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She flinched at the question and forced back the more personal aspects between herself and Natches now. There were things they had to deal with, later. Right now, she had to deal with this, and she hated it.
“It ties in,” she told him. “It also ties in to several other thefts the public is unaware of, that were made too close to Somerset. Those thefts go back further than Iraq and the threads of suspicion lead right back to Somerset. ”
“So you’re here to do what? Avenge Beth?” He shook his head wearily as he pushed his fingers through his hair and stared back at her. She could see the memories in his eyes, too. The loss. The pain.
“I’m here to ask the right questions and see if I can’t force them into making a move. Timothy has other agents watching persons of interest. ” She held her hand up as he started to speak. “I have no idea who they’re watching. I’m here to ask the questions; they’re here to see who moves after I ask those questions. This isn’t about Beth, Natches. It’s about stopping it. ”
“So he’s put your ass in the line of fire and he’s hoping to catch whoever puts you in their sights?” he bit out. “Son of a bitch, Chay. He’s working you. He’s using your baby and your pain, and he’s working you. ”
She didn’t like to think of it that way, but she inclined her head in agreement, because there was always the risk of that. Timothy was definitely capable of it.
“He’s hoping to catch whoever he’s watching through the questions he’s sending me to ask. He’s spent years investigating this, Natches. He’s not going to stop now. ” She sighed.
“And you think he didn’t expect me to get involved?” He threw her a disbelieving look as he paced to the other side of the room and turned back to face her, his hands propped on his hips, his expression forbidding.
“I was told to keep you as far away from this as possible. He knew you wouldn’t stay away from me, but he was hoping you would stay out of the rest of it. ”
“And here I thought you were more intelligent than that. Hell, I thought Timothy was,” he growled. “Do you believe that bull-shit, Chaya?”
“No. But I’m asking you to do it anyway,” she told him. She didn’t want him involved in this. She wanted him as far away from Timothy Cranston’s games as possible. She knew how Timothy worked. He lied and he connived and manipulated everyone to get what he wanted, the way he wanted it. She didn’t want Natches pulled into the webs Timothy created.
“All I have to do is ask the questions,” she repeated. “The danger is limited, Natches, and he’s watching whoever he suspects. ”
“He suspects someone he knows I’ll try to protect, or he wouldn’t have sent you. ” He snorted. “And that one, I have to admit, has me as confused as hell. Because Timothy knows me, too, and he knows there’s few people here that I’d protect. ”
“No one you would protect could be involved,” she argued. “Rowdy, Dawg, Ray, or their wives? For God’s sake, I know for a fact they aren’t under suspicion. Do you think I didn’t do my own damned homework? Do you think I would let him try to crucify someone I believe is innocent?”
“Timothy wouldn’t try to crucify someone who’s innocent. ” Natches shook his head as he stared at her from across the room.
He looked dangerous, too controlled, too suspicious.
“Timothy’s a lot of things,” he continued, “but he doesn’t do witch hunts. Whoever he suspects, you can bet they’re guilty, he just needs the proof of it. And he’ll sacrifice anyone or anything for that proof, Chaya. Even you. ”
He had already sacrificed her, and she k
new it. He couldn’t have guessed that Natches would give a damn about her if his cousins turned against her. And it appeared that was exactly what was happening.
And perhaps Natches wasn’t standing by her. He was angry, she knew that. Suspicious.
She turned away from him and moved to the sliding doors, staring beyond them to the nearly deserted boathouses. Summer was over. There were very few year-round residents here. And she didn’t blame them. It was colder than hell on the water.
“Dawg, Rowdy, and Ray aren’t under suspicion. Neither is Crista. I have Timothy’s word on it,” she told him quietly. “According to him, he doesn’t want you involved in this because you draw too much notice and you’re too temperamental where the Mackays are concerned. The questions he has me asking involve family, connections between Chandler Mackay, Nadine, and Johnny Grace. I record the answers and send the recordings via FTP back to him. ”
She didn’t know what Timothy was looking for, and she was beginning to wonder if it even mattered. Timothy knew who he was after by now. The questions had begun changing, taking a new direction, leading her straight into the heart of too many family secrets. At this point, he was merely playing a delicate little game designed to catch his quarry faster.
“I want to see the names and the questions before you leave each morning. ”
She swung around. “I have direct orders that you’re not to see anything. ” And she followed orders. The agency had been her life for the past five years. It had held her together when nothing else could have.
He smiled.
Chaya felt her stomach tighten as he moved across the room. Clothes did not hide the shift or power of the muscle lurking beneath them, nor did it hide the sheer arrogance of the male animal she was now facing.
“I said, I will see the names and the questions before you leave my bed each morning,” he growled, his eyes darkening, his expression forbidding, and for the first time in ten years, Chaya faced a force that had her swallowing back her nerves.
“Or what?”
“Oh, Chay, sweetheart,” he crooned. “Now we just don’t wanna go there, do we? We wanna wake up in that big bed of mine, nice and warm every morning, and work this out together. Because, if we’re not working this out together, then we’re going to be fighting. Yelling. At odds. Out of sorts. And if we’re out of sorts, then bad things might start happening. I might follow you into these places where you’re questioning folks. I might make things rather hard. ”
