“She has a point,” Chief Warwick said, breaking the odd moment. “Again, not hard evidence, but something that doesn’t fit the picture.”
Lovell’s phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket. After glancing at the screen, he silenced it, then set it on the table. “Daisy wasn’t that perceptive, but even if your point is valid, Daphne, it doesn’t rule her out entirely.”
“It doesn’t,” she agreed. “Like Chief Warwick said, though, it’s a piece of evidence that doesn’t totally fit the puzzle.”
“Call me Ryan, please,” he said. “Where do you two want to go from here? We held back on releasing the photos HICC dugup on Weeks and Beeker because you wanted a chance to lure them out.”
“But now that they know we know who they areandI’ve escaped their lair, it would be weirdnotto make them public,” Daphne said.
“Agreed,” Lovell and Ava said at the same time.
“It will probably send them to ground,” Ryan pointed out.
“Or out of town,” Daphne chimed in. “But if this really is Daisy, she has the money to send different people.”
“We’re not taking any chances, though,” Lovell cut in, his gaze slicing her direction in a way that had her blood zipping through her system at hyper speed. She’d been around enough über-protective men in her life that his directive didn’t surprise her, but her reaction did. She riffled through her memory, trying to recall if she’d ever responded the same way to another man. When she couldn’t easily remember anything similar, she shoved the question in a box and focused on the moment.
“No, we’re not,” she agreed. Lovell’s brow creased with a wary kind of curiosity. “I have a place I’ll move to today. It’s secure and now hooked up to HICC. It even has a safe room.”
“You can’t stay locked up alone in a fortress,” Ava pointed out. The two men shared a look Daphne decided to ignore.
“I won’t,” she replied. “But I won’t go anywhere without someone.” She shot Lovell a look, silently asking him not to bring up Callie. Her sister was the obvious choice of companion, but after the events the night before, they both knew she wasn’t the right choice. And there was no way to have that conversation without telling Ryan and Ava why. Her shoulders relaxed when he gave her a tiny nod.
“Callie and Philly will stick to you,” Ryan said. “Both are capable of protecting you.”
“From what I can see, there’s no shortage of protection options around here,” she replied. “And if worse comes to worst, I can hire someone from HICC.”
“You’re being very amenable,” Ryan said. “Not a criticism, just not what I would expect when telling an independent woman—or man—that they will suddenly have a shadow.”
Daphne huffed a laugh. “I had personal protection for years. I still have it when I go to certain industry events. I mostly live a quiet life on my own now, but I know how to have someone in my space. This won’t be new to me.”
“Glad to hear it,” Ryan said, rising. Lovell and Ava followed. Both gestured for her to stay seated, but she pushed herself to her feet.
“Sore?” Ava asked.
“It’s almost like I trudged eight or so miles through a blizzard,” she said on a chuckle. “Walk with me, I want to hear your spa recommendations before you leave. I’m thinking of booking massages for Callie and me later today.”
Ava slipped her arm through Daphne’s, and the two shuffled toward the door. When they were out of earshot, Ava leaned in. “What do you really want to ask?”
“Something about the Daisy situation doesn’t seem right to me,” she replied. “The fallout from their marriage was terrible, and I don’t doubt she has the capability of coming after Lovell again, but it doesn’t feel right.”
“And?” Ava said, reaching for her coat. Daphne shot a look across the room. Ryan and Lovell were deep in conversation.
“To my way of thinking, he’s had four stages in his life. His childhood, his time in the military, his marriage, and his time here. If it’s not about something that’s happened since he arrived in Mystery Lake or his time in the military, that leaves his short marriage or his childhood as the origins of whatever is going on.”
“You want me to look into his life before he enlisted? If he’s like the others, he went in right after high school graduation,” Ava said, tugging her coat on.
“It seems far-fetched, I know. But assuming he’s around Gabe’s age, that means he left home twenty years or so ago. That’s a long time for something to fester, and something would have had to happen to make it come to a boil now.”
“But you think it’s a possibility?”
Daphne appreciated the curiosity, rather than doubt, in Ava’s voice. She exhaled. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. Her gaze flickered back to Lovell, tall, strong, confident, accomplished. But still capable of not seeing the forest for the trees, especially with his emotions as mixed up as they were about the role he played in Daisy’s life. “I don’t know,” she repeated. “But something doesn’t feel right to me.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lovell sat on the love seat staring at the fire, Daphne stretched out beside him on the larger sofa, covered with a blanket and dozing. He’d given her another foot massage—this time from the safety of the other side of the arm of the sofa—and she’d drifted right off. Pulling his gaze from the flames, he let his eyes linger on her face. Her stunning, famous face. As he traced the line of her cheek, the curve of her jaw, and the bow of her lips, an odd sort of conflict began percolating inside him. He knew who she was, what she’d done with her remarkable career, but right now, she was…all that but something more. She was a woman exhausted after a harrowing night, a sister protecting her sister and unborn niece or nephew, a friend, a confidant, aperson. Not an image on a magazine cover or picture on the internet.
And he’d dragged her into this shit. She’d point out that she’d put herself in the middle of it when she’d come after him. But he was learning that she was nothing if not fierce. And because he was connected to her sister, that made him her concern; something,someone, she wouldn’t turn away from.
