Page 16 of My Beautiful Sin

No way am I telling Lamar about the text and the threat. It would worry him too much, and I don’t want him poking around, learning things about Devlin that neither Devlin nor I are ready to share. So instead I tell him the truth—just not the whole truth. “He basically told me that I shouldn’t be with Devlin,” I say. “And he was in Vegas when I went on that trip with Devlin, too. Didn’t seem too keen to see me there.”

“Apparently Ronan and I have more in common than I thought.”

“Lamar...” I’m sure he can hear the frustration in my voice. He and Brandy are my best friends. I want him to get along with the man I love.

“Fine, fine. What is it you’re looking for?”

“He probably just rubs me the wrong way,” I admit. “But I can’t get over the feeling that he’s hiding something. I want to know what it is.”

When Ronan had first suggested I back off, I thought he was trying to protect Devlin’s heart. But then a horrific criminal named Lorenzo Bell was assassinated in Vegas when Devlin and I were in town, shot at point blank range by an unknown assailant.

Ronan wasn’t supposed to be there, and yet Bell had been killed the same night Ronan coincidentally arrived in town. Now, I can’t shake the suspicion that Ronan wanted to sabotage my relationship with Devlin so that a nosy reporter wouldn’t be poking around.

That, however, isn’t something I’m willing to share with Lamar. Not without proof. So all I say is, “Will you?”

“What am I looking for?”

“I don’t know. Anything that makes your brows rise. Like that,” I add as his brows go up.

He smirks, then schools his face back to stern. “That’s a pretty broad assignment. But I suppose I could do a basic background check and see if that leads anywhere. Honestly, I like the guy. I don’t think I’ll find anything.”

I shrug. “If you don’t, that’s great. It’s not as if I’m hoping to learn that Devlin’s closest friend is dirty.”

That’s the truth. Ronan might rub me the wrong way, but Devlin has been betrayed enough. I don’t want Ronan to be a member of that small but dangerous club. But I do want answers.

I’m not worried about Lamar stumbling across Devlin’s connection to the Wolf. That’s buried deep. And although Devlin has told me that Ronan knows the truth about Devlin’s parentage, I’m sure there’s no straight link between Ronan and The Wolf. After all, Ronan and Devlin met in the military, and that was after Devlin had broken with his dad.

Because I’m certain of that, I feel no guilt at all.

Or, at least, not much.

“So will you look?”

He lifts his hands as if in surrender. “I guess I have to.”

I grin, understanding. Years ago, we promised to always have each other’s backs. “Love ya, Watson.”

“Back at you, Sherlock.”

That settled, we head toward the SeaSide Inn. We decide to walk, even though it’s quite a trek. But the day is beautiful, and if time gets tight, he can always take an Uber back to the station.

“What do you think you’re going to learn?” He poses the question between the various restaurant choices I’m throwing out for tomorrow.

“You mean now? At the hotel?” Peter used to own the inn, and I explain that I’m hoping the current owner—who was the manager back when I was a kid—might know something about Peter’s less-than-legitimate activities.

“If he does, it’s probably because he was dirty, too. In which case, he won’t say a word.”

“Maybe,” I concede. “But I have to ask the questions. You know how it works. You don’t have a lead until you have a lead. Right now, I’m sifting through sand.”

“Anything in your mom’s diaries?”

“About the hotel? No, but there wouldn’t be. Peter didn’t move here until after Mom died. He came to help Dad take care of me.”

“Right,” Lamar said. “So not much use for this article, huh?”

“Maybe more than I expected.” I say, realizing I never told him about the journal entry I’d found when Devlin and I were in Vegas. “My mom wrote that she was afraid Peter was mixed up with the kind of people a cop’s wife really shouldn’t know about.”

“You think Peter was already working for The Wolf? Even back then?”