Dangerous Secrets (Tall, Dark & Deadly #2)(16)

“Nothing worth telling yet.” He lifted the tuxedo. “I’ll take this back to my place. Is Royce here?”

She shook her head. “He’s at the limo service fixing some mix up.”

“I’ll call him and work things out,” he said, and smiled, lowering his voice. “There’s an easier way to deal with me than avoiding me.”

“What? I wasn’t…” her voice trailed off, and she shoved a lock of that silky blonde hair behind her delicate earlobe. “And that would be what?”

He gave her a wicked smile. “Don’t.” He turned and headed back down the hallway, feeling her watching him, and wishing he could just drag her to his place and make love to her. But as his SEAL commander used to drill into their heads, ‘patience is a virtue’ and Luke had learned to make it work for him. Every instinct he’d honed over the years said this was one of those times when slow was better than fast.





Chapter Six


Once Luke knew Julie was safely at Lauren’s place, he headed to the offices of Walker Security on the ground floor of their building to meet with Blake. Royce was taking a shower and then the three of them planned to head out for beer and pizza at their favorite joint up the road.

“Anything?” Luke asked, shoving open the door and finding Blake behind one of the four desks facing each other in pairs.

Blake leaned back, his hands behind his head where his long hair was tied at the nape. “The judge has his records sealed fairly tightly,” he said. “But not tight enough for me not to get past them. I just need more time that we don’t have right now.” Luke perched on the edge of the desk across from Blake as his brother continued, “As it stands, since our guy Jesse was NYPD for years, I put him on the judge,” Blake continued, “Kyle is the tech guy so he’s following up on the electronic trails. We don’t have the manpower to dig into her family right now. We’re too stretched, but I’ll do it when the wedding is behind us. I already tapped his phones at home and work. One thing that stands out so far is that he’s got an offshore account – that is never a good sign.”

“He could have been hiding money from his wife,” Luke said, thinking his brother might be messed up in the head, but he was damn good at his job. “They were, after all, getting divorced.”

“She was broke and struggling,” Blake confirmed, “so no doubt, but I’m guessing we’ll find out it’s more than that.”

Luke ran his hand over the knot of tension at the back of his neck. “Yeah, me too. Otherwise the wife wouldn’t be dead. And I can tell you right now that Julie isn’t going to let this go. She feels responsible for Elizabeth Moore’s death.”

“Speaking of Elizabeth Moore,” Blake said, sitting up and tapping a pen on the desk. “She was cremated, as you said, and the public is only being allowed at a short cemetery service. This happened way too quickly. The body was examined and prepared in a window that is nearly impossible. Someone pulled strings to make that happen.”

“Someone powerful like the judge,” Luke supplied. “That was exactly my thought, too.”

“Just to be safe, you need to keep Julie close,” Blake warned. “I don’t know what it is us about us Walker men, but the women in our lives tend to end up in trouble or dead.”

“I plan to,” he said, thinking there might be some truth to his words. Luke knew he was talking about more than his dead financee. Lauren had been in some trouble months back that had almost gotten her killed. “Can you keep Royce busy during the funeral? The last thing I need is getting him all worked up over this.”

“I hear ya on that one,” Blake said. “I’ll work something out with him over dinner.”

Luke looked up the details on the funeral and dialed Julie, knowing she wouldn’t back down about attending. She answered on the first ring.

“Hello.” She sounded surprised. “Something wrong?”

A lot, but he didn’t say that. “Just calling to confirm the time for the funeral. It’s at two tomorrow. We’re only allowed to attend the outdoor ceremony.”

“That’s odd,” she said. “Or is it? I don’t really know what is normal for a funeral.”

“It’s odd,” he confirmed. “Another reason I’m coming with you.”

“Won’t Royce be suspicious if we disappeared together dressed in black?”

“I’m handling Royce if you have Lauren taken care of.”

“She’s going to the spa,” she said and hesitated. “You don’t have to–”

“I’m going,” he said, “so don’t sneak away without me. I’ll show up anyway.”

He could almost hear her frown. “You’re being very pushy.”

“I am,” he agreed, giving Blake his back and lowering his voice. “But this is about your safety so I’m not going to apologize.”

She hesitated. “All right. I’ll see you at 1:30.”

Luke ended the call with a goodbye just as Royce stalked into the room, bigger and burlier than his brothers, with his hair long and tied at the nape like Blake’s. ”I’d rather drink beer and eat pizza at home. Actually, I’d rather be at home with Lauren.”