Page 124 of Smoke Screen
“True. Let me help you. We can work through it.”
We? Phin let out a breath he’d apparently been holding, relief swarming him. Not alone. He’d known it, but with Zeke and his brothers gone, that nasty thought had wormed its way into the back of his psyche.
Now he had an ally from the strangest of places. Considering the Blackwell-Steele relationship had been distant over the years.
“If we do it right,” Reid said, “I don’t have a problem with you having the meeting here.”
“When I was thinking about doing it at our place, my plan was to blindfold him. Even then, it was risky. Once we took the blindfold off—unless we have this meeting in a closet—he’d see our workspace. I can’t risk that. If you have an office with no windows, we could make it work. I blindfold him until we get him into that office. He won’t even see where we are. When the meeting is done, blindfold goes back on and we drive him to his car.”
“I have an office that’ll work.”
Yeah. Phin liked this. He needed to keep his mind sharp. Not distracted wondering if he’d fucked up by bringing the guy to their home. “I swear to you, I’ll make sure everyone stays safe. I’ve got this.”
“With the arsenal I have here, this schmuck would be crazy to try anything. He’s probably nuts anyway attempting this deal, but whatever. Not my problem. Meeting here will keep you from getting your ass shot off.Again.”
Good old Reid. Couldn’t resist that one jab. Although Phin deserved it.
“Thank you,” Phin said. “I didn’t—”
“Shut the fuck up, Mary. Let’s do this.”
What seemed like an hour later,Phin strode through the back door, his long, lean frame loose, arms at his sides, his pace steady, but unhurried.
If he was upset, one would never know it from his body language.
Maddy knew.
Plus, his face told the tale. Even in the short time she’d known him, she’d learned enough, studied him enough, to recognize his mood shifts. The smile that flashed a little too bright. The slightly raised eyebrows that feigned interest.
All of it a smokescreen to hide what was really going on.
She finished rinsing her plate and set it in the dishwasher along with her silverware and wiped her hands dry on the dishtowel, hanging it exactly how Lynette had left it on the oven handle.
Phin picked up the plate with his half-eaten meal and dumped the contents in the trash.
“You were out there awhile,” Maddy said. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah.” He rinsed the plate and carefully placed it behind hers in the dishwasher. “The first call was Rory, the guy I met with on Saturday.”
Using his foot, he closed the dishwasher—his mother would probably kill him for that—and dried his hands on the towel.
She resisted the urge to straighten it and concentrated on the more important matter of Rory. “Did he have news?”
“Maybe. Someone else has come forward looking to collect the reward.”
The ever-present blast of hope shot straight from her gut and she reminded herself not to expect too much. After all, she’d felt hopeful the day before and that got them barely escaping a bullet—or six. “One of the thieves?”
“He claims the guy was part of the heist. He didn’t say in what context. However, the guy knows where the jewels are.Sayshe moved them last night. After Eckert got shot. His boss was afraid Eckert told us where they were and wanted them moved.”
Maddy tried to wrap her mind around the idea of this person double-crossing his boss when someone else who’d attempted the same thing was now in a morgue. The thought terrified her, sent her pancakes tumbling in her stomach. She shook her head. “I don’t understand why he’d risk it after what happened to Brendan Eckert.”
“He’s freaking out now, that’s why. Afraid the Veras will take him out because he knows where the jewels are.”
“No honor among thieves, I suppose.”
“Anyway, I called Reid. He’s gonna let us use his training center for a meeting. I called Rory. We’re set for eleven.”
Wait.What?“Eleven? Thismorning? Your brothers agreed to that?”
