“Like I said. Trevor’s my partner. It’s not like that.”
Kathy nodded but didn’t seem convinced. “We’ll see.”
Alina closed the door and turned to find that Molly had hopped up on the couch and assumed her normal comfy position to one side of the cozy sectional. But this time, instead of staring at the TV waiting for Alina to turn it on, her fur baby was staring intently at both of them, apparently waiting to see what was going to happen next. Alina had to admit, she was curious about that, too.
Trevor walked over to meet her as she crossed the living room, and for a second, she thought her partner was going to sweep her into his arms. But instead, he stopped a few paces short and nodded toward the door.
“I should be going, too. I have to get up early to make it up here in time to pick you up and get us to work on time.”
She was confused for a moment, not sure what he meant by that. Then she remembered her car was still down at the DCO training complex in Quantico, nearly an hour away. Crap, she’d completely forgotten that.
“You sure you don’t might driving up here to pick me up in the morning?” she asked. “The traffic coming north will suck if you’re not here early.”
He grinned and took a step closer, and suddenly, the possibility of a kiss coming her way was back on the menu.
“I don’t mind,” he said softly. “Something tells me I’m not going to get a lot of sleep tonight anyway.”
Her breath caught at the implication in his words. She guessed he’d been having more than a few unprofessional thoughts of his own this evening. For some insane reason, that made her happy.
She licked her lips, ready for what she was sure was coming next, when Trevor’s damn cell phone rang.
Crap, if they were interrupted one more time, she was going to scream.
Trevor growled as he pulled out his phone. He glanced at the number, frowning as he answered it.
“Hold on a second,” Trevor said. “Alina’s with me. Let me put you on the speaker.”
A moment later, Seth Larson’s voice came over the phone. “You gave me your number and said I should call if I needed to. Well…I needed to.”
“What’s wrong?” Alina asked. “Is Cody okay?”
“Yeah, he’s okay, just a little freaked out. Earlier tonight, some thugs from the DCO came to visit. They were real assholes, asking me all kinds of questions regarding what you and I talked about, what I’d seen that morning, who else I might have talked to.”
“What’d you tell them?” Trevor asked.
“As little as possible. I mentioned you guys thought I might have seen something the morning of the bombing, but I told them I didn’t see anyone. I didn’t even bring up the employee photos you sent to me. I kind of got the feeling you wouldn’t want me to say anything about it.”
“That’s good,” Trevor said. “Did Cody have a problem with them being there?”
On the other end of the line, Seth sighed. “Yeah. They got a little physical with me, and Cody didn’t handle it well. It took two hours to calm him down.”
“I’m sorry, Seth,” Trevor said, his jaw tightening in anger. “I didn’t intend for any of this to come back on you.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. We’ll be okay. The only thing that bothered me is that they showed up at my place. How did those guys know you’d come to see me?”
Trevor looked at Alina. “I’m not sure, Seth. I guess the information must have fallen into the wrong people’s hands.”
Alina winced. It was obvious Trevor had a good idea where those thugs had gotten their information. She’d told Dick, and Dick had sent some goons down there to check out her story. She hadn’t told Dick anything specific, but it had been enough to put Seth Larson on the man’s radar.
She was angry at herself, but more than anything else, she was disappointed. It sucked knowing she was the reason those men had shown up and scared Cody. And it double sucked that Trevor, a partner she’d been getting closer to by the minute, was looking at her like she’d betrayed him.
“Hey, before you get the impression that it’s all dark clouds and spilt milk,” Seth added in a lighter tone, “I also called you to say I talked to that friend of yours. He lined me up some pretty cool IT work. He’s even going to come in and set up a home office with a secure computer network for me. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal, so I just wanted to say thanks. I really appreciate it.”
Trevor’s mouth edged up. “I’m glad to hear that. If anyone has earned the right for something good to happen in their life, it’s you.”
Seth didn’t think that was true, but he said he wasn’t going to turn down the job offer regardless. “I’m too desperate to stand on principle.”
They talked for another minute or two, then Seth hung up after promising to let them know if anyone else from the DCO showed up. Alina expected Trevor to immediately ask her who the hell she’d told about Seth. He had every right to. She’d screwed up.
