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“No.” Nico moved closer to Julia. “Someone is threatening Julia, and we have no idea who it is. We’re looking at every angle, and I needed to go over the details of her family’s deaths to make sure that wasn’t a factor.”
“Do you think it is?” Doug asked.
“No idea,” Nico said. “Although it seems unlikely. It’s been sixteen years.”
Doug pulled a card from a wooden holder on his desk. “If you think of any more questions, don’t hesitate to call. Although, like I said, my memory is pretty spotty.”
“Thanks, Doug,” Julia said as she and Nico exited the workshop. They both nodded at Doug’s wife as they headed for the door of the shop.
* * *
Neither of them spoke as they drove away from Doug’s shop, although Nico glanced at her every few minutes. The details Doug had shared must have stirred horrible memories for Julia, and Nico wanted to reach for her hand. Comfort her. But he forced himself to keep his hands on the steering. Touching Julia right now would be a mistake. Every deliberate touch, every small connection, would make it harder for him to leave.
Harder to let Julia go.
Instead, he said quietly, “Why don’t we go back to your house? You can call Zoe and ask her about Kent Dawson. We need more information about him.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” she said, but instead of turning to look at him, she continued to stare out the window. “I’m curious about what she and Mel talked about. What Zoe thinks of him.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
As they drove, the silence in the car grew heavy. Weighted with meaning. But he didn’t want to ask Julia what was bothering her. He figured he already knew.
She was being forced to relive the most traumatic, heartbreaking event of her life. And he was the one doing the painful probing.
He wished he could tell her they’d back off. Tell her they’d forget about the explosion that’d killed her family.
But he couldn’t.
Until he knew more, he had to consider everything. Kent Dawson was still a mystery, and they needed to know more about him. He couldn’t be connected to the explosion -- he’d been in Canada when it happened. Maybe he really was just Carole’s boyfriend. Maybe he’d put the spyware on Julia’s computer at the restaurant so she could keep track of Julia’s passwords. But why would he have done that? He must have known she wasn’t doing anything good with that information.
Sex was a powerful motivator. And maybe that’s what Carole had used to con the spyware out of Dawson.
Nico shook his head. It just didn’t feel right. Dawson had plenty of money, according to Mel. He’d started a company, and it was doing okay. Why would he jeopardize that for sex?
Once they reached Julia’s house, he searched every room but found no evidence that his tells had been disturbed. The tiny sprinkles of flour on her office floor, barely noticeable, held no footprints. Neither did the crumbles of dirt around the base of her giant philodendron. He held the door open for Julia, then said, “Why don’t you give Zoe a call?”
She sank into a chair at the kitchen table and pulled out her phone. Tapped an icon, and put the phone on speaker.
“Hey, Zoe,” she said when her friend answered the phone. “This is Julia. I have Nico on speaker. Nico just talked to Mel, and she said you knew Kent Dawson. What’s the scoop on him?”
There was a long beat of silence. Then Zoe sighed. “Yeah, I know Dawson. But I’d rather not talk about it over the phone. Why don’t you and Nico come over and we’ll have dinner. We can talk about it then.”
Nico leaned toward the phone. “Is it okay if Spence Flynn comes, too? I want him to hear all the information, as well.”
After a tiny pause, Zoe said, “Sure. Bring Spence. Would seven o’clock work for all of you?”
“We’ll make it work,” Nico assured her. “What can we bring?”
“Bring wine. I’m going to need it when we talk about Dawson.”
