Page 78 of Puzzle for Two

“I hate to press you, but it would be nice—as a shareholding member of the company—if you’d occasionally fill me in what the heck is going on.”

“We don’t have stock or a mutual fund. So.”

Brooke shot him a look that could’ve dropped a bear at eighteen paces.

“Okay, okay. But really. There’snothingto worry about,” Zach assured her. “Everything is under control.”

“You know what? Every time you say there’s nothing to worry about, I get more worried.”

“I’m serious. Flint and I interviewed Alton’s butler just a little while ago. Now Flint’s following up a lead on his own—”

“What lead?”

Zach shook his head. “He didn’t say. I’m going to phone Bill and let him know everything we’ve learned so far.”

“Which is what?”

“That Alton was coercing men for sexual favors—he may have even been blackmailing them.”

“Holy shi—”

Zach hadn’t meant to share that bit of information lest it lead to his own tangential involvement in Alton’s kinky affairs. He was desperately hoping to keep Alton’s attempts to seduce him from Brooke. He forged on, “That Alton stole his brother’s girlfriend.”

Brooke was instantly distracted. “Hello? A girlfriend is not an inanimate object. She usually has some say in the matter.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No one knows what you mean, Zee. Which is probably best.”

Zach ignored that. “I want to see what he has to say about Rusty Jordan. I want to update him on my interview with the sheriff’s office and talk to him about the break-in last night.”

“It’s a start,” Brooke said grudgingly. “What does Flint say?”

“About what?”

“All of it. Especially the break-in. Does Flint think it was a homeless person who attacked you?”

“It’s adorable you put so much importance on what Flint thinks.” Zach answered automatically. He was thinking of Flint’s‘someone tried to kill you’.

No way could he share that with Brooke.

Brooke said seriously, “He’s got a lot more experience than we do, Zee. Besides, I think he really…”

She had a funny expression on her face.

“You think he really what?”

Brooke vaguely, “I think he…likes us and feels like he should look out for us a little.”

“Yeah, that’s probably true.”

She was still giving him that peculiar look. “He was definitely concerned when I told him what happened last night.”

“Okay, well since you bring it up, why would you call Flint and tell him that? Especially, after we had that talk about not running to Bill or…anyone else when we’ve got a problem.”

Thatexpression was easy to read.Thatexpression was pure sisterly exasperation.

“First off, I didn’t phone Flint. He phoned me because when he tried to phone you, he got the sheriff’s office. He was worried about you.”

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