Page 15 of Reunion at Mistletoe Lodge
“They were the last person to see him before he got shot.” A grin split her face.
“How did you track them down?” Liam asked.
“They found me.” The waitress came back and took our order for a light snack and some drinks while wewaited. “Although they were a bit confused as to how you’re here.”
“You didn’t say anything, did you?” Liam’s eyes narrowed.
“No,Liam,” a familiar female voice came from behind them. “I’m not as stupid as everyone else obviously is, and I kind of figured it out for myself.”
Liam spun around, his eyes wide, surprised to see his younger sister. “Paige?”
CHAPTER 5
Liam
He climbed out of the booth and engulfed his younger sister in a hug. “What on earth are you doing in Colorado?” She hugged him back, letting her slip into the booth before him. “You’re supposed to be star gazing at Keck Observatory in sunny Hawaii!”
“No!” Paige shook her head, taking over the light snack Liam had ordered. “If you read your messages once in a while, you’d know that I’ve been working between Keck and The University of Colorado Boulder.” She munched on a curly fry. “We have a collaborative astrophysics project with Boulder I’m working on.”
“That's right!” Liam remembered. “I’m sorry, little sister.” He sighed. “I’ve had a lot on my plate lately.”
“I can imagine, especially having to deal with politics and someone who doesn’t know who they are,” Paige said sympathetically, staring from Priscilla to Liam. “I believe you’ve been wanting to know why our brother was in Denver when he got shot?”
“Do you know?” Liam’s brow furrowed curiously.
“He came to visit me,” Paige surprised Liam by saying. “Trust me, I was just as surprised to see our brother—especially seeing him in one of the lectures I was giving.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Our brother went to an astrophysics lecture?” A pained expression crossed his face.
“Yes.” Paige nodded. “I got back to Denver yesterday when I called our parents to find out how he was and was really surprised to find out that our parents know nothing about what happened.” She looked at Liam accusingly. “As far as they’re aware, the two of you have gone skiing in Aspen forChristmas.”
“You didn’t tell them anything, did you?” Liam asked, a little panicked.
“No!” Paige shook her head, helping herself to Liam’s soda. “But it did surprise me to see thatyouwere still running for the Montana Senate seat.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “And thatZac’sinjury wasn’t fatal, but he still hasn’t regained his memory.”
“He hasn’t,” Liam confirmed. “All he knows is that he is Zac Shields, a Los Angeles FBI agent who is on recovery leave and engaged to Courtney Waller, my executive assistant who is also in charge of my campaign.”
“Did you feed him that information?” Paige enquired.
“No.” Liam shook his head. “He woke up and told Courtney and I that.”
“Interesting!” Paige pulled a face.
“How did you two meet?” Liam asks, pointing from his sister to Priscilla, who had been quietly eating her salad while listening to the conversation.
“I am your brother’s attorney.” Priscilla’s cool eyes turn toward Liam. “When Paige couldn’t get hold of you because your numbers had been changed, she contacted me.”
“That was actually after trying every ski resort I could think of,” Paige added. “Then I remembered Mistletoe Lodge was near one of our brother’s favorite skiing spots.”
“That’s when Paige called me and asked me if I knew what was going on because the last time she’d seen your brother was when he got shot.” Priscilla’s words sent a chill through Liam, who looked at Paige in disbelief.
“Good grief, Paige,” Liam hissed. “Why am I only hearing about this now?” He looked at her worriedly. “What happened?”
“I was in the bathroom of the private airport hangar lounge, waiting for our jet to be refueled. As I opened the door to step out, Eric shoved me back in and told me to stay there until he came to get me,” Paige explained. “I was stuck in the bathroom for twenty minutes beforeHerschel came to get me. I was taken through some secret tunnel from the hangar to the main airport, where Herschel followed me to Hawaii and has been with me ever since.”
“So you didn’t even think to call me?” Liam looked at her in disbelief.
“Herschel told me not to,” Paige stated. “He kept me updated about our brother’s condition and told me for my safety and the sake of the campaign, I couldn’t mention it to anyone—not even you.”
