Page 38 of Laid Bear

Chapter Twelve

“Are you absolutely sure?” Heath demanded.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m looking at the private investigator file now,” Gavin said over the phone.

Heath racked his fingers through his hair. He and his cousins intended to take care of the Dale situation without Zora finding out, but now he wondered if they’d have to get her involved after all. “Shit. Then who the fuck was making those harassing phone calls to her? It couldn’t have been some random person. Zora said the caller knew too much about her to be someone random. She was positive it was Dale.”

“I thought about that as well. Zora never told us specifics on what exactly was said. That would give us a real clue about who this person is. And if they found her once before, they could find her again.”

“Or maybe it was someone who already knew she was with her grandmother. Maybe it was someone in Covington.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. “I thought of that too. I have the investigator checking out that angle.”

“Fine. Did you call Logan?”

“Yes. As you can imagine he’s not happy either. When you get home tonight, we’ll talk about this further.”

“Fine, I have a few more meetings scheduled, but I’ll have my PA cancel all my afternoon appointments and be home by three. Where’s Zora now?”

“She’s taking a shower. I’m about to head into the office for a couple hours. I should be home by the time you get there. Zora will be here.”

“Do you think it’s wise to leave her alone, knowing there could be some psycho stalker after her? I’d feel more comfortable if someone is there with her.”

“I agree. Logan will be home shortly. He has someone else watching the shop for him. I’m going to leave a little before he gets here because I don’t want her to be alarmed.”

Heath knew his cousin was right, but he still didn’t feel comfortable with Zora being on her own. “I don’t disagree with you, but dammit, this is frustrating. Just keep us posted when you hear back from the PI.”

“Will do. Hey, hold on for a sec, someone’s on the other line and I don’t recognize the number.”

“Sure.” Heath waited as his cousin clicked over. When they’d returned from their cabin, everything had fallen into place seamlessly. Zora fit right in like the missing puzzle piece of their lives. They discussed their future and marriage and even children. The only dark cloud in their horizon was the Dale situation. It didn’t sit well with either him or his cousins and they’d decided they’d look into it and handle it themselves. But finding out the other man had been dead for some years put them back at square one.

“Sorry about that,” Gavin said once he clicked back over. “That was Zora’s cousin.”

Heath frowned. “Her cousin? The one who left her homeless and jobless?”

“The very one.”

“Why is she calling you and how did she get our number?”

“It’s the last number Zora contacted her from before she got her new phone. Bernice wanted to speak to Zora. Said it didn’t work out with her last tenant and was wondering if Zora was still at a loose end.”

“Nice cousin.” Heath snorted. With family like Zora’s, it was no wonder their woman had so many insecurities.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I just gave her Zora’s new cell number. I figured Zora would want to deal with her cousin herself. Although I was tempted to just hang up.”

“You’re much nicer than me because I sure as hell would have hung up on that bitch,” Heath growled.

“Like I said, I was tempted. But I don’t think Zora would have appreciated it when I told her.”

“You probably didn’t have to tell her.”

“We agreed no secrets. It’s bad enough we haven’t told her about the Dale situation yet. Hopefully she’ll understand when we tell her. Anyway, I have to go, but I’ll touch base with you later.”

“Okay, I’ll see you when I get home.” Heath hung up.

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