Lina frowned. “How do you know he snores?”
“We slept together last night,” she said as she left the kitchen and headed to the front door. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.I’m gonna go visit Saige at the store then visit the library before your great-nephew comes by to pick me up.”
She smiled as she exited the building amid Lina’s shocked silence. She’d just initiated what she knew would be another shitstorm for the sheriff as she headed in the direction of Saige’s shop, preparing to fight for a ghost with a level of determination she wished someone could’ve fought for her.
Santiago imagined walking up behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and choking her out until she went limp. When she came to, she’d find herself locked in the office at his house, bound but not gagged because he needed her to solve the mystery of Bailey Joe’s accounting. It was the least she could do after forcing him to defend himself against allegations of taking advantage of “that poor child” who was “just trying to find peace in a world that has mistreated her.” He should’ve known something was wrong when his aunt and Audrey walked into his office, their pleasantries lulling him into a false sense of security before accusing him of taking advantage of Lauren’s vulnerabilities.
Like she had any!
Putting context to Lauren declaring to his aunt that they’d slept together was the only way he got the two older women off his ass. And after his exchange with Anderson, Lauren was quickly eroding all the goodwill he’d felt toward her after she’d made him breakfast.
He didn’t want to be like so many others in this town, but he needed her.
There was something off about some of the notations between what was in the paperwork he found in Bailey Joe’soffice, what was on the city controller’s computer, and what was public record. But like Santiago, Bailey Joe’s staff didn’t have the knowledge to make heads or tails of it.
He knew she did.
She had undergrad degrees from UC Berkeley in business management and marketing, and post grad degrees that included an MBA in forensic accounting as well as her CFA.
It was amazing she could have all that knowledge but not one lick of sense.
A knock at his door pulled him from his thoughts. Roan entered his office and closed the door behind her. He half expected her to say something on behalf of the hellion, but Roan was a professional, one of the only ones who had the good sense to remember this was a place of business.
“Hey League, Dalton is asking for you.”
He nodded.
“Take him to room two, but I want you on the other side of the wall; no one else enters. This is a me-and-you investigation until I say otherwise.”
“Yes sir,” she turned and paused.
He tensed again.
“You give any more thought to reaching out to Sonny?”
Santiago closed his eyes and rolled his neck, rubbing his forehead as if that would make the tension headache go away.
“He needs us, League, and we need him. Too much is off here, and you need more people you can trust if we’re going to truly bring Shrouded Lake back.”
Could he really afford to trust Sonny Te Awa again?
“Text me his number. I’ll give him a call this evening.”
When she didn’t move to open the door, he stopped in front of her.
“Is there something else, Deputy?”
“You really sleep with Lauren?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked several times.
“I get it, you two actually work somehow, but be careful. She may be running now, but she’s got a whole life back in California. She’ll heal and she’ll move on. Just remember that.”
He flattened his emotions as he looked down at her. The navy had been criminally brutal with Roan when she’d enlisted, but she’d proven to be better than most of the men he’d served with, the most skilled tracker he knew. Though she wasn’t a SEAL, he’d made her a part of his special ops team and never regretted it.
Re-entry to civilian life had been hard for Roan, but when he’d needed help up here, she was the first person he called. Within two days she’d packed her life in her go bag and reported for duty in Shrouded Lake. Within the last year she’d been able pull herself back from the other side, bury roots, and find herself again. He knew that’s what she wanted for their old teammate Sonny Te Awa.
“You of all people know better than to listen to gossip, Roan.”
