Page 38 of Knight's Desire

He let her guide their conversation over breakfast, and she’d chosen safe topics — the craziest case he’d worked, how did he become a security guard, what did he do when he wasn’t working. For every random question he answered, she responded in kind until their simple breakfast felt more like a first date. He’d liked it. He wanted to do it again. He could think of nothing else.

The problem was she was his client. He should be thinking of her case and potential suspects. Instead he dwelled on the lilting sound of her voice, the spark of green among the dark brown irises of her eyes, the even, white teeth that flashed when she smiled, and the nervous habit she had of playing with her hair when she was preoccupied. He missed nothing about her, and while he told himself it was just part of his training, he knew that was complete bullshit.

Brick was fascinated with Hope Robertson. He should recuse himself from her case, but damn if he would let anyone but him take down the asshole harassing her. He wanted the threat vaporized, so instead of going home to catch a few hours of sleep, he was staring at his computer screen, trying to think with his brain and not his dick.

“Hey, man. You look like shit.”

He pivoted his neck until he was glaring at Sam Montgomery, who strolled into his office without so much as a knock first. He was angrier at himself for not hearing Sam approach than at his friend for barging inside.

“Yeah, well, I feel worse than I look. What’s up?”

Sam tossed a paper on the desk in front of Brick. “I think I have a lead in your case.”

Brick tried to study the intel Sam presented, but his eyes crossed and the words blurred. He pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose, and he closed his lids.

“Just tell me. I don’t think I can understand anything if I try to read it.”

“Everything that’s happened to Miss Robertson feels personal. So Syd and I have been checking out the people in her life who are closest to her. There are two promising leads. The boyfriend, Parker Bexley, has a real estate client who’s looking for office space, and he considered the bridal shop as an option at one time.”

Brick resisted the urge to inform Sam that Bexley was no longer the boyfriend. The detail wasn’t important, and he wanted to hear Sam out before adding his own intel.

“Bexley lost out on a big account when Miss Robertson closed the deal on the shop before the client made an offer. The client is William White. Bexley has been trying to close the deal with White, and he’s even had Miss Robertson help him convince White to do business. White’s holding out, but here’s the kicker. White is also talking to a realtor in Winston and is expected to put in an offer on a vacant office space there.”

“So you think Bexley is trying to drive her out of the space, so he can sell it to his client? It’s a reach, especially when Bexley helped Hope find the space,” Brick explained.

“The real estate paperwork says Bexley’s boss at the real estate office is the one who made the sale to Hope.”

Brick looked at his friend incredulously. “How did you find out all this? I know Syd is good, but some of this intel would not be in any system she can hack.”

“Give me a break, man. I do know how to run an investigation without a computer tech. Syd accessed the public records on the properties. I have a contact who works for the realtor in Winston, and it turns out real estate agents are bigger gossips than the ladies at the beauty shop. Syd is running a check on White now, but so far, she’s found out the guy’s worth billions. Bexley stands to make a ton of cash if he can clench the old man as a client.”

“Maybe, but highly unlikely. Hope said Bexley’s boss was her realtor at first, but he passed the case off to Bexley to finalize the deal. Bexley’s more the type to use his status as her boyfriend to convince her to sell than to try and mess with her head or run her off the road. But they broke up this morning, so I guess there could be more there than meets the eye. Go ahead and run down the theory just to cover all the bases. If he is behind this, he may step up the harassment to get back at her.”

“On it,” Sam promised.

“What’s your other theory?”

“Someone in Bexley’s real estate office. Another realtor, Naomi Brown. Her social media showed that she and Bexley once dated, but it looks like things ended around the time Hope moved to town. After I worked my charm on one of the receptionists, I found out the scuttlebutt around the office was Naomi was all in. She was telling everyone she and Bexley were meant to be, but Bexley called it off. From what the receptionist said, he told Naomi he didn’t think it was a good idea for the two of them to date since they worked together. He told her they made better friends.”

“Did the receptionist think Naomi was capable of running Hope off the road or vandalizing her Shoppe in a fit of jealousy?”

“She said it was possible. Evidently, Naomi has a temper. She puts up a front when she’s around Bexley or their boss, but when she thinks no one is looking, she acts pretty pissed even after all this time.”

“Sounds like a promising lead. Have Gennessey run it down. I’ll see if I can get one of the teams to pitch hit on the security detail, so you and Gen can check out the leads. I’ll run point on everything.”

“How long are you going to have the ‘round-the-clock security? All of the harassment is centered around the Shoppe’s location, so her home seems like a safe space. I know we need to escort her to and from home and work, but the all-night detail may not be necessary.”

“Maybe, but this whole thing has my gut churning. I don’t want to take any chances until we get a better idea of what’s going on. We’ve seen too many cases where harassment like this escalates fast.” Brick groaned as he rubbed his hands over his face. “I think I’m just going to grab a couple of Z’s here in the office. Will you have Syd run down any vendors or delivery people who have the Bridal Shoppe as a stop on their routes? I’ll check in with her later.”

“Go home.” Sam looked over at the couch in Brick’s office and back to him. “No way can you rest on that little thing. We’ve got everything handled here, and Gen has the Shoppe covered.”

“I’ve napped on that couch before. I can do it again.” Brick forced a half-hearted smile, hoping it was enough to have his friend back off.

“But you won’t.” Tristin appeared in the doorway, his expression stern like he was scolding a child instead of his head of investigations. “You’re going home, and if I see you back here before late this afternoon, I’m pulling you from the case.”

Brick scowled at his friend. “What’s with the tough guy bullshit? I’ve pulled all-nighters before. This is nothing compared to some missions I’ve been on. I just need to be left alone for a while, and I’ll be fine.”

He didn’t share much about his days serving with the Green Berets, but Tristin and Sam knew enough to realize he spoke the truth. The determined gleam in Tryst’s eyes, though, indicated he was not backing down.

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