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“Jo and I go back a few years,” Megan informed. “She’s the one who arrested Kip.”
“So that’s how you know her.” Jason was more impressed by Black’s replacement, knowing how slippery Lunceford could be.
Megan nodded. “We’ve kept in touch ever since. She might be hard as nails on the outside, but Jo is actually quite a good friend.”
“Joanne Brown, gentlemen. We can get to the expanded introductions later.” Brown’s face darkened. “Megan, do you mind giving us a moment. Agency business.”
“Not at all, but you promised to have lunch with me tomorrow. I’m holding you to it.”
“Of course,” Jo said in a typical law enforcement tone. As Megan said her good-byes and returned to her husbands, the agent turned to Dylan. “We have a major problem, guys.”
Chapter Two
Moving through the crowd of vampires, ghosts, and other Halloween attendees, Phoebe put on a smile though her insides were still quaking. She wanted to shake her fears that the call from her invisible stalker had ignited, but couldn’t.
Ashley ran up to her, carrying her synced iPad. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Thanks.”
“What did the asshole say?”
“Same thing he always says.” She took a deep breath and handed Ashley her cell. “You know what to do.”
“Yes, but I don’t understand how he keeps getting your new cell’s information. We are only publishing the offi
ce phone number. We’ve gotten you new phones so many times, but it doesn’t work. You need to talk to Jason, Phoebe. We need his help.”
“I think you’re right. Where is he?”
Ashley pointed. “Over there with Dylan Strange and some woman I don’t recognize.”
Before she could take a single step to them, the trio left the room. “Whatever they’re talking about looks serious. My stalker issue can wait.”
“No. It can’t.” Ashley didn’t lower her eyes one inch. The fire in the girl from Nevada had always been something Phoebe admired. They were alike in many ways. “If not Jason, then Mitchell or Lucas. You have to talk to one of them. Now.”
Whenever Ashley spoke like this, so categorically emphatic about the Wolfe brothers, Phoebe’s heart broke a little bit more.
“Ash, you’ve got to stop trying to build a bridge back to my past love life.” She loved Ashley’s never-give-up attitude on everything but this topic. “It’s never going to happen.”
“I see how you look at the Wolfe men. You haven’t stopped thinking about them, no matter what you say.”
“Please. Don’t. I can’t argue this again with you. You, my dear Ash, are a hopeless romantic. Perhaps you should work on your own love life.”
Ashley blinked and this time did lower her eyes, which made Phoebe feel like a total bitch. She wished she could take back what she’d said. Her assistant had told her just enough—though very little—about three guys from her hometown. The picture was crystal clear. Things were different there. Very different from Destiny. A woman was supposed to love one man. Only one.
God, that would be simpler, wouldn’t it? But that wasn’t what had happened to Phoebe. She was still in love with the Wolfe brothers. All three of them. Even Jason. But it could never be. After what he’d done to Shane, how could she ever forgive him? She couldn’t. A woman’s heart and her head didn’t always agree, which was definitely her case. She might not be able to get the Wolfe brothers out of her head, but she wasn’t about to let them back into her life.
She took another deep breath. “We need to get back to work on the Steele case. That’s our focus, not some damn crackpot stalker. We’ve got to be in Chicago to depose Harrison Rutledge, Braxton’s lead vet.”
“That’s next week.” Ashley slid her finger to turn on her iPad. “I’ve booked our flights. We’ll be staying at The Ritz.”
“Not the Four Seasons, like we usually do?” Chicago was a frequent stop for her and Ashley. Some work. Mostly play. Always shopping on the Magnificent Mile.
“It’s all booked up. We’re only a few blocks away from our favorite street, Michigan Avenue.”
“Good job.” Once the deposition was done, they would be up to date. In her gut, she knew Rutledge was the key to everything. The case was an oddball one. Braxton Meat Packing was claiming Steele Ranch had sold them hundreds of diseased cattle and given them numerous falsified records. Not possible. She was making a lot of progress on the case, but still had some loose ends to clear up. Hopefully, going to Chicago would help her to finally get to the bottom of the whole thing.
“Phoebe, I need to talk to you,” Jason said, surprising her, coming up behind her like a ghost of the past.
