Chapter Eighteen
The laptop didn’t appear to have anything of note on it. At least none that were accessible to them. Half of the files were locked and encrypted and fell under the name of Beth’s former job. Though none of them were labeled as Grayton Steel Mill.
“From what the press release after Hector Martinez’s accident said, it was caused by human error,” Blake had said, not for the first time since they had gone through Beth’s laptop.
They had also paid more attention to the details of Beth’s former office, looking through materials Blake had yet to organize.
Liam had never really known Beth Bennet, but he got the feeling that she had been against bringing her work home with her. They had only found a few papers that seemed to be work-related. The rest were mailer odds and ends and things pertaining to the kids.
“A claim that Hector didn’t dispute,” Liam pointed out. “Not even his mother who took him with her back up north tried to make anyone believe otherwise.”
Blake was still staring at the laptop.
They had been at it for over an hour since arriving at the house. In that time Blake had seemed to settle a little. Or had at least started masking all the emotions she must have been going through better than she had.
Liam didn’t want her to have to hide anything from him, but he also understood that sometimes you needed time to process new information, and usually, that was easier with a clear head. Even if you had to temporarily force it clear to get there.
“But for Beth to publicly scold Mr. Grant?” Blake shook her head.
“There must have been something that upset her about what she found during her investigation into the furnaces. She wasn’t the type to just fly off the handle, especially not at a man like Mr. Grant.
He holds more weight in this town than the mayor or the—” She stopped short.
Liam snorted.
“Or the sheriff,” he finished. “Believe me, I may not be a true local, but I know the social standings of everyone. If Missy’s dad has a loyal following for his old tractor supply business, the man who employs half of the town is close to God.”
She nodded.
“Small towns give you a run for your money, that’s for sure.”
They had already gotten caught in the same questions before, just as they had with questions about Missy.
Why had Missy had Beth Bennet’s laptop the day of her death? Had she broken into the Bennet home to get it? But then, if she had, why return it?
And did all roads lead back to the steel mill?
Liam ran a hand down his face, then stood. He extended his hand back down to where Blake was sitting. He had her on her feet in a blink.
“We need answers, so let’s ask the right people questions,” he said. “Looks like we’re going to the steel mill.”
THE PLAN SEEMED SIMPLE, but it took two hours on the phone to get an appointment set up to speak to Mr. Grant himself the next day. And even though Liam wanted to be the one taking the job on, it was Blake who ended up making the plans.
“Mr. Grant will see me faster than he will you,” she had explained before calling. “He knows my father and I can play the sympathy card too. I’ll just say I found something about my sister’s investigation there and had some questions. He’ll have to see me one way or the other.”
And that’s exactly what had happened.
Mr. Grant’s assistant had confirmed the appointment for the next afternoon at his office. Like meeting with Kyle, Liam hadn’t liked the idea of her going alone.
To which she had responded with a slight teasing to her tone.
“You’re coming too, so don’t worry about that. We just need to figure out how to get you in there without making anyone clam up.”
That had been on his mind too but shifted to the back burner as day turned to night. They returned to Price’s house and Liam relieved him. They spoke at the car after dinner was finished and before he left.
“Darius is still working on getting that guy with the baseball cap that y’all caught at the house to talk,” he updated him. “He has a lawyer though and isn’t budging. Then there’s the whole Mater situation. Ray too.”
Ray McClennan had flatlined twice and was still in the ICU.
Mater was still in the hospital but wasn’t saying a word either.
Liam didn’t like their only lead being the steel mill, but as the shadows of night grew darker, he couldn’t think of another way to get an answer.
At the very least, they could cross off some of their new questions.
Liam was still going over those questions as he took a new change of clothes into the guest bathroom downstairs when soft footsteps sounded in the hallway. He peeked his head out to see Blake shuffling across the hardwoods toward him.
Since meeting the woman, he had been aware of her—from the lobby of the high school to the coffee shop to the department to her home to his apartment—but now it was like every sense Liam had went on a higher alert.
Her hair was wet from the shower she had taken after supper.
It made the normal red into a dark heat, waving to the tops of her shirt and making the fabric darker too for it.
Her shirt was oversized and swallowed her body all the way to her thighs.
He could just make out the bottom of some shorts but only barely so.
Then those legs were free and clear until the pair of socks that were helping her slide so quietly along the floor.
She had no make-up on. No lip anything.
Those lips.
They still hadn’t talked about the kiss from earlier that day.
He wasn’t going to bring it up now.
Blake had the baby monitor in her hand.
She shook it in the air a little when she met his eye.
“Unlike the three of them up there, I can’t sleep,” she said, voice low. “I was coming down to see if you wanted to chat.”
Blake eyed the clothes in his hand.
“Oh, you’re going into the shower. Not out.” Her face fell. “I can wait. Or, well, I guess you might want to get some sleep, so maybe I’ll just talk to you tomorrow.”
Maybe it was because of that kiss that they weren’t talking about, or maybe it was because, in that moment, something happened that had never happened before.
Blake Bennet looked lost.
Holding a baby monitor in her pajamas, hair wet, and wanting to talk, Blake looked tired and lonely and restless. It was a combination that Liam knew well. She wanted someone next to her.
And Liam wanted to be that person for her.
So he reached out and took her hand, pulled her gently with him into the bathroom and then shut the door behind them.
BLAKE WAS HOLDING on to the baby monitor like it was a lifesaver and she had just been thrown into the sea without a hope of treading water.
Liam locked the bathroom door and put his folded clothes on top of the closed toilet seat. Then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, he reached past the shower curtain along the opposite wall and turned on the water.
When he turned back around to face her, Blake knew her face was the color of a stop sign.
He smirked. He pointed to the counter next to the sink.
“As long as you don’t peek, you can sit there and we can chat while I shower,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind the company, if I’m being honest. It’ll be nice to get out of my head for a little bit.”
Blake opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again.
She didn’t hate the idea, but was it appropriate?
You already kissed him earlier, what’s talking to him in the bathroom? It’s not like you’ll be in the shower with him.
Her internal battle ended quickly.
She pretended to think about it a little longer, though, before making a big show of relenting.
“I guess we’ve already been through a firefight together,” she said. “What’s talking in the bathroom compared to that?”
Liam waited to undress after Blake settled on top of the counter.
She closed her eyes just in time to see his shirt flutter to the ground.
Her face went all flames at the sound of the rest of his clothes hitting the floor.
She kept her eyes tight until the shower curtain moved twice.
Even then she didn’t open them all the way until he called out to her.
“You’re safe.”
Blake let out a little breath she had been holding and positioned the baby monitor so she could see it without holding on to it.
She double-checked that her side was on Mute, and the other side was on Loud.
They had brought the travel basinet for Bruce, so Lola and Clem were on the bed beside it, all three fast asleep.
Blake envied their ability to sleep that easily.
She had tossed and turned until she had needed to escape.
Though, did it count as escape if she had gotten out of bed with Liam in mind?
Running toward someone was its own plan after all.
“I was worried me walking around had woken you up,” Liam said from the other side of the shower curtain.
Blake glanced at it. She couldn’t even see his silhouette.
It would be a bold-faced lie if she pretended that didn’t annoy her a little.
“The only person I usually have to worry about waking up is Theo, and that boy can sleep through a bomb blast, I’m pretty sure.
He’s still upset that I wouldn’t let him come stay with us, by the way.
He said he’s more than ready to fight if he needs to. I told him that’s not needed.”
Blake had originally wanted to talk more about their investigation but found her curiosity of the man overriding that never-ending circle of questions.
“You two must be close. He said you’re like a babysitter to him?”
The sound of water shifted. Liam must have moved out of its spray a little.