attacked. I knocked the guy out, but when he woke up he tried to set up the woman I’m with.
“She your mate?” Beau asked. There was that word again, maybe it was some dialect spoken in the mountains by big men who liked to have a more animalistic nature.
“Yes.”
“You had better come in and tell me all about it, before she has to lean out any further to listen to what we’re saying. My wife, Elise, is in the house, she’ll need to listen too.”
“Thank you,” Joel said.
“I haven’t said I’ll help you, I just said I would listen to what you have to say.” His voice was good natured, and despite his words, Chrissie had a feeling they had come to the right place.
“OK, young man. Let’s get out, and get you changed. I am so sorry about that wet diaper.” Chrissie undid the harness and picked Sam up, cradling him in her arms as she got out of the car, went to the trunk and took out the baby bag.
“Want me to carry that?” Joel asked.
“No, I have it. If you could grab my purse, that would be wonderful.” She watched him pick up her purse, and retrieve one of his packs, then he waited for her to walk beside him toward the front door of the house, through which Beau had gone.
“We can trust him, we have to. So I’m going to tell him everything,” Joel said.
“And he’ll help?” she asked.
“He’s our best shot, he used to be a PI, still is now and again. His sister got murdered by some psychopath, so he’ll have an emotional attachment to the case.”
“I hope so. I need a shower and some food. Then I need to work out exactly who is behind this. No word from Landy?”
“No. I don’t want to make contact. Not until we have an idea of what’s going on. I think it’s time we ran some background checks of our own. Beau should have a computer we can use.”
“And whose name is at the top of your list? Not mine, I hope.”
He was quiet as they reached the door, and paused. “I’ve been thinking it through. If it isn’t Krieg, and I can’t see why he would set you up…” He looked at her, his eyes filled with sympathy. “Then I think it’s your boss.”
“Mr. Anderson?” she asked in a high voice.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“I still don’t see what he would gain from this?” Chrissie asked.
“That’s what we have to work out. Who would gain the most? Krieg would gain a child, but what would Anderson get?”
“Money,” Beau said, coming back to see what was taking them so long.
“You don’t even know him,” Chrissie said defensively.
“I know people. And money may not be the root of all evil, but it is often the root of all crime.” Beau ushered them in. “Eat, drink some coffee, and then we’ll get to the bottom of your problem.”
Chrissie liked his confidence, but she couldn’t feel the same way. They were going down the wrong track thinking it was Mr. Anderson. The guy might call her Princess, but he always had other people’s best interest at heart. She mused over this as they followed Beau through their lovely light and airy house, and into a kitchen that was warm, and smelt of coffee and warm bread, fresh from the oven.
“This is Elise,” Beau said, introducing a pretty, curvy woman, who was cutting the bread and spreading the slices with butter, while a toddler circled around the table with an airplane in his hand. “Elise is my wife, and this is Connor, and soon you can meet the newest addition to the family, Tamsin, who is having her morning nap.”
“Lucky Tamsin,” Elise said, smiling. “She’s not a good sleeper, too restless, like her father.”
“What? I like to be up early. I’m not sure you can blame me if our daughter inherited that trait. At least she got her mom’s good looks,” Beau teased.
“And her brains,” Elise said. “She’ll be outwitting Beau by the time she can walk.”
“There’s a difference, she doesn’t outwit me, I let her think she does.”
“She wraps you around her little finger,” Elise
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes