Page 57 of Deadly Waves

Peterson had the grace to look abashed. “I wasn’t insinuating that her kidnapping was funny,” he said. “That’s the last thing I believe. Truly. I offer my humblest apologies.”

The man didn’t sound sincere. He sounded like he was a snake coiling in preparation for an attack. James recognized the signs and he didn’t like them.

“Yes, well, I think we’re done here,” James said, grabbing his shopping bag and shaking his head when the bartender approached. “Have a nice afternoon, gentlemen.”

“Oh, don’t run off,” Peterson said. “I didn’t mean to ruin your afternoon. You didn’t even get to order your drinks.”

“You haven’t ruined our afternoon,” Grady said. “You’ve just made us realize we would rather spend our time with other people.”

The dig wasn’t lost on Peterson and he scowled as Grady smirked.

“Yes, well, please give my regards to Sophie,” Peterson said, his tone oily. “She is one of the loveliest creatures I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ll do that,” Grady said. “After I give her my regards, of course.”

“Of course,” Peterson said, nodding stiffly.

James waited until they were back in the main hallway and safely out of earshot before speaking again. “He’s not very smart.”

“Definitely not,” Grady agreed. “He’s smug, though.”

“Oh, he’s definitely smug,” James said. “I’m going back to the room. I want to talk to Maverick. If Peterson did a search on us, Maverick should be able to figure out what he was really looking for. He set up that trap and trace on our names months ago. If someone searched for us, we’ll know who it was and what they read relatively quickly.”

“That’s a good idea,” Grady said. “I want to go through those files Maverick sent over, too. It might not hurt to have him go deeper on Peterson.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”