Page 14 of Justified Fear
“Keely is her goddaughter?” Adam asked.
Ryan nodded.
“Oh,shit.”
“What?”Seth asked, stepping closer.
“Yeah, we need to dig into Keely’s life,” Del said.
“She had no connection to the Kellys.We already figured that out,” Seth said.“They booked with her because of word of mouth.They contacted her through her website, just as she had mentioned.Referred by the Elliots.”
“The Elliots?The ones who own that yoga retreat on Maui and who knows how many yachts they rent out?”Adam shook his head.“This just got a whole lot more complicated.”
Del nodded.“If she has a connection to Lulu Singh, there’s nothing simple about this.We’ve never had dealings with her, but I have seen her in court on other cases.She is a heavy hitter for defense attorneys on Oahu.Check out the Kellys and see if they have any connection to Singh.If she was their lawyer, that might have implications.”
“Are you trying to say Ryan’s girlfriend is dirty?”Autumn Bradford said as she munched on an apple.He had no idea where she had come from, but the Team Alpha member was engaged to Ryan’s boss.
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“I heard she landed on top of you in the jungle.”She wiggled her eyebrows.“It’s one of my favorite positions.”
He did not need that image in his head.Jesus.Autumn rarely kept her thoughts to herself.
“Autumn.”Seth’s voice sounded resigned, but there was a thread of humor.
She shrugged and gave him a wink.
“Charity is on her way, right?She should be able to find all these connections.Or do we need Emma?”Del asked.The boss and his wife had met right as they formed TFH several years ago.Instant hatred from both of them, but from what Ryan understood, she smacked him in the face with a two-by-four, so that was to be expected.She was a genius—a certified genius—and could work out patterns that other people couldn’t see.TFH contracted her from time to time—as did HPD and gaming companies for help in developing their games—to help with cases that needed a little extra help.
“No,” Seth said.“We might need her later, but right now, we just need to see what we can find on the surface.”
As if on cue, Charity came strolling into the office.The forensic tech was dressed down for her.Usually, she wore… well, themed dressing was the best way to describe it.A geek at heart, the gorgeous African American woman could show up one day as Rosie the Riveter and then dress in Goth the next day.Today, though, she was dressed in stretchy pants and an oversized shirt.She looked exhausted and a little pale.
“Hey, everyone.I’ll get started right away.”
“You sure you’re up to it?”Del asked, worry threading his voice.
“Yeah,” she said with a tired smile.“Just a little morning sickness.”
Oh, that’s right.Charity just found out she was pregnant last week.TJ, her husband, came striding in behind her.
“Hammer, what are you doing here?”Del asked.Hammer was TJ’s nickname—which probably had to do with the fact that his first name was Thor.
“She’s having dizzy spells that she’s not telling anyone else about.”
“Charity!”Adam said, his eyes narrowing.“We can survive without you.”
“No, you can’t.”
“You could do this work at home, right?”Del asked.
“I wanted to be here.I work better in my office.Besides, the dizzy spells are usually gone by midmorning.I just had Thor driving me in.And we can use him.He can see if there are any ongoing investigations into anyone who was at the dinner party.I mean, I can, but he can do it legally.”
“We should have a fancy dinner party,” Autumn said.Everyone ignored her, well, except Seth, who nodded.He was pretty sure his boss would do just about anything to make his fiancée happy.And that meant they would all be expected to come.Not because they were worried about their captain, but Autumn scared just about everyone on both TFH teams.
“Let me see what I can hunt up,” Charity said.
TJ and she headed for the elevators.
