Page 85 of Deadly Attraction
Chapter Eighteen
“There,” Emma said. “Do you see it?”
Mitch pressed an eye against the lens of her telescope, his body tense. “The gate’s closed.”
He’d been a million miles away when she’d found him in her office staring out the window. She’d heard the murmur of his voice below her as she’d scanned her property from the attic window, landing on the gate that she never closed. She couldn’t hear the contents of his conversation, but it had certainly knocked him sideways.
“Zoom in on the latch.”
His long, capable fingers fiddled with the focusing knob as he tweaked the direction of the tube. “Is that a padlock?”
“There were two men, just like we suspected. One tall and thin, the other shorter, but stocky and bald. They closed the gate and locked it; that’s not my padlock, by the way.” She’d never had one that looked like that.
Mitch straightened, his tenseness now flat-out irritation. “You saw the men who did this? Why didn’t you yell at me?”
“I did. You didn’t answer. I watched them until they disappeared behind the old outbuilding at the far end, near the creek, then I went to get you. I don’t know who you were talking to, but you went dark side for a few minutes. I said your name three times from the doorway before you answered me.”
He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his eyes. “Shit. Sorry.”
She nodded, seeing the consternation in the pinch of his brows. “Did you have one of your flashbacks?”
He closed his eyes briefly, opened them and shook his head as if shaking off a memory. “No. Yes.” Another shake of his head. A lock of his unruly hair fell over his forehead. “Not about Mac. I was talking to my…”
He glanced at the window where the telescope peeked through the curtains. His lips were set in a thin line, his body motionless.
Except for his fingers.
She hadn’t noticed it when he was fiddling with the telescope. Now that his hands hung loose by his sides, she noticed the tiny tremor in the fingers of those steady hands.
It hadn’t been his boss on the other end of that call. Whenever Mitch spoke to Cooper Harris, he relaxed.
If she had a guess, it hadn’t been Victor either. Mitch might fear Victor’s disappointment in him, but he respected the man. The emotion she saw in her bodyguard’s current posture suggested the person had some kind of control over him in an emotional manner. A very strong, emotional manner.
If his brother were still alive, Emma would have guessed it had been Mac on the other end of that phone.
His mom. It had to be.
Unless he had a girlfriend he hadn’t mentioned. A wife—ex, maybe.
Mitch wouldn’t lie to you, lead you on.
Would he?
She hated to admit it, but there had been people in her world she’d misjudged. Criminals and other clients who’d fooled her, tricked her into believing in them, and then pulled the trust rug out from under her feet.
Which was why she’d learned not to be suckered by anyone.
“Mitch?” she asked gently. “Who was on the phone?”
He glanced at her, then at the telescope, leaning forward to look through the eyepiece once more. “Did you get a look at the men’s faces?”
He didn’t want to talk about it. Big surprise. “Yes, actually. Quite clearly.”
“Recognize either one of them?”
“One of them, yes; the other no, not personally, but I know of him.”
His head came up. “You do?”
