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Not for a single heartbeat.
Heather was going to watch what was going on with that man—and warn him off, if needed. Cara was a beautiful woman. She drew men like flies.
And often didn’t understand why or how to interact with them socially. Of course, the guy was a Barratt, too. That was going to be problematic.
Handley Barratt’s nephew, living right next door.
Barratts were everywhere in Heather’s world lately.
Of course, they were—she was playing in the world of the wealthy here in Hughes Heights. Bonnie’s ex-father-in-law had been financially well-off in their small town in Oklahoma but not wealthy by Finley Creek standards. He’d bought a foreclosure in Hughes Heights off a struggling friend years ago. He’d left it to their family when he’d passed away. Most of them lived in that house now and split the cost of upkeep, while some of the younger Colesons were in college at FCU. It was tight, but it worked. For now.
Heather worried about when it wouldn’t. But that was a worry she would face when it happened. She had enough worries happening now to occupy her time.
Wealthy in Finley Creek meant Handley Barratt’s family. Including his nephew.
Alex Barratt, brother to Powell Barratt, the woman almost abducted with Haldyn Harris. Powell—currently being guarded by Gunnar Erickson. And from the speculation around the Major Crimes bullpen, the woman Gunnar was in love with.
Had Heather been in charge of Major Crimes, Gunnar would have been the last one she would have assigned to guard a woman he was attracted to. Mistakes could happen that way.
She didn’t always understand how or why Daniel McKellen did the things he did. He was probably one of the few men in Major Crimes she hadn’t figured out yet. Something about him unsettled her, too.
She definitely didn’t trust him. She didn’t like him much, either.
She didn’t think he was dirty. Maybe. She was still unsure. She’d only worked for him for about six weeks now. Since she’d had to go back to work after she’d cut her maternity leave a little short because of finances.
She was almost one hundred percent certain Daniel McKellen’s father was dirty. She’d met, and worked with, that man her first six months with the TSP out of Houston. Her skin still crawled when she remembered how that man had always looked at her back then. The way that sick pervert had watched her.
Daniel scared her. He was too powerful. Too raw. Too much a caged tiger ready to pounce. No denying that. He had power at his fingertips. And that made him very, very dangerous.
Her new neighbor was pulling in now. Alex Barratt was a beautiful man, no denying that. She suspected he knew it, too. Cara had had a lot to say about the partner in the firm she was interning at now. She’d started in January.
As an intern under Powell Barratt. Funny how that woman kept popping up, too.
Those kinds of coincidences made Heather antsy. No denying that.
Alex Barratt was wealthy, powerful, physically attractive, and just like every other rich guy Heather had ever met who thought his money bought him the right to do whatever he wanted.
Daniel McKellen’s family had come from money. His mother’s side. His father had most certainly married up. To the tune of millions. Daniel McKellen the Second didn’t even need to work, she suspected. Daniel McKellen the First lived here in Hughes Heights now since his retirement six years ago.
She knew that man was scum from his head to his feet. She hadn’t needed him hitting on her back then to show her that much. But that was a secret his son would never learn from her. That kind of dirt in the neighborhood where she lived with her family, with her babies, made her damned nervous. It always would.
Men like that used their power to hurt.
That was a lesson Heather had learned far too many times before.
She carried her baby inside the house that was far too big for her family, compared to where they had come from before. Ember was sleeping—she’d wake hungry soon. Heather probably had fifteen minutes max to go over the files she’d brought home on Handley Barratt—Powell Barratt’s uncle.
She was half tempted to walk next door and ask her new neighbor if he wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for her about his dear uncle.
Heather laughed to herself—that would be one thing she definitely wouldn’t do.
Men like that—with power, with connections—they had almost destroyed her before. She wasn’t going to give a man like that a chance to hurt her again.
But it was Thursday. In two days, there was a barbecue at the Barratt Ranch. Owned by—who else?—the Barratts of Finley Creek and Barrattville.
Handley Barratt’s family.
Everyone in Major Crimes and forensics had been invited. And a few other department heads and such.
