Chapter Ten
Honor’s Edge Investigations Office
Nate hadn’t missed the looks everyone had given him when he’d been asked to be dropped off at Honor’s Edge on the way to court. Maybe the desire to get his truck now was a little see-through, but he wasn’t sure he cared.
Especially when Landon pulled his truck behind the Honor’s Edge building, and it wasn’t just his truck and Sam’s shitty car in the lot. It was a car Nate didn’t recognize. But he didn’t need to recognize it, because he recognized the man standing with Sam at the back door.
Detective Jake Hayes.
It didn’t do anything for his already shitty mood.
“Oh no. The police? Did something happen?” Aly asked with concern.
“Hell if I know,” Nate grumbled and shoved out of the truck.
He tried to keep the anger out of his expression. He’d been good at that. Once.
It was failing him today. And he didn’t know quite who he was mad at. Hayes was probably questioning Sam for something work related and thus this was all aboveboard and fine.
But why were they in the back of the office?
And how was that any of his concern?
“Everything okay?” he demanded harshly.
The detective looked at Sam. “You didn’t tell him?”
Sam pursed her lips. “Wasn’t something I wanted to discuss over the phone.” She waved at the truck where Aly had rolled down the window. “You can all go on ahead. It was nothing. You don’t want to be late.”
“Then why’s a detective here?” Cal asked from his rolled-down window in the back.
Sam’s expression remained neutral, but her gaze flicked from the truck to Nate. “Someone maybe tried to break in. But they didn’t get very far. Detective Hayes is going to look into it. But whoever tried didn’t get past this outer door.” She gestured at it. “So it’s no big deal.”
“And when was this?”
She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she pursed her lips together then took a few steps toward Landon’s truck. “You guys should go. We can talk about it at the lunch recess, but really. It was nothing.”
Nate scowled at her, but when Landon looked to him—almost like he was asking for permission—Nate didn’t know what to do but nod. They should go on.
He’d handle whatever the fuck this was. Once the truck started driving away, Nate repeated himself. Not at all hiding the anger bubbling inside him. “When did this happen, Sam?”
She sighed. “When I got back last night, I noticed the door was ajar.”
“Why the hell didn’t you call me then?” Nate demanded.
She didn’t immediately jump to defensiveness like he expected. She had that … blank about her that he wished he could access right now. And it gave him the very uncomfortable feeling that he trotted out his blank quite a bit, and the people around him probably didn’t know how to access it either.
“Because I called the police. A deputy came out right away, searched the place. We determined the intruder hadn’t gotten very far when they realized there was a security camera.
So, whoever did it gave up and ran. The police searched the place.
It was safe.” She nodded at the silent detective.
“Detective Hayes came out this morning to ask a few more questions and look at my security footage to investigate.”
“And?”
The detective rocked back on his heels. Nate figured he didn’t like being talked to like he was somehow in the middle of this, when he was only doing his job.
But when Hayes spoke, his words were a clear, concise, professional recitation of facts.
“To the naked eye, the camera caught someone, but we can’t make out a face just yet. I took some prints, and I’ll be running them through the system.” He turned to Sam. “Hopefully, I’ll have some answers for you tonight, Sam.”
Nate didn’t miss the way he was cut out of that equation.
“Don’t you have to be at the trial?” Sam asked the detective.
She wasn’t quite so blank with him.
And the fact Nate knew that was half of his anger right now didn’t help. Understanding too many things he’d been avoiding didn’t help.
Because the idea of Sam being targeted in some way stole his fucking breath. Just like when she’d come back from a witness interview with that black eye this summer. And it all stormed inside of him, a wave of care he didn’t know what to do with except try to fight.
“No court for me today. Mr. Vanderbilt said tomorrow, and I’ve got some stuff to do beforehand.” The detective held up his little notepad. “I’ve got everything I need for this. I’ll be in touch.” He nodded at Sam, then turned his gaze to Nate.
Nate tried very, very hard not to scowl. The detective hesitated like he was going to say something, but in the end, he did nothing but walk to his car.
Sam turned away from the both of them. She opened the door and stepped into the office.
Nate followed her inside. He didn’t trust himself to speak just yet. He knew his anger was out of proportion for the situation. Not that he didn’t have a right to be pissed she hadn’t called him, but not this pissed. This was still her building. Her business. He was an employee.
And a friend, damn it.
Once they were in the main office, she sighed. “Look, Nate. You’d had a rough day yesterday. I handled it. And I wasn’t hiding it. I was going to tell you once I saw you. You don’t need to make a big deal out of this.”
He watched her move through the office and tried to remind himself that she’d been on her own a long-ass time. Just like he had. Would he have called her if the situation was reversed?
He honestly didn’t know. So he tried to set it aside, with every other damn thing. But there was one thing he couldn’t set aside. “Feels like fishy ass timing.”
She looked at him, brow wrinkled in confusion. “In what way?”
He was shocked she didn’t see it. “In the way Bo Lake has been skulking around Marietta all of a few days, and suddenly you have a break-in.”
Sam sighed. “It wasn’t Bo. The security footage didn’t get a full-on look at the guy’s face, but the physical profile doesn’t fit Bo.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I’m an idiot.”
He bit back a nasty retort. “Could have been someone connected to him.”
“And it could have been some kid looking to see if he could break in for fun. It could have been someone here brought by all the trial media coverage. Hell, it could have been one of those asshole journalists who leave a hundred messages a day. There’s a lot of coulds, Nate.”
She was right, and it grated. But … the timing. Maybe Bo had timed it just that way, so there could be even more coulds. Why didn’t she see that?
“Speaking of Bo,” she continued. “He should be here any minute so let’s not throw out any accusations at him. Detective Hayes will investigate, and we’ll trust him to do that.”
Nate made a rude noise.
Sam fisted her hands on her hips, glared at him. “He’s a nice enough guy and a damn good detective. Why do you hate him so much?”
“Buy a clue, Sam,” he muttered without thinking that through, clearly.
Not that he realized it until she frowned at him as if she didn’t have a clue. And maybe she didn’t. Maybe he was fooling himself, over and over again. Maybe all this setting aside was a fast track to nowhere. Or an explosion.
He’d had enough of those. Enough explosions and shocks to the system. Maybe it was time to take control. Time to … get a hold of everything. Make a choice instead of an evasion.
“Sam…”
“Am I … interrupting?”
They both looked over at where Bo stood awkwardly in the doorway. He held a ballcap smashed in his hands.
Why couldn’t Sam see that just like Aly’s mom this summer, this guy showing up out of nowhere couldn’t be good? It didn’t matter if he meant to be or not. It was all bad.
“Bo, thanks for coming,” Sam said, moving away from Nate. “I don’t have a lot of time, but let’s go over a few things really quick.”
“I’m heading out.”
She wanted to be nice to this guy, help this guy, and Nate just … couldn’t stand it. If he stuck around, he’d say something shitty that would piss her off and he…
He didn’t want to piss her off. Didn’t want to argue with her. Didn’t want all this confusion and hurt.
Running away wasn’t an answer—he’d done that before. But they didn’t have time to face it right now. She had … this, and he had court.
Sam looked at him. Her expression was unreadable, but he thought he was starting to get it. Not trying to keep him out, exactly. No, it was deeper than that. Because Sam was not afraid to just tell someone to back off. To butt out. To let her handle things.
That blank, that silence when they disagreed about something was more … vulnerable. She expected everything to be the end. The rift that seemed to happen in all her relationships. Her dad, her aunt, Aly back in the day. She was poised for it at all times.
But she wasn’t going to change for it, and maybe that was why he felt about her the way he did.
“Okay. See you there,” she said in the detached way he hated.
Putting up walls. Not meant to keep people out. Meant to keep herself safe. He wasn’t sure he’d fully realized that until this moment.
Because wasn’t that why he put up his own walls?
Still, he couldn’t fix that now. Couldn’t climb her walls or his. He had a trial to suffer through.
But now that he understood fully, maybe there was a little wall climbing in his future.
*
Sam felt like crying, but that wasn’t going to get her through the day. She scrubbed her hands over her face and tried to reorient herself to the here and now. She didn’t have much time to discuss everything with Bo. So she had to be on top of things.
He was looking at her with something like concern on his face, so she offered him a smile.
“I had some trouble here last night, Bo. Someone tried to break in.”
His eyebrows scrunched together, and he kept his hat in a death grip. “I’m real sorry to hear that.”
“I hope you’ll understand that I have to ask. You didn’t travel to Marietta with anyone, did you?”
His expression went from concern and confusion to something very, very hard. He didn’t look quite so young now. “You think I had something to do with it?”
“No,” Sam replied evenly. “The guy on the security footage wasn’t you. But I need to be sure it doesn’t connect.” She made a gesture to encompass the office. “I’m an investigator, and I have to investigate all the angles.”
He pulled the hat onto his head with a jerk. “Yeah, sure. I know how this goes.”
“How what goes?”
“I didn’t do anything, but no one ever believes me. Thanks for nothing, Ms. Price.” He made a move for the door.
“Bo, wait.”
Sam felt pulled in two separate directions. Feeling like no one ever believed him, jumping straight to that, felt like a man who found a lot of trouble. But the genuine anguish in his words pulled at an empathy she was worried would get her in trouble.
But no matter what, that gut feeling led the way. And she couldn’t let him storm out. Couldn’t let that be it. Maybe that wasn’t just her gut. Maybe it was wanting to give the Bennets answers. Maybe they’d be more shitty ones, but better than lies.
Is the truth all you care about? her aunt had demanded of her after her father’s sentencing. The words haunted her now. Maybe. Maybe it was all she cared about.
So that meant she had to find it.
“You can run away, Bo,” she said, keeping her voice the same kind of detached even. “Without answers. Without help. Let me think you had something to do with this.”
His scowl was softer now. He almost looked like he might cry. Her heart ached when it shouldn’t.
She didn’t let that ache bleed into her voice. “Or you can stand up and face it. And we find some answers for you.”
His brows drew together. “Wait … you’re still going to help me?”
“Unless I find evidence that says I shouldn’t, you came to me for help. So I’m going to help. Unless you don’t want me to anymore.”
“No, I do. I…” He took a few halting steps toward her. “I’m not trouble. I swear.”
She knew it was dangerous to believe without proof. But his earnestness poked at her. The desperate need to not be seen as trouble. But if it was true and all she cared about was the truth, a little empathy couldn’t get her into too much trouble.
“I’m going to be in court all week, and probably the next couple. So, for now, I’m going to have you work here weekends. Come by Saturday morning and I’ll run you through your duties.”
“O-okay. Yes. I’ll be here.”
“Good. In the meantime, I’ve got some homework for you.” She got the notebook she’d put together last night when she couldn’t sleep.
And yes, she should have called Nate. She would have, if she thought he’d stay put at the ranch. She didn’t need a knight in shining armor. She needed to handle things on her own.
But she’d wanted an ear. Instead, she’d done work.
It was the Sam Price way.
“You’re going to go through the notebook and answer all the questions I put in there.
You can write them in the pages, you can type them up and email them to me.
Hell, you could even record yourself answering them and send me the audio file.
Whatever you choose, be thorough. Be honest. Bring it back with you on Saturday. ” She held out the notebook.
For a moment, he only looked at it. Then he blinked and nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed and finally took the notebook. “I’m not trouble,” he said earnestly, those dark eyes so much like Nate’s.
She sighed, wondering how much it was going to fuck up her life that she couldn’t help but believe him. “I believe you, Bo. Now let’s prove it.”