Page 4 of Off Limits Daddy

"Fine. Let's leave. We'll find the truth ourselves."

"Wait." I held up my hand, hesitating for a moment before I spoke again. Since there wasn’t an official case, I couldn’t get in trouble for sharing some tidbits, could I? "Your brother was incredibly brave for coming forward. And determined.” I gave them both a wan smile. “He talked about maybe trying to join the FBI once all this was done. When I heard he'd died, I continued to look into his accusations, but then I was reassigned because there simply wasn't enough to justify keeping me on the case."

"Of course not.” Bitterness dripped from Oliver’s words. "Why bother? No one ever cared about us before. Why start now?"

I could be a cold-hearted bitch when I wanted to, but my heart did ache for him and his brother. I had a chaotic childhood, but at least I’d been able to stay with my family.

"Oliver, we'll figure this out. Together." Lindsay squeezed his arm.

“Let’s go.” He pulled away, jerking the door open and storming out of the room.

"Thank you for your time, Agent Marsden,” Lindsay said as she followed him to the door.

"Before you go, there's something I need to tell you."God, I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

Lindsay glanced at the door, where Oliver had left moments earlier. I thought she might ignore me, but she lingered.

"I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you need to know if you’re going to continue to push this or look for whatever someone is asking you for. Liam believed that the scam was bigger than Wally Creighton. He stumbled on something that he felt would give me the proof I needed to get a full team on the case. Unfortunately, he died before he could bring it to me.”

“You’re not really telling me anything we don’t already know.” Lindsay glanced out the door again.

I sighed, the tug-of-war about how much to say warring in my mind. “I don’t know what he found, Ms. McKinnon, but I suspect it was a list or documentation that named names and outlined the scam.”

“I don’t suppose you have an idea of where he kept it?” she asked.

“You would know better than I would. All he said was that it was safe and that the writing wason the wall.” For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what he meant. Was it literal or colloquialism?

She frowned. “He said that, specifically?”

“At the time, I thought it was just a figure of speech. Maybe it was, but when I heard he died, I went to where he was living and all his haunts, looking for a clue written on a wall. Nothing.”

"Can you do anything about this?" she asked.

"Officially, no. My hands are still tied. But unofficially… I'm passing this information to you because I care about what happened to your boyfriend. I want to see justice done too." That was true. Liam’s murder bothered me a great deal. I wanted to put that right, or as right as I could.

"Thank you, Agent Marsden.”

“Be careful, Ms. McKinnon. These people are dangerous. Don't hesitate to call me if you find anything or feel in danger." I handed her my card.

“Thank you.”

With a nod, she turned and hurried out of the office.

I took a moment to jot down notes in my unofficial file. Would this be enough to open a case?

The answer turned out to be no. I didn’t have anything more than I had five years ago, to hear my supervisor say it.

Agitated, I focused on the work I had and when I ended my day at seven that night, I started to head home. Remembering that the gym in my building was closed for the time being, I headed to the closest gym between me and my condo. I figured I’d get a day pass, burn off my frustration, and head home to review Liam’s file again.

Once I had my pass and changed into workout clothes, I headed to the floor. I started with a two-mile run for warm-up, and then I switched to the rowing machine. I didn’t love rowing except that it was an all-over workout including cardio. Next was strength training. First stop, bench press. I added the weights and prepared to lie on the bench.

“You should have a spotter.”

I glanced up at the source of the deep voice. It came from a man who looked like he lived at the gym. I was well aware that some men used the gym like a bar, to pick up women, and while he was attractive, I wasn’t in the mood to flirt.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not new at this.”

His gaze scanned my body, and it should have pissed me off, but instead, it made my nerves tingle. That did piss me off.

---