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Julia Stewart looked as though she’d been clobbered by a two-by-four. Which was probably how she felt. She’d gone from running her restaurant to running for Montana to find help. And the question of who had broken into her house, damaged her stove and pushed her in front of a bus had to be a painful puzzle, nagging at Julia’s brain.
By the time she’d stepped back into her office, Dev was reading through the notes she’d taken after talking to Zoe the other day. He looked up when she walked in. “How’d she seem?”
“Stunned. Shocked.” Mel snorted as she slid into her desk chair. “About the way either of us would feel if our world had suddenly been turned upside down.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Dev asked, dropping into the chair beside her desk.
“Probably.” She and Dev had always operated on the same frequency. When they’d been together, they could almost always finish each others’ thoughts. Even now that they were merely business partners, that connection was still strong. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the explosion that killed her family.”
“Yeah, definitely a possibility. But she said her whole family was killed in the explosion. So who does that leave?”
“Whoever set it off,” Dev said, leaning toward her. “Maybe he or she thinks Julia knows something. Saw something.”
“She said it was ruled an accident,” Mel replied. “And she was with her boyfriend. Not at the house.” Mel frowned. “If it wasn’t an accident, and the killer thought Julia knew who he was, why wait until now to do something about it? That makes no sense.”
“So you think it’s about the restaurant?” Dev said, tilting his head as he studied her.
Mel raised one shoulder. “According to Zoe, it’s all she’s got in her life. And she likes it that way. Zoe says she rarely dates. Doesn’t have time.”
“A competitor?” Dev frowned. “Seems pretty drastic for a rival.”
“Unless she’s the next big thing. Unless her restaurant is so popular that it’s taking business away from someone else. Or several someone elses. That would explain the damaged stove. No meals one night would give her place a black eye.”
“I’m going with the explosion,” Dev said, his eyes gleaming with that I have an idea expression that had always weakened her knees. Unfortunately for her, smart men really did it for her.
She sat up straight, ignoring the tiny tremors in her chest. “I’m going with a business rival,” she said. “Seems way too long for someone to come after her because she survived the explosion.”
“It could be something we haven’t thought of at all,” Dev said. He leaned back in his chair, watching her with satisfaction, and Mel kept her expression poker-faced. Had he noticed her reaction to him? God, she hoped not.
Dragging her attention away from Dev, Mel frowned. “You’re right.” Mel bounced her pen on the desk surface, thinking. “Possibly something she hasn’t thought of herself. Regardless, she needs someone with her twenty-four seven to see things she might not notice. Who are you thinking?”
Dev tilted his head. “Flynn is really good at being unobtrusive. Comes from his SEAL training. He’d blend in at her restaurant. He could sit at the bar and nurse a drink all night. Work as a dishwasher in the kitchen.”
“You ex-SEALs always think the answer to every problem is another SEAL,” Mel retorted. “What about Elliot? He trained extensively in close protection with Delta Force. But he’s also a very good investigator. Plus he’s easy-going, so he’ll get people to talk to him. Put them at ease and they’ll never see the cuffs until they’re around their wrists.”
“Hmm,” Dev said, leaning back in his chair and crossing one leg over his knee. Mel forced herself to pay no attention to the way his tactical pants molded to his thigh. “Maybe you’re right. Julia’s wound tight as a drum. She’s intense. Focused. Someone like edgy, driven Flynn would double down on her intensity. She doesn’t need that. They’d be ready to kill each other before the end of the first day.”
“I’m not looking for a compatibility match,” Mel retorted. “I’m looking for the operative who’d be most effective in getting the job done.”
“My point exactly,” Dev said. “If both Julia and our operative are reacting to every shadow, they’ll amplify each other’s weaknesses instead of magnifying their strengths. Let’s send Nico.”
“I agree.” Mel smiled at Dev as she picked up her phone to call Nico Elliot. “This is why we’ve always worked so well together, Dev. We’re on the same wavelength.”
“We used to be on the same wavelength in other ways, too, Mel.”
His eyes darkened to navy as he watched her, and Mel clenched her hands into fists beneath her desk. “A very long time ago, Devlin,” she said, her voice even. In another lifetime. “And we agreed when we became partners that was off the table.”
“We did,” Dev agreed. “But partnerships sometimes need to be revisited.”’
“Not on this issue.” Mel stood up too hastily, and her chair rolled back and bumped into the wall. “I’m going to talk to Nico. I’ll see you at dinner.”
