Chapter 14
T hey ended the call and Hayes turned to Donovan with a scowl. “My business is private.”
Donovan held up his hands. “Sorry, man, didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m not upset.” Irritated, bordering on angry, yes.
Upset, no.
“You didn’t tell me about the salt in the coffee thing,” Donovan complained. “When did that happen?”
Hayes just shot him a look.
“What? I thought we were partners,” Donovan said as Hayes stood and walked to the door. They’d decided to meet in the basement of Stein’s house since they were still technically on bodyguard duty. This room was soundproof and they’d checked for bugs.
Well, he had.
Donovan thought he was overly paranoid. Hayes had learned that you could never be too careful. That paranoia was what had kept him alive in some hairy situations.
“You don’t really think Devi could be sending these messages, right? Just because she put salt in your coffee? Wait. What did you do that resulted in her putting salt in your coffee?”
“I saved her,” he said shortly. “Some asshole attacked her.”
Donovan’s eyes widened. Then his face filled with anger. “Who the fuck would hurt Devi?”
“Dumb drunk fucker. Been arrested.” Although he needed to follow up and find out what was happening with him. He didn’t want him getting off too easily.
“That girl doesn’t seem to have good luck, does she?” Donovan commented.
“What do you mean?”
“A drunk for a father, living in a trailer, brother in jail, works two jobs and still doesn’t seem to have much.
Hell, I don’t think I would blame her for seeking some revenge.
Although I’d be going after whoever set her brother up.
If that’s what happened. I mean, maybe he’s guilty.
And we can’t ask Devi about her brother’s case.
Not without explaining why we want to know. ”
Hayes grunted again.
Hey, Devi, did your brother really kill his best friend? And are you sending threatening letters to his lawyer?
Yeah. That wouldn’t go over well.
“I love our conversations, Hayes,” Donovan said. “But it’s hard to get a word in sometimes. You just won’t shut up and let me have my say.”
Hayes shot him a look and Donovan just grinned. He wasn’t scared enough of him. Hayes might have to change that.
“You really do want to lose that tongue.”
“Hey, the ladies love my tongue.” Donovan put his hand on his chest.
Dear Lord. “I think I vomited in my mouth a bit.”
It seemed like Devi didn’t have anyone looking out for her. Not if her father was a deadbeat and her brother was in jail.
She needed someone to keep an eye on her.
It should be you.
Nope. No. That was not May’s voice in his head.
It. Was. Not.
“So I still don’t get it. Why would she put salt in your coffee for rescuing her? I thought that would earn you a chocolate muffin or something.”
Humor danced in Donovan’s eyes.
A chocolate muffin?
“Because I told her off and she didn’t appreciate it.” She had deserved a scolding. However, he shouldn’t have made her feel like it was her fault. She was right, she should be able to go anywhere and do anything without being accosted.
However, that wasn’t the world they lived in. And she had to be more careful with her safety.
Didn’t she know that she was precious?
Maybe she didn’t.
Maybe no one had ever told her that.
Perhaps you should tell her that.
Nope. Not his business. She was not his.
“Ahh, I see. She didn’t like that so she put salt in your coffee.” Donovan grinned. “I like it.”
“I didn’t.”
Donovan laughed. “I bet you didn’t. What did you say to her after?”
I told her I would have to punish her.
“Just that it wasn’t acceptable.”
“Uh-huh. Sure you did. Do you like her?”
Hayes crossed his arms over his chest. “We are not friends and this is not a fucking gossip session. We are here to protect Stein and Sondra. We’re trying to find out who is threatening them so we can fucking leave. We are not going to talk about Devi.”
“Unless she’s the one sending the threats. Maybe you should get close to her, see what you can find out.”
“Not necessary.” But watching her could be a possibility.
“Well, I could do it.”
Like fuck.
Unlike him, Donovan was fun, young, and flirtatious. Hayes wanted him nowhere near Devi.
“You’ll stay away from her.”
Donovan’s grin widened.
Fuck. He had a feeling that he’d just walked straight into a trap set by this asshole.
“Sure, sure, I’ll stay away from her. Unless you feel like swapping again?”
“No.”
Donovan sighed. “Seriously, though, if Devi is our letter writer . . . we need to find out. Not to punish her but to keep her safe. Because if Stein figures it out . . . well, we don’t know that he’ll go to the cops.
He gives me a bad feeling. I haven’t seen or heard anything concrete. But he feels slimy to me.”
Hayes agreed.
They headed out of the basement quietly. It was late on Sunday night and both Sondra and Stein had gone up to bed early. He was pretty certain that Sondra drugged herself before bed. She had a separate bedroom from Stein.
He didn’t get that. Sure, there could be reasons for it, like one partner snored or kicked . . . but still, he couldn’t see himself ever sleeping apart from the person he loved.
Of course, he also couldn’t see anyone loving Alan.
As they walked through the house, he heard something. Turning, he gestured to Donovan who immediately nodded.
The guy might be a gossip and he might talk way too much, but he was also well-trained and a good person to have at your back.
Hayes walked quietly forward, reaching for the gun in the small of his back. He carried it everywhere.
He realized the noise was coming from Stein’s office. Was someone in there? How the fuck had they gotten in without setting off the alarm?
Moving toward the door, he heard another noise. A voice.
“Look, I know . . . yes . . . yes . . . no one should know! I’m getting threats! Yes . . . I’m aware I could have several enemies . . . but what if someone figured out what I did for you? Yes, I know . . . but if someone has discovered the truth, I’m in all sorts of trouble, aren’t I?”
Hayes shot a look at Donovan who had both eyebrows raised.
“Just . . . make it go away. I’m paying a fortune on bodyguards and I want them gone.
It’s making it hard to do business . . .
well, what did you expect me to do? Wait until this person escalates and kills me?
I’m aware they’re in my house! Yes . . .
no! Of course they don’t know the truth.
I’m not an idiot . . . it’s got to be related to him, right?
His is the only case I’ve ever lost on purpose . . . fuck. Fine. Yes.”
A sound of frustration filled the room and then there was the sound of glass smashing and a grunt of anger and pain.
Hayes pointed behind Donovan and he shrugged and started to back up. They headed quietly upstairs and into Donovan’s room.
“What the hell was that about?” Donovan asked. “Did we basically just hear him say that he threw a trial?”
“He did. Although he didn’t say which one.”
Donovan shook his head. “We need to know who was on the other end of that call. And what they have planned next.”
Fuck.
“I’ll stick closer to him,” Donovan added. “Should I bug his offices?”
“Technically, he’s a client,” Hayes said.
“Technically, he sounds shady as fuck. We could be guarding one of the bad guys.”
Fatigue flooded Hayes. Once he’d believed in the good guys winning like Donovan still did. But that didn’t always happen. And he’d learned that there weren’t really good guys. While some people were all bad, most people were varying shades of gray.
“I’ll message Kent,” Hayes said. “Tell him what we heard. See what he says.”
“Whoever he was speaking is probably the person who . . . paid him to throw a case. But why? And how the fuck do we figure this out?”
Yeah. That was the fucking question.