Chapter 22
In all his travels around the world, his assignments, and then that last reassignment to Octavia Dane, he’d never run into such an odd set of incidents connected to or surrounding an even odder search.
He struggled to believe that any of it could be related to Cressida or her father’s research about the Specter’s Bounty, but it seemed those questions stirred the waters and now they were frothing and would start to boil soon. He could feel it.
Octavia, what have you gotten me into?
He wouldn’t be here now if something big wasn’t brewing.
His only choice was to keep moving forward—for Elise’s sake, and now for Cressida’s.
His thoughts and prayers remained on Elise and her improvement, but maybe that’s why his brain had been ignoring the warning signals going off in his head when it came to Cressida.
She was at the center, if only because she’d stirred the waters. She stared up at him, absorbing the news he’d shared. He thought she’d be happy, but under the circumstances, she was surprised Mrs. Monroe would give her an interview, much less ask to see her.
“When does she want to see me?” she asked.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“I can’t imagine she would be in a good state of mind after shooting someone.” Cressida shifted back and forth in the sand. “Unless she thinks I’m connected to what happened.”
That’s what Braden intended to find out. “She shared that Madeline never mentioned you wanted an interview.”
“That liar. I would love to know what Madeline was doing working for Mrs. Monroe. What is her story?”
The wind gusted and rain started up. The weather was always changing. “I need to get you back. It’s late. I didn’t want to talk about this where anyone could hear us.”
“You can call off your bodyguards, you know.”
He arched a brow. “Why’s that?”
“I think I know who’s following me. I can’t be sure . . . I need to look into it.”
“Or I could just talk to him like you suggested at the restaurant.” He rubbed his chin. “I should have done it then. Let me take care of it.”
“That’s fine. Please do. Bottom line is that I don’t want to be trapped in my room. I have work to do.”
They got back in his vehicle, and he took her to Cedar Trails and led her inside.
At the top of the stairwell, she turned to face him. “You don’t have to walk me to my room. I’m good now.”
I should just tell her, though she might not like it. “I booked a room here too.”
Fire surged in her vibrant green eyes. “But . . . what about the investigation? Don’t you need to be close to your headquarters?”
“Actually, this works out better. Everything I’m looking into is here on the coast, but this keeps me close to you too.
As I mentioned, protecting you is my priority, and that comes from the top.
” And she had no idea just how high from the top that came.
Maybe he could figure out how to tell her what he’d been charged with hiding.
That he was working for her mother, the currency an experimental drug to save his niece’s life.
“While I don’t expect you to be my personal protection detail, Braden, I appreciate it.” Cressida smiled, then entered her room.
He turned to walk the hall to his own room, then spotted Hawk heading for him.
Braden met him halfway. “So, the stalker?”
“He left early on,” Hawk said. “He’s staying at the Forest Trails Inn in Forestview. You want us to pay him a visit?”
“Thanks for the intel. I’ll meet him myself,” he said. Cressida had an idea who he was working for. Braden had suspected as much, too, and would find out.
“This is my busy season with helicopter tours,” Hawk said, “and Cole is heading to Spokane for a job in a few days, but if you need help, please just say the word.”
“I will,” Braden said.
“What’s this about, really?” Arms crossed, Hawk leaned against the rail.
“I’m not entirely sure.”
Hawk studied him, but Braden felt sure he understood. “I have to write up my reports, so better get to my room. I’ll send them in online when I get internet.”
Hawk grinned. “Yeah, about that. Secretly, I can give you the connection, which is hidden from anyone searching for it.”
“Text me the information so I can find it.”
Braden decided against going to his room just yet.
He needed to make a phone call and didn’t know if anyone could hear him through the walls, so he bid Hawk good night and said he needed something in his car.
He got in the vehicle and steered out of Cedar Trails Lodge until he got a signal, and then he stopped on the side of the road.
If he spent too much more time here, it might be time to get a satellite phone, but even those had issues here.
Octavia answered immediately and sounded like she was still awake. And he started right in.
“Did you send someone to follow her?” he demanded.
“Yes.”
“You didn’t trust me?”
“You can’t work two jobs. I was getting worried.”
“Well, now he has caused a problem. Look, why don’t you just make up with her, and then I can tell her that I’m here for you?”
“That’s just not possible. I’m sorry.”
“Things have escalated. Someone was killed tonight, and we believe it’s the very man who attacked her when she got here.”
Octavia gasped. “You think it’s related?”
“You tell me.”
“Braden—”
“She needs to know everything. She needs to know you think she’s in danger. Tonight, she learned from Diggins that her father could have been murdered. This is all getting out of hand. You haven’t been up-front with me.”
“You can’t tell her about your connection to me. She’ll never speak to you again.”
“And that’s why you sent the other guy. In case I blew it. The only problem is, she would eventually learn he was from you too. So call her. Make amends.”
“You don’t understand. I destroyed any vestige of our relationship.”
“You want to tell me how?”
“Not that it’s your business.”
“Listen, her life could be in danger. Maybe if I understand the dynamics, I can find a way around them to tell her the truth.”
“I’m public enemy number one in her mind. She was working on a story that I was against from the start. Digging into places she shouldn’t dig. I asked her nicely. I begged her to shut it down. I even misdirected her.”
“Imagine that,” he said.
“Watch your words.”
“Look. You want me to have success and keep her safe. I need to know everything.” Come on, Octavia. Give me something.
Octavia hesitated. Sighed. Then said, “I made some calls. She lost her job at a prestigious magazine, and now nobody will look at her.”
Her words stunned Braden. He would give anything if he could hang up on her and never speak to her again too, just like her daughter.
“I’m guessing whatever she was investigating would lead back to you and cause you problems.” He probably shouldn’t have said that.
“Remember who you’re talking to.”
The expected threat let him know he’d hit a nerve. He remained silent rather than pressing her. Slow and easy won the game, and this definitely felt like a game he played with her—the person who held the power of life and death over his niece. His heart.
“I’m devastated, and my hope and prayer is one day she will come back around and understand my side.” Her voice cracked.
The way she said “one day” made it sound like that time was far into the future.
No matter the reason for the rift, Octavia loved her daughter as much as any mother could, and until he knew the whole story, he should reserve his judgment. Still . . . who was Braden working for? Was he working with a criminal?
“And at some point, you’ll tell me what her investigation was all about too.
” He could possibly find out on his own, unless Octavia had it scrubbed completely from all parties and the internet.
She had the contacts and the pull and therefore the power to do it.
That’s what made it hard for Cressida to learn about Braden’s association with DSS and her mother, if she had even tried.
But maybe it would be as simple as Cressida telling him that story. In the meantime, he hated himself for keeping such a big secret from Cressida. She didn’t deserve this.
“Is it relevant to why I’m here? Connected in any way?”
“Remember the deal you have with me.”
Not an answer. He would take that as an affirmative, otherwise she could have said no.
Was Octavia so coldhearted that she would pull her assistance?
He couldn’t believe that about any person.
Regardless, he was a man of honor. “Yes. I owe you, and I’ll keep up my end of our deal as long as Elise is receiving the treatment she needs.
” His heart lurched at the thought of his niece and all she’d gone through.
“I’m simply trying to know all the moving pieces so nothing falls through the cracks and I’m not caught off guard.
If I know everything, then I could see connections in places that you can’t. ”
“I’ll grant you that, Braden—and it’s why I selected you to help me.”
In addition to the fact that she could hold something over him, but he wasn’t in a position to argue.
“Then please, tell me something you haven’t told me yet. I know that you’re holding back.”
Several heartbeats ticked by, then, “I shut down the article because it had international implications and would only bring danger to her door. I knew she would continue to pursue it, so to save her life, I used my connections and favors and shut her down. Completely.” Her voice cracked.
“I love my daughter very much, and I would do anything for her.”
“Why couldn’t you simply tell her why she shouldn’t pursue the exposé?”
“That information would only feed her story. Cressida isn’t someone who can be shut down so easily, if at all.”
“And now she’s found a way back to that story, even if she doesn’t realize it. Is that it?” He was basing that off her nonanswer earlier and throwing darts to see if he could hit a target.
She said nothing, and he thought he’d lost the connection, or . . . he’d hit the target.
“From now on, I want a daily report,” she said. Another nonanswer.
Bull’s-eye.
Yeah, that’s not happening. Probably a good thing she ended the call because he wasn’t going to say anything she would like. Now he needed to find out what Cressida was working on when she was shut down before she took on her father’s book.