission to belittle her and make things difficult.
Now she was a senior constable, she’d been working for over ten years and was damned good at her job.
But the one way he could get to her was through Lee. She doubted herself with him, and it would be an easy attack point. She would have to convince Rodney that she was using Lee, not the other way around.
The thought settled her. She took another breath and returned to the kitchen as Rodney was walking up the steps to the verandah.
Dot raised her eyebrows in question, and Nhiari nodded. She had this.
Dot opened the door. “Thanks for coming out.”
Rodney grunted. “You didn’t give me a choice.” He scanned the room and his eyes widened as he spotted Lee sitting between Sam and Sherlock. “What’s he doing here?”
Rodney’s puffed up chest and incredulity was convincing. Perhaps Lucas hadn’t been in touch with him to say Lee was at the Ridge.
