Page 62 of Justified Fear

“And you think that will get him off my back?”

“No.But it will make him feel like he has control of the situation.He’s worried that the one person who means more to him than anything else in the world is going through something scary.Guys need something to pull them in.”

She smiled at him.“You really are a sweetie, aren’t you?”

He felt his face go a little hot, and she giggled.“And you blush.Be gone.I have work to do.”

As he headed out, he started to text Nikki to see if she was still at the hospital when his phone vibrated.

Seth: Common room.Five minutes.

By the time he got up there, everyone else was there, including Nikki.

“Did he know the guys?”

She shook her head.“I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I think he was lying about something.”

“Maybe about who he is?”Seth asked.He looked at Ryan.“I heard Charity got some info from Emily?”

He nodded.“Ray Gailbreath didn’t exist until a few years ago.He said he went to high school in Texas, but there is very little proof of that.”

“Also, he didn’t start his socials until about nine months ago,” Seth said.“This is starting to make absolutely no sense.”

“Starting?”Kap said.He was sitting at the conference table.“I don’t think this whole insane situation has been normal since the first night.I also know that everyone found out the guy claimed to be from Texas.There’s that connection again.”

He’d picked up on that, too.Things seemed to keep circling back to Keely.Or at least back to Texas.

“I think we need to question her again,” Rami said.

“No.”

He blinked as he studied Ryan.“You can’t be objective.”

“Yes, I can.The one person who seemed to check out, who never changed her story, and doesn’t seem to have anything lurking in her background?—”

“Other than an NFL legend of a father,” Nikki said.

“True, but how many of us want to use our family in an investigation?Also, it is more of a testament because she could have easily proclaimed she was Riki Templeton’s daughter to keep us from bothering her.”

“Exactly,” Seth said.“We can double-check things, but she has been up front and honest with us every step of the way.Still, I don’t think we should ignore her connection.”

“What?”

Seth held up his hands.“Calm down, Morrison.I mean, the whole reason behind this might have had to do with her.Her family is so rich, a kidnapping makes sense.And since our three dead men all have worked together on kidnappings, we have to assume she was the target.They let Ray go.They killed everyone else.”

He rolled his shoulders.He knew there was something nasty brewing beneath the surface of this investigation.Something they were missing.

“I know she has protection, but I’m assuming you’re going back over tonight?”

He felt almost everyone turn their gaze back to him.He nodded.

“Good.Since we have no idea what is happening, but it feels more and more like she was the reason for the attack, we need as many people with eyes on her as possible.Also, I heard the menu tonight, so you’re lucky.”

“Menu?”

He nodded.“Mix texted Autumn to throw it in her face that he was having lobster.”

“Just keep an eye out.I’m going to make sure that Dillon Security is kept up to date, but until we figure out why this happened, we can’t be sure Keely isn’t in trouble.”