Page 53 of Be Very Quiet

“I am.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m pleading client-investigator privilege.”

“There’s no such thing,” Luca scoffed. “Try again.”

Eckerd huffed. “I’d rather not divulge any details.” He started to lower his arms, but Luca dug the barrel of his gun into his back, and they shot back up.

“I’d rather not face-plant you to the ground, but you’re about two seconds away from eating blacktop.”

“Fine. A man hired me to follow his soon-to-be ex-wife. He wants to know if she cheated on him. Contentious divorce. Nasty, really.”

“Who?”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

“Henry Perkins,” Christian supplied, holding a sticky note with the man’s contact info.

Perkins was the last name of one of Rex Raines’s real estate agents. “Georgia Perkins?”

Eckerd sighed and nodded.

“Is she?”

He hitched a shoulder. “Not sure. I’ve only been doing this for a couple of days. If she is, I haven’t been able to identify the other party yet. From what I’ve witnessed, she’s rather boring.”

Luca removed his weapon. “You can put your arms down, but you’ll have to find another way to tail her instead of hanging out in the parking lot.”

“It’s a free country,” Eckerd argued.

“Yes, it is, but I won’t tell you again. I see you here, and I will have you arrested for loitering.”

Eckerd looked between Luca and Christian. “You two cops or something?”

“Or something,” Luca agreed.

Christian slapped the wallet against Eckerd’s chest, and his hand shot up to grip it. “Fine. I’ll leave, but I might decide to join the fitness center. I took a complimentary class the other night and enjoyed it.” He tapped his belly. “I might get back into shape.”

“Give it a couple of weeks. If you feel the same, go for it. Don’t come around before that.”

Eckerd looked like he wanted to argue but snapped his mouth closed at the unwavering looks from Luca and Christian. “Fine.” He slid into his car. With a shake of his head, he backed out of the space and drove away.

Christian stood beside Luca as they watched him turn onto the street and disappear. “You believe him?”

“Yeah, I do,” Luca said.

“I snapped photos of his license and sent it to the office to run a check.”

“Good.”

#

Liliana had a hard time focusing on instructing the dance students. They knew the routine that would be performed at the recital, and the only thing left to do was polish it, but her mind was elsewhere.

She couldn’t stop thinking of the little boy who would grow up without a mother. Maybe it wasn’t the most noble thing that Daisy May had sold her body to pay bills, but she’d done what she had to do to survive. That took grit, determination, and courage. According to Luca, everything she earned went straight to her son’s care.

“They’re really great,” Audria praised, jarring Liliana from her thoughts. She watched as the students navigated the choreography perfectly. They were good.

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