Mati took Reese’s hand.
“And it’s possible,” Reese added, “that someone climbed a tree?”
“What?” Mati asked.
“The big pine behind the house. It seems someone may have climbed it, at least once.”
Goosebumps rose on Mati’s arms as she imagined some creep trying to get a look into the windows of Reese’s house. She hoped the asshole enjoyed his view of a guest room no one had slept in for months.
David rubbed Reese’s shoulder. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s all Hodges sent.”
Which was more than enough, as far as Mati was concerned.
“I’m going to call Chance and make sure he knows all this,” David said, looking at them as if asking if they would be okay if he stepped five feet away.
“He probably does.” Reese waved the phone in the air. “Hodges’ exact quote is,thank you for giving Chance my number. He obviously missed his calling as a proctologist.”
David chuckled grimly. “I’ll make sure Chance knows that, too.”
Chance, unfortunately, also had some fresh news.
“It was definitely an electronic hack to the front door lock. They appear to have had a valid code. That’s all we know so far,” Chance announced over speakerphone.
“Does Hodges know?” Reese asked.
“He does. One of my guys just got off the phone with him.”
“Good. Thank you,” he said.
After that, the mood was less like an impromptu vacation and more like the exile it actually was. Mati and Reese got work done, but her attention span was shot and Reese didn’t seem to be much better. She decided the best use of her time was to focus on clearing their schedules as much as possible for the next week or two, even while she wondered if that was overkill, or not long enough.
They ate room service that night, clearing away their laptops and folders and sitting at the table to talk. Mati and Reese told David about their work and how long Mati had been with Reese. He laughed at her stories about how Reese and Hodges confused bickering with affection. He told them about his sister, and his mom, and how he’d been with the Boston Police Department for almost a decade before he’d gone to work for Chance.
A shadow darkened his eyes and his normally quick smile disappeared when he spoke about his work with the police, but he was happy to tell them about the string of clients he’d worked with since starting at McCormick Associates.
The most entertaining part of the entire meal was watching David eat. The hotel’s food wasn’t remarkable, but it was pretty swanky for room service, and certainly decent enough not to warrant the deeply confused faces David kept making at his plate.
“Is your food okay?” Mati asked.
David squinted at her pasta. “Does your tomato sauce taste fresh?”
Mati blinked. “No? I mean, I’m sure it’s from a jar. But it’s not bad.” When he kept eyeing her food, she turned her plate toward him. “Go ahead. Try it.”
He swiped his fork through the marinara, popped it in his mouth, and made another hilarious face. He eyed Reese’s roasted brussels sprouts next.
Reese nudged the bowl toward David. “By all means.”
David ate one and was clearly offended.
Reese shoveled a bite of his dinner into this mouth to disguise his laughter.
Mati grinned. “A bit of a foodie, are you?”
“Not really,” David mumbled, focusing back on his own plate and making another face.
Reese nudged his leg under the table. “I’m sorry we’re trapped in this room and you can’t take us on a gastronomic tour of the city.”
