Page 35 of Out of Control

“I’m not obstructing shit.”

“You’re not telling me the truth, and that’s convoluting the investigation. You need to let me in right now and talk to me or I’m going to have to arrest you. And it’ll stick this time.”

Damn, that was a real possibility.

“Can I suggest a compromise?”

He grunted, so I took that as a yes.

“I will open my door to talk to you. I will answer any of the questions you ask, completely honestly, for five minutes. And then you will leave my fucking property and not come back again without a warrant. I’m tired of your shit,Special Agent Blake, so you and your protection unit can just fuck right the hell off after this.”

He paused. I peeked through the curtain again. He was glaring, but clearly considering my words. If he agreed to this, I wouldn’t have to worry about ditching him for my second interview tomorrow morning. I wouldn’t have to lie again. Because, yes, Ididlie about who I spoke to on the phone, but that didn’t obstruct his investigation at all. It had nothing todo with him, and everything to do with my own mission. But I didn’t like lying to him, even if it was necessary.

I just didn’t want to do it anymore.

“Fine. You answer my questions right now and I’ll leave and not come back.”

My heart thudded.

“Fine.” I dropped the curtain and unlatched the locks, stepping behind the door as I opened it for him.

He stormed inside, making it halfway across the kitchen before he turned around at the sound of the door closing. The way his eyes bugged out was almost comical, but I was still too pissed off at him to find any real amusement.

“You couldn’t bother to get dressed before answering your door?” he hissed, like someone might overhear him in my empty house.

“Well, you started banging on my door and threatened to break down it down, so I didn’t exactly have time to make myself decent.”

He pursed his lips and avoided my gaze but didn’t offer an apology. Again. “Are you going to put on clothes now?”

His earlier words in my yard came to mind, but that only made me more stubborn. “Just to make you more comfortable? No.”

“To make yourself more comfortable?” he tried again.

“I’m plenty comfy,” I lied. I shifted my weight, popping out a hip and crossing my arms over my chest; I really didn’t want to towel to fall. Blake looked so damn uncomfortable that there was no way I was going to move now. This might be my only leverage to get him out of my house if he showed an interest inwandering out of the kitchen. I looked at the display over the stovetop. “It’s 9:26. You have four more minutes in my private residence. You better make good use of them.”

“Why did you lie about being on the phone with your father?”

He obviously figured out that my dad was dead, so there was no point in denying the lie.

“Because my private phone calls are none of your business and you were being very nosy.”

“Who was on the phone?” Wow, not even trying to hide the nosiness.

I rolled my eyes. “A potential employer. I had a job interview recently and it was a follow-up call.”

“An employer in Seattle or here in town? Are you planning on staying local?”

What was that edge in his voice? “Local, if you must know, but nothing is set in stone. I still don’t know how long I’ll be staying here.”

“How do you know Leo Lombardi?”

“This again? I told you before and I told you the truth: I went on a shitty date with him. He tried to put the moves on me, I didn’t like it, and I left.”

“Who set you up?”

“You’re wasting your time, Agent Blake. You keep asking me questions about my personal life when your suspicions about me are clearly about something bigger. You have three more minutes.”

“Your mother worked for the Morelli brothers.”

---