Page 68 of An Eye For Illusion

The way his tone changed when he spoke makes me wonder if the personal matter he’s been dealing with has something to do with a woman, too.

“You want to talk about it?” I ask hesitantly, but before he can answer, my phone rings.

It’s Liam.

“Thank fuck,” Donovan mutters under his breath.

“Liam,” I say when I accept the call. “Donovan’s here with me.”

“Good, I wanted to speak with both of you anyway,” he says.

Donovan and I exchange a look. I don’t know if this is good or bad. Liam isn’t always the easiest guy to read or predict.

“Shoot, Boss,” Donovan says. I’d say he’s on edge, but he’s been that way for weeks. Maybe longer.

“Update me on the Foster case. Where are we? What’s going on? How close are we to closing this thing? And have you two fucked up anything that I’ll have to clean up?”

“Here are the files you asked for, Li,” a soft, feminine voice comes from the background on Liam’s end.

I look over at Donovan who immediately scrunches his face in confusion as he mouths, “Who the fuck is ‘Li’?”

I shrug and turn my attention back to the road ahead of me. I know the woman’s voice. It’s Willow, Liam’s assistant. She’s worked for him since he opened Dunn. I’ve always said they have a thing for each other, although Liam adamantly denies it.

There are a few moments of silence, before Liam voice is on the line again, and I assume he might have muted the phone. I guess we didn’t need to hear whatever he and Willow were talking about, though it certainly makes me smirk since it makes Li look even more suspicious.

“Let’s hear it,” he says, immediately returning to his original line of questioning.

I swallow hard because I don’t know how much I actually need to tell Liam. If end up in trouble with the police, I don’t want Liam to have any knowledge of our actions and end up in trouble.

“Your hesitation says a lot. So, let me rephrase. Have you made progress?”

That’s something I can answer honestly and keep him in the dark enough to be innocent if shit goes south.

“Yes, we have some leads we’re checking out.” That’s honest and innocent.

“Are we getting any closer to finishing this damn case? The guy is either up to some shady shit, or he isn’t, or he’s just better at hiding things than you are at finding them.” His snarky tone isn’t appreciated, and neither is his little chuckle at the end.

It’s obvious that he’s trying to piss me off so I’ll get to the bottom of this shit faster and move on to the next case waiting for me. I wish it wasn’t working. Dunn’s waiting list for private investigation cases seems to grow monthly. Liam has played with the idea of bringing someone else on, but it’s hard to find people we trust with our lives and fit in with. It’s a delicate process, one we simply haven’t had time for.

“When I get enough to nail the son of a bitch, I’ll close the case. I won’t wrap this up unless it’s tight, and you know it.”

Liam is an expert in pushing my buttons, and doubting my abilities as a private investigator is a sure-fire way to get under my skin. I catch Donovan’s smirk out of the corner of my eye. They both get a little kick out of riling me up. Bastards.

“The son of a bitch, eh? Are you getting a little more personally involved than usual, Colin?” Liam’s question is one born of genuine curiosity since he knows I never get close to my clients.

Images of the interrupted heated moment with Jade from earlier immediately surface in my mind. I shift in my seat, and Donovan’s eyes bore into me. I can almost feel his glare burning into the side of my face. It makes me as uncomfortable as Liam’s line of questioning.

I clear my throat. “You know me better than that,” I say flatly.

“I do, but I’ve also never heard you refer to a subject as a son of a bitch either,” he counters. Liam isn’t one to back down easily.

Donovan’s smirk doesn’t help the situation.

“We’ll shelve that topic for now. The children’s charity gala is this Friday evening. I trust that both of you know your attendance isn’t optional.”

Fuck. With everything I’ve been dealing with on this case, I completely forgot about the gala. Donovan’s facepalm immediately tells me he forgot also.

“We’ll be there,” Donovan answers for us.

---