Page 14 of Blind Luck

“I… No, I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t your momma teach you that lying’s a sin?”

In a heartbeat, Erin shifted sideways onto a different seat. Rusty got the impression she’d have moved farther if she hadn’t reached the end of the row. Now what was he supposed to do? She’d been nervous at the Galaxy, and maybe he shouldn’t have called her out on the lie, but he hadn’t gotten confused over words she’d said barely two minutes before.

With his sisters, an apology always defused the situation, but he had a feeling that wouldn’t be enough with Erin. She wouldn’t even look at him. In the end, he decided to come clean about his own reason for being in the Library and hope she did the same.

“I’m sorry,” he said, even though she was the one sidestepping the truth. “I was just wondering if we were watching for the same person, that was all.”

Slowly, she turned to face him. “You were watching for someone? Who?”

“I’m not sure. I only know that they were going to meet a woman in the bar at eight o’clock.”

“Then it wasn’t the same person.”

“How can you be sure?”

“My person wasn’t going to meet anybody for drinks.”

“And how do you know that? Are you a private investigator or something?”

She didn’t look like a PI or even act like one, but damn, he needed pointers on how to tail a suspect because he’d already lost Kelsey three times. Once when he got stuck at a stoplight, once when she visited the ladies-only spa in the Neptune Hotel, and once when she disappeared into an office building. He’d waited for hours in a café across the street, but she must have used a different exit.

“I’m the private investigator,” the blonde said, reappearing beside them and offering a hand. “Ari Danner.”

They shook.

“Rusty.”

“Good to meet you. So anyway, the administrator realised they made a mistake with the bill. It was meant to be six hundred and fifty bucks, not six thousand five hundred. They’ve refunded your card, and I’ve paid the balance on mine.”

“That’s a pretty big mistake to make. How does that even happen?”

“Computer systems move in mysterious ways.”

At least he wasn’t out six and a half thousand bucks. “So, uh, I’d better go.”

“Do you need a ride home?”

He knew he should go back to the Galaxy to pick up his vehicle, but if he was going to be back on Kelsey-watch first thing tomorrow morning, what he really needed was sleep. Running a one-man surveillance detail was harder than he’d imagined—even bathroom breaks took military-style planning. He could take an Uber to the Galaxy in the morning, find his borrowed truck in the parking garage, and drive next door to the Neptune. If Kelsey followed the same pattern, she’d eat breakfast at seven a.m. and then head out for meetings or whatever else a successful architect did on a trip. And maybe, just maybe, she’d hook up with a secret lover.

“I’m staying over in McNeil, but isn’t that out of your way?”

“McNeil? How are you finding the area?”

“In truth, I haven’t spent much time there. I came to Las Vegas as a favour to a couple of buddies, and they arranged the place for me.” The house belonged to a guy who played for the Nevada Storm, but he was in Norway to visit with family and attend his cousin’s wedding. “I would’ve been better staying in a hotel.”

The Neptune, specifically. Rusty had thought about booking a room there, but there were only suites left, and even though he had money now, growing up with little meant he still watched the pennies.

“Turns out we were both looking for somebody in the Library tonight,” Erin said, and Ari gave her a sharp look. “Not the same guy, though.”

“Oh?” Ari turned to him. “Who were you looking for?”

Did it matter if she knew? Not really. Hell, he needed those tips.

“A defenseman for the Richmond Raiders—Silas Armstrong—has been dating a woman for almost a year now, and he just bought her a ring.”

“So you’re scouting for a wedding chapel? The Galaxy doesn’t have one of those.”

---