“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Horrified, she held up both hands, palms out, and waved him to silence. “Thanks but no thanks. I appreciate the thought, but that is not going to work.”
“Why not?”
She lowered her hands. “You said it yourself a few minutes ago. We’re a team. We’re going to have to work this thing together. You don’t stand much of a chance of finding that lab book, let alone breaking the code, without my help. And I need you to track down the blackmailer. Let’s face it. Finding out that my stepbrother is under a lot of pressure to come up with that book really put the icing on the cake, didn’t it? I’m in this thing up to my neck now, and there’s nothing either of us can do about it except see it through.”
He looked at her for a long time.
“Do you always get to the bottom line this fast?” he asked finally.
“Believe me, if there were viable options, I’d be running for the exit by now. You need me, Sam Coppersmith. And I need you.”
He raised his brows. “Like I said, we’re stuck together.”
She smiled. “Well, we do have Newton.”
Sam looked at Newton. “Good point.”
Bored, Newton trotted into the kitchen and began to slurp water out of his bowl.
Abby walked across the room to stand directly in front of Sam. “But I can’t think of anyone else I would rather be stuck with in this situation.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Absolutely certain,” she said.
“Okay,” he said. He stroked her cheek with the back of the finger on which he wore the fire-red crystal. “I agree we’re in this together. But I’m not changing my plans. We’re going to Copper Beach.”
“Why?”
“We need a secure base of operations. Copper Beach is built like a fortress. Most of your work is done online, right?”
“Well, yes.”
“Looks like a lot of my work will be done that way, too.”
“You’re going to try to find Dawson’s major investor, aren’t you?”
“It’s a solid lead. Worth pursuing.”
“I can’t just walk away from my life here in Seattle. Among other things, I need to put in an appearance at my father’s book-launch event. That’s on Friday night. He’s giving a talk and signingFamilies by Choice.There will be media. Dad has made it clear that it’s very important that the whole family show up.”
“You’re not going into exile. You’re just going to Copper Beach. We can get back here for the book-signing event.”
She looked around, searching for other excuses not to leave her new home.
“All of my stuff is here,” she whispered. Okay, that sounded excessively juvenile. She squared her shoulders. “But you’re right. No reason I can’t leave for a while. Like going on vacation, right?”
He smiled. “That’s one way to look at it.”
“Newton will enjoy the country. He loves to visit Thaddeus because he can run around in the woods.” She turned toward the bedroom. “I’ll go pack.”
She was in the process of folding her nightgown, the lacy new one that she had bought on impulse and had been saving for some special occasion that had never seemed to come, when she heard the chimes that told her she had new email.
She put the nightgown into the small suitcase and picked up her phone. She recognized the code instantly. For no good reason, a chill of apprehension iced her senses.
“Thaddeus,” she said softly.
She opened the email and read the brief, cryptic note. She hurried out into the living room. “We need to see Thaddeus right away. He says he wants to talk to both of us in person. Something about an auction for the lab book.”
