Retrograde (Galaxy) Page 8

  Positive thoughts, she told herself. Positive energy. That’s what’s needed here.

  “I met some people today.” She leaned forward in her chair, closer to her sister’s comatose body. “Well, one person. A man.” She smiled in spite of herself. “His office is in a plane that I think cost more money than you or I will ever see. And he’s really great looking.”

  Okay, that wasn’t good. The image of Blaze burst into her brain and once again her hormones sprang to life.

  “But that’s beside the point,” she went on, and forced herself to mean it. She couldn’t believe she was having these thoughts in this situation. What kind of sister did that make her? “I have a good feeling about him. He’s going to find out who did this and we’re going to make them pay, in many painful ways. But it sure would help if you remember anything at all.”

  Come on, Brianne. Wake up. Tell me if you saw anything. Help me find this asshole.

  “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

  Peyton jumped, barely avoiding spilling her coffee.

  “Here.” Male hands grabbed paper napkins from the tray table and blotted her fingers where drops of coffee had splashed.

  “Thank you. I’m good.” Peyton set the now half-empty cup next to the donut box and rose from the chair to face Nolan Hamilton.

  She could see the resemblance between the brothers, but where Blaze was all raw energy and power, Nolan’s image was quieter, more refined, his power more mental than physical, although he did look as if he could hold his own in any fight. And they both had that air of quiet, earned confidence that made her feel safe in their hands.

  “Sit.” He motioned to the chair. “You don’t need to stand to talk to me. Besides, you look exhausted. And that’s a fact, not a criticism. Go on. Sit down.”

  She dropped gratefully back into the chair.

  “Thank you for giving me your brother’s phone number.” She gave Nolan a tired smile. “For the first time since everything happened, I have the feeling someone is going to get me some answers.”

  “Oh, no doubt there. If anyone can find them, it’s Galaxy.” He studied her face. “You should go get some sleep, Peyton. Your sister is doing as well as can be expected. Maybe even a little better. Her condition is not deteriorating, so I am cautiously optimistic. But you won’t be any good to anyone if you collapse from exhaustion.”

  “I’m just so afraid to leave her.” She reached through the bedrails to close her fingers over Brianne’s uninjured hand. “I have this awful feeling that if I’m not here, she’ll just slip away.”

  Nolan took one of her hands in both of his. “She made it through this afternoon, right? I just checked her chart and her vitals look okay. I think a few hours of sleep in a bed instead of a chair will do both of you some good.”

  Peyton was pretty sure he was right. This afternoon’s meeting had been pretty draining. On top of the hours she’d been sitting beside this bed, her body was poised on the verge of collapse. She gave Brianne’s hand one more soft and gentle squeeze, then pushed to her feet.

  “You’ll call me if there’s any change at all? Even the smallest one?”

  “Word of honor. Now get out of here.” He picked up the box from the tray table and smiled as he handed it to her. “And be sure to take your donuts with you.”

  She managed a tired smile as she gathered her things and made her way out of the room. Nolan Hamilton walked beside her down the corridor to the elevator.

  “Sleep,” he reminded her, “or you won’t be any good to anyone.”

  “Got it. And, Nolan? Thank you very much. For everything.”

  “Of course.”

  Every muscle was tense as she made her way to her car in the parking lot then drove to the hotel. At this hour, traffic was thin, so she could spot a vehicle if it was following her. She thought, anyway. But nothing in her rearview or sideview mirrors gave her pause. She was glad when she reached the hotel. With Blaze’s words echoing in her head, she opted out of the parking garage and turned her car over to valet parking.

  She had to admit, when at last she climbed into bed in her hotel room, that she actually was tired. Mental exhaustion created even greater physical exhaustion. God, she hoped Brianne would wake up soon. Would Galaxy really be able to find the people who had destroyed two lives and make them pay for it?

  Usually, when she took the time to sleep, she thought of her sister lying so still in the hospital. Tonight, though, as she closed her eyes, the image in her head was of a tall, lean man with thick black hair, a muscular body and a very masculine face with a very surprising dimple.

  Chapter Five

  “Okay. See you at four.”

  Blaze disconnected his call to Peyton and stuck his phone back in his pocket before getting a refill on his coffee. She had sounded okay, or as okay as she could be under the circumstances. He didn’t know if he was glad she’d gone back to the hotel last night or not. She was more vulnerable there. More exposed. On the other hand, at least she’d gotten what passed for a good night’s sleep. He’d have to think how to handle it if she did that more often.

  “She okay?”

  Matt ‘Viper’ Roman leaned against the counter in Blaze’s kitchen and took a swallow of coffee from the mug he was holding.

  “As okay as she can be under the circumstances. At least she’s on the alert now, which helps.”

  Blaze had called each of his partners the previous evening, giving them a rundown on Peyton West and her situation and outlining what he wanted them to do. Viper had been the only one with no plans and so had agreed to do some research before they arrived this morning.

  Viper frowned. “You really think someone would attack those two women in the hospital?”

  Blaze snorted. “How many times have we heard about that very thing happening? She says she’s got a carry permit, so I’m taking her to the range this afternoon. If she passes muster, I’ll fix her up with a handgun.”

  “A gun?” Viper grinned. “She sounds like quite the woman.”

  “She’s a client.” Yeah, right. “I’m making sure she’s protected.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Stuff it.” He’d do well to remember the client part of the business, too. “I asked Nolan to have hospital security keep an eye on them in the meanwhile. We need to discuss what’s best when everyone gets here.”

  “Any special reason why we’re taking on this particular case? It’s not our usual type of activity.”

  Blaze shrugged. “Maybe I thought we needed a break from a black ops mission into a country not to be named or rescuing a kidnap victim or tracking a stolen shipment of arms.”

  Viper chuckled. “Nice try. I checked out Peyton West online last night. The fact that this client happens to be a knockout wouldn’t have anything to do with it, would it?”

  “Not at all. Her story hit me just the right way and I knew we could help her. We can get in the weeds of this kind of stuff where other people can’t.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.” Blaze nodded. “Meanwhile, since you were having a hot date with your laptop last night, you said you’d dig into the brother-in-law. Besides looking up our client, did you get it done?”

  “Yeah, but truth be told, I didn’t find anything the least bit hinky.” Viper shrugged. “No shady legal dealings. No client with a grudge. Might as well have had a label on his chest that said Mr. Squeaky Clean.”

  Now he shook his head.

  “This guy is the poster child for Mr. Wonderful,” Viper continued. “Top of his class in law school. Worked his way up the food chain in the law firm and is considered a shining star in litigation. Actually, a shark in the making. I couldn’t find any threads to pull. Maybe he ruffled some feathers at the law firm.”

  Blaze snorted. “He’d have to do some pretty bad ruffling, I’d think. From everything I read, they love him. There were even a couple of articles about a few big cases that had been won because of him.”

  “So maybe w
hoever was on the other side of a lawsuit was looking for revenge.”

  “Possible, but mostly they aren’t really the kind of people who would run someone down in the street.”

  “Okay.” Viper nodded. “We’ll take a look, anyway. But first, tell me more about our client. What’s she like as a person, besides being a hot chick and a published author, I mean.”

  Blaze thought for a moment. If he described how he really saw her, Viper would be all over him. And was she really hot? Well, if the boner he’d had thinking about her was any indication, yeah. Damn hot. Not to mention his little hand job in the shower.

  “Smart,” he said at last. “And desperate. Angry, too. And tied up in knots over this whole thing. Can’t say I blame her.”

  Viper lifted an eyebrow. “Took you a while to come up with that description. Anything I should know?”

  “Not at all.” Blaze shook his head. “No. Definitely not.”

  Viper studied him for a moment. “Okay. Whatever. You said she tried looking into this herself?”

  “Uh-huh.” He refilled his own mug. “Got nowhere with the cops, and three other firms turned her down. Something smells here.”

  “Money and influence. The odor they leave is very sharp. Someone has a very heavy hand in this. You don’t think the law firm is involved?”

  “Not sure.” Blaze shrugged. “They don’t practice criminal law, so they aren’t likely to have shady characters of whatever social status on their client list.”

  “There are other types of undesirable people they could represent,” Viper pointed out. “They’re litigators. Maybe a lawsuit went south. Or maybe they rigged something and this Dane tumbled to it. The only way we’ll find out is to go over everything regarding the firm with a fine-tooth comb. And also get a first-hand look at the people there.” He looked at his watch. “Rocket and Eagle will be along shortly. They might be dragging ass a bit today.”

  Blaze grinned. “A little R and R last night will do that to you.”

  Viper shrugged. “Why not? We work hard for it.”

  “Yes, we do. Okay, meanwhile, you and I can get started.”

  They set up in the dining room and opened their laptops.

  “Let’s split it up.” Viper clicked a couple of keys. “You want the firm or the guy?”

  “I’ll take the firm. Let’s get to it.”

  Thirty minutes later, the other two members of their team arrived. Rocket and Eagle filled their coffee mugs and joined them at the table with their own laptops.

  “Peyton West gave me her copy of the police report,” Blaze told everyone. “She said they weren’t too happy about handing it over. I scanned it and moved it to our private cloud storage. Take a minute to open it and take a look.”

  “This is bullshit.” Rocket clicked a few keys then stared at his computer screen. “There’s nothing here. Not even a description of the car. ‘Brown’ covers half the cars in the universe.”

  Blaze nodded. “Exactly. When she tried to find out more, the cops stonewalled her.”

  Eagle made a rude noise. “We all know, although we don’t like to acknowledge it, that not every cop is as standup we’d like. Bad apples are few and far between, but they happen. Money talks.”

  “I promise you that’s what happened here.”

  “I want to know more about our client,” Rocket told him. “Your info was pretty sketchy.”

  He’d done that deliberately, not wanting them to develop any preconceived notions about her.

  “Type Peyton West in the search bar and you’ll find whatever you want. Viper already checked her out last night. Then I’ll catch you up to date.”

  At one o’clock, they ordered food from a local deli. When it came, they took a break to discuss whatever they’d found.

  “Nobody’s that squeaky clean,” Rocket said, taking a sip of his soda. “Everyone slips sometime. It’s human nature.”

  “That’s what I say,” Eagle agreed. “It’s almost too good to be true.”

  “And maybe she’s just what she seems.” Blaze bit down on his temper. They were just doing the job. Vetting a client was ingrained in them. “Every once in a while, someone comes along who is.”

  The others stared at him.

  Rocket spoke first. “So that’s how it is.”

  “What? That’s not how anything is. I met her, I spent a lot of time with her, I checked her out. She’s all good.”

  “Okay. Fine.” Viper held up his hands. “Back to Dane Hollister. Our dead man. They killed him for something, and being the poster child for good behavior isn’t it.”

  Rocket took a bite of sandwich, chewed and swallowed, a thoughtful expression on his face. “What if it isn’t him?” he drawled in his slow voice. “What if it has to do with someone or something at the law firm that he happened on by accident?”

  “We need to dig as deep into as we can go,” Blaze agreed. “Lawyers are very good at hiding things.”

  “I’ll do it,” Eagle told him.

  Rocket leaned back in his chair. “We need to look into the sister. It’s possible Peyton West has no idea what her sister’s been doing from the time she left for college until now. All she saw was what they let her see on her visits.”

  “She’s not dumb.” Blaze ground his teeth. He didn’t want to think that Brianne Hollister might have been able to pull the wool over her sister’s eyes.

  “I didn’t say that,” Rocket told him. “But sometimes we only see what we want to see. At least let me make sure that’s a dead end. Let me get out my virtual shovel and start digging.”

  The other three divided up the rest of the chores and set up to work.

  “One thing before we get started,” Blaze told them. “Once we get this information, we’re going to need to interact with these people in person, somehow, some way. You can only find out so much from reading. We’ve done it before, gone into someone else’s territory. We just have to figure out who’s going to do what.”

  Viper nodded. “Agreed.”

  “I want to bring up one more thing.” Blaze shifted in his chair. “Our client needs protection. She’s been pushing the buttons of people who’ve shown they’ll do whatever it takes to keep their secrets. If I’m satisfied with what she shows me at the range, I’ll see that she’s armed, but I’d rather have eyes on her, and her sister.”

  Rocket nodded. “I agree. If Peyton West isn’t with her sister at any time, it means Brianne Hollister is a sitting target. The hospital security can only do so much.”

  “We don’t just want to stick an armed guard at the door. For one thing, the hospital might give us a hard time, and for another, I’d really like to draw out whoever might be looking to kill her.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “Oh, wait.” Viper snapped his fingers. “We did that job for the head of internal medicine at the hospital. Last year, remember? He was so grateful he said if we ever needed anything, to let him know. How about if I go see him and find out what kind of arrangement we can work out?”

  Blaze nodded. “Sounds good. Thanks.”

  Viper wandered into the living room with his cell phone, away from the conversation.

  Blaze woke up his laptop. “We need to figure out who’s pulling the strings here. Much as I hate the idea, someone has paid off a lot of people. Cops. Emergency techs. Employees at the restaurant. That has to be the answer, but we also know that’s not easy to do. It has to be someone with enough power to scare the shit out of them if they even think about changing their stories.”

  “Shit, Blaze.” Viper ran his fingers through his hair. “That could be anyone. Why don’t we just pull up the whole damn phone book?”

  “I hear you, but I don’t think it’s that big a problem. What people with power was Dane closest to? The managing partner of his law firm. Then there are the guy’s friends. His connections. Someone who owes him a favor that he could call in. It takes a lot of money and power to scrub a scene like that.”

 
“Okay.” Eagle stretched his hands and cracked his knuckles. “I’ll start with that guy. See every place his name has popped up and with who.”

  “He has a son with the firm,” Rocket added. “Maybe he’s at the bottom of this. I’ll dig into him as soon as I finish with the sister.”

  Viper came back into the room, shoving his phone in his pocket. “I spoke to Dr. Hendry. He has some ideas how we can work the security thing. Meanwhile he’s having hospital security give some extra attention to that ward. Blaze, what do you want me to focus on?”

  “I think the social activities of the Hollisters. We’re already into the law firm, but this could have its origins in some social situation.”

  “I’m on it.”

  Blaze looked around at everyone. “Okay. Let’s get to work.”

  * * * *

  Peyton was still tired, having slept fitfully, her dreams constantly disturbed by erotic images of the man she’d met the day before. How was it that Blaze Hamilton was the sudden star of unexpected erotic dreams? Each time she dozed off again, there he was, big as life, filling her dreams, his smile sending flashes of heat through her.

  She finally decided to give up any attempt at sleep and got out of bed. For a while she tried working on the edits for her latest book, but her brain just didn’t want to connect with it. With a sigh, she sent texts to both her publisher and agent, explaining the details of her family emergency and telling them her head was just not in it until she could resolve the situation. Within minutes she had a phone call from her agent and a text from her publisher telling her to take care of family first. They’d just move the release date back and to let them know if there was anything they could do. She felt very blessed to have people like that in her life.

  Closing her laptop, she headed to the shower. She’d just get to the hospital earlier than usual, bringing coffee and snacks full of sugar and fat. She hadn’t wanted to take the time for a real meal in a week, but she didn’t have time to worry now about what she was doing to her body.