Taking his cues from David, Reese took the next turn so fast his rear quarter panel brushed the snow bank.
“What do you want to know?” Chaz asked frantically.
“How did you know they were in Boston?”
“Frankie told me. Matilda’s mom told him you were there. And I knew if Matilda was working on the project, there was going to be a green folder full of the documents I needed in that hotel room.”
Reese glanced at Mati, who shrugged, because Chaz was right, that fucking deedhadbeenin a green folder in the hotel room the whole time.
“You were going to break into our hotel room?” David asked, his tone making clear he seriously doubted Chaz was capable of such a thing.
“No! I thought they’d invite me in if I bumped into them.” Chaz whimpered as Reese took a hard turn. “I knew about Reese’s connection to McCormick Security, and a friend confirmed your car was in the garage. Then I called fancy hotels until I found rooms with your names or McCormick’s registered. There were a lot. Yours was the second one I tried.”
Reese almost laughed at the absurdity of Chaz’s detective skills and unbelievable luck of finding them in the lobby.
“How does Frankie Ribeiro fit into this?” David asked.
Chaz groaned miserably. “He was a huge mistake, but I needed help.”
“How do you even know him?” Mati asked.
“I bumped into him sneaking onto Reese’s property,” Chaz mumbled.
David leaned in closer. “What was that?”
Chaz pressed himself to the door to get as far from David as he could. “I thought I could get into the house, maybe through a back door. Reese had been his old self, you know? I thought maybe he and Hodges didn’t treat the place like a fortress anymore.”
Reese smiled grimly. “Old habits die hard.”
David put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not wrong to be safe.”
“And it turns out you had a reason to be careful,” Mati pointed out, sliding a hand onto his thigh.
Perversely, that did make Reese feel better, as did their hands on him.
David turned back to Chaz, who watched the three of them curiously.
“Let me get this straight,” David said, snapping Chaz’s attention back to him. “You attempted a little breaking and entering, found another fucking idiot wandering around trying to do the same, and decided to team up?”
“I wish I could say that wasn’t it, but it mostly was. Frankie spent a lot of time out there, and knew his way around better than I ever would.”
Reese’s stomach churned at the idea that Frankie had been skulked around his property at length. Mati’s fingers dug into his leg.
David leaned closer to Chaz, his glare murderous. “And now you’re surprised the felon you teamed up with is an asshole?”
Chaz cringed away. “No. I mean, Frankie told me he was there to get proof Ms. Viveiros was sleeping with Reese. I assured him there was no way that was happening. I promised him Reese held his Matilda in the highest esteem and would never compromise her in any way.” He eyed them now, clearly having second thoughts. Reese tried not to think about all the ways he enjoyed compromisinghis Matildathese days. “I think he believed me,” Chaz continued, “but he was eager to tell me all about the security at the house. He was the one who’d discovered the downed tree along the wall, which is where I found him by luck while I was driving by. And I, of course, knew about some of your security from my visits inside the house, so we pooled our information.”
“So my ex-boyfriend could stalk me better?” Mati asked.
Chaz jammed himself into the corner against the door. “I thought maybe after I had what I needed, I could report him to the police anonymously. Or he’d be convinced there was nothing for him to find.”
Mati stared at Chaz incredulously.
Reese pulled up in front of Mati’s parents’ house and came to a screeching halt.
David gave him a bland look. “We’re going to have a conversation about stealthy approaches later.”
Reese shrugged helplessly. “My goal was to get here quickly, not quietly.”
