Page 28 of Clever Deceit

If. That seemed like a big question. She'd managed to hide from Tony—I hoped—and Richard had said he couldn't find her. Was she just that good at keeping her identity a secret? Or was this something more sinister?

Had Tony gotten around the restraining order and killed her? Or done something to make her stay quiet?

I needed that girl if I was going to take him down. She might be the only one who'd managed to get a real police report on his activity—enough that she'd gotten a restraining order. But I didn't think I'd be able to see the order or the charges behind it unless she gave them to me. I needed to find her, and I needed to figure out what she had.

Maybe then I could take Tony down.

“I can see from the look on your face that you're failing at not thinking about Tony,” Warren said quietly, watching me. “So you might as well tell me what you're thinking.”

I bit my lip. Damn this face that couldn't keep a secret. Still, two heads were better than one, right? Maybe Warren would see an answer I hadn't seen yet. So I told him what I was thinking about the girl and the restraining order, and about the idea that she must have found a way into another city—and another police department—if she'd managed to get one.

“Which means there must be a police file on him,” I finished. “She might have the only record of police actually taking a statement. It might be exactly what we need to take him down. I know it's not the same as finding out what's going on with the shell companies and all that, but if we have proof that he was hitting someone other than me...”

“It could put him behind bars,” he finished. “But only if we have rock-solid proof and witnesses. And only if we can get all that without him finding out. This guy isn't going to be easy to take down, Lily. He's got law enforcement on his side, and I don't think he'll stop at much. He's used to getting his own way.”

“Which means we'll have to be careful, I know,” I said, nodding. “But I think we can do it.”

He slipped his fingers between mine and held them, the corner of his mouth curling up in the start of a grin. “I think we can, too.”

I just smiled back, the excitement growing in my veins. Because yes, this was scary and definitely dangerous. There was a very good chance that we'd fail, and that we'd get ourselves into trouble just for trying. Tony and Mark McCarthy were powerful men, and we were just...

Well, not powerful. Not at all.

But we were going to be working together, and at the moment, that felt like it was all we needed. I didn't know what was coming for us, and I wasn't positive how we were going to get to where we wanted to go, but as long as I had Warren fighting with me, standing there by my side, I thought I'd be okay.

I'd barely had the thought when a man I vaguely recognized but didn't know well slipped into one of the empty spots at our table.

I frowned at him, trying to decide how I knew him. I'd seen him around town but couldn't remember his name and had absolutely no idea what he did. He was from here, I was sure of that, but as to who he actually was...

“Can we help you with something?” Warren asked sharply. “This is a private dinner.”

The guy held up his hands in surrender. “I know, and I'm sorry. But it's safer to talk to you when you're in public than it is to go to your house.”

Warren leaned forward, a dark menace. “And why the fuck would you want to come to our house? Who are you, and what do you want?”

The guy leaned forward, his stance matching Warren's, though his face didn't take on the anger Warren was showing. “Frank Davis. Local sheriff. And I'd want to come to your house to talk to you about one Tony McCarthy and what he's doing in our town.”

Warren's glare didn't let up, though I noticed his mouth relaxed a bit. As for me, I didn't allow myself to breathe out. Not yet. The last time someone had approached us in public with the name Tony McCarthy on his lips, it had been to warn us to leave town.

I didn't know what this Frank Davis guy wanted, but if he was going to say we should get out of Dodge and hide, then he had another think coming.

“And what would you want to talk about, Frank Davis?” Warren finally asked.

Frank, an older guy with a handlebar mustache and eyes that looked like he'd seen way too much in this life, got even closer. “I'd want to talk to you about that police report you tried to file against McCarthy. About what he did to Lily here five years ago. And what he's been in our department talking about doing.”

I sucked in a breath, shocked at the blatant statement of information, and felt my body jerk. My eyes shot through the restaurant, trying to figure out who might have heard us and whether we could get out of there quickly enough to keep anyone else from being suspicious. Because right now we were sitting here with a local cop, our heads ducked together and our words quiet, and I knew how that had to look.

We probably looked like we were doing exactly what we were doing. Keeping secrets. Talking about someone who wouldn't want us to talk about him.

But the fact that someone else wanted to discuss Tony McCarthy and not just to tell us that we needed to be careful...

This sort of information was too good to pass up. Even if we were sitting in a public place looking like we were planning a bank heist or something.

“What do you know about any of it?” I asked quickly. “And why are you talking to us?”

Frank turned his gaze toward me, his eyes narrowed a bit. “I know Tony has a reputation for getting around the law, first off. I know he and his dad make payments to the police department that the department itself never sees. And I know he's been in the chief's office lately, talking up a big story about how he's planning to take Warren out. Get back into your life. Make you love him the way you should have loved him the first time you were with him. And that, Lily, is the sort of information I figured you should probably know.”

It was the sort of information that stole my breath right out of my lungs, to be honest. Not that I hadn't suspected he was doing all of that, of course, but there was something about hearing it said so plainly—with no hesitation—that made it even more frightening.