Page 104 of Hard Heart

I wasn’t ready to tell them that’s what we’d been doing. That Ruby made thousands sleeping with men for money. That she’d hidden evidence in her bedroom and labelled it with initials.

Ari slid a business card across the table. Arizona Danner, Licensed Private Investigator. Although I was pretty sure her licence was about as valid in Virginia as my New York bar membership.

“I’d like to stay in touch. We’re not the enemy, Serafina.”

“The jury’s still out on that.”

“Ruby was our friend,” Dawson said. “If you saw her lying there on the bed, you’d want the person who did it to pay.”

“Levi did see her, and that’s what he wants as well.”

Ari closed her notepad. “Can you ask him a question for me?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Ask him if he was paying Amie Carlson to monitor Justin.”

“What? Why would you think that?”

“Because somebody was, and she told her roommate the money came from Levi’s father.”

“Levi doesn’t speak to his father anymore. But if you’ve been checking the phone and visitor logs, then you already know that.”

“A hundred bucks a month for seven years.”

“Seven years? Who would do that?”

“If we knew the answer, we wouldn’t be bickering in a conference room.”

Jerry pushed her chair back and rose, and the others followed suit. The seven of them filed out, leaving Raelene and me with more questions than answers and a whole lot of work to do. My heart was still racing. So much for the pink freaking unicorn boxers.

“Well,” Raelene said. “That was interesting.”

I slumped lower into my chair. “Interesting? It was terrifying. I’m so, so sorry. I don’t even know what happened.”

“Jerry Knight riled you, and you took the bait. We’ll have to work on that before you go anywhere near a courtroom.”

“Right now, I’m considering a new career plea-bargaining traffic tickets.”

“Anyone would have been nervous if the seven horsemen of the apocalypse rode in like that. You pulled yourself together, and we did get some useful information. Do you know what was fascinating?”

“That Levi managed to survive two years in a house with those people?”

“There were five men in the group. Testosterone was practically rolling off them. Well, maybe not Nolan, but the other four. A businessman who’s rumoured to be a billionaire, a sitting congressman, a world-champion sportsman, and a former Navy SEAL. And yet they all deferred to Jerry Knight.”

“Can you blame them? She’s petrifying.”

“She’s used to giving orders and having people follow them. I’d put money on her spending time in the military.”

“Oh, she knows how to shoot a gun as well? This is making me feel so much better.” I shuddered. “When she put her hands on me, it was like being fondled by Satan, no kidding.”

“I get where you’re coming from—and I wonder if she’s motivated by money.”

“You think she could have murdered Ruby?”

“Truthfully? No. I think if she had, she’d be staying out of sight, not marching five men into our office in a show of intimidation-slash-unity.”

“Ari seems more reasonable. More open-minded.”