“Speaking of keeping things from people,” Darwin said.“I should probably mention I called Wes and asked him to have Kyla dig up everything she could find on Arthur, Silas, Harold, and Upton.I know Upton was your friend in high school, but I still think it’d be a good idea to check him out.”
Part of Katrina wanted to deny Upton could ever be involved in anything nefarious.That it wasn’t in his personality.But after the way he’d behaved the past two days, Katrina had to admit maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought.
“I don’t understand why we didn’t hear a gunshot last night,” she said.“We weren’t that far away from where Arthur got killed.”
“Whoever did it must have used a silencer.”
“Huh.I didn’t realize you could use a silencer on a rifle.”But it made sense.“If Upton did it, though, wouldn’t he have had the rifle on him when we saw him?”
“He could have stashed it somewhere, and then gone back to get it.”
“I suppose.But wouldn’t it have been easier to use a handgun then?”
“Agreed.”
Katrina sighed.“I feel horrible for agreeing with you about Upton, but if Kyla’s checking out the others, she might as well look into him, too.”
Katrina had met Darwin’s Teammate, Wes Marshall, and his girlfriend, Kyla Wells, a few months ago when Talia and Lennox had gotten involved in rescuing a kidnapped nanny.Kyla worked for Navy Intelligence and was one of the best hackers in the country.If anyone could figure out who was involved in Arthur’s murder, it would be Kyla.
“What are you expecting Kyla to find?”she asked, loading her fork with some risotto, not sure she really wanted to know.“I mean, it’s not like any of them are going to list trained assassin on their resumé.”
“I have no idea what she’ll find,” Darwin admitted.“If nothing else, she’ll be able to figure out where I’ve seen Silas and Harold before.Then we’ll go from there.”
Katrina thought that plan seemed a bit optimistic, but it was probably the only thing they could do, since it wasn’t like she could approach Rhett again and ask him what the hell was really going on.Asking her dad would be a waste of time, too.Neither of them was ever going to tell her anything.
For a moment, she wondered if Kyla should look into Rhett and her father, too.But she quickly dismissed that idea.They might like money more than the average person and be willing to do almost anything to make it, but she refused to believe they were capable of murder.
“Tell me more about your family,” she said, desperate to focus on something other than the fact that Rhett and her father might not be the people she thought they were.
Darwin must have read her mind because he launched into a story about the time Newton convinced him to sit out in the middle of the woods holding an aluminum foil tray full of raw meat, because his oldest brother wanted to study the behavior of foxes, only to attract a family of black bears instead.
“On the bright side, that was the day I learned I could climb a tree faster than a bear,” he added with a chuckle.
Katrina laughed, unable to help it.“I’m just glad you were okay!”
Darwin regaled her with more stories, each one wilder than the one before, making her laugh the whole time they were enjoying dessert, a decadent chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce.
As they walked hand-in-hand across the lobby toward the stairs an hour later, Katrina caught sight of Rhett talking to Silas in the far corner of the atrium, sitting at a small table near some potted plants and a water feature.
“What do you think that’s all about?”Darwin murmured.
As they watched, Rhett got up and stormed off, leaving Silas sitting there, a panicked expression on his face.A moment later, Silas got up and went in the opposite direction.
“Who knows?”Katrina said as she and Darwin stepped onto the elevator.“Let’s forget about Rhett and whatever the heck he has going on and focus on the amazing evening we had.It was the perfect third date, and I had a wonderful time.”
“Third date, huh?”Darwin chuckled.“I wasn’t aware you were keeping track.Not that I’m an expert, but didn’t this afternoon’s marathon session of games count as our third date?”
Katrina considered that.“Dates have to involve a certain level of privacy, so this afternoon didn’t count.”
Darwin nodded.“Makes sense, I guess.”
Stopping in front of his room, Darwin unlocked the door and opened it, then stepped back so Katrina could walk in ahead of him.As he closed the door behind them, she turned and draped her arms around his neck.“Best date ever.”
He rested his hands on her hips, gently tugging her closer.“I agree.”
With that, he lowered his head to capture her lips, making her moan in delight.One hand settled on her butt, fitting her to his body until it was impossible to miss the fact that he was hard.
She sighed against his mouth, seriously considering bringing up the well-known three-date ruleas justification before heading for whichever one of their beds was the closest.But in the end, she decided to hold off a little longer.Things were going unbelievably well with him, but they had the entire week to do this.There was no reason she couldn’t take her time and enjoy the anticipation.
