Page 67 of Betrayed

“Did you sleep okay?” I asked, knowing she'd slept no better than I had but wanting to start a conversation.

“Not really. I’m guessing you didn’t either; I heard you get up a few times during the night.”

“Sorry if I woke you.”

“It wasn’t you.”

I heated a second cast iron pan and coated it in butter to sauté the cut veggies before adding the egg mix. I scrambled in some cream cheese to make them extra creamy before letting them cook. After flipping the omelet, I added a generous helping of cheddar jack cheese.

“Here you go.” I set her plate in front of her.

Her eyes rounded. “That’s a lot of food.” Her laughter was music to my ears.

“You don’t have to eat it all, but you’ll need the energy after not sleeping well.”

While we ate, I got a message from John asking me to call him. Not wanting to be rude and walk away from breakfast, I said I’d call in ten.

This time, when Blake volunteered to clean up, I let her. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to call John.” I didn’t miss the flash of concern that crossed her face before she nodded and turned towards the sink.

“I’ll be right back.”

I dialed John’s cell as I walked to my room, shutting the door behind me to lessen the risk of Blake overhearing me.

“Janerek, how are things going?” He greeted me with a question.

“As well as it can, sir. Aurora’s struggling, but doing her best to adjust.”

“Good. St. Charles is on his way to relieve Jack.” It was weird having him refer to Dean by his last name, but it was hisstandard procedure during missions. The only exception was his sons, to avoid confusion.

“Copy that. Any updates?” John hadn’t called to tell me Dean was on his way.

“We’ve uncovered evidence of Davenport’s corruption.”

Shit. This would kill Blake.

“I need you to push her a little harder for informa-”

“She’s not involved.” I cut him off, practically barking.

“Calm down, I’m not saying she is.” He paused, waiting to see if I had anything else to say. I didn’t. “She may have noticed things that could help and not realized it.”

“If you have evidence, why do you need Blake’s help?” It seemed cruel to question her about her father’s misdeeds if I didn’t need to.

“Because the evidence doesn’t help us narrow down who’s threatening Blake.” John sounded like a cop, which wasn’t surprising given he’d spent most of his adult life in uniform.

Identifying the threat, not convicting Davenport, was the priority. I ground my back teeth. “What should ask about?” I hated adding this to her already overflowing pile of stress.

“Ask about behavior changes, visitors who may have seemed abnormal or given her the creeps, more late night meetings than usual, that kind of stuff. Like I said, we don’t think Blake is involved, but anything she might have observed could help.”

“Copy that.”

“I can ask Jack to stick around if you’re not comfortable questioning her.”

Hell no. Jack was a good guy, but there was no way I was going to make it seem like we were ganging up on her.

“I’ll handle it.” I hung up on my boss without waiting for a reply.

I took a few deep breaths to steel my resolve before walking back to the kitchen.

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