“How is Maria? Make sure you let her know that we’ll take care of her. Anything she needs. We owe that to Pete.” He ran his free hand through his hair in a gesture so familiar it made her heart ache. “There were times where I wouldn’t have been able to keep going without Pete. I remember once when a client strung me out on the final payment, Pete held off cashing his check for over a week until I could make good on it even though he and Maria couldn’t afford it any better than I could. Make sure you take care of her.”
“I will, Daddy. I’m going over there as soon as I leave here. I got tied up with the police last night, and she was gone by the time I got to the hospital. Bobby had taken her back to his place. I talked to him this morning. The family will all be at the house today.”
“Find out about the service. I want to be there to pay my respects.”
“Of course, Daddy,” she said, but inwardly she cringed. There was no guarantee he’d even remember who Pete was the day of the funeral or anyway to tell ahead of time how clear he would be.
“You said the police were there?” He waited for her to nod before continuing. “They don’t suspect anything other than an accident, do they?”
She swallowed hard. They’d gotten to the thing that troubled her most. “He fell from the sixth floor.”
Her father gasped, and she clung to his hand, needing him to stay present with her. To help her figure out what was going on.
“We’d gone over the plans earlier in the day.” She remembered Pete warning her about Luke and saying he wanted to look out for her like her father would if he was there, but she didn’t tell her daddy any of that. “The framers have been so slow on this job. They aren’t a Matthews subs. It’s an outside firm,” she said to clarify. “Anyway, it looked like they might actually finish on five in the next couple of days. Pete was going to move materials up and start to get ready for the rough-in.” As she spoke she pictured the bare concrete deck of the sixth floor and the window openings that had ultimately led to Pete’s death. Looking back, it didn’t make any more sense to her than it had last night. “The thing is,” she finally said. “There wasn’t any reason for him to be anywhere near those window openings.”
THERE WAS A soft rap on his door and Luke looked up from the same screen he’d been staring at for the past fifteen minutes. Between the feelings for Claire he was working hard to deny and the disaster at his jobsite, he’d lost his focus.
“Mr. Jackson is here to see you, sir,” said Luke’s assistant peering around the edge of his door.
“Thank you, Colin. Send him in.”
The door opened the whole way and Luke’s head of security entered wearing black slacks and a black shirt that managed to look like paramilitary wear even though Luke was fairly sure the slacks cost more than most uniforms.
“I’ve got the preliminary police report from the accident,” said Jackson, taking the seat opposite the desk Luke offered him. “There isn’t much to go on. If it wasn’t for the fact that there wasn’t any reason for Mr. Lester to be near the window or even the exterior wall for that matter, it would seem like a straight forward accident. That seems to be the direction the police are going with it although they did stop short of closing the case when I told them about the vandalism on Ms. English’s job like you asked me to. They will need to talk to her again and possibly you as well.”
“Do you think it was an accident?” Luke steepled his fingers and watched his head of security.
“I don’t have any reason to think it wasn’t. Not yet anyway,” said Jackson.
Luke nodded. “Point taken, but what do you think?”
“I think it’s strange that Ms. English’s property was vandalized the same week one of her men died on another jobsite. Aside from Ms. English herself, I haven’t found anything to connect the events but it’s an unusual coincidence and I don’t like coincidences. Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt her?”
The idea of anyone deliberately trying to hurt Claire made Luke’s blood run cold, and his hands fisted at his sides. He’d have to make sure she stayed with him and up the protection around her everywhere else. She’d bitch about it, but there was no way in hell he’d let anything happen to her. Fuck, he didn’t know how he’d live without her and he’d never let himself get in that position before. He did not do relationships, and he sure as hell didn’t fall in love. But something was happening between them and it had him twisted all the fuck up.
“Not to malign the Triad’s finest, but you’ll understand if I have more faith in your ability to get to the bottom of this.” He stared at Jackson and the other man met his gaze without flinching. “Use whatever resources you need but make sure she stays safe. She’ll spend nights at my place, but I can’t stop her from working on that damn house of hers. And I can’t trust her not to go there without me.”
She’d hate the additional security and balk at the expense, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He couldn’t work and worry about her at the same time.
“Of course,” said Jackson. “We’ve already got cameras installed at Ms. English’s property. Although I doubt you’ll have any more trouble there.”
“What makes you so sure of that?” Luke trusted Jackson with his life and his head of security had proved more than once to be worthy of that trust, but he couldn’t understand why the bastards who vandalized Claire’s flip house would stop there. Especially if things were connected and they ended up being responsible for Pete’s death.
“They know you’re together. Those pictures from the 609 West building opening in New York are all over the internet. They would likely assume that by now you’d have your own security in place. And they would be right,” he said with as close to a smile as Jackson ever gave. “I’ll add surveillance to her apartment as well and increase her security detail. It will be easier and more effective if we don’t have to hide what we’re doing from her, but we can do it either way. It’s up to you, sir.”
“Don’t hide. I can’t promise that she’ll cooperate, but your men don’t have to hide from her.” God, she was going to be pissed. Luke shook his head, already regretting everything about the idea. “Try to find out if the events are related and who’s responsible for Mr. Lester’s death. I want the responsible party found and dealt with as soon as possible.”
He just hoped Jackson eliminated the threat to Claire before the steps Luke was taking to keep her safe drove her away.
CLAIRE TOOK THE cup of coffee Beth, Pete’s daughter-in-law, offered her with a nod of thanks. Maria, Pete’s wife – God, widow now – sat on the sofa opposite her with her sons flanking her. They each kept a hand on their mother’s shoulder and Claire’s heart ached at the protective gesture.
Maria and Pete had all boys and the sweet Italian woman had always taken a special interest in Claire and whatever she had going on. She’d gushed over Claire’s prom pictures and when her mother passed away she’d stepped in as a sort of surrogate mother. The normally vivacious, outgoing woman sat like a shadow between her sons and Claire’s heart broke all over again for Pete’s loss.
It was such a complete and total waste and she still didn’t understand how it could have happened.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, feeling impotent in the face of such love and loss.
Maria nodded and reached for Claire’s hand, giving it a surprisingly strong squeeze.
