Chapter 31
Daniel McKellen did not want to do this.
Samia Coleson, Heather’s niece—the doctor who had saved his life out there the night he’d been beaten to a bloody pulp and shot—was the one who drove him to her home from the hospital.
Daniel had to admit, she was one of the Coleson women he found the most intriguing.
Some of them were in-your-face, bold, and rather extreme in personality.
Heather and Hope especially. But Samia was the quietest of the Colesons, he thought.
She didn’t say much, but just watched the world, with mysteries in her big dark eyes.
She was the kind of woman a man would just have to figure out.
And would be willing to take a lifetime to do it.
Daniel considered it, briefly. If she’d even look in his direction, he would consider it.
And…if she didn’t have a big, blond guy who looked a great deal like Murdoch Lake trailing after her every time Daniel had seen her recently.
Murdoch’s twin brother had it bad for Samia.
He just didn’t seem to be doing anything about it. Daniel didn’t poach.
One of the things he was supposed to find out for Marc and Luc was just who the men in these women’s lives were.
And what they were involved in. Luc seemed convinced there were men somewhere in his family’s lives.
Daniel didn’t know if the idiot thought by finding out just who these men were Luc was going to catch his family doing something illegal—or he was going to do something to protect them all from those men.
Either way, Daniel was feeling used here. And it was a feeling he wasn’t too happy about.
It still turned his stomach to think about. They were offering him a place to stay, and help, when he needed it most. And he was spying on them.
No, it didn’t sit right.
But he’d done things he wasn’t too keen on before in the course of the job. He would do it again.
“We’ll get you inside, and then you can take some more of the pain pills,” Samia said, quietly, as she pulled into the driveway of Number Nine Jude Way, in Hughes Heights.
Daniel knew the details—the Coleson women all lived in the mansion that had been left to them by Bonnie Coleson’s late father-in-law.
Except one: Heather’s fraternal twin, and her children.
Dr. Joy Coleson-Greene lived in a modest two story in town somewhere.
But she and her children were supposedly always at Bonnie’s.
Recently, Bonnie’s sister Marcia had moved into the mansion, with her husband Norman, and their four children, after she and her husband—both teachers—had lost their positions with a small school in Oklahoma when it had unexpectedly closed mid-year.
All the Colesons lived in Finley Creek now.
Luc was convinced there was more going on with that family than there was—Daniel thought the governor, Luc’s brother-in-law, Marc, had asked him to stay with the Colesons merely as a way to shut Luc up. That man was ridiculously paranoid where his family was concerned.
All Daniel cared about at this moment was finding a place to sleep. He’d figure out the Coleson family later. Somehow. He looked at his driver. Couldn’t look away for a moment.
She really was a beautiful woman. He’d always had a thing for more reserved women.
She had big brown eyes that could suck a man in in an instant—like all the other women in her family—almost black curly hair that made a man want to bury his fingers in it.
And a small line of freckles across her cheeks that were adorable.
She eyed him like he was an interloper, though. Like she didn’t trust him one bit. Like she was a bit afraid of him, too.
If every inch of his body didn’t hurt at the moment, he wouldn’t mind being with her right now at all.
It was no wonder Murdoch’s brother had a thing for her.
Murdoch had already warned him to keep his hands off or Murdoch would rearrange his fingers for him.
Daniel was supposed to behave himself with all the Colesons—or else.
Murdoch would handle the ‘or else’ personally, Daniel had been informed.
He hurt too much right now to even think about misbehaving with a beautiful woman. And once he was back on his feet, he had a job to do.
That damned crime ring they were after—it was still out there.
It had almost killed people Daniel cared about.
He wasn’t going to take that lightly. Dom had said something the last time he’d been there to talk to Daniel.
About…just how far back this ring went back.
Decades—Kimball had said decades that night.
They were looking for generational connections now.
Dom was the one in charge of the case almost exclusively now, while Jake and Charlie tried to keep the entire Major Crimes division afloat.
From what Daniel had heard, everything at the TSP right now was a damned shit show.
Samia parked and killed the engine before looking at him again. “Most everyone is here, it looks like. They usually are for dinner, unless we’re working. We tend to stick close…since…what Eastman did. It’s just safer that way.”
Someone had broken into her apartment and attacked her—and her twenty-three-year-old cousin.
She’d spent the night in County Gen, with various injuries.
He’d read over the police reports after…
Heather. He’d wanted to know. He’d seen photos of Samia’s bruises, and read her statements.
Nothing had been found yet to identify her attacker yet.
Daniel was going to look for that bastard himself.
As soon as he possibly could. “I understand. I really appreciate your family inviting me to stay.”
He could have gone to the home of his friends, the Barratts.
That would have actually made the most sense.
Houghton and Melody had more money than most of the world.
They’d had an on-staff physician as long as Daniel had known them.
He wouldn’t have had to worry about a thing if he’d gone there.
And he’d have had access to some of his team—he’d have had an idea of what was going on with the investigation.
From outside appearances, they were exactly who they were supposed to be.
Damn the governor for asking him to do this. How in the hell was he supposed to find out what these women did or did not know about what was going on in Finley Creek?