Chapter 19
Nineteen
Damien told their server they had to go, then dragged Harmony out of the restaurant. He didn’t know what it all meant, but he knew they were wrong about Grant Pickens. The man was not squeaky clean like they thought.
That or he had no idea who he was spending his time with.
Damien drove straight to Rose Protection Agency, knowing it was the safest place for Harmony to be. No one could get to her there. Not with all the protectors around and the security they had on the place.
“Hey,” Berkeley said when Damien forced Harmony inside ahead of him. “Is everything okay?”
Damien shook his head. “No. Berkeley, this is Harmony Gibbs. Harmony, Berkeley is our business manager. She’s really the boss, but we all let Montgomery think he is.”
Berkeley chuckled and offered her hand to Harmony. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” Harmony said, her voice shaky.
“Why don’t you two go in? I’ll let him know you’re here.”
Damien nodded, thanking Berkeley before swiping his card to gain access to the secure area behind Berkeley’s desk. He often wondered why the security didn’t reach her desk, but he didn’t get to question his boss. There had to be a reason.
Harmony was quiet as they made their way past all the quiet desks and the few people working. Damien knew things had been busy and most of them were out on assignments. He was happy to see Jude, Rhett, and Eve were at their desks.
Jude stood and followed Damien and Harmony into Montgomery’s office. Zeke wasn’t far behind them.
“What’s wrong?” Montgomery asked once the door was closed.
Damien gestured to Harmony to tell the others what she told him.
“Um, I saw Grant Pickens today. He was leaving the restaurant where we were having lunch. He was with a man. It was the same man I saw breaking into his building. The one who broke into my apartment.”
The air seemed to be sucked out of the room as the meaning of what she was saying landed heavily on the men there. Zeke and Jude looked at their boss, letting Montgomery speak before anyone else.
“Didn’t we look into Pickens?” Montgomery asked.
“I did,” Jude said. “He was clean.”
“Too clean?” Zeke asked.
Jude shrugged. “I wondered, but there was no reason to keep digging.”
“We just found our reason,” Montgomery growled. “Either he’s in danger, or he’s involved.”
“Harmony said they looked similar. Could be related,” Damien added.
“What? Fucking hell.” Montgomery reached for the phone on his desk before he spoke again. When he did, it was into the receiver. “Grant Pickens was having lunch today at…” He raised his brows at Damien.
“Antonio’s,” Damien provided.
“Antonio’s. He left with a man who could be a relative. A relative who was involved in both break-ins.”
Montgomery was quiet for a minute. The rest of them held their breath.
“That’s what we’d like to know. We didn’t find anything suspicious, but if the reason for that is he’s not who he says he is, we might be dealing with something bigger than we realize. Thanks, Marcus.”
Montgomery hung up and ran his hands over his face.
Damien waited. His gut churned. He hated missing something, and they definitely fucking missed something. But what was it? Was Pickens in danger? Or was he the one calling the shots? Or was there something else entirely going on?
And why the fuck didn’t they know the answers to those questions?
“Look into Grant Pickens again. Dig deeper. See if he has family in the area. Marcus is going to try to get a warrant for the footage at the restaurant, but he doesn’t know how quickly it’ll come through.
Or if it’ll come through. We need to know who was with him.
We go on the assumption he’s in danger until we find out otherwise. ”
“Do you really think that’s the truth?” Damien asked.
Montgomery met Damien’s gaze and shook his head.
“No. But I can’t accuse someone of staging his own break-in unless I have a damn good reason for it.
If this person is someone who knows him, they could have known he’d be there alone, or assumed no one would be there like Pickens said, and thought it was a good time to take something they wanted.
Pickens said only one person made it to the office, so it’s possible he has no idea the man he’s having lunch with is involved at all. ”
“Or he knows exactly who he’s having lunch with,” Zeke said.
“We need to find out,” Montgomery said. “Start digging.”
Damien knew they were being dismissed and guided Harmony out of the office. Jude fell into step with him, the two of them following Harmony to their desks.
“I should have kept looking,” Jude said when they reached their corner of the office.
Damien clapped his partner on the shoulder. “We had no reason to. But now we do.”
“How good of a look did you get of the guy?” Jude asked.
Damien shook his head. “I didn’t see him at all. Harmony did.”
Jude’s brows popped up for a second before settling back to their normal position. He focused on Harmony. “You saw him?”
Harmony nodded. “I did. I noticed them walking out of the restaurant, and he was vaguely familiar, but I didn’t place him right away. When I saw Mr. Pickens, it felt like I was slapped with the truth.”
“What made you think they’re related?”
“The way they moved. There were enough similarities in their features that I would guess they’re related, but they moved the same. The way they carried themselves, and the familiarity they seemed to have with each other.”
“You noticed all that in a few seconds?”
Damien growled softly under his breath.
“It’s okay,” Harmony said, putting her hand on Damien’s arm.
“I get it. It seems crazy that I would pick up on any of that. And maybe I’m wrong.
I can’t promise you what I saw is true, but…
” She hesitated, looking up at Damien before continuing.
“I’ve spent most of my life on my own. My dad died years ago, and I don’t have any other family or close friends.
I’m alone a lot. In the background. People don’t notice me, but I notice things. ”
“What do you mean?” Jude asked.
Harmony held his gaze. “There are nine pairs of desks in this area, but only five people are here. Two offices are both occupied, and two conference rooms are empty. There are two women in this office, Berkeley up front and the Black woman behind me. The pair closest to the door have been working together the longest of anyone who’s here right now, and they have a good relationship.
The two behind me haven’t figured out how to work together well.
There’s tension there. You two have been together long enough that you don’t need words to communicate, but you also don’t blindly follow what the other says.
You trust but verify, as one might say.”
Jude lifted his gaze to Damien’s. Damien smirked and shrugged.
“Okay, you’ve proven your point.” Jude chuckled. “You’re pretty dead-on with everyone, which is a little scary.”
“I observe a lot.”
“She’s good for you,” Jude said, sliding a look toward Damien.
“I agree,” Damien said.
“I don’t buy that it’s a coincidence,” Jude said. “I also don’t think Grant Pickens is completely innocent.”
“He’s not,” Harmony said with full conviction.
“What makes you say that?” Damien asked.
Harmony shrugged. “He’s… When I met with him, he was creepy. More than just an eccentric rich guy. I got the feeling he was trying to get me to confess something. Like he thought I knew something I wasn’t saying.”
“Like what?” Jude asked.
“I don’t know. He said I was playing innocent, but he knew I wasn’t. When I said I didn’t know what he was talking about, he said he thought we were going to have a… a productive meeting and he was disappointed.”
“What else did he say?” Damien snarled.
Harmony shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself. She adjusted her glasses. Her gaze stuck to the floor, not lifting to look at Damien. “The next minute we were on camera and…”
“And what?” Jude asked with more calmness than Damien felt.
“I tried to give him the check back after the press conference. I told him it was a mistake to accept it. It felt like taking it meant I owed him. Like his money was buying something.”
“Your silence?” Jude suggested.
Harmony shrugged, and Damien’s gut sank. It wasn’t possible that she made the whole thing up. She couldn’t have.
“I don’t know what he would have wanted me to be silent about. I called nine-one-one when I saw those men going into his building, and that was it.”
“But it felt like he was paying you off? Is that what you’re saying?”
Harmony took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Damien wanted to hold her, to protect her, but he had to let Jude ask the questions Damien was too scared to ask.
Could he have missed the truth about Harmony?
No. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it flashed through his mind. There was no way. She didn’t want to take the reward. She wasn’t going to. Until he convinced her to do it. Damien was the one who said she should consider it.
It was his fault Grant Pickens knew who she was.
“It felt like he was using it to put me in the spotlight. He said most people would be thrilled to be indebted to him.”
“Not you, though.”
She exhaled a mirthless laugh. “I’m used to being on my own.
I…” She lifted her gaze to Damien and smiled.
“I never thought twice about anything different. I like my work, I like what I’m doing.
The money… People always come up with these big things they would do if they got a bunch of money.
Buy a car, or a house, or take a trip. My dad always taught me to work hard.
To help people. To be a good person. I know it’s very possible to do all that and have a ton of money.
There are people out there who are doing it, donating millions of dollars every year to support organizations that are doing good.
I feel like that was always what I imagined I would do.
That I would help people if I came into a bunch of money. ”