An Eye For Illusion: A Private Investigator Romantic Suspense: (Dunn Security Group Book 2)

Chapter 22

Ihurry out of Jade’s apartment down to my car. As much as I’d rather have her wrapped up in my arms, Hector calling saying he found the car I’ve had him looking for is a call I couldn’t ignore. I pull up my recent call log and tap D’s name; he answers on the second ring, “Donovan, meet me outside your building, I’m on the way over. My guy has the car. We’ll need to stop by Dunn’s storage facility on our way out to swap vehicles. We need a truck to pull the car back.” My words are rushed as I give him the update.

Dunn has a large, unmarked warehouse outside of town where we keep vehicles, computers, spy gear, and a litany of other things we may need while working a case. It also doubles as a pretty sweet hideout when things get hectic at the office in the city.

When things went sideways on one of my cases, I went dark and stayed at the warehouse for a while until things calmed down. Even the other guys didn’t know I was hiding out there. Liam and I decided to keep things as quiet as possible due to the severity of the case. It was a good thing we did because shit hit the fan, but in the end, we got the bastard responsible.

I hated leaving Jade during such a heated moment between us, but getting the call that Hector has the car Vinny wanted me to find needs to be dealt with now. This is another step toward getting Jade out of marrying Elliott Moore, and hopefully, the next step will be toward making her mine. I’ve fought that feeling every step of the way, but after that kiss, I know I want her. All of her.

I can hear Donovan rustling around. He knows this is the break we need to gain Vinny’s trust. “I’ll meet you outside.” That’s his only response before he ends the call.

When I slow to a stop in front of his building, he’s still shrugging into his jacket. The car hasn’t even fully stopped when Donovan reaches for the passenger door to open it. I stop short, and he hops into the passenger seat before slamming the door behind him. I never even have to put the car in park.

“How’d he locate it? Where are we going to pick it up? You didn’t call Vinny yet, right?”

He doesn’t even bother with a hello before rapidly firing questions at me before I can even navigate back out onto the roadway. I’d find it amusing if the situations wasn’t so serious.

“I don’t know exactly how he found it. Last week, he told me he was having a hard time finding it, then he called me today to say it just ‘popped up’. He texted me the address where he had it towed outside of town an hour from here. And hell no, I didn’t call Vinny. I want to have the car in my possession and make sure it’s the exact car before I tell him anything.”

“It’s not a fucking in, man. That’s not how these guys work. It’s not how any of this works. Stealing the car was a test, finding this car is a test, but there will never be an end to it. The first time you fuck up, that’s it. That’s not an ‘oopsie, my bad,’ and you’re out. It’s fucking death. This isn’t a TV show. Rules don’t exist.”

His words are harsh and hit me like one brick after another. The reality of what he said sinks in. He knows far more about this world and people like Vinny than I do. Part of me is worried about what I’ve gotten myself into. The other part of me would do it again and again… For Jade.

After several minutes of silence pass, I ask, “What other options do I have? This case depends on exposing Elliott Moore. That’s what I was hired to do, and I don’t fail.”

“You might be able to kid yourself about all of this just being about the case, but I know this is about the girl.” His tone is even but firm.

I glance at him briefly but don’t deny what he said.

“Look, I get what you’re going through more than you realize. Just don’t get yourself killed trying to save her from something she got herself into.”

The way his tone changed when he spoke makes me wonder if the personal matter he’s been dealing with has something to do with a woman, too.

“You want to talk about it?” I ask hesitantly, but before he can answer, my phone rings.

It’s Liam.

“Thank fuck,” Donovan mutters under his breath.

“Liam,” I say when I accept the call. “Donovan’s here with me.”

“Good, I wanted to speak with both of you anyway,” he says.

Donovan and I exchange a look. I don’t know if this is good or bad. Liam isn’t always the easiest guy to read or predict.

“Shoot, Boss,” Donovan says. I’d say he’s on edge, but he’s been that way for weeks. Maybe longer.

“Update me on the Foster case. Where are we? What’s going on? How close are we to closing this thing? And have you two fucked up anything that I’ll have to clean up?”

“Here are the files you asked for, Li,” a soft, feminine voice comes from the background on Liam’s end.

I look over at Donovan who immediately scrunches his face in confusion as he mouths, “Who the fuck is ‘Li’?”

I shrug and turn my attention back to the road ahead of me. I know the woman’s voice. It’s Willow, Liam’s assistant. She’s worked for him since he opened Dunn. I’ve always said they have a thing for each other, although Liam adamantly denies it.

There are a few moments of silence, before Liam voice is on the line again, and I assume he might have muted the phone. I guess we didn’t need to hear whatever he and Willow were talking about, though it certainly makes me smirk since it makes Li look even more suspicious.

“Let’s hear it,” he says, immediately returning to his original line of questioning.

I swallow hard because I don’t know how much I actually need to tell Liam. If end up in trouble with the police, I don’t want Liam to have any knowledge of our actions and end up in trouble.

“Your hesitation says a lot. So, let me rephrase. Have you made progress?”

That’s something I can answer honestly and keep him in the dark enough to be innocent if shit goes south.

“Yes, we have some leads we’re checking out.” That’s honest and innocent.

“Are we getting any closer to finishing this damn case? The guy is either up to some shady shit, or he isn’t, or he’s just better at hiding things than you are at finding them.” His snarky tone isn’t appreciated, and neither is his little chuckle at the end.

It’s obvious that he’s trying to piss me off so I’ll get to the bottom of this shit faster and move on to the next case waiting for me. I wish it wasn’t working. Dunn’s waiting list for private investigation cases seems to grow monthly. Liam has played with the idea of bringing someone else on, but it’s hard to find people we trust with our lives and fit in with. It’s a delicate process, one we simply haven’t had time for.

“When I get enough to nail the son of a bitch, I’ll close the case. I won’t wrap this up unless it’s tight, and you know it.”

Liam is an expert in pushing my buttons, and doubting my abilities as a private investigator is a sure-fire way to get under my skin. I catch Donovan’s smirk out of the corner of my eye. They both get a little kick out of riling me up. Bastards.

“The son of a bitch, eh? Are you getting a little more personally involved than usual, Colin?” Liam’s question is one born of genuine curiosity since he knows I never get close to my clients.

Images of the interrupted heated moment with Jade from earlier immediately surface in my mind. I shift in my seat, and Donovan’s eyes bore into me. I can almost feel his glare burning into the side of my face. It makes me as uncomfortable as Liam’s line of questioning.

I clear my throat. “You know me better than that,” I say flatly.

“I do, but I’ve also never heard you refer to a subject as a son of a bitch either,” he counters. Liam isn’t one to back down easily.

Donovan’s smirk doesn’t help the situation.

“We’ll shelve that topic for now. The children’s charity gala is this Friday evening. I trust that both of you know your attendance isn’t optional.”

Fuck. With everything I’ve been dealing with on this case, I completely forgot about the gala. Donovan’s facepalm immediately tells me he forgot also.

“We’ll be there,” Donovan answers for us.

“Right. SJ and Nora will be attending as well. They’re driving up from Sutter Creek.”

I smile. “Good deal, we haven’t seen them since they moved to Sutter Creek permanently.”

“I’m gone for the evening, Li. I’ll be in early again tomorrow. See you then.” Willow’s voice echoes in the background of the call again.

“I’ll walk you out,’ Liam says, and my brow quirks. “Colin, Donovan, you both better be on time Friday. Don’t make a mess for me to clean up, got it?”

“Got it,” we answer in unison before the call ends.

“I know damn good and well he’s railing Willow,” I say, voicing my thoughts out loud.

Donovan chuckles. “Well, if you don’t want Liam to know you’re railing the Foster chick, you better cover that hickey before Friday.”

My eyes widen, and my hand instinctively goes to my neck where Jade’s mouth had been a short time ago. Donovan really lets the laughs fly now. Dammit.

I rub the spot on my neck, like that’ll help it disappear any faster. I groan. Fuck it. What’s he going to do anyway? SJ and Nora met while he was her bodyguard, and they’re doing great.

The car is silent for a while other than the quiet hum of the tires on the road. Donovan doesn’t reopen the conversation we were having before Liam called, and neither do I. Pushing him to open up will only have the opposite effect. He’ll talk when he’s ready, and I’ll wait until then.

“Vinny’s birthday party is Saturday, and the charity ball is Friday. When are we delivering the car?” Donovan asks, breaking the silence with a damn good question.

“It’ll have to be Saturday, before the party.” There’s no other option.

“We’re being followed,” I say, breaking the silence again.

I glance at Donovan just as he checks the passenger side mirror. “White pickup truck?”

I change lanes, and the truck follows suit. “That’s the one.”

I accelerate quickly and cross two lanes of traffic as I approach my turn. The truck speeds up to keep me in sight. I make the right turn onto the road where the warehouse for Dunn is.

“Whoever is tailing us won’t be bold enough to follow us through the gate.” To my surprise the truck is still there, hanging back further now, but continuing the chase.

As soon as I see the entrance to parking lot, I click the remote on my visor to open the gate.

“C’mon, you pokey fuck,” I curse the slow-ass gate.

“The truck is backing off,” Donovan says, checking the side mirror again.

The gate is barely open enough to allow my car to pass through, but we make it, and I quickly click the button to close it. A truck that size would never fit through the space we squeezed through, so it definitely won’t make it through while closing.

In a maneuver I learned in an evasive driving class just for this job, I quickly whip my car around one-hundred-eighty degrees so I face the gate as it closes. The truck stops before the tires hit the turnoff for the parking lot, and I squint to make out the face of the driver. With his headlights brightened, I can’t see anyone’s face.

The truck shifts into reverse and retreats back down the road from where we came. The gate closes automatically. I sit and wait to be sure it closes completely and that the truck is out of sight before I turn the wheel and steer my car to the back of the building.

“What the fuck was that about?” I ask as we make our way around the building. I park beside the truck I’m taking to pick up the car for Vinny.

I mentally berate myself because I don’t know how long that truck followed us before I noticed. I was preoccupied with getting Donovan, the call from Liam, and then getting this damn car picked up. I had tunnel vision because all I can think about is ending this for Jade.

“Oh, fuck. Jade. What if they followed me to Jade’s?” The words leave my lips as fast as they pop into my mind.

“Whoever it is isn’t interested in Jade. They followed us here. If I had to wager a bet, I’d say whoever is in that truck is tied to Vinny.” Donovan opens the passenger door and steps out before slamming it behind him.

I scramble out of my seat and slam mine also. “Why would Vinny have someone follow us? He gave me this job. He told me to find the fucking car.”

Donovan crouches beside the driver’s side front tire and feels around in the fender well. When he pulls back, he has a small, magnetic box containing the key to the truck in hand. He slides the box open, takes out the key, and tosses it to me.

I unlock the truck and check to make sure we have everything inside that we need to pull the trailer and car back with us.

“I keep telling you it doesn’t work like that,” Donovan starts. “You weren’t the only one in the room when Vinny told you to get that car. Beyond that, you weren’t the only one in the house. Those guys all talk, and they all compete to be the best in with Vinny. It’s a game, Colin. A game you won’t win unless you want to get your hands really dirty, and trust me when I say, you abso-fucking-lutely do not want to get your hands that dirty.”

He’s right. I don’t want to get my hands any dirtier than I already have while dealing with this group of thugs. However, if it saves Jade from marrying Elliott and gives me a shot with her, I’ll do whatever needs to be done.

“Get in,” Donovan says as he gets into the front passenger seat. “Let’s get this shit over with.”

I can’t blame him for being less than thrilled about being involved. I drug him into this shit after he spent so much time getting out of it. He’s here again because of me, to help me.

I step on the running board and slide onto the driver’s seat. “I appreciate you helping with this, D. Seriously, I mean it. “

“Don’t get sappy on me; just drive.” He turns his face away from me, but I can tell he’s just revving me. It’s become his favorite past time.