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CHAPTER TEN

A KNOCK SOUNDED on the suite’s door as Violet propped up the piano lid. The inside of the instrument was as pristine as the outside. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on the keyboard.

Grant checked the peephole. “Room service.” He opened the door and gave the server a tip. “I’ll get the cart. Thanks for the fast service.”

“Sure thing, bro. Ask for Nash if you need anything else. I’ll be glad to deliver.” The college-aged kid hurried off.

Grant pulled the cart into the suite and secured the door. “What’s your preference, Violet?”

“Tea. No sweetener.”

He poured tea into a to-go cup and handed it to her.

After taking a few sips, Violet set the cup aside and raised the key lid. The keys gleamed in the overhead light. The Yamaha instrument was truly beautiful.

Ignoring the activity going on around her, Violet settled in to play one of her favorite pieces by Bach. The longer she played, the more tension left her body.

When she finished that piece, Violet shifted to another favorite piece by Brahms, then another one by Debussy. On and on she played until finally she finished the last piece and lifted her hands from the keyboard.

She looked around, surprised to see her teammates seated around the sitting room, listening to her impromptu concert.

Rayne set her empty mug on the coffee table. “I could listen to you play all day, my friend. That was amazing.”

Violet glanced at her watch. Her eyes widened. “I didn’t realize I’d been playing for more than an hour.”

“No complaints from us.” Grant grabbed his laptop and handed Rayne’s to her. “Play any time.”

Noah, who now stood beside Violet, held out his hand to her. “If you weren’t a gifted medic, you could be a concert pianist.”

Her cheeks burned at his praise. “I don’t think so, but thanks for the compliment.”

He tugged Violet to her feet and into his arms. “Feel better now?” he murmured against her ear.

She nodded. “I wish I lived in a house. My apartment living room is too small for a baby grand. Besides, I don’t think the neighbors would appreciate the noise.”

“Something will work out.”

Eventually, she’d find a house she loved and buy the piano of her dreams. When her team had moved to the Nashville area, she hadn’t had time to do more than sign the lease on an apartment before Artemis was sent to Otter Creek with Noah and his team to train at Personal Security International. When they finished the intensive eight-week training, Maddox had sent the teams on a joint mission.

Noah escorted her to a recliner, refreshed her tea, then handed Violet her computer. “We’ll eat in the hotel restaurant in a couple of hours, then get ready to go to Camilla’s apartment. In the meantime, whose background do you want to dig into?”

“Bradley Melton’s.”

His mouth curved. “Thought you might choose him. I already sent you the information Zane put together.” Noah brushed her mouth with his. When he broke the kiss, he grabbed his own laptop, sat in the other recliner, and booted up his computer.

Soon, the room was silent aside from clicking keys. More grateful than she could say for the help of her friends, Violet resolved to do her part. She hadn’t been carrying her own weight. That changed now.

Yes, her friends were former cops used to digging into the backgrounds of people connected to their cases. That didn’t mean she could let them do the grunt work while she wallowed in grief. She couldn’t do that to them or herself. Cami was her sister. She had a responsibility to offer her best effort. If she was the one who’d been murdered, Camilla would have dogged the detectives working on the case, insisting on knowing everything they knew. How could she do any less for Cami?

Violet read the information Zane uncovered and had to admit to herself that she wouldn’t have been as thorough. Too much on her mind, and she felt numb. Didn’t matter. She had a job to do, and do it she would.

She reread the background. No surprise to her that Bradley Melton came from old money and was a trust-fund baby. Good grades all the way through school. No, she corrected herself. Excellent grades. Straight A’s all the way through school. He majored in history at Harvard, then attended law school and graduated at the top of his class.

Violet frowned. Mrs. White said Bradley begged Cami to date him for months before she finally gave in about six weeks ago. Knowing he came from old money might explain her sister’s hesitancy to let Bradley into her life. She and Violet came from nothing. That made them naturally suspicious of those who lived a privileged life. Growing up, the sisters had been the butt of the wealthy kids’ jokes.

Everyone in Morrison knew Aunt Rosalie hated them. According to her, they were terrors at home behind closed doors. She and Cami avoided their aunt as much as possible and did the chores she assigned with no need to be reminded so they wouldn’t have to interact with the hateful woman.

Violet read more about the family tradition of going into law practice. Rather than join his father and grandfather, though, Bradley struck out on his own in Morrison, establishing his own law firm. Zane noted Bradley’s desire to get out from under his family’s influence to be his own man.

She admired him for that. Based on what she’d seen at his office today, he was successful. Bradley would have been lucky to have Cami in his life. Violet could see her sister as a lawyer’s wife.

Enough wool gathering. She needed to focus. No red flags that she’d seen so far. Did Bradley have a history of trouble with women?

Violet skimmed the pages from Zane and found nothing to answer her question. Now she knew where to start.

She clicked the icon of the secure web browser Zane installed on every Fortress computer and entered Bradley’s name. Settling back to read, Violet scanned entry after entry. Nothing.

Changing the search parameters, she tried again. Still zip. Violet searched Bradley’s social media accounts and got nowhere. She grimaced and logged into Cami’s social media, figuring that would be her best bet for learning what she wanted to know. While she didn’t have social media accounts for security reasons, Cami didn’t have those restrictions. Since Cami and Bradley were dating, Violet thought her sister would be one of Bradley’s friends on social media.

A moment later, Cami’s social media wall came up. Violet flinched at the number of sympathy posts and deliberately turned a blind eye to them. Later, she’d read the heartfelt posts. Right now, Violet’s heart would break.

She dove into Bradley’s social media accounts and scanned the entries. Violet had to go all the way back to his high school days to see anything that pinged on her radar as remotely suspicious.

She noted the name of the three girls who complained about Bradley and traced the links back to their social media pages. What she read had her blood running cold. “Noah.”

He looked up. “Got something?”

“Maybe.” She returned to Bradley’s page and handed her computer to Noah.

As he read the posts Violet pointed out, his expression grew grim. “This puts him back at the top of my list.”

“What do you have?” Grant asked.

“Accusations of rape and assault in high school by three of his classmates.”

Rayne scowled. “And he’s a lawyer? How did he get into law school with that on his record?”

“Good question,” he murmured. “That should have been enough to keep him from being considered a law school candidate. Let me check something.” Noah worked in silence for several minutes, then sat back with a sigh. “He was never charged.”

“How can that happen?”

“No charges were filed. One parent brought his daughter to the police station and demanded an investigation. The chief of police handled the inquiry himself and found nothing.” He turned to Violet. “The other two girls refused to press charges. That meant there was no record to keep him out of law school.”

“I didn’t see other questionable actions while trolling through his social media pages.” She shook her head. “I still want to talk to him about this. If Cami knew about the accusations, it might explain why she was so reluctant to start a relationship with Bradley.”

“We’ll follow up with him.” Noah looked at Grant and Rayne. “Did you find anything in the backgrounds of the people you were investigating?”

“Still looking,” Rayne said. “Nothing so far.”

“Same.” Grant glanced at his watch. “Anyone ready to eat? I’m starving.”

Rayne laughed. “You must have a hollow leg. You’re always hungry.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a growing boy.”

Violet shut down her computer and stood. “Let’s go. I could use a break.” A break from her life, too, but, hey, she’d take what she could get.

She sighed. Truthfully, Violet loved her life. Yes, she had a rough childhood. Joining the Army, though, was the right decision for her. The only thing she regretted was time lost with Cami because Violet was deployed so often. Joining the Artemis team with Fortress Security had also been the perfect choice. She loved her job and her teammates, and she’d been able to spend more time with her sister. Now that Cami was gone, Violet would never regret her choice to leave the Army and go into black ops with a private company. Artemis was her only family now, with Echo unit running a close second.

Her gaze shifted to Noah. No, she didn’t regret her choice. Every decision had brought her to this man.

Noah set his laptop beside Violet’s and wrapped his hand around hers. His eyebrow rose. “What is it?”

Embarrassed at being caught woolgathering, her lips curved as she shook her head. “Nothing that can’t wait until later.”

He squeezed her hand. “Still okay with eating in the restaurant downstairs?”

“Considering the excitement we generated today in Morrison, I think it would be best.”

“Best news I’ve heard all day,” Grant muttered. He threaded his fingers through Rayne’s and stepped into the hall. After a pause, he said, “Clear,” and started toward the stairwell with Rayne.

Noah stepped into the hall first, then moved aside so Violet could join him.

She wanted to roll her eyes at his protectiveness. Truthfully, though, she appreciated Noah’s care.

They walked downstairs to the lobby and to the restaurant. The hostess greeted them with a smile. “Welcome to the Cascades. Party of four?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Grant said. “We’d prefer a table in a corner.”

She scooped up four menus. “No problem. This way, please.” The woman led the way to a table in the back corner. “Is this all right?”

“It’s perfect,” Noah said. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Your server is Jana. She’ll be with you shortly. Enjoy your meal.”

When they were alone, Noah seated Violet, then took the seat next to hers and picked up the menu to scan the selections.

Violet skimmed through the options. Her stomach knotted and her throat tightened. Man, at this rate, she wouldn’t be able to eat anything. She closed the menu and slid it away from her. Maybe a soft drink or more herbal tea would do the trick. The thought of drinking coffee made her want to hurl.

Under the table, Noah covered her hand with his. “You okay?” he murmured.

She shook her head. Lying to the man she adored wasn’t acceptable. “Nothing appeals.”

“Stomach tight?”

“How did you know?”

“A friend of mine in the service had trouble with PTSD. He couldn’t eat for months.”

“IV?”

He nodded. “Took almost a year for him to return to normal.” Noah leaned over and brushed her mouth with his. “Order something light for yourself. I’ll help you get it down.”

She didn’t know how successful he’d be. Didn’t matter. She could always take whatever was left back to the room. If nothing else, Grant might eat the leftovers when he was on watch. “Grant, do you like club sandwiches?”

“Love them, why?”

“I’m not hungry. I thought you might like the rest on your watch shift.”

“Don’t worry about me. I know how to use the phone to call for room service. Order what you like, all right? I can take care of myself.” He grinned as he glanced at Rayne. “Or my girlfriend will do it for me.”

“Keep on dreaming, Grant,” Rayne murmured.

He chuckled.

The server hurried to their table. “Hi, I’m Jana. What can I get you?”

The operatives gave Jana their orders, and a moment later, she delivered them to the kitchen.

“We need to track down Melton’s three accusers,” Rayne said. “If we’re lucky, they’re still in the area so we can talk to them in person.”

“This isn’t a subject you cover in a phone conversation.” Grant frowned. “If the women have moved, we might have operatives who are nearby to question them for us.”

“What are their names, Violet?” Rayne asked, pulling out her phone. “We can start tracking them down while we wait for our meals.”

“Charity Bradshaw, Lauren Gilmore, and Dana Farraday.”

“I’ll take Charity.” Rayne looked at Grant. “You want Lauren Gilmore?”

“Sure.”

“That leaves Dana Farraday for us,” Noah said and grabbed his phone. “Let’s see what we can find before dinner arrives.”

Violet scooted her chair closer to Noah as he tapped Farraday’s name into the Fortress secure search engine. When the results came back in less than a minute, she stared at the screen a moment before shifting her gaze to Noah.

His grim expression said it all. “Grant, Rayne.”

Both operatives paused their searches and looked up. “What is it?” Grant asked.

“Dana Farraday is dead. She was murdered six months ago.”