Page 19 of Liar For Hire (For Hire 1)

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, you’re panicking. That’s good. It means I’m on the right track. Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to tell me a thing. Just sit back and do what you always do, Declan. I’ll handle it.”

“Be reasonable, Nessa.” He struggled to find words to convince her. “You don’t understand who you’re dealing with. Patrick won’t take it kindly that you’re trying to gather information about him.”

“I’m not trying to gather information about him. But even if I was, so what? He has a public profile. It’s how I found out he would most likely be able to cover our bill. Plus, he paid us for our time just like he said he would. I haven’t given him his money’s worth. So, if I have to pretend I’m looking into his future son-in-law, it’s all good. He has nothing to be angry about.”

“Why can’t you understand?” he growled.

“Because you won’t explain it.” She shrugged. “Here’s your breakfast. Like I said, I just came to warn you. Don’t miss me while I’m gone, K?”

She set a plate on the table that he had no intention of eating and left the kitchen. Everything inside him said to go after her and force her to see sense, but he couldn’t do that. For one, he had no desire to manhandle her. For another, it would backfire. All he could do was hope wherever his people were now, they were hidden and the past was buried so deep no human would ever learn the truth.

Chapter 7

Janessa pulled into the lot and hesitated. She didn’t like the dilapidated appearance of the bar or the fact that the lot was jam-packed. She’d had to drive around for a good twenty minutes to find an open spot to park.

Now that she was there, she felt like chickening out and returning to her hotel room. Before she could make a decision, her phone dinged. She checked the display and laughed.

“Don’t be chicken. Get out.”

She rolled her eyes. Where was he? A redheaded guy about her height but with a great build waved at her from the opposite side of the lot. She had no choice but to join him.

“You read my mind, huh?”

Skip Hunter grinned and leaned in to hug her. She couldn’t help noticing the warmth from his body. It was so different from Declan’s. Then she scratched that thought. This was not the time to think about her friend.

“You’re still asking yourself if I’m crazy,” Skip said. “‘Shape shifters in real life? Yeah, right. This guy must be out of his head.’”

“I wasn’t,” she lied. “But you got me this far. The article you wrote and those links to websites you sent me—I want to dig deeper.”

“I’ve had my eye on Patrick for about six months. What I don’t get is why he sent someone to watch your place.” He squinted his eyes at her. “You’re human, aren’t you?”

“You’re not serious.” She joked to try to get his mind off her and why Patrick would be interested in her. The last thing she wanted was for Skip to focus on Declan. Not that she fully believed Skip’s nut ball story about a race of people who weren’t human. To believe that mess, she would have to think the man she knew as her best friend—the man she loved—wasn’t human. That was too creepy and weird.

“Only half serious.”

She looked at the bar. “So you think residents of the original town live in this area and that many of them frequent this bar?”

“Yeah, and I’m fairly sure the man you saw outside your apartment a few times was hired by Patrick. If it’s the man I think it is, he’s been working for Patrick for years. He hangs out at this bar. I think we can shake him down and get him to tell us something.”

Janessa snorted at Skip’s expression. He watched too much TV. “Okay, let’s do it.”

They walked into the bar. She had her doubts about Skip and the facts he believed about the shape shifters, but when most of the heads turned in their direction as soon as they crossed the threshold into the bar, she had to wonder.

Skip claimed shifters had incredible hearing, sight, and sense of smell. They could immediately identify if a person was a shifter like them or if they were human. Janessa’s mind insisted on going back to the various times Declan demonstrated these characteristics.

Nervous, she moved nearer to Skip and took his arm. Music blared from speakers in spots along the ceiling. Glasses clinked, voices rose in laughter or argument. Every table was occupied, and some people stood along the walls chatting. A couple danced in a tiny spot in the middle of the floor, and every stool at the bar was taken.

“This place is packed,” she whispered to Skip. “Do you see him?”

“Be cool.”

She followed him to the bar, and he ordered them each a beer. When they had their drinks, they searched for a spot to camp out. The bar was elbow to elbow with people. If their target was there, he’d be hard to spot.

Many of the men in the bar were tall like Declan and good looking. One of them wearing a

cowboy hat, a plaid shirt, and faded jeans approached her. “Like to dance?”

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