Page 28 of Knight's Journey

Tristin nodded his agreement. “Sydney is helping Kat and Travis. They are still digging. We’ll keep you posted. Brick, why don’t you fill him in on your case?”

“Wait.” Zane placed the folder back on the desk. “Don’t put me on this case. I get I’m not ready to be in the field on my case, but put me in the command center. Let me help Kat and Syd run down leads. Travis can get back to his gym. You said this new case is easy, so Brick and the others can handle it with no problems. They’ll probably close it by the time we get to the bottom of my case.”

“Stop fighting me on this.” Tristin’s normally light tone now held an edge of steel telling Zane the time for second guessing his boss’ orders had passed.

Brick handed a second file folder to Zane, ignoring the tension in the room. “We were approached by a couple who seemed nice enough. Their son and his wife were killed in a car accident. They sued for custody of their grandchildren, but the parents awarded custody to an aunt — the wife’s only sister. The couple claimed the aunt was unfit, but the judge ruled in favor of the aunt. The couple approached us for two reasons. They wanted to hire us for simple surveillance to watch over their grandchildren. The aunt apparently leaves them alone quite a bit, and they wanted us to make sure they were safe when they were alone. Then they wanted us to document any evidence we saw to support their claim the aunt was unfit.”

Tristin leaned forward, resting his forearms on the surface of his desk. “Brick sensed something was off about their story. He called me and Jay in, and we got the same feeling. We turned the case down.”

“But…what? You want me to work a case you turned down?”

Brick balled his hands into fists and tapped them against the arm rests. “They’re from Georgia, so they wanted to hire a local firm to handle the case. We think when we turned it down, they hired Tarrant.”

“Which means this family will have mercenaries doing whatever it takes to take this couple’s money. I don’t believe there’s a case to prove the aunt unfit. The court would not have honored the custody agreement if that was the case. The children also asked to stay with their aunt instead of their grandparents. Something is not right about this situation. I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit here and watch this family suffer any more than they already have.”

“What grounds do they have to declare the aunt unfit?” Zane hadn’t glanced at the file, waiting to hear what Brick and Tristin had to say instead.

“They claim the aunt is a party girl, selfish, irresponsible…you know the old song and dance. Not really fit to be a guardian, but very much the cool aunt the kids go to when they run away from home or want to try their first beer. They claim it is the only reason the kids testified in favor of the aunt,” Tristin explained.

“Sounds like the grandparents are pouting because they lost,” Zane drawled.

“We think there’s more to the story. We can’t let this go. Not until we’re sure they are safe against whatever Tarrant has planned.”

Zane sank against the back of his chair, his eyes fixated on the unopen folder in his hands. Tarrant Security was the opposite of Knight Security and Investigation in every way, but the worst was how their actions put Sydney and her best friend Chloe Stephens in danger.

KSI was charged with protecting Sydney against her abusive ex, Emmett Carter, who had operated under the radar as a human trafficker. Carter used Tarrant Security to turn one of the KSI investigators to breach their security and kidnap Sydney and Chloe. If for no other reason than to cause Tarrant trouble after what they put them all through, he had to accept this case.

Zane opened the file with the intention of skimming it now and reading it more in-depth later. He didn’t get very far. A photo and name jumped out at him from the first page as if they were framed in glowing neon.

“What the hell?”

“What’s wrong?”

He peered up at Tristin. “Bridget Kincaid is the unfit mother?”

Brick shifted in his seat so he could study Zane. “You know her?”

“She was one of my nurses at the hospital. You said the grandparents called her a party girl? That doesn’t fit. I heard her turn down a date with a doctor to get home to her niece and nephew.”

“There are a lot of things the grandparents told us that don’t fit. I’ve got Gennessey running down sources who can give us more details on the custody case and the accident which killed the kids’ parents. I’m hoping she can find something to give us a place to start.”

Zane closed the folder and stared at Brick. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Review the intel in the file. Then I think it makes sense for us to do some surveillance to get an idea of the family’s routine and see if anyone from Tarrant has harassed them.”

“I can take the first night of surveillance,” Zane volunteered almost absently, the folder feeling heavy in his hands, begging to be opened.

“I will. You just got out of the hospital.”

“It’s surveillance. I think I can handle it. Stop hovering, or I’ll have to kick your ass.”

Ignoring the grins Brick and Tristin exchanged, Zane stood and headed out of the office. He was too distracted to notice the pain in his side resulting from moving faster than he should have. He had no idea why he felt so shaken. This was a case like the hundreds of others he’d worked at KSI.

But there was a difference. He knew the target of this investigation. He didn’t know her well, but he had a talent for reading a person’s character. He observed her when she was doing her job. He heard her speaking with her colleagues. He heard her when she asked for a break to check in on her kids at home. None of his observations fit with the accusations against her.

He ducked into an empty meeting room so he could spread the file on Bridget Kincaid out on the table. He started studying the information from the top of the first page and working his way through to the last.

This case was more than hinky. Someone was out to get the sweet nurse, and he was determined to figure out why.

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