“Nina,” Mary said, “would you reconsider, as a favor to me? I’d hate myself if anything happened to my favorite assistant manager.”
Her only assistant manager.
I whispered my confession, “I can’t afford SSI.”
“That’s not a problem. If my husband can claim ownership of my shop, then I can claim ownership of his PI business, and I say the service is on the house.”
John laughed. “I’m sure your sons won’t argue.”
“I won’t,” Jay said.
“Me neither,” Jack said. “But I can’t speak for Jamie; he’s the rule follower of the bunch.”
I couldn’t win, not with four Sheppards ganging up on me. I almost laughed; the idea of them being a gang was ludicrous. I’d never met a family so determined to protect and save everyone in their sphere of influence.
Being on the receiving end of their protective streak was unnerving.
Not in the same way Ralph Smith’s attention unnerved me, but still.
“I promise you, Cate won’t mind going to the doctor’s office with you,” Jay added.
“Okay,” I conceded, but only because I couldn’t let them down. “If you’re sure it won’t be a problem.”
“Thank you,” Mary said, giving me a side hug. “I’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe.”
Once again, the words said to comfort me had the opposite effect.
Am I in danger?How was I important to Ralph? What did he think I knew?
Does he know something about my parents?
Chapter 12
Austin
Ihad two hours in Tuesday morning rush hour traffic to construct a plausible reason to be in Weatherford and wanting to talk to Nina.
An excuse that wouldn’t set off warning bells in my aunt’s mind.
I may have lucked out by finding Nina so easily, but I’d have to dance through a fucking minefield to get the information I needed without starting a family feud.
No one knew what I did for the government, but I couldn’t use my normal insurance investigation cover story.
Think Winchester.
Why would I need to talk to Nina, given the logistics cover I’d given my family?
I wouldn’t. I’d need to find a different angle.
Nina was too young for me to play the infatuated love interest. They’d see through that lie faster than my insurance cover.
But I can play the concerned cousin. I’d stop by to grab a coffee, and while I was there, check on Nina. If I were lucky, I could get her talking about her family, while I reassured her I was fine and didn’t need her to pay for my cleaning bill.
Plan in place, I catalogued the facts I knew about the Singers.
My research, combined with Gibson’s, hadn’t yielded as much as I’d like, and I had a feeling Nina was the missing key to finding the treasure they mentioned in their private messages.
MaybeNina is the treasure?
