“I hear what you’re saying. I’ll think about it.” I pushed off from the counter and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Go give your wife coffee before she divorces you again.”
He chuckled. “She could try. I’d just chase her down.”
“To the ends of the earth?”
His brown eyes twinkled as he grinned. “And beyond.”
Chapter Thirty-one
Cormac
Javierknockedonmyoffice door Monday morning, and I waved him in as I scanned a spreadsheet on my monitor.
“Got a minute?” he asked.
“Sure. What’s up?”
He took the seat opposite me, steepling his hands between his knees. “I just got off a strange phone call I think you should know about.”
That got my full attention. Elbows on my desk, I leaned forward. “What kind of phone call?”
“It was regarding Zara Vasquez. While you’re not technically her boss, I know you’re friendly, and”—he hesitated—“I figured you’d want to be aware.”
My stomach tightened. “What about Zara?”
“The call was from a man named Ryan Mercer, claiming to be a private investigator out of Portland. Have you heard of this man?”
“I have,” I said evenly. “I was with Zara when he called her a couple weeks ago. What did he want from you?”
“At first, he asked for basic information about her employment at the ranch.” He held my gaze. “I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know.”
“And then?”
“He started asking about her schedule. Whether she keeps consistent hours. Who she spends time with outside of work.”
Heat crawled up the back of my neck.
“I told him we don’t disclose employee schedules.”
“Good.”
“He asked if we had a current address on file.”
My hands stilled on the desk. “He asked for her address?”
“He did.”
“For what purpose?”
“He wouldn’t say, and of course, I turned him down.”
I stood and moved to the window, looking out over the corrals without seeing a damn thing.
“What else?”
“He asked about emergency contacts—whether we verify them.” Javier’s voice was steady, but there was a protectiveness beneath it I was happy to hear. If he heard from this guy again, he’d shut him down as firmly as he already had. “He wanted to know if she’s dependable…and if we’ve had any issues with her conduct.”
A low, controlled breath left me. “That’s a hell of a lot of questions.”
