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“And it’s all totally legit, right?”
She smirked. “This is his second year organizing the tournament. He’s bragging that last year they raised $465,000 from the sponsors. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. But I checked the online report of the charity who was supposed to have benefited.”
“And?”
“And they took in exactly three thousand dollars from the Kendall Group last year.”
“Whoa.”
“And Graham switched charities this year. The first organization never filed a complaint, but I’d bet they weren’t happy.”
“I think we’d better give them a call tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Simone groused. “Tomorrow. We won’t hear from the D.A. until tomorrow. We can’t call the charity until tomorrow. I want something to do tonight.”
“Believe me, I know.” They both sat sullenly staring at their own desks. Luke occasionally flipped open a file, but his heart wasn’t in it. The breakup was finally sinking its claws into his chest. Strange, how quickly he’d gotten used to the idea of seeing her every night. He didn’t want to spend the night alone, even though he’d spent virtually every night alone for years.
Shit. He stole a look at Simone before dropping his eyes again. “Simone, do you think I have trouble opening up to people?”
“Me? If you’re seriously asking me that question, I’m doubting your decision to become a detective.”
“Everyone has trouble opening up, right?”
Simone sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just us. I’m gonna go check on those fingerprints one last time, and then I’m going home. If everyone else can wait to catch the bad guys until tomorrow, I guess I can, too.”
Luke paged through the printouts she’d tossed on his desk, but he wasn’t a numbers guy. Whatever Simone had managed to glean from the charity reports, Luke would go with that for now. But he could still work tonight. He had two dozen Denver reports to reexamine with an eye toward the Kendalls. Luke would definitely need some coffee.
He rose stiffly to his feet, his body a mass of aching tension, but when he got to the kitchen, he dumped out the coffee and started from scratch. At this time of night, any leftover coffee would likely be pure poison. He grabbed a Styrofoam cup and reached for the sugar, only to find an empty box. “Crap.” Opening the cupboards revealed nothing more than ancient leftovers of snacks and taco sauce packets, so Luke left the coffee to brew and walked farther down the hallway to search out the supply closet. They couldn’t be completely out of sugar. There would’ve been a rebellion.
He reached for the closet door just as he registered a rush of hushed voices sneaking past the corner. There was nothing back there but an office they occasionally used for polygraph tests.
Luke froze with his hand on the doorknob of the supply closet and tried to focus his hearing on the conversation. When he got nothing, he eased his head past the corner in time to see Simone spinning around and stalking back toward him. Her head was down, her hands balled to fists. And behind her, watching her walk away, was their boss, Sergeant Pallin. In the moment before he spotted Luke, his face revealed every emotion in clear lines. Frustration, heartache, longing.
It was the truth, laid out right in front of Luke, and his stomach dropped to his feet.
He must have made some noise, because Simone and Pallin looked up at the same time. Luke registered the shock on both their faces before he retreated and walked back to his desk, the scent of brewing coffee taunting him as he passed.
Their boss was the father of the baby. Luke knew it as surely as he knew his own name. Simone had slept with their boss—their married boss—and that was why she couldn’t tell anyone.
He watched from the corner of his eye as she approached her desk, and he knew immediately that her strategy was to fake her way through this. She’d pretend Luke hadn’t seen, or that if he had, he hadn’t connected the dots. She tucked all her files into one drawer and grabbed her purse. “I’m out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Simone—”
“Good night.”
She turned away, and Luke just sat there in shock, staring at her back as she grew smaller. But the moment Simone disappeared around the corner, he surged to his feet. No way was he letting this lie for another day. He hurried after her and caught up before she reached her car.
“Simone, I’m not blind.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She stepped around him and continued on.
“It’s him. I know it is. Don’t deny it.”
“Luke, please. Just…please.” Her voice thickened with tears.
“I’m sorry. I can’t unsee it. I’m not judging you, okay? Don’t think that.”
Simone drew a deep breath and came to a sudden halt. “You should,” she whispered. “Why wouldn’t you?”
