“The detectives should rule it out anyway. Maybe that’s why someone broke into my apartment, to look for POA or trust documents. Do you know if I had anything like that?”
“I don’t think so. You never really showed much interest in it. I can ask Mike if you’ve been in contact with him at all since you left, but I think he would have mentioned that already.”
“All right. Well, if someone did get documents from my place, they would presumably go to Mike next. I’m sure he knows to be on the lookout for someone trying to make a claim?”
“Yes, of course. Also, the wording of the trust locks it up airtight. Even if you’d been married and divorced or married and died, your spouse would have no claim to any of it. I only mention that because Colton said the man asked about scenarios involving engagements and marriage. So, if someone’s trying to work that angle, they don’t have a prayer.”
“Okay. Thanks for the info. That might explain the man at the hospital claiming to be my husband. I’ll let the detectives know after we hang up.”
Her dad agreed to text Colton’s contact information, and after she hung up with her father and received the text containing Colton’s phone number, she called and left a message with the detectives. It was something anyway. Better than any informationshe’dcome up with.
Funny, but she was more worried about how to fix things with Jake than she was about the possibility of someone trying to steal her money and kill her. How twisted was that?
After mulling over possible solutions, she decided pretending last night never happened was the way to go. She’d been the one to seduce him. She’d been the one to say she wanted to go for it. The whole let’s-get-together thing was pretty one-sided as far as she could tell, and if she just kept her mouth shut about it, he probably would, too.
Commitment obviously scared the crap out of him, he’d admitted as much, and after talking with him about the accident he’d investigated the other day, she thought she might know one reason.
Jake had a hard job. She was sure some parts were physically taxing, but she’d never really given any consideration to the emotional side of things he had to deal with—all the blood and death and pain. Between the accidents and the bad guys, he saw the worst of the world, and that would make anyone cynical.
That could be the reason he kept to himself and didn’t have a spouse or girlfriend. Maybe he thought it was too much for someone to be burdened with, so he never let anyone get close. And seeing a dead person who looked just like you? That would freak anyone out. Who knew what was going through his head over that? Well, she wouldn’t push him. He was going way out of his way to help her, and she’d be damned if she’d have him feeling awkward in his own house.
Decision made, she got comfortable on the couch and began a thorough search of her phone and files for any information about that damn down payment money.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
What the hell was he doing? It was Saturday night, and Jake sat on a barstool, nursing a beer at one of his favorite stomping grounds, The Boardroom.
For a guy who spent a lot of time in bars, there weren’t really too many he liked. He avoided the dark, rundown dives. The kind with harsh music and cheap liquor. Those were filled with people cutting loose on the weekend and trying to get hammered as expeditiously as possible. He also didn’t like the ritzy, upscale ones that played classical music and overcharged for watered-down drinks. Those were where the rich folk hung out, sipping extra dry martinis and chortling at each other’s lame jokes.
He liked a happy medium—strong drinks, good music, and a wide variety of clientele. The Boardroom fit the bill perfectly. It was huge, so if he ever needed to avoid a past encounter or escape altogether, he could easily blend into the crowd and disappear. It had a dance floor and live bands on the weekends. There were booths, stand-up tables, and, of course, a long, long bar that stretched the length of the place. On the weekends, it took at least ten bartenders to keep everyone happy.
He’d been too afraid to go home and face the situation with Hannah, so after his racquetball game with Sam, he hung out at Sam’s for a while and then showered at his place in town. Now he was here, still avoiding Hannah. So, what was he doing? Hiding like a baby, that’s what.
Hannah said she wanted a relationship with him. Jake knew better. Knew that wasn’t true and why it wasn’t true, but still didn’t tell her. What had started as a lie of omission was quickly becoming a real, big, fat lie. He knew he should fess up and tell her the real reason she’d dumped him, but deep down, he wanted to believe that maybe she would still want a relationship, even once she remembered what had turned her off about him.
Surprisingly, the idea didn’t completely freak him out. In the last week or so, he’d given more than just a passing thought to giving it a go. He wasn’t nearly good enough for Hannah, but did he really want to spend the rest of his life bringing home strangers? Maybe it was time to grow up, pull on his big-boy pants, and act like a man.
Since his father had passed when he was eleven, he’d never really had a father figure in his life. Sam had done his best, but was no substitute for the real thing. Instinctively, Jake knew a man wasn’t supposed to just use women for sex and move on, yet that’s what his life had become.
Glancing around the bar, he took a pull of his beer, and noticed everyone seemed very young. Or was it that he’d gotten older? Thirty-five was pretty old to be out doing the bar scene. Most guys his age were married and even had a kid or two. He was way behind on the get-your-life-together meter. Could it be time to settle down? Could Hannah be the one that made him want to?
He wasn’t sure what love looked like, but he thought he might be falling for Hannah. The thought of her around every day didn’t freak him out. The thought of not being with any other woman didn’t send him into a panic. And the thought of going to sleep next to her every night actually had him excited. Was that love?
He’d have to tell her the truth and then convince her he’d changed. Hehadchanged. A little anyway. The idea of going to the bar no longer held the appeal it once had. If he was being honest, it had lost its allure a long time ago. Right about the time he and Hannah went out. That’s when he’d lost his zeal for meaningless sex.
“Hey, Jake. I’m not sure you remember me. My name’s Liz.” At the tap on his shoulder, he turned to see a petite blond woman and her timid-looking friend.
He hadn’t remembered her name, but he remembered the tight tank top she’d been wearing and taking her home several months ago for some damn good sex.
“Of course, Liz. How have you been?” He hoped she wasn’t back for seconds. He wasn’t here to get laid. Hm, he never thought he’d say that.
“Good. Good. Hey, I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Gwen. Her boyfriend cheated on her. They recently broke up, and she’s pretty bummed. I was thinking you could show her your patrol car.” She raised an eyebrow.
Good God. Did he use that pickup line so often that he’d inadvertently made it a euphemism for sex? And hearing it used like that, he realized how lame it sounded. Come see my patrol car? That was the best he could come up with?
He decided to play dumb. “Oh, sorry, but my patrol car’s not at my place.”
“Well, maybe you could show her something else?”
