But staying focused hadn’t been easy. Not when every time he closed his eyes, he saw Harper’s stricken face.So that’s what this was all about. You’re using me to get information on my father.
Harper was way more important to him than just a means to an end. Important enough that he would force himself to stay away from her. That he would give her up in order to protect her.
He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. At the sound of a solid knock, he opened them to see Bran striding up to the desk, his expression grim.
His brother frowned. “You look like crap.”
“Thanks.”
“Dammit, I know how rough this has been on you. How are you holding up?”
“I’ve been better. What’s going on?”
“Zach just called. Harper went to see her dad. She told him the two of you were finished. Zach said it was a very convincing performance.”
“It’s easy to be convincing when you’re telling the truth.”
Bran ran a hand along his hard jaw. “You knew from the start seeing Harper would likely be a problem.”
“Yeah, just not the kind of problem it turned out to be. What about the device? Did she tell Winston about the bottle of scotch?”
“No. At least not yet.”
“I wouldn’t blame her if she did.”
“She still might. The thing is, bro, Harper cares about you. She doesn’t want anything to happen to you. She’s trying to work things out, figure out what to do.”
“I know.”
“I said you should stay away from her, but I’m thinking maybe I was wrong. Maybe you should talk to her, try to explain.”
Chase leaned back in his chair. “She won’t see me. I used her. She won’t be able to get past that.”
Bran didn’t argue. They both knew it was true.
“You think Winston will call off his dogs?” Bran asked.
“Hell, I don’t have any idea. I’ll keep an eye out, just in case.”
“I’ll stay close for a couple of days. You never know what a guy like that will do.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Too bad,” Bran shot over his shoulder as he headed back out the door.
Chase didn’t see him for the rest of the day, but his brother had an uncanny ability to be around and at the same time invisible.
The afternoon dragged. Chase had a meeting with Jonah Wolfe about the homicide case he was working, listened to a funny story about Maddox wearing his white shirt backward, pretending to be a preacher to go in for an arrest on a bail skip he’d been tracking.
Late in the afternoon, Chase went back to work on the Dickerson file, then drove his Dodge pickup out to Richardson to see Tabitha Love. Mostly an excuse to get out of the office.
Parking in front of her small redbrick house, he walked up and knocked on the door. He had phoned ahead so Tabby was expecting him.
“Hey, Chase, come on in.” The small silver hoop in her eyebrow winked as she stepped back to invite him in. Today her nose ring was missing.
He wiped his boots before stepping onto the brown shag carpet in a living room decorated with thrift store furniture that had seen better days. Tabby wasn’t much on interior design.
Chase followed her down the hall into her home office, where she spent every dollar she earned. Floor-to-ceiling computers and high-tech equipment lined the walls, lights flashing, screens lit up.
