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CHAPTER SEVEN

CURTIS

Cami and Dalton arrived right as Cassie was placing a big bowl of spaghetti on the table. Dalton carried a bakery box filled with iced sugar cookies and Cami made a point of telling us she had not been responsible for their creation so therefore they were quite edible.

Dinner conversation was light hearted and cheerful, mostly thanks to the combined efforts of Cassie and her twin. They finished each other’s sentences and shared amusing stories about growing up under the overprotective thumb of Cord Gentry. I’d heard most of these stories before and I’d bet that Dalton had too but I appreciated that they were trying to keep the mood upbeat. And twice their tales made Brecken laugh so hard that he snorted his milk out of his nose.

Across the table, Cassie caught my eye a few times and I could tell that underneath her bubbly attitude she was uneasy. There were no secrets between us so I’d told her everything I’d seen and heard at Dalton’s office yesterday. She didn’t know what to make of it any more than I did. All we knew at this point is that there was more than one sketchy dude sniffing around for rumors of Hale Tremaine’s activities.

Cami found me in the kitchen after I volunteered to get the dinner dishes cleared up while everyone else went outside to enjoy the sudden breeze in the air.

“Hey there, married lady,” I greeted her.

She flashed a smile and pointed to the sink. “I’m not the best cook but I know how to stack a dishwasher.”

I moved over to make room. “Be my guest.”

“There’s a thunderstorm in the distance,” she said, taking the dinner plate I’d just rinsed and sticking it in the lower shelf of the dishwasher. “They’re all out on the patio watching the lightning get closer.”

I handed her another plate. “Did your sister talk to you?”

Cami nodded. “She briefed me on the phone earlier about what happened yesterday.”

“Did she also tell you that someone was asking around about Hale at Scratch?”

Cami’s long hair concealed her expression as she stacked another plate. She didn’t answer the question. Instead she closed the dishwasher and looked up.

“Yes.”

“Any ideas?”

She grimaced. “I think that guy who showed up at Scratch might have been a reporter. Not one from my paper. But I knew there were questions being asked.”

“Why?”

“There’s something I haven’t told Cassie yet. I barely knew how to bring it up to Dalton and when I did he seemed so sure it couldn’t be true.” Her mouth twisted into a frown. “I don’t know what to think.”

I switched the faucet off and met her gaze. “I’m listening if you want to talk.”

Cami looked down at her hands and twisted her new wedding band. “I love him so much, Curtis.”

“I know you do.”

“I can’t stand the idea of anything else hurting him.”

“What is it, Cami?”

She stopped twisting her wedding band. “Hale might not have been a good guy. He was Dalton’s big brother and Dalton loved him so I did too. I knew there were a lot of things he kept to himself but I always figured maybe Hale was kind of like Uncle Deck, rebellious and nonconformist in some ways but strong and compassionate in the end.” She rubbed her eyes. “Now I think I just made that part up. In reality I might not have known him after all. Maybe Dalton didn’t either.”

That had been hard for her to say so I didn’t interrupt. I listened while she kept talking.

“The Phoenix area has had problems with human trafficking for years,” Cami continued. “I know a lot more now that I work for the paper. A few high profile sex traffic rings have been busted lately, all tied to the drug trade. I got a tip from a colleague that Hale’s name was linked up with some pretty brutal people. The businesses they own are really just a front for illegal and altogether reprehensible activities. They get young women, many of them underage, hooked on drugs and then trapped in a gruesome cycle of dependence and prostitution. These girls are basically turned into sex slaves. My god, it’s so horrible and heartbreaking and I can’t blame Dalton for denying that his brother could have been part of that.”

I digested Cami’s words. I’d known enough lowlifes in my time to be unsurprised by anything people were capable of. “And what do your reporter instincts tell you?” I asked.

She shuddered. “I think there’s a lot of ugliness in the world. And I hate to think it might have been so close. But right now I’m worried about Dalton.” She scrutinized me. “You’re worried too, aren’t you? I can tell. Cassie always said you’re not good at hiding your feelings.”

I didn’t want to lie to her. Anyone who would victimize young women in the manner Cami described would be capable of anything.

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