Chapter 16
Cassie
My mind replays my interaction with Lincoln the day before, over and over. I keep getting pulled back to that moment, the way his eyes stared into mine, the honesty laced in his tone.
Lincoln seemed so sincere and so determined. He really has changed from that lost young man my father rescued. So why is he still insisting on spending time with someone like Phineas? I'm starting to think maybe he does have a good reason.
Honestly, I don't know. I'm truly confused. He stayed back at the house, saying he had something to take care of. And I'm at the office, trying to find a way to get an inside look at what Phineas is up to. In some ways, I feel like Nathan is connected to it all. I'm just not sure how yet.
When I open the door and step inside, I draw in a sharp breath and let out a surprised gasp. There, standing by Quinn behind the desk is a man I don't recognize .
He's young, perhaps a couple of years older than Quinn, and has a bright, friendly smile. He’s handsome in a natural sort of way—the kind of guy who normally wouldn’t make you look twice, but if you stopped to have a conversation with him, you’d start to see his attributes, like his angular cheekbones and square jaw. He almost looks familiar.
Every nerve in my body jumps to attention. We don’t get many strangers in the office. Did Phineas send someone? Or maybe the Thorntons?
"You must be Cassie." He steps forward and extends his hand, a dimple appearing on his cheek with his smile. His movement breaks the awkward tension hanging over the office and keeps me glued to my spot.
"It's nice to meet you," I say a bit uncertainly, meeting Quinn's gaze. He knows who I am, even though he’s a perfect stranger. Maybe someone has been spying on us, or he’s a potential client. Quinn doesn’t seem overly concerned though.
She jumps up, her cheeks blushing bright pink.
"This is Tommy," she says proudly. “The guy I’ve been seeing?”
Realization and relief wash over me. All of the times she’s rushed out of the office for lunch dates, taken phone calls, or giggled at texts—it’s because of this guy.
"That's me," Tommy says, a boyish quality in his bright expression. I can’t calculate an exact number, but I’d say he’s a good three to four years older than me and Quinn.
"Cassie, I figured it was time you officially met Tommy. We've been going out for a while now, and I think we're pretty serious." She exchanges looks with Tommy, and he nods in agreement. “He wanted to meet my friends, so…”
Hearing her refer to me as friends makes my heart skip a beat. Of course, we are, or at least I believed we were. But it is always nice to hear verbal confirmation.
"I hear you and her other partner are a bit skeptical of me," Tommy says, crossing his arms and leaning against the desk. "Any questions you have, lay them on me."
He exudes confidence, which adds to his charm, and I raise my eyebrows.
I scrutinize him, looking him up and down. He isn't dressed pretentiously but doesn't look like a bum. A grey sweater vest covers a button-down shirt. Dark blue jeans and practical black tennis shoes finish up his outfit. I try to pick a good opening question after glancing toward Quinn to get a little nod of approval.
"What do you do for work?" I ask, my tone a little sharper than I intended. Work can say a lot about a person. What does my work say about me?
That you’re overly suspicious, closed off, and distrustful, so you want all the facts, even the buried ones.
I shake the thought away and refocus on Tommy, waiting for his answer.
"All right, we're starting out easy then," Tommy chuckles. "I work as an accountant at a law firm in town." He says it smugly as if I can't possibly find something to criticize about the profession.
"The law firm, huh?" I ask. "So, you're around lawyers a lot?"
He nods, and his smile only grows. "Yes, I am around lawyers a bit, but that doesn't affect me. Not to mention, not all lawyers are bad, you know. "
"I know," I say with a smirk. "So, what are your intentions with Quinn?"
"Cassie!" Quinn scolds me. Okay, so maybe being so straightforward was a little too much.
"It's all right.” Tommy holds up his hands. "I intend to get to know her. I'm looking for a long-term relationship, something serious. And who knows, maybe we'll settle down."
"Settle down?" My eyes widen. I want somebody dedicated to Quinn, but not someone who will move too fast.
"Yes, settle down. That is, if Quinn wants to." He sends her a sheepish smile, and her cheeks get even redder. Maybe they are just right for each other. Well, it’s about time that Quinn found a decent guy.
The door swings open, and Lincoln steps into the office, an expression very similar to my own crossing his face. A touch of his cologne floats over to me, filling my nostrils.
"Lincoln, what are you doing here?" I ask. I'd expected him to be gone for most of the day, which had become pretty typical whenever he decided to work with Phineas.
"I forgot I needed a couple of files." His eyes land on Tommy. "Who's this?"
He addresses Quinn and completely ignores Tommy. His tone is very similar to my dad’s when I would bring home a friend who was not a girl. Not that I was big on boyfriends as a teenager, but my dad always thought that if it was a male, we were romantically involved.
"This," Quinn says a bit more nervously, "is Tommy. I decided to bring him to work today so he could meet the two of you. "
She fidgets under his gaze, her cheeks growing redder. I know that Quinn is an only child, yet she acts exactly like a little sister would with Lincoln. I have a feeling he sees her like one. It’s sweet. It’s also scary for her, as Lincoln’s big brother antics extend to her boyfriends.
"Is this bring-a-boyfriend-to-work day? I must have missed the memo.” Lincoln raises his eyebrows. I join him in laughter, and Quinn shoots daggers at us both.
"I brought him here so my co-workers could meet him and hopefully be nice to him." Her words carry a note of caution. She's worried about the impression we're making on Tommy. His face is still brave and shows no sign of weakness, but Lincoln can be intimidating when he wants to be.
"Fine, fine." Lincoln crosses his arms, mimicking Tommy's stance. Quinn’s eyes narrow. She probably regrets bringing him by, and it makes me laugh. If I ever brought a boyfriend around, I have a feeling Lincoln would be even more… I can’t finish the thought because, for some reason, I imagine Lincoln being jealous more than anything.
"I was just getting started with a bit of an interrogation if you want to join me," I say. I nod toward Tommy. We’ve spoken about Quinn’s boyfriends before and how it’s our responsibility to weed out the bad ones. I have high hopes for Tommy, though; she seems to like him a lot.
"Is that so?" Lincoln raises his eyebrows in excitement. "Well, let's get on with it." His smile grows wider, like a wolf surveying the prey he's about to rip apart in one fell swoop.
Tommy squirms a bit under both of our gazes. Perhaps he was prepared to face one of us, but two of us are more intimidating. That's all right; it'll be good for Quinn to see how he handles the pressure. He should be willing to face some discomfort to win her heart. It will only make her love him more.
"How many girlfriends have you had before Quinn?" Lincoln starts out.
I draw in a sharp breath. It seems he's better at asking uncomfortable questions than I am. I should have started with something a bit more unnerving like that.
Tommy glances nervously at Quinn before opening and closing his mouth several times.
"I'm not sure how that's relevant, but I suppose I've had three, sort of."
"Three girlfriends?" Lincoln shakes his head in disapproval, and I hold back a laugh. I'm pretty sure Lincoln has had at least twice that many, so it’s not exactly his place to judge.
“Two of them were when I was in high school. I've only had one serious girlfriend.” Tommy's confidence is slipping just a little, and Quinn looks worried.
If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure Lincoln and I would both be dead.
Lincoln is really getting into interrogation mode.
“Are you keeping any secrets from Quinn? Anything deep and dark we're going to discover? That's what we do here, you know. We are private investigators.” Lincoln's tone gets just a bit rougher.
Tommy blanches a bit. “No, no secrets. At least not from Quinn.”
“One more question, it’s an easy one.” Lincoln smiles, and I know it’s not going to be an easy one. Maybe Lincoln is giving Tommy too much of a hard time.
“What’s that?” Tommy squares his shoulders.
“Do you know how to shoot a gun? I could teach you some time…” He leaves the question open, and as Tommy’s cheeks turn red, Quinn steps in.
“All right, you two, that's enough. You’ll have to continue this little interrogation another day.” She pauses. “I got all the information you wanted on Nathan the other day. Here it is.” She thrusts the folder into Lincoln's hand. “Come on, Tommy, let's go get lunch.”
“Leaving so soon? Maybe we should have lunch together, you know, as a group?”
Quinn doesn't say anything. Instead, she stomps past the two of us, dragging Tommy along with her, who’s now laughing. I guess he has a sense of humor. That’s a good thing.
Lincoln and I watch them go and try to keep straight faces.
After they close the office door behind them, he turns to me with a twinkle in his eye. “So, do you think we did all right?”
“Most definitely,” I say with a confident nod. “If he's a flake, there's no way he's sticking around after that.”
Lincoln chuckles. “My plans for today got canceled. Do you want to check out these leads with me?” He flips through the folder Quinn gave him.
“Apparently, a friend of Nathan's is still living at his address on file,” he explains. “We can start there and see if he has seen Nathan any time recently. There’s a solid money trail that leads there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I try to hide how happy I am to spend the day investigating with Lincoln. It's not quite the same doing it on my own. But lately, I haven't wanted to show him how much I like him out on the field with me.
I long for a simpler time when people could be trusted for who they were, and I knew what to think about the people in my life.
Link
I put my arm out to stop Cassie and then press my finger to my lips to warn her to be quiet.
“He might be in there,” I whisper. The last person we talked to, a friend of Nathan's, was much more helpful than I'd anticipated. He said he'd spotted Nathan just two days ago at this particular mobile home in the trailer park. It’s a dump; most of the homes are dilapidated, almost falling down around themselves.
I texted Phineas almost twenty minutes ago, and now Cassie and I are standing behind the mobile home, preparing to knock on the door. I don't really know what to expect from Nathan. Phineas wants him for some reason, and he's a Thornton who seems to be tied up in some pretty shady business. He could be a criminal, a victim, someone on the run, or our worst enemy. It's hard to tell at this point in the game.
Right before we're ready to walk up to the door, my phone pings in my pocket, and I pull it out, feeling a hint of annoyance. I wouldn't even bother to check it except that if it's Phineas, he'll call me back if he doesn't get an immediate answer. I read the text, and my heart sinks .
Don't engage Nathan. My men will take care of it. Leave it alone .
The message is clear.
I look over at Cassie. She's wound up with every muscle in her body on alert, waiting for the confrontation that she thinks is about to take place. How do I tell her it's been called off by Phineas, of all people? I swallow back my disdain for telling a lie and take a deep breath.
“I just got a tip. Nathan isn't here,” I say softly. “It's just a random person's home.”
“What?” Her eyes widen. “Aren't we going to at least knock on the door and make sure?”
I motion for her to be extra quiet as I lead the way away from the mobile home and back toward the car.
“No, apparently Nathan was seen somewhere else this morning, and this mobile home has had a family in it for a while.”
“Who told you that?” Cassie asks, her tone hard and her expression suspicious. She’s too smart for her own good, and I can’t even bring myself to be upset about it.
“Phineas told me that.” Well, at least that's part of the truth since he was the one who told me not to mess with anyone in the mobile home.
It's just not for the reasons that she thinks.
“Are you sure?” she asks. “Maybe we should just go knock.”
“I’m sure,” I say, interrupting her and reaching out to take her arm, pulling her closer to the car. “We should really go now.
You're acting weird.” She looks at me and eyes my phone. “Did you tell someone we were coming here?”
“Cassie,” I warn .
Handling all of this double-agent-type stuff, lying to her one minute and telling her the truth the next, is getting complicated. I've heard the expression that if you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory, and I'm starting to see why.
“Fine. Where are we going next?” she huffs before relenting.
“I was thinking we'd check out the next spot on our list, the old cabin by Elm Street.”
She nods and steps past me, her shoulder bumping into mine as she does. She's upset, and rightly so. I have a bit of fire burning in my chest.
Phineas knows where we are and has also told me explicitly not to bother the mobile home, which means there's a high chance Nathan is there. I would have liked to get a crack at him before Phineas to get a head start, but it's too risky.
I don’t doubt that he has somebody watching me and knows where we are even without my texting him.
I start the station wagon, and we drive toward Elm Street.
“Do you even want to find Nathan?” Cassie demands, the sharp note in her tone growing louder.
“Yes, of course, I want to find Nathan. I have a lot of questions for him, honestly.”
“Then why are you acting weird and cagey? Even if whatever you've got going on with Phineas is affected by this, you know we don't have to tell him everything, right?”
My exact thoughts are coming out of Cassie's mouth. If only it were that simple.
“I know. I am not letting Phineas corrupt my moral compass. I'm still the same old Lincoln. And everything I've got going on with him will be over soon.”
I hope that sentiment is true. I can't wait to be out from under Phineas's command and back where I can focus on the detective agency and my relationships with Cassie and Quinn. It feels like the good life is in my grasp.
It’s just a little bit unattainable at the moment.
“Was Nathan really spotted somewhere else?” she asks, her mouth turning down to a pout.
“Yes, he was.”
“And it's much closer to the cabin on Elm Street.” The lie settles in my throat like a plum pit—too big to be swallowed and too small to be unnoticeable.
Now it's up to me to keep Cassie busy on a wild goose chase after Nathan while Phineas takes his men and potentially catches Nathan without me, leaving me at a big disadvantage. Number one, I won't have caught Nathan myself, which provides Phineas with a loophole regarding our agreement. And number two, it robs me of the chance to see what Phineas wanted Nathan for in the first place.
I swallow hard. Right now, Cassie is all I can deal with. The whole issue with Nathan and Phineas is going to have to wait.