Page 42 of Rogue Wave

“This is a pretty cool place to work,” my father said casually. “What animals do you work with?”

I had always loved animals as a child, and he obviously remembered that. It was sweet in its own way, but I wasn’t in the mood for family chitchat. “I work with a variety of them, mostly behind the scenes.”

I noticed as we walked that Allen was following. He was a good distance behind, clearly giving us privacy, but he also clearly didn’t trust them to be alone with me, which I was a little grateful for.

Not wanting to fully embarrass him, though, I chose the diplomatic way to get to the bottom of this. “Why are you really here, Dad? It’s not like you to show up at my work.”

Or ever.

“We saw you on the news, and your father was concerned about you,” Samson spoke from behind me. His words were kind, but the man speaking them gave me the willies. “He heard there were drugs found at the beach you were at and was worried the people responsible might come after you.”

I kept walking but turned to look at my dad.

“It’s crazy luck that you ended up finding something like that on the beach,” he said to me, seeming genuinely amazed, just like I had been.

Luck? Is that really the word he was going with?

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it, honestly,” I replied, shaking my head.

“I’m glad you’re okay, though, and weren’t injured,” my dad added.

“No, I’m good,” I told him. “Just bad luck being there at that time to find it.”

“What else did you find?” Samson asked. “Heard the cops are offering a reward for any information. Did they give you a nice reward for finding it?”

I halted in my steps.

Reward.

That was why they were here.

I may have stopped, but my dad had taken a few more steps before realizing I had paused. When he realized I’d abruptly frozen, he turned to face me.

The look on his face told me he knew that I knew why they were here, and he also knew I wasn’t happy about it.

“Hazel, we just wanted to—” he began, but I cut him off.

“You just wanted to see how much money I got for finding the drugs and giving the cops all the evidence,” I said, my frustration ticking up by the second. “Newsflash… I got nothing. The reward they’re offering now is for any evidence that I didn’t give them the first day.”

“So, you have more evidence that you kept?” Samson asked excitedly.

“What? No.” I shook my head emphatically.

Why would he think that?

“You just said for the evidence you didn’t give them the first day…which means you kept some,” Samson surmised—incorrectly, I might add.

I was done, but my dad spoke before I could intervene.

“I’m just worried about you,” my dad tried to say. “If you had more evidence, bad people might try to get it.”

Bad people like good old Samson here.

“As much as I appreciate your concern, I’m fine,” I told him, stopping at the entrance to the employee hallway and pointing to Allen. “As you can see, our security staff is making sure I am secure, and I live in a very safe neighborhood. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get back to work.”

“We can stop by your place later and you can fill your dad in,” Samson suggested, but there was no freaking way that was happening.

“No, thanks. Allen will be happy to escort you back to the front.” I made sure that last part was loud enough for Allen to hear.