Honor’s Edge Investigations Office
Nate hadn’t missedthe looks everyone had given him when he’d been asked to be dropped off at Honor’s Edge on the way to court.Maybe the desire to get his trucknowwas a little see-through, but he wasn’t sure he cared.
Especially when Landon pulled his truck behind the Honor’s Edge building, and it wasn’t just his truck and Sam’s shitty car in the lot.It was a car Nate didn’t recognize.But he didn’t need to recognize it, because he recognized the man standing with Sam at the back door.
Detective Jake Hayes.
It didn’t do anything for his already shitty mood.
“Oh no.The police?Did something happen?”Aly asked with concern.
“Hell if I know,” Nate grumbled and shoved out of the truck.
He tried to keep the anger out of his expression.He’d been good at that.Once.
It was failing him today.And he didn’t know quite who he was mad at.Hayes was probably questioning Sam for somethingwork relatedand thus this was all aboveboard andfine.
But why were they in thebackof the office?
And how was that any of his concern?
“Everything okay?”he demanded harshly.
The detective looked at Sam.“You didn’t tell him?”
Sam pursed her lips.“Wasn’t something I wanted to discuss over the phone.”She waved at the truck where Aly had rolled down the window.“You can all go on ahead.It was nothing.You don’t want to be late.”
“Then why’s a detective here?”Cal asked from his rolled-down window in the back.
Sam’s expression remained neutral, but her gaze flicked from the truck to Nate.“Someonemaybetried to break in.But they didn’t get very far.Detective Hayes is going to look into it.But whoever tried didn’t get past this outer door.”She gestured at it.“So it’s no big deal.”
“And when was this?”
She didn’t respond right away.Instead, she pursed her lips together then took a few steps toward Landon’s truck.“You guys should go.We can talk about it at the lunch recess, but really.It was nothing.”
Nate scowled at her, but when Landon looked to him—almost like he was asking for permission—Nate didn’t know what to do but nod.They should go on.
He’d handle whatever the fuck this was.Once the truck started driving away, Nate repeated himself.Not at all hiding the anger bubbling inside him.“When did this happen, Sam?”
She sighed.“When I got back last night, I noticed the door was ajar.”
“Why the hell didn’t you call me then?”Nate demanded.
She didn’t immediately jump to defensiveness like he expected.She had that…blankabout her that he wished he could access right now.And it gave him the very uncomfortable feeling that he trotted out hisblankquite a bit, and the people around him probably didn’t know how to access it either.
“Because I called the police.A deputy came out right away, searched the place.We determined the intruder hadn’t gotten very far when they realized there was a security camera.So, whoever did it gave up and ran.The police searched the place.It was safe.”She nodded at the silent detective.“Detective Hayes came out this morning to ask a few more questions and look at my security footage to investigate.”
“And?”
The detective rocked back on his heels.Nate figured he didn’t like being talked to like he was somehow in the middle of this, when he was only doing his job.
But when Hayes spoke, his words were a clear, concise, professional recitation of facts.
“To the naked eye, the camera caught someone, but we can’t make out a face just yet.I took some prints, and I’ll be running them through the system.”He turned to Sam.“Hopefully, I’ll have some answers for you tonight, Sam.”
Nate didn’t miss the way he was cut out of that equation.
“Don’t you have to be at the trial?”Sam asked the detective.
