Page 65 of Deadly Waves

“She’s never going to own up to anything in front of her father,” Sophie pointed out.

“Probably not,” James conceded. “She might open up to you guys if you take her for a walk away from grownups, though.”

“You want us to manipulate a child?” Sophie wasn’t keen on the idea. “That feels somehow … icky.”

“Not manipulate,” James corrected. “Just listen to her if she has anything to say.”

“That seems like slippery line there, but okay,” Sophie said. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to talk to Davenport and find out exactly how much he knows about Peterson,” James replied. “I also want Peterson to see us with Tabitha and Will. It’s important that he sees us being aggressive opponents to whatever he’s trying to do. I want him to get nervous and make a mistake.”

“What do you think he’ll do?” Sophie asked.

“I have no idea, but that brings up one other point,” James said. “If I unnerve Peterson, he might be apt to attempt to unnerve me. The easiest way to do that is to go after Mandy. If he can’t get to her – and I’ll break him in two if he tries – he might go after one of the other women in my life.”

“You want them all to stick together tonight,” Grady said.

“As long as you’re a foursome, no one will dare touch you,” James said, focusing on Mandy. “No one can break apart from the group tonight. You all need to go to the bathroom together and everything. Do you understand?”

Sophie was affronted. “You’re not my father.”

“No, but I did promise your father I would keep an eye on you when I talked to him earlier,” James said. “I’m not trying to be a bully, Sophie, but I will keep you safe because I promised Peter I would.”

Sophie blew out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. We’ll all stick together.”

“Great.” James was visibly relieved.

“If I have to hear about Mandy’s new panties all night, though, all bets are off.”

James smirked as he squeezed Mandy’s hip. “We promise to keep it to a minimum until we find our suspect. When that happens, then the bets are truly off because I don’t want to see you people until our vacation is over with.”

“I can just feel the love,” Grady teased.

“You’re going to feel my foot in my behind if you’re not careful.”

“And all is right in our world again.”