Page 75 of Forged in Peril

Gabe shook his head, pausing for a moment as he chewed his chicken. Somehow, half of it was already eaten, though he’d been sitting down for only about a minute.

“That was the plan, but Jaclyn couldn’t meet me until well after six, and I thought you’d want an update ASAP.”

Cameron nodded, glad at once that Gabe had stopped by. “What did she say?”

“It’s what I suspected, Cam,” Gabe said, pausing as he started in on his brown rice. “Just a misunderstanding. Nothing too crazy.”

Cam wanted to feel relieved, but relief didn’t come. Bristol had been so sure that something was off, and he had told her to trust her instincts. But she was also a survivor of sexual violence, and a whole lot more as of late. It was certainly possible that paranoia was creeping in. Even the most level-headed people were not immune to it when faced with trauma.

“Jaclyn was really understanding when I asked her about it. She told me that she was talking to one of the courthouse clerks. Albert. Apparently, she’s gotten to know him pretty well, hence the fact that they’re on a first name basis,” Gabe continued. “It was about the Senera Pharmaceuticals case. Reilly was the secondary operative on that job, following Asher, and as it stands now, she’s almost certain she’ll need him to testify in court. Problem is, the hearing has been delayed for months now, mostly by Senera’s lawyers, and Jaclyn doesn’t want to have to pull Reilly from leave if she needs him.”

Gabe paused, tucking in to the remainder of his rice, and Cam leaned back in his chair, trying to puzzle out anything that he might be missing.

“If it was months ago, Bristol might not have worked on the case at all,” Cameron admitted. “She probably wouldn’t have picked up on the details, anyway. But what about–”

Gabe raised his fork.

“Correct, Bristol hasn’t touched the whole Senera fiasco. And if you’re going to ask if an Albert actually works as a clerk at the courthouse, I already checked. One Albert Ziggoni, age thirty-nine. I made an executive decision that calling him up to inquire about his relationship with Jaclyn was probably not necessary.”

“Of course not,” Cam said, letting out a sigh. “But there’s one more detail I wanted to look at. Jaclyn said something about how ‘she’ doesn’t know anything, and mentioned the name Grapas.”

“I know how to conduct an interrogation,” Gabe said, his blue eyes darkening slightly as he frowned. “I asked about everything you mentioned, and that comment had an explanation, too. This Albert character asked Jaclyn if her new paralegal would be helping on the case, probably because, and I quote, ‘he seems like the type who likes to see pretty girls around the courthouse’. Jaclyn told him that Bristol wasn’t going to be getting involved just yet, because she was still getting up to speed on their current files, let alone such a complex case from over a year ago.”

Cameron rubbed his fingertips against his temples. Everything was lining up so far. It was good news, but he wasn’t convinced that Bristol was going to see it that way.

“I asked about Grapas, too,” Gabe said, getting out of his seat and piling the scraps of his dinner in a neat pile on his tray. “Jaclyn said she can’t remember exactly why she mentioned them, but she figured she was probably just complaining about having to waste time messing in the legal department’s supply order again after it was supposed to be finished weeks ago.”

Cameron put his head in his hands, a sigh of frustration escaping him.

“Which would make sense,” Gabe went on, “considering that Grapas is our office supplier, and that Grace did in fact lose several department inventories. It might have been a little rude for Jaclyn to bring it up to someone outside of the company, I guess, but it’s hardly suspicious.”

“Okay. I’ll tell Bristol that she has nothing to worry about,” Cam said. “Thanks for staying late and putting my mind at ease, man. I appreciate it.”

Gabe clapped him on the shoulder and headed toward the exit nearest to their table, yawning as he went.

Cameron got up from his chair, picking up the remains of his microwaved lasagna as well as Gabe’s tray, yawning himself as he threw the food into the trash.

He’d let Bristol sleep tonight, and make sure the night guards did a few extra patrols.

He was heading home for some much needed rest.

Telling Bristol that she’d been wrong would just have to wait until morning.

BRISTOL

While Bristol had headed down to the office gym early the next morning to shower, dress, and put on a little makeup, breakfast from the Screaming Peach had appeared in her makeshift bedroom.

She smiled as she looked over the morning’s offering of green tea, pancakes, and fresh fruit, thinking to herself that she could get used to this just as Cam himself appeared at her door.

“Morning, gorgeous,” he said as he strode up beside her. She gave him a peck on the cheek, grinning up at him.

“I was significantly less gorgeous about thirty minutes ago,” she joked. “Good timing.”

“Impossible,” he said, shaking his head as he popped a strawberry from her breakfast into his mouth. “You’re always perfect. Shower optional.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Gross.”

As she took her first sip of still-hot tea, she couldn’t help but to imagine waking up next to him in their own home, his face being the first thing she saw every morning. The thought didn’t make her feel anxious, even considering that he’d be forced to endure her snoring and morning breath.

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