Free Witness by Piper Davenport

drinking?”
    “A little, I guess. Who’s this other man?”
    “What?” she squeaked.
    “Don’t think we don’t know about you being in the hospital, young lady.”
    Shit ! she mouthed. “It was nothing.”
    “Well, we’d like to see for ourselves. We know two men took you home with them, I believe they’re brothers, and we’d like to meet them. At the very least, the one you’re seeing.” Her mother gasped. “Unless you’re seeing them both! God, Bailey, please tell me you’ve not become a slut.”
    “No mom, I’m not a slut.”
    Brock scowled.
    “I’m only seeing one of them,” she continued.
    “We want to meet him. Soon.”
    “Um, okay. I’ll find out what his schedule is.”
    “Do that,” her mother said. “We can always come to you.”
    “No, that’s okay. I’d like him to see home.”
    “Okay, dear. We’ll talk to you soon.”
    “’Bye, Mom.” She hung up.
    “They have probably traced that,” Brock murmured.
    “Doesn’t matter. She knows I was in the hospital and that you and Dallas drove me here.”
    “Fuck! See? I told you they would watch you.”
    “But she still thinks you’re brothers, so she doesn’t know everything.”
    He dragged his hands down his face. “This isn’t good, baby.”
    “How involved do you think she is?”
    “More than you think, Bailey. It’s not good. We’re not sure if she’s involved voluntarily, or if she’s just a patsy, but there are too many red flags to ignore.”
    “What do you need in order to be sure?”
    “We’re working on that, sweetheart. We can’t get a warrant to search the house without probable cause and evidence to support our claim, so we just have to wait.”
    She set her hands on his chest. “My mom keeps stuff locked up in a wall safe in her closet.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I could get you into the closet, unlock the safe, and you could find out what she’s up to.”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    Brock frowned. “Bailey, you’re not getting involved in this.”
    She grabbed his chin. “I’m already involved.”
    “You’re not getting further involved in this.”
    She smiled. “They have already demanded I bring you home to meet them, so it’s the perfect cover.”
    “No.”
    Bailey sat up. “We can go tomorrow. All my injuries are healed, I don’t look like I was kidnapped and beaten to a bloody pulp, and we can come up with a story for them. Something minor that they can believe since they know I was in the hospital anyway.”
    “No.”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s not gonna happen,” he stressed, sitting up as well.
    She slid off the bed and stalked out of the room. She heard Brock call for her, but he didn’t catch her until she was already in the great room and facing Brock’s partners. “I can get into my mom’s safe.”
    “Come again?” Dallas asked.
    “My mom keeps stuff in a safe in her closet. She doesn’t know I know about the safe, so if you want to know what she’s doing, I bet you dollars to donuts the evidence is in there.”
    “No,” Brock snapped.
    “How will we get in there?” Jaxon asked.
    “No,” Brock snapped again.
    Bailey ignored him. “I will take Brock home to meet the parents, so to speak. They seem to think they know about him, and have asked to meet him.”
    “Not gonna happen,” Brock said.
    “Would they be able to find out that you’re FBI?” she asked.
    “Not. Gonna. Happen.”
    “No, Bailey, his cover’s buried. They will only see private security,” Dallas answered for Brock.
    “Perfect. Then it’s settled.”
    Brock shook his head. “Hell no.”
    “It’s a good idea, brother,” Dallas said.
    “No.”
    Bailey grinned. “I’m gonna go pack.”

CHAPTER TEN
     
    B ROCK H EADED T O the master bedroom, following Bailey inside. “Babe, this has to go through the proper channels. There’s no point in packing right now.”
    “How long will that take?”
    “A day or two,” he said.
    “Are you still out tonight?”
    He nodded. “I’m leaving in