“Is that what you want to do?”Damien asked, leaning against her desk.
Berkeley slid him a glance and shrugged one shoulder.“I don’t know.I guess I feel like I’m just irrelevant.Anyone can do what I do.Seeing you guys go out and actually help others is inspiring.I never thought about it until Eve started working here.She’s just as badass as you guys are.”
“You’re badass, too, Berk.”
She snorted.“Not according to the boss.”
Damien exhaled roughly.“He’s wrong.You can do whatever you want to do.”
She offered him a small smile.“Thanks, D.”
Damien knocked on her desk, then let himself through the security door.He went to Montgomery’s office to let him know he was back, then pulled up a chair next to Jude.“Anything?”
Jude spared him a glance and shook his head.“Grant Pickens is squeaky clean.”
“Squeaky?”
“Squeaky.There’s no way he’s that clean,” Jude said.
“Why not?What makes you think it’s not real?”
“Everyone has something.A parking ticket, a jury summons, a failing grade, a complaint from work.He has nothing.”
“What does that mean then?”
“It means I don’t know if Grant Pickens is just a really good person or if that’s not his real name.”
“Whoa, seriously?I didn’t see that coming.”
“I haven’t found proof it’s a fake name, but you think there’s something there,” Jude said.“He’s been using the name for decades, so maybe it’s him and he didn’t have much of an online presence before he started his company, but I don’t know.”
“None of this makes any sense.”
“Why not?”Jude asked, clicking through a few more things on his screen as Damien collected his thoughts.
“I thought for sure we’d find something.That it would be an easy answer, but I feel like we’re missing something.”
“Maybe what we’re missing is that Grant Pickens is exactly who he says he is.Maybe he is that good of a man.”Jude said what Damien was thinking.Jude spun to look at Damien.
Damien tried not to scowl.He didn’t have a problem being wrong, but he rarely was.He trusted his gut because it hadn’t let him down many times in the past.What was he missing?
“Can I offer a perspective?”Jude asked.
Damien nodded, curious to know what his partner thought.
“What if you’re projecting?”
“Projecting?What do you mean?”
Jude sucked in a breath.“Harmony wasn’t on your radar before she witnessed the break-in, right?You said the coffee shop she was in is your favorite one.You’ve likely been there at the same time countless times in the past.”
“What are you getting at?”
Jude shrugged.“Maybe you’re seeing Grant Pickens as competition for a woman you only recently noticed.”
“No.Hell no.She’s not interested in him.”
“Doesn’t mean he’s not interested in her.He can offer her a lot more than the reward he already gave her.He can pay off her loans and get her into a new apartment and probably give her around the clock protection if she wanted it.What can you do?”
