He kissed her as he pushed her aside and grabbed the handle. She saw his jaw clench and his hand tighten just before she heard a slight pop and he pulled the door open.
"After you, my lady."
She kissed his cheek as she passed. "It's handy having a dragon around."
"That little boost of added strength comes in handy."
She strolled around the suite, which was actually more like an apartment. "Nothing like living the rich life."
Colton stopped at the kitchen counter. "Or living the rich life on someone else's dime."
"What do you mean?"
He held up a credit card. "In the name of one Ellie Dampier."
She hurried over to him. "Excuse me?" She grabbed the card to examine it. "This is not one of my cards, not that I ever let Nita take my plastic. And that is not my signature on the back."
It was laying on top of the room reservation. "That lady downstairs would have been mortified if you had actually given her your name."
"Why?" Ellie read over his shoulder. "The room is in my name for the benefit of Nita. I wish I had known that before I ordered all that food and charged it to myself."
Colton laughed at her. "If you had just asked, the front desk would have just given you a key."
A satchel sat on one of the shelves in the living room. Ellie grabbed it and brought it to the table where she popped it open. Several files were inside, and her name was on most of them. She pulled out the one that was labeled "house." Her eyes widened as she scanned through the documents.
"What is it?"
She shook her head as she thumbed through the other files. "Identity theft? Blackmail?" She held up the files. "The deed to my house, with a new deed signing it over to Nita. My bank account information. My savings bonds. My stock portfolio. All with places for me to sign giving it to Nita."
Colton scanned the documents. "It's like she's trying to be you."
Ellie slumped down in a chair. "Is this really about petty jealousy? Petit theft?"
"With your money, it's more like grand larceny."
"I'm being serious. I've been best friends with a woman who has obviously been collecting all of my information to take over my life."
"What about your boss?" Colton corrected himself. "Ex-boss. The CEO guy. Where does he play into all this?"
"He's a leech." Ellie exhaled loudly. "He tries to bang every new actress that comes along, me included." She glanced up at him. "Don't worry. I turned him down cold. He hated me after that, and I don't think he's said two words to me in years." She shook her head. "Maybe I hurt his little ego more than I thought. Nita always thought he was hot, but she wasn't an actress so he wouldn't...."
She stopped and looked at Colton. "You don't think?"
"Sounds like maybe you just figured it out for yourself."
Ellie shoved everything back in the satchel. "I'm taking this with us so I can go to the State Attorney's office. Maybe if we sift through all of it, we can figure out who she's working with."
"What do you mean?"
"It wasn't her that I saw the day my car blew up. A guy ran out of my house while I hid in the woods. It wasn't Phil. He's just a flunky that she charmed when she got here. And the guy was too small to be Jack. I don't want to confront Nita until I have a pretty good idea who her cohort is."
Colton motioned for the door. "Let's get out of here before they get back."
He yanked the door open and froze. Ellie bumped into him before she realized that there was a gun pointed in his face. She stepped back and locked eyes with Nita.
"Are you proud of yourself?" Ellie couldn't help herself. The betrayal ran deep. "How could you? You were my best friend."
"Oh, my God. Will you shut the hell up?" Nita forced them back into the suite. "Do you know how hard it was being your bestie and listening to you whine for all this time? I'm not pretending one more minute."
