Page 27 of Statler

But did Stat really want to get Eliza’s bio from, say, the man who ran the gas pumps, or the clerk at the small market they’d passed?

The answer, from a personal standpoint, was no.

He’d always hated it when it was him and his sister Petula dealing with that; when people—strangers—came up to him and immediately began talking about his dead parents and his brother who’d killed them.

Like they knew the inside story, when clearly they didn’t.

In truth, Jefferson had been very young and mentally unstable at the time of the horrendous incident, and thereafter, Statler’s brother had served a long sentence, finding the mental help he needed. Eventually, after getting out of jail, he’d paid the ultimate price for his sins when he’d sacrificed his life for Petula’s.

The details of all that were private, with only close friends and family being privy to the whole story.

Statler never liked the excitement in people’s eyes as they greedily sought to know more.

Screw them. But…

For those reasons—as well as a number of others he wasn’t yet ready to examine—Statler wanted to hear about Eliza from her own lips.

A perfunctory knock at his front door broke him out of his speculations as he carefully placed the last of his folded shirts in a drawer.

“Yeah?” he yelled.

“Just letting you know we’re heading to the job site,” Blue called to him. “We’ll see you there.”

Crap.

Stat was normally the fastest horse out of the gate, but today, he’d been so deep into his own head regarding Eliza, he’d lingered far longer than was normal.

“Okay. I’m right behind you,” he shouted, hearing her footsteps walking away.

Stat swiftly stowed his suitcase on the top shelf of the closet in his room, then headed to the bathroom to use the facilities before he took off.

It was time to regroup.

It would do his team no good if he became too distracted. They were here to accomplish two jobs; erect a factory building, and uncover an arms smuggling ring. That was all.

He was not here to be sidetracked by any local attractions.

Even one as intriguing as Eliza.

Squaring his shoulders and hardening his resolve, Statler strode from his room and through the tiny house, attempting to ignore all the small, homey touches he knew had to do with Eliza.

She’d certainly gone out of her way to make them feel comfortable, and for that he was grateful. But what he should really be focused on, was whether or not the clearly complex woman had information or knowledge of all things nefarious that were going on behind the scenes in Liminal.

The idea wasn’t farfetched.

Eliza worked in the factory’s main office, mere feet from the man who was purportedly behind the gun-operation they were attempting to uncover and shut down. It was likely she had Flazer’s ear for important business decisions of the legal, and possibly illegal kind.

Even if she didn’t, she had to be privy to some of the man’s private, behind doors conversations. The walls in the office area were thick, but obviously not impenetrable. And Statler had already ascertained that Eliza was smart, as well as—in his opinion—damned adorable.

Not a lot of things would get by her.

The hard task would be finding ways to tease information from her.

Maybe…

Statler gave an internal groan as he got into his truck to follow his teammates. The idea that had occurred to him was technically viable, but morally…?

It sucked.