He grinned. “I’ll go close the door to my car. I um, was in a hurry to get back here.”
“You’re a good guy, Oliver.”
* * *
Jeff Marshall pulled into Juliet’s driveway at 5 p.m. He left his car next to Oliver’s and when he heard noise in the yard, he hurried around to the back. “Hello,” he said coming in through the gate; he latched it out of habit. Jeff locked everything.
Oliver stood and held out his hand. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”
Juliet stood, too, and shook his hand. “I hope we didn’t overreact.”
“I told you to call if anything odd happened.”
“This might be nothing.”
He glanced around. “Where are your boys?”
“They’re inside watching television.”
“They shouldn’t hear this but at some point you’re going to have to warn them about strangers and being extra careful wherever they go.”
“I already did that, Jeff.”
“I should have known.” He pulled over a chair and they all sat. “Tell me what happened.”
Oliver related the story because it was his to tell. He ended with, “I wouldn’t have called you but I had the bad feeling about Juliet this morning so I came over here. And the car was racing.” He shrugged. “I thought you should know.”
“You were right to call.”
Juliet shook her head. “It’s all been so elusive, it’s been frustrating as hell. Even with the FBI on it. What real progress have we actually made, Jeff?”
“Mostly that we think there has to be more than one perpetrator of the incidents and another person organizing them all. And the FBI is infiltrating the Dark Web to see if they can catch a whiff of anything. Also, they’re still looking into the extent of the medallion guy’s involvement.”
Juliet stared out at her pool. “I know.”
Jeff stood. “I’m going back to the office. I’ll let you know when something else comes up.”
“Thanks, again.”
He couldn’t resist. He leaned over and squeezed Juliet’s hand. “Try not to worry.”
“I’ll try.”
Jeff left them. He admitted he was forming an attachment to Juliet and that was not a positive thing.
* * *
Joe sank back against the pillow, breathing hard. Next to him, Scarlet was also trying to catch her breath. He laughed out loud. “That was cataclysmic.”
“I fully agree.”
It had been two days since Evangelina showed up at his barn and Joe still hadn’t heard back from her. Sick of waiting, he invited Scarlet to come to his place after Seth left for school.
“I don’t like to have to schedule sex around Seth being gone.”
She nosed into him. “It is what it is, Joe.”
He hesitated, then said what was in his heart. “It doesn’t have to be.”
