Page 15 of Call Back

He snorted. “You planning a séance?”

“No, but he surely left clues. Christopher Merritt was an accountant, Walter Frey was a real estate attorney, and it wasn’t a secret they’d worked on Steve Morrissey’s finances with my dad. If you think about it, Geraldo Lopez was the odd man out. He was a dentist. How did he get involved?” I held his gaze. “There’s at least one more person who might know something.”

I told him about the note I’d seen in Frey’s hand and that last, maddeningly incomplete name. Another potential source—“—ogers.”

A strange look came over Colt’s face, and I was sure I wasn’t convincing him. “You don’t have to help me with this,” I said. “I can do it on my own. I already have been.”

Determination covered his face. “No. Lopez almost killed you. You need a partner. I’m going to help.”

“Why?”

“The gold, of course,” he answered, a little too quickly.

“So help me find the gold and be done with the rest.”

He slowly shook his head.

“You and I are two peas in a pod, Colt. We put ourselves above everything and everyone. If I’m going to trust you, you have to have a reason for helping, and I need to know what it is.”

He lifted his hand to my cheek, tracing my cheekbone with his index finger. “I just want to make sure you’re safe. Let’s leave it at that, okay?”

My breath caught at the tenderness in his touch and his eyes, and alarms went off in my head. I could not get involved with Colt Austin. He was more dangerous than Brady. Besides, I wanted to be with Brady, right? He could offer me the normal, safe life I craved. But I found myself nodding.

He smiled, but there was something sad in it as he leaned in to kiss my forehead and then hopped off the picnic table. “Let’s go. You still need to change into your apron and pearls so you can greet your man when he walks through the front door.”

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