“Nice try, Princess. We aren’t leaving you to the tender care of a wet-behind-the-ears cop. But it does mean Gil will get to sleep tonight.”
“Gil’s my babysitter?”
“Gil’s one of a very small number of people I trust enough to stay with you while I go to sleep in another part of town when your life is being threatened,” Zane murmured against her ear. “I want to be there, but we both need sleep, and Gil will bully youinto going to bed as soon as you get home, while I would be okay with keeping you up for a while.”
He kissed the tip of her ear. Then her nose. Then placed the lightest of kisses on her lips.
“I want more time with you.” Tessa pressed her palm to his cheek. “We only have three more days before you go back to DC.”
Zane’s smile was so big, she could feel it under her hand. “I put in a request this afternoon, and it’s been approved. I’m staying through Wednesday of next week.”
“Seriously?”
“I can’t leave town without taking you on our first date.”
24
ZANE WALKED INTO THEOFFICEat 7:22 a.m. and found Tessa already at her desk. Gil came around the corner, saw Zane, and made a show of turning around. “I’ll go stand in another room for a little while. Someone let me know when I can come back.”
Tessa twisted in her chair to face him, and her expression was not one of welcome and affection.
“Tess?”
She turned back to her computer and pointed to her screen. “This man. He’ll be there Friday night.”
Zane rested one hand on her desk, one hand on the back of her chair, and leaned closer to look. A cold finger of trepidation traced his spine. “Is that ... Tyson Monteith?” The man had a reputation in political and business circles as a gatekeeper. If you wanted to get something done, or get yourself noticed, you went to Tyson Monteith. If he decided your proposal was worthwhile, he could utilize his vast array of connections to open doors that normally remained closed.
“Yes.” Tessa flipped to another photo. “This is Yancy McCloud.” Another photo appeared. “And this is Wheeler Meadows.”
She leaned back in her chair. “All three will be there on Friday.”She pointed to her list. “Monteith is attending alone. He was on my list. But after I saw him, I did a quick scan of the other photos. McCloud and Meadows are married and plan to attend with their wives. They were on Luke and Gil’s list.”
“Okay.” He had no idea what had Tessa so tweaked, but his sense of impending doom didn’t lessen.Father, whatever bomb she’s about to drop, give me the strength to handle the damage.
“Look carefully.” She returned to the photo of Tyson Monteith and zoomed in—not on his face, but on his hand.
And that’s when he saw the cuff link. Tessa clicked to the other photos. All three men wore the distinctive cuff links.
“These photos are two years old. They were taken at an event in DC. Which means it could have been any one of them. Or none of them. These are not the kind of men who hang out in hourly motels in bad parts of town. But right now, I think we have to assume that multiple members of this Janus society will be present, and any one of them could have been with me that night.”
He moved his hand to her neck and squeezed. “Tess.”
Tessa dropped her head. “I have to tell the others. Tonight. Even if these men weren’t there, it’s possible they know the truth about what happened that night. They might even recognize me.” Her voice held horror, despair, embarrassment, and shame. “I know I should have reported it when it happened. I ... I was a mess.”
Zane couldn’t disagree. She’d been hungover, confused, afraid, and so horrified by what had happened that it was hours before she would even make eye contact with him. Despite his encouragement, she refused to file a police report. Which left them with little to no information about who she’d been with. He traced circles on her neck with his thumb. “Have you remembered anything more?”
“Not really. Every now and then there’s a flash of something. A man in nice clothes. Not fancy. Nice as in expensive. High-endbrands but casual. A wealthy man in casual attire. But that does us no good. That could apply to every single male present at the event this weekend. Beyond that? Nothing. No hair color, eye color, build. Nothing.”
Zane had done his best to piece together the events of the evening, but the only thing they knew for sure was that she’d gone to Gino’s. The security cameras—which should have captured her movements, who she spoke to, and most importantly, who she left with—had malfunctioned that night. A fact Zane had always found to be all too convenient, despite the bartender’s assertion that the system was a piece of junk and was on the fritz more than it was functional.
“Can I make a suggestion?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“We were already planning to split up tonight—guys at Luke and Faith’s house, girls at your place. Leave the plans as they are. You tell the girls. I’ll tell the guys.” He pulled far enough away that he could massage the tight line of her neck.
“It was my mistake, Zane. My failure. My addiction. Why should you take on the responsibility of telling them?”
This probably wasn’t the best time to tell her there was a good chance Luke and Gil might throw a punch when they found out what he’d done—or more precisely, not done. Faith would be equally angry, but while she would never resort to physical violence against Tessa, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that she would punch him the next time she saw him.
