Page 81 of Shadow Dance

“See, I don’t believe that,” he says with a small, sardonic smile. “Iknow Maeve, and she’s chatty. I can’t see her spending all that time with you in silence.”

I’ve wondered when this idiot would finally start to worry. Who the fuck lets their woman spend hours and hours with another guy and never worries once? It wouldn’t be me, that’s for fucking sure. “I’m her driver, not her therapist, Cal,” I say evenly, looking him right in his paranoid, bloodshot eyes. “When we do talk, it’s about sports, or the weather, or what she needs from the store, not her relationship with you.”

Cal studies me for a moment, maybe searching for deception. I meet his gaze, letting him look all he likes. He thinks he wants to know the truth, but he doesn’t. It would destroy him.

The tension stretches between us until I blink. “That’s why you hired me, right?”

After a moment he grunts and looks away, the lines on his forehead deepening. “I’ll get the phone to you later,” he mutters.

Ignoring Maeve’s curious look from the kitchen, I exit through the French doors and make my way to the guest house. I scan it like I always do, making sure no one’s been here besides me, no cameras here but mine, and settle on the couch. Seems like Cal’s choices might be catching up to him. Dario wasn’t too happy with him after the latest meeting, and now there’s another messed up deal?

And then there’s Maeve. He knows she could be used to get at him, so I get why he’s worried. But he also knows that he fucked up when he hit her, that if there was ever a time she might leave, it’s now. The cocaine is probably heightening his paranoia, but that doesn’t make it any less real. This is what happens when you spin a web as tangled as his. You can’t really trust anybody.

I would know.

I check my phone’s calendar even though I know exactly what day it is. Lewis and the guys on the team are taking too long, crossing their T’s and dotting their I’s before making their move, but I’m running out of time. I know it’s fucked up, and I could go to prison if they thought I was undermining the investigation by providing sensitive info to Cedro and Leo, but I don’t care anymore. The Feds have plenty of evidence on both the OliverasandDe Leon families thanks to me. They’ll get their arrests.

But they don’t care about Maeve, not the way I do. At this point, they’ve likely figured out that we have a sexual relationship. They see it all the time in these situations. To them she’s a potential witness at best and collateral damage at worst. Getting her out of this situation isn’t their primary concern.

So it’s up to me to see this through. If everything goes as planned, Leo’s crew will be here two nights from tonight. They’ll do what they need to do, and I’ll use the chaos to get Maeve out of the house.

In the morning,I tell Cal that I can’t fix whatever’s wrong with Maeve’s phone.

Distracted, he clicks a key on his laptop. “Then keep her home until I get her a new one.”

“I can try, but she doesn’t like missing dance class?—”

“She has a studio here,” he mumbles, squinting at the screen. “That she barely uses.”

“And she said something about going to the DMV for a new license.” Bullshit, obviously. I just like the cornered look he gets when he realizes he did something stupid. “I guess she lost the old one.”

“Whatever. I don’t have time for this,” he snaps, waving me off. What a dick. “I have to be in SF by eleven.”

“I can check in with you,” I offer, hand on the door. “Let you know where we’re at.”

“Yeah, do that,” he says, already onto the next task as he snatches up his phone.

I let myself out of his office and return to the guest house. What’s happening in the city, a meeting? If so, I doubt it’s with Dario—they usually meet at the club in Oakland or in Marin. Feretti, maybe? San Francisco is their turf, so it fits. I wasn’t able to find evidence of a new burner, so I’m still in the dark about that. I send Lewis a heads-up, informing him that there might be a meeting between Cal and Feretti today in San Francisco, but I can’t go to confirm.

Maeve rolls her eyes when I mention my conversation with Cal. “Keep me home? After I made him tamales?” she says. “I can’t wait to get out of here.”

“Soon.”

She nods, her eyes softening as she looks away.

“What’s up?” I eat a grape, the last of the fruit salad she made us for breakfast.

“I’ll miss you when I’m gone.” She sighs, wrinkling her nose. “That’s weird, isn’t it. I’m being creepy.”

“It’s not creepy.” Laughing softly, I take my bowl to the sink. We’re in the guest house, the only place on the property where I feel one hundred percent secure hanging out with Maeve. “I’ll miss you, too.”

“Let’s skip dance, then,” she says, putting our dirty cafecito cups beside the bowl. “Let’s just hang out.”

“I’m down. What d’you want to do?” I ask, my gaze traveling over the oversized sweatshirt she’s wearing over her leotard and tights.

“Can we go back to Wolf’s house?” she asks, the blush that stains her cheeks betraying her casual tone.

The semi I’ve been sporting for days perks up like it’s been waiting for this moment. It’s been like this since we hooked up at Wolf’s, and Maeve asking for a repeat definitely doesn’t help. Unable to hold back, I pull her closer by the hip. “Analisse works from home.”