Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(60)
“Sir.” I looked down and folded my hands in my lap. “I need to get a message to Avery Quinn.”
“A message to Avery?” At the sound of his resolute voice, I lifted my head to see him furrowing his brow. “We don’t do that with clients in isolated protection.”
I inhaled through my nose and let it trickle out. “Someone came to me looking for help, and he needs to contact Avery. I’m asking for him.”
“All right.” Cavanaugh leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “I’m listening.”
“The day before the car accident Vance and I were in, Avery met with a man in the park. Avery asked this man to look into some sensitive issue at the bank. This man thinks Avery uncovered something big, a conspiracy of some sort. But whatever it is, he thinks it led to someone trying to kill Avery in the car accident and coincidentally him on the same night, not to mention the attack on Miss Red here and Vance getting shot.”
Cavanaugh took a moment to digest what I’d said. “Interesting.” He leaned forward over his desk and rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb. “And this man found you how?”
“He saw me at the park the day Avery met with him.” I wasn’t going to mention our little tryst in Florida. I figured it best to skim right over that part. I tucked my hair behind my ears and cleared my throat. “Avery mentioned who we were. This guy is computer savvy so he tracked me down and showed up at my door.”
“And when was this?”
“This Monday after I got home from work.”
“So you’ve had the knowledge of some guy connected to what’s happened here since Monday and you’re just now coming forward?”
“It’s complicated, sir. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was wrong. But, I’m here now and asking for help,” I said with a wobbly voice then slid Stephen’s note and the picture across his desk.
Cavanaugh opened the note first and read it. “He wants to arrange a meeting with Avery? This is…”
“I know, sir,” I interrupted. “It’s not what we normally do, but this isn’t a normal situation. Someone tried to kill one of our clients and since then anyone who was associated with him has also been in danger. Someone came in here after me and someone shot Vance. If we don’t do something now someone might get killed.”
He opened the picture and scanned the image thoroughly. “Where’d this picture come from?”
“Someone attached it to my apartment door.”
He grunted. “That’s alarming.”
“It didn’t fill me with warm feelings.” I smirked. “But, thankfully I know how to handle myself.”
“That you do. And how do we know we can trust this guy?”
“He’s the only guy Avery trusted with this problem at the bank. If Avery trusted him then I trust him.”
He grumbled and sat silently while thinking for a few beats. “Okay, this is what I’m going to do. I’ll get the message to Avery and we’ll go from there. I’ll leave it up to him to see if he wants to meet with this guy. But Cain,” he said with a penetrating stare. “I don’t like this kind of crap going on here. The next time you keep something to yourself regarding a client it’ll be the last secret you keep here. We clear?”
“Yes, sir. Crystal. I’m very sorry.”
“Good.” He slapped his hands down on his desk, and I jumped. “Now, get out of here and go check on your partner. I’ll be in touch.” He waited until I left and picked up his phone.
My knees were weak as I walked back to my desk. That part of my day was over but coming clean to Vance still weighed heavily on my shoulders.
I switched out my car with a company Range Rover and headed to his house, stopping along the way to get him some soup from his favorite Italian restaurant downtown. If his stomach was upset, I knew he’d appreciate it. It would also make a nice buffer if he was mad at me after I told him what had been going on.
When I pulled up to his curb, soup in tow, I sat for a couple of minutes inside my car with the same damn knots twisting in my gut. They wouldn’t go away until I fessed up. I briefly reviewed what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. When I got my script down, I walked to his door and knocked.
Vance answered the door in a short sleeved button up shirt, which was completely open, revealing every ripple and wave on his naturally tanned torso. His arm was through one sleeve, but the flimsy fabric was carefully draped over his injured shoulder. My eyes started their tour low on his waistline then moved upward over the thin trail of hair below his navel then higher to the patch of black hair covering his chest. My skin started to bead with sweat. The memory of our stolen kiss entered my head, and my skin dripped.
“Di? You okay?” Vance asked, crouching down to meet my eyes.
I exhaled and blinked rapidly a few times. “H-Hey.” I focused on his nose to keep from ogling him anymore than I already had. “I brought you something to eat.” I dangled the soup in the air.
“Aw, is that the Bellami’s minestrone soup?” He seemed unaware that I’d been sizing him up like a piece of meat.
“It is.” I raised one shoulder in a girlish shrug.
“My favorite.” He smiled. “That was really nice of you. Come in.”