“I’d bet my left lung on it.”
He laughed. “I got that vibe from him.”
Coming from G, that was a compliment.
We set parameters for what we’d share as I drove.
“It’s no secret we’re investigating a cold case, but I haven’t talked to anyone,” Gibson said. “Have you?”
“No, but I aged Nina on my work laptop and didn’t start working off grid until after I suspected dirty officers. But before then, it would’ve been easy to track my investigation.”
“We need to find out who else has accessed the case files.”
“I have a feeling they’re covering their tracks.” Better than we had prior to working off grid.
“I would.”
So would I, which meant we were at a tactical disadvantage. They knew who we were, which cold case we’d linked to our current case, and apparently, they’d followed our trail to Nina.
The uncharacteristic pang of guilt I’d felt swelled. The young, innocent woman with the beautiful, expressive blue eyes had me feeling things I couldn’t afford to feel.
Attraction. Desire. Guilt. Responsibility. Protective.
Attraction and desire happened, despite my family thinking I was an emotionless robot, but I wouldn’t act on them. And I could shove the guilt down and pretend it didn’t exist.
I’d hold on to the responsibility, knowing I’d placed her in danger.I vow to keep her safe. The deep-seated need to protect her had me flying down the highway like a man possessed.
The beautiful woman in the cherry dress was too young, too innocent, and protected by my uncle. I could help her, but there was no way in hell anything could happen between us.
Needing a distraction from my inappropriate thoughts of Nina, I thought about my ex-wife. She’d accused me of cheating and tried to take me to the cleaners. It’d taken me fifteen minutes to pull up all the evidence I needed to prove she was the one cheating.
One benefit of my job, there wasn’t a camera I couldn’t access if I tried hard enough.
She’d thrown a hissy fit in court, but in the end settled for a modest alimony check. One I no longer had to pay, because she’d married some other unsuspecting fool.
By the time they said their vows, I was indifferent. I’d stopped the automatic payment with the same level of emotion I used to tie my shoes.
I didn’t want or need a relationship. My job kept be busy and on the move, and the last thing I wanted was another wife cheating on me because I left her alone too often.
The occasional date to find a consenting partner to meet my desires was enough for me.
“We need a third party,” Gibson interrupted my train of thought.
“What?”
“We need someone with CIA access who can’t be linked to us.”
“Right,” I nodded absentmindedly.
“Dude, do I need to worry about you?” he asked.
“No, I’m good.” At least I would be by the time we reached Weatherford. “When we get to SSI, I want Sharpe to sweep our phones for trackers.”
“That’s fine. I left my company phone in my safe.”
“Same. Laptop too.”
“Going dark was always my favorite,” Gibson joked.
