Page 86 of Night Watch
“I know this was hard to share.” He gave Nora a sympathetic look. “Anything else you wanted to tell me?”
“Nothing, other than I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right up front.” Nora pressed her palms over her legs. “I was just trying to protect the girls like Wanda would’ve wanted me to do.”
“Thank you for being honest,” Erik said. “When the police officer comes to talk to you, you need to tell him everything you told me.”
“But then it’s going to come out, and the girls will find out.”
“I’ll talk to the detective on the investigation and ask him to be discreet.”But, I don’t know if I can keep this from Kennedy. Not and have a relationship with her again.
Wait, what? Where did that come from? Was he actually thinking of proceeding with a relationship?
And if he knew this and didn’t tell her, the secret would eat away at him. Just the way the WITSEC secret would’ve done with Kennedy if she’d stayed with him. He would tell her. It was just a matter of when.
He caught sight of the patrol car entering the lot. “You’ll want to go meet the officer. His name’s Smitty, and he’ll take good care of you.”
The moment her door closed behind her, Erik got out his phone and plugged Gordon’s name into a PI database. He found only one Dash Gordon in the Portland area. He lived on the east side, just as Nora had said. Erik searched for photos of the guy and found a few on Facebook. His build was right for the intruder, but he wasn’t the guy Smitty just hauled in, of that, Erik was certain.
Drake slid into the vehicle and Erik brought his brother up to speed as he moved to his laptop and did a recon of the property to determine how many of his brothers he needed to call out for a knock and talk.
The large log cabin overlooked a small lake and was tucked behind tall trees and scrub. There was only one way into the property. Erik didn’t like not having a second exit. Not at all. Could be an ambush waiting to happen. Not that Gordon would be expecting Erik, but Erik wasn’t taking chances.
He grabbed his phone again and tapped in a group text to his brothers.
Aiden, remain at Veritas for Kennedy’s security detail. Everyone else meet me at the I-84 exit 17 motel parking lot. We have a house to raid and maybe a murder suspect to detain.
Kennedy had asked Finley about the Tile tracker, which she denied and then they moved onto everyday life. Kennedy tried to listen to her sister describe her day designing a web ad for a local retailer, but Kennedy’s mind kept drifting to Erik as she wondered what he’d been doing for the past few hours.
“Earth to Kennedy,” Finley said.
Kennedy snapped her focus to Finley. “Sorry.”
“You’ve barely been listening to me through the whole night.”
“You’re right,” Kennedy admitted. “I don’t mean to ignore you.”
Finley’s expression went from judgmental to kind. “I know you’re worried about Erik.”
“Yeah. Not only his health but I wonder what he’s doing right now. We’ve pretty much shared every step of this investigation and I know he has to be working on something now, but I don’t know what. I sure hope he’s not going to keep it from me.”
“Do you have reason to believe he would?”
Kennedy shook her head. “He hasn’t kept anything from me so far.”
“At least not that you know of.” Finley’s words had a bite to them.
Kennedy didn’t like seeing her sister so distrustful, but her last relationship had ended badly when she’d found out the guy had been lying about his marital status. He wasn’t divorced as he claimed, just barely separated.
But Erik wasn’t like that. Kennedy was certain of it. “He’s the straightest shooter I know. I doubt he’d ever lie to me or hide something.”
“All men do. Even Dad did.” Her voice rose a notch.
“That’s mighty negative.”
Finley crossed her arms. “I have experience to back that up.”
“I think you’re dating the wrong guys. The bad boy types walk on the wild side.” Kennedy tried to forget about Erik to help her sister, who was obviously still very impacted by her breakup. “On the other hand, I always thought of Drake Byrd as kind of a bad boy, and he’s a fine man. So even if you’re attracted to that type, there’s still hope.”
Finley sighed. “I think I’m sabotaging my relationships.”
