Page 72 of The Desperate Warrior

Bree placed a hand on her arm. “We understand.”

Silent information passed between Bree and LouAnna. “Maybe it’s time,” Bree said.

“Time for what?” Asher asked.

“To hire a private investigator,” LouAnna answered. “The police aren’t cutting it.”

“I think that’s a smart idea.” Asher looked at Jules. “Don’t you?”

She nodded. It couldn’t hurt to have another PI on the job, especially since she and Brock were questioning Leroy Gilcrest’s capability. Here would be a good time for Asher to tell the group that someone had broken into his house. She waited expectantly, but he didn’t say anything. She was tempted to mention it butdidn’t want to put him on the spot. She wondered why he would hold something like that back. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he just wasn’t thinking about it.

“Dr. Caldwell’s concerned about the safety of his family.” Bree’s features tightened. “His wife is all bent out of shape about it.”

“Understandably so.” Jules looked around. “Speaking of Dr. Caldwell, are he and his wife coming tonight?” She’d hoped to be able to talk to them about the phone calls they’d received.

“No,” Bree answered. “Their oldest son had a baseball game. He asked me to give you his apology for not being here tonight.”

“I totally understand,” Jules said. “Life is busy.”

Mindy stepped up. “The party is great. Everything looks fantastic,” she beamed with a large smile and then stopped. “What’s wrong?” She looked around the group.

“We were just talking about Steve Randall,” Jules explained.

Mindy pressed her lips together. “I never thought we’d have to deal with this. It has all been so hard. First, Alyssa’s death.” She looked at Jules. “Then your accident, and now we’re living in fear of what Steve Randall might do next.”

Jules glanced at Asher. There was something unreadable in his expression. Was it sorrow, regret, anger? She couldn’t be sure. He met her eyes for one brief moment and then looked away. Strange. Was he hiding something? If so, what?

A few minutes later, Jules excused herself to go and make the rounds by talking to all of the guests. She spoke to Charlotte, the scrub tech, who was here with her boyfriend. She also talked to Leo, the anesthesiologist. In each conversation, she casually brought up Steve Randall. Neither Charlotte nor Leo had had any trouble with him.

Brock was still outside. She’d just spoken to Mom and Dad and went over to rest on the couch when Dean sat down besideher. He gave her a lingering look that turned her stomach. “You look amazing tonight.”

“Thanks,” she said politely, hoping he wouldn’t monopolize her time. Sure enough, he launched into a long monologue about a real estate deal he’d recently closed.

Just when Jules thought she couldn’t take Dean’s droning another minute, Asher stepped up. “Mind if I borrow Jules for a minute?”

Dean frowned. “We were just talking.”

“It’s okay,” Jules cut in smoothly. “I’ll catch up with you later.” She stood and allowed Asher to lead her away.

“Thanks,” she said in relief. “He can be a little ... persistent.”

He grinned. “Can’t blame him. You seem to have that effect on people.”

Jules’s smile faltered. She didn’t want to give Asher the wrong idea. Whatever

was happening—or wasn’t—with Brock, she knew one thing: she needed him in her life. The second the thought went through her mind, a surprising warmth flowed through her. She savored the feeling, wondering what it meant. Was she ready to give Brock another chance? Maybe … after the ordeal with Steve Randall was over.

Nikki stepped up, eyes bright with excitement. She gave Asher a cordial smile before turning her attention to Jules. “Everything’s going so well.”

“It is. Thanks to you.”

A jubilant smile filled Nikki’s pretty face. “You’re so welcome.” She held out her hand to Asher. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m Nikki, Jules’s cousin. I saw you at the cooking class, but we haven’t officially met.”

Asher clasped her hand in a shake. “A pleasure to meet you. I’m Asher Winslow. I work at the clinic with Jules.”

Nikki already knew all of this, but she nodded as if hearing it for the first time.

Brock came back into the room. He made a beeline over to Jules, his jaw set in a hard stance. “I need to talk to you for a minute,” he said in a low tone.

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