Chapter Thirteen
The apartment above Honor’s Edge Investigations Office
Cal wasn’t content to let Sam investigate the threat he’d gotten.
And he’d be damned if Nate was going to do it.
So after he’d had that uncomfortable conversation with Jill—where he had in fact been a jerk again, like she somehow brought it out in him almost as easily as his brothers did—he’d picked up some lunch to go from the diner and come back to his apartment to do some work.
The fact of the matter was, he had been a practicing criminal defense attorney for over a decade. He’d been threatened before. It wasn’t a total surprise to be threatened again, even if the timing was strange considering he’d quit and moved back to Montana.
Still, to Cal’s way of thinking, if he was getting a threat, it likely connected to his life in Texas. After all, the creepy little drawing had featured him in a suit, carrying a briefcase. That was lawyer shit.
He hadn’t had a life in Marietta in something like twenty years.
Any threat that was just geared at him—and not the Bennets as a whole—just didn’t make sense unless it came from his life in Texas.
Because anything that might connect to his father’s trial surely connected to his brothers, not just him.
If that was wishful thinking, he’d ride it for a while.
So, after he’d gotten done eating and done a cursory search through some of his old files to see if anything major jumped out, he’d picked up the phone and called his old law offices. When his old assistant answered, he figured luck was on his side.
“Mackenzye, it’s Cal Bennet.”
“Oh. Well, hello, Mr. Bennet. I hope you’re doing well.”
Cal frowned a little. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but the strange note of trepidation in her voice was … odd. He figured he’d always had a positive, professional relationship with his former assistant.
“I am. I just called because I wanted some information on a few old cases of mine.”
“Ah, well, you’re the second person to call about that, Mr. Bennet.”
Cal swore under his breath. “Let me guess, the first guy was also named Bennet.”
“Well, yes. It was a … Nate Bennet,” she explained, and he could hear her shuffling through papers as she did. “I didn’t give him much, of course, but he did say he was your brother and a private investigator and—”
“Yeah, great. Listen, if he calls again, don’t give him anything.”
“Well, certainly, but—”
“I need a list, Mackenzye. Of any of my cases that might have had something change recently. Someone who got out of prison. Someone I got off that recently committed another crime. Anything that might have caused someone to take new issue with me.”
There was a long, drawn-out silence that Cal knew didn’t bode well.
“The thing is, Mr. Bennet, you don’t work for us anymore, so…”
Shock stoked his frustration with this whole thing. “So I should just have to be threatened?” he demanded.
“No! No, of course not. I just … I’ll have to check with Mr. Dautry and get back to you about what’s acceptable to share with you. And what’s an acceptable amount of time to spend doing this for someone not on the payroll.”
Cal found himself completely and utterly speechless—a rare feat. Not on the payroll. After everything he’d given that firm. Now he didn’t matter at all.
“I am sorry, Mr. Bennet. But I will get back to you, of course.”
Cal narrowly resisted telling her not to bother. He thought about what Jill had snapped at him as her parting shot today. Well change it.
Like he could just stop decades of practice at being an asshole to everyone around him.
Well change it.
“Thanks, Mackenzye. I appreciate it,” he managed to ground out. “I can call Dautry myself if that’d help.”
“Not necessary. I’ll get back to you by tomorrow. I hope … everything is okay, Mr. Bennet.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” He ended the call, still pissed off, but, weirdly, trying to end the phone call on a more positive note didn’t feel the worst.
When someone knocked on his door and it was Nate, the worst started to bubble up.
“What?” Cal demanded.
Nate strode in like he owned the place.
“Sam and I went over the security footage on the building. Whoever left the envelope avoided the cameras on the building. Not impossible to do, but that certainly took some planning. Have you noticed anything off? Like seeing the same car places? The same person? Feeling uncomfortable in a public setting?”
Cal stared at Nate for a full second. “What the hell are you doing?”
Nate finally met his gaze. “I’m looking into a threat against my brother. It’s a fairly reasonable response, all in all. Even if I wasn’t a PI. Which, I’ll point out, I am.”
“I don’t care what the fuck you are, Nate. I can take care of this myself.” So much for not being a surly asshole.
Nate didn’t rise to the bait. He never quite did. Cal was used to pissing people off to get what he wanted, so he never knew quite how to maneuver Nate into the careful boxes he liked to keep people in.
“Why?” Nate asked, calmly and placidly.
Making Cal feel decidedly not calm and not placid. “What do you mean why?”
“I mean why should you handle it yourself? You’ve got an entire private investigator business at your disposal and a bunch of people who care about you.” There was a beat, and then a mutter that sounded a bit like, “God knows why.”
Which soothed a little bit of his temper. And that was his own God knows why, because pissing the people he loved off couldn’t possibly be healthy. Probably something else to bring up the next time he had a call with his therapist.
But for now… “Look, Nate, I appreciate … okay, no I don’t appreciate shit. I can handle this. Maybe you’re thinking it connects to everything with Dad, but that doesn’t add up. The drawing is me as a lawyer, so it’s got to connect to a case.”
“You were involved in Dad’s case,” Nate pointed out.
“Sure, but tangentially—and as much as you and Landon, or even Aly or Sam or Glenda. Singling me out doesn’t add up unless this is something about me. Without you guys.”
“Or you’re just the beginning.”
The thought was terrible, so he had to reject it. “Shit, Nate. Anything’s possible, but that’s a big-ass reach.”
Nate shrugged. No reaction. No response. Certainly no agreement. So impossibly stubborn.
A Bennet trait. “So until something happens to make it even remotely possible this doesn’t just revolve around me, I’ll handle it.”
Nate didn’t reply right away. He looked at Cal in that very careful way. It was something from his military days, because Nate certainly hadn’t been a quiet, placid kid growing up. But as an adult, he was a careful man who used his words and silences carefully.
Cal mostly hated it.
“You decided to move back to Marietta, big brother,” Nate said after letting that silence stretch out. “If you thought that didn’t come with two brothers who’d look out for you, you’re not as smart as you think you are.”
At the mention of the brother not currently here right now, Cal got even more uncomfortable. “Landon’s wedding is this weekend. Don’t drag him into this.”
“I’m not dragging anybody. I’m pointing out we’re a family.”
“Yeah, some family. Mom’s dead thanks to Dad. Dad’s in jail. Our fourth brother decided to run off and leave us high and dry.”
“And you, me, and Landon are all right here,” Nate replied easily. Maybe a little sternly. “We’re the reason, along with Sam, Aly, and Glenda, that Dad’s in jail, thank Christ. You can’t undercut it, Cal. You moved back. You chose this. Being a part of it all. Not separate.”
He couldn’t argue with that, but he didn’t like it being pointed out. He didn’t like this feeling that … Nate might somehow swoop in and take care of everything like Cal was…
Well, what he supposed he was afraid of. Useless and defective and some head case who’d never be able to get his shit sorted out. Separate, because he was the one with the traumatic brain issue. But somehow the one everyone needed to take care of.
“Look—”
“Have you noticed anyone or anything strange since you’ve been back, Cal? That’s the question.”
Cal knew how to be a dick. How to behave even worse than Nate expected. He knew that, with enough time, he could break even Nate’s impressive calm and patience.
He found in this strange moment of his brother wanting to … help, he supposed, he couldn’t quite force himself to do the usual.
“No, I haven’t,” he answered honestly. “But I think the timing also makes more sense to connect back to Texas. I was just there. Someone or something followed me back.”
“I put in a call with your old law firm and—”
“I know. I just got off the phone with Mackenzye myself.”
“She wasn’t particularly helpful.”
“No, but she’s just waiting for the okay from the boss.
I’ve already started looking into my own records.
I’ll…” It grated. Damn it, it grated, but Dr. Michaels was always telling him help wasn’t a jab at his self-worth.
It was just help. “I’ll share my own list of cases with you.
We can split them up between the two of us, or we can add in Sam if you want, and see if anything has changed with the players—new crimes committed by those who got off, people I didn’t get off getting out of jail, that sort of thing. ”
“It’s a good start. In the meantime, make sure you’re locking up and telling us—all of us—if you notice anything weird.”
Nate didn’t leave it at that. He waited for Cal to answer. To agree, and Cal had a knee-jerk need to not.
But Cal was a damn smart individual, for all the things fucked up in his head. He could grow. He could learn.
He could damn well change.
“I will.”
“Good. I’ll let you know anything I come across. I’ve got to return a few calls for other cases, and Sam’s out right now, but once you’ve got a list for us on those cases, bring them down. We’ll split them up and sort it out.”
“Sure. Yeah.”
Nate turned to leave, and as much as Cal didn’t want to say it, he knew he should. Knew he had to. He was the one who’d chosen to move back to Marietta, and Nate was right. He’d chosen it knowing it meant having a relationship with his brothers. With his past.
“Thanks, Nate.”
Maybe a look of pure and utter shock passed across Nate’s face, but he schooled it away quickly. “Anytime, Cal.”