Page 120 of Unseen Danger

With the locations of both notes last night, he was even more suspicious these threats and attacks were an inside job. There were no signs of break-in. A key had to have been used to access the outbuilding. And there’d been no lapse in the security system protecting the house. Which meant a member of D-Chop’s staff, someone the rapper had thought trustworthy, was responsible. Or possibly hired to do someone’s bidding.

Branson and Nevaeh had started their interviews this morning with Brian Cornwall, the groundskeeper. The middle-aged man Branson had already liked still seemed like a down-to-earth guy who loved plants and the outdoors. As well as dogs, apparently. He’d asked to pet Alvarez more than once.

The man also wasn’t high on Branson’s list of suspects after last night. He could’ve planted the note in the outbuilding, but not the knife in D-Chop’s pillow. Brian had left at five o’clock in the evening as usual, and the gate guard and cameras hadn’t caught him returning.

The suspect pool had shrunk abruptly with the knife in D-Chop’s bedroom. Only Marsha, Peter, and Branson’s security staff stayed at the house overnight. At one forty-two a.m. when D-Chop’s girlfriend screamed, no daytime staff members were at the house. The woman with D-Chop, who Branson had finally learned was a twenty-two-year-old named Kim Jameson, was an unknown. He hadn’t had time to check into her yet but Nevaeh had passed along the name to Phoenix. Maybe she could give him a reason to not have to suspect the kind housekeeper who sat in front of him now.

“In those fifteen years, have you ever had a problem with D-Chop?”

Branson heard Nevaeh’s question this time and watched Marsha for her answer.

The older woman gazed at Nevaeh carefully, but no hostility or tension showed in her eyes. “I know what you’re getting at. Some people haven’t been happy working for D-Chop. Though I suspect they only fabricate those stories to get attention from the press when they’re dismissed.”

She transferred her gaze to Branson, then back to Nevaeh. “I’ve never been anything but happy working for D-Chop. He’s always been kind and fair to me. And I appreciate the trust he places in me, even letting me care for the children.”

Marsha’s gaze softened as she referred to the kids. More affection for them radiated from her than their mother. “I don’t have family of my own, you see.” She looked down at her folded hands on the table. “It’s been…so lovely to have those children around.” Her eyes glistened as she looked up.

Branson glanced at Nevaeh.

Her lifted eyebrows and pressed lips reflected what he was thinking. Marsha wouldn’t try to extort money from the father of children she treated as if they were her grandchildren. And she certainly would never terrify them and put them in danger with an attempted kidnapping.

“Thanks, Marsha.” Branson smiled. “You’ve been very helpful. You can go now.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened slightly as if surprised they hadn’t been rougher. “Thank you.”

Relief he hadn’t had to be stern or tough filtered through Branson as the woman stood and left the dining room. He wouldn’t want to damage his working relationship with her.

“I think she’d like to adopt D-Chop’s kids as her own grandbabies.” Nevaeh’s warm voice easily drew his focus to her heart-stopping smile.

The smile that made him throw caution to the wind and do rash things like ask her to dinner. A warning had flared in his mind the moment the invitation had slipped out yesterday after their interview with LeSalle. He couldn’t ask her on a date. She didn’t share his faith. Didn’t believe in the God he lived for. In the Savior Who was everything to him.

He knew better than to try to build a relationship on such a shaky, mismatched foundation. And he’d never wanted to date just to date or play around. He would never toy with any woman that way. Especially Nevaeh.

A lump slid into his throat as he watched her smile down at Alvarez. She deserved only the best man, fully committed to her for life. No games. No selfishness. Just sold-out love and commitment to her forever in marriage the way God intended. The kind of marriage Branson wanted someday.

Nevaeh’s phone vibrated, and she grabbed it from the table, flipping it over to see the screen. “Cora. Oh, here we go.” Nevaeh’s eyes lit as if she’d received good news.

They could use some about now.

“You were right to wonder about Kim Jameson.”

“I was?”

Nevaeh tossed him a smile. “Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Of course. I should’ve known I was right.” He adopted a pompous tone. “I always am.”

She rewarded him with a laugh that danced through his ribs and settled softly in his heart.

“So what exactly was I right about?”

The grin stayed on her face as she looked at her phone. “Cora found Kim Jameson’s social media accounts. Pictures of her with D-Chop’s chef Bartlemay Cox and—get this—our pal, Larry LeSalle.” Nevaeh turned the screen toward Branson.

He peered at the screenshots and scrolled with his finger to see both the photos. “Would you look at that.”

“Cora also says Kim competed in a modeling competition where Jill was a celebrity judge. They were pictured together.”

He lifted his gaze to look at Nevaeh above the phone. “Looks like our suspect pool just widened again.”

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