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Whatever was going on upstairs, she couldn’t deny her curiosity. Yes, it was her job to be inquisitive, not like the men in her life didn’t know that. When she asked questions, some tended to think it showed a lack of trust. It didn’t. The truth was much simpler than that, she was nosy.
The Strat meeting couldn’t take all day. She’d play for a while and then slip upstairs to work on her laptop. Conn said he wanted her there; he hadn’t stated how she should spend her time.
THIRTY-NINE
NOT ONLY DID she spend the day and night at Stag, Conn asked her to stay the following day too. For most of it anyway. He’d let her out late in the afternoon with her usual security detail.
“I don’t want to scare this woman,” she said, smoothing her hair as Daly helped her out of the car.
“Then you should’ve called.”
“I didn’t want to stress her out.”
Though Lupe’s employer, and possible boyfriend, had been murdered not so long ago. If the latter was true, stress wouldn’t be the only negative emotion in her life.
“Or give her time to get her story straight.”
Yeah, okay, maybe there was a lick of that too. It was just as possible she’d read the situation wrong and Lupe was nothing more than a housekeeper. Only one way to be sure.
“I have to look her in the eye. This is not a conversation for the phone.”
“What difference does it make?” Daly asked. “You’re safer at Stag.”
Suddenly everyone was hyperaware of her safety. If there had been a specific threat made against her, she was in the dark. To her, it was just a regular Friday. Or as regular as it could be given… everything.
“Some questions can’t be answered with words,” she said. “They can only be answered in person.”
“Such as?”
She paused in sliding her purse strap up her arm. “Such as what kind of woman she is. Their relationship wasn’t public, but my grandfather had influence and money.”
“You think she was in it for the dough? She won’t tell you that flat out.”
“Of course she won’t, but I’ll know if her feelings for him are genuine.”
“Your magical power?”
“Because I know how I’d feel if I lost Conn,” she said, hesitant to meet his eye though she did. “One woman in love recognizes another.”
She hoped anyway.
This street was a massive improvement on Sneddon’s. Didn’t say much. Given the caliber of person Sneddon turned out to be, his block matched his personality. Would the same be true of Lupe?
Well-tended flowers in terracotta pots lined the external stairs they ascended. On the other side of the communal door, curtains were tied back with lace. Nice. Apartment 2A.
Daly intercepted her finger on its way to the buzzer. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
Out came the tools and he picked the lock.
“It’s rude.”
“And if she pulls a Sneddon and won’t let you in?”
Good point. Ignoring her rejection and forcing her way in would be worse than slipping in to get a little face time.
The door opened and a waft of lavender, not her favorite scent, hit her. A lingering memory of her grandfather’s foyer faded up.
At her side, Daly tapped 2A with a single knuckle. Not a squad with her this time, just him.
