Page 19 of Justified Fear

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Great.Her father could never just walk into a room.

“Daddy, these are the gentlemen who helped find me.And, 3, 2, 1…”

“Why are you counting?”Ryan asked her at the same time Kap Hanson said, “Jesus, you’re Riki Templeton.”

“Because of that,” Keely said.

“Oh,” he glanced at her father, then back at her.“Are you having any issues today?

Keely blinked.“No.Just a little stiff.Well, other than an overbearing father.”

“I heard that, Keekee.”

She smiled.No one else called her by that nickname.Even though he was irritating her at the moment, she had nothing but love for her father.“Where is Lulu?”

“She had a client she had to meet.”

“I guess I should formally introduce you.These are my parents, Monica and Riki.Mom, Dad, these are two of the officers who helped find me, Ryan, and Kap.And of course, Maya.”

“Who did most of the work,” Ryan said.

They shared a smile.

“Kap and Ryan, do you have any information for us?”Her mother asked as her father eyed Maya.Her father had a healthy fear of large dogs since a neighbor had sic’d their dog on him when he was a kid.Still, Maya sat calmly, her gaze taking in the entire situation.

“No, we just wanted to check on Keely and see if she remembered anything about last night.”

Her heart sank a little.Of course, Ryan wasn’t there to see her.He was there about the case, and she was getting butterflies in her stomach.

She glanced at her father, then back to the men.“I was just going to cook some mac nut French toast.There will be plenty.”

Kap opened his mouth to answer, but Ryan interrupted him.“Sounds fabulous.”

She smiled and decided she was going to make the best batch of French toast she had ever made in her entire life.

Five

“Do you want to know why we are having brunch with the Templetons?”Kap asked, his tone leaving no doubt how irritated he was.

They were out back with Maya.He knew that Keely had needed a moment with her very steely-eyed father.

“I don’t know, but something’s off.”

That much he knew.Ryan wasn’t sure what, but the niggle at the base of his spine told him something was off.One thing he knew was that it had nothing to do with Keely.Or at least, not directly.

“Off?”

“Yeah.I know Charity is still digging, but the Kellys seemed to be somewhat clean.”

“But they had four men there.”

He nodded.“Truth is, I’m not sure if I’m getting a bad feeling about that, or something is stalking Keely.”

He glanced at the back door as it opened.Shit.Her father looked like he was ready to question them, and per department directive, there was only so much they could tell him.Even Keely couldn’t truly find out everything they were looking at.Ongoing investigations were primarily private.

“Gentlemen,” Riki said.He wasn’t as big as when he had played in the NFL, but the former linebacker was still impressive.At least two inches taller than Ryan, and about twenty to thirty pounds heavier, all muscle, there was no way Ryan would win in a fight.Then, like before, he glanced at Maya.She was lying on the ground, barely paying attention.Or at least, it looked that way.Maya was always ready to get to work.