Page 82 of Hold Your Breath
“Not yet.” Chris sounded irritated. “He’s proving surprisingly elusive for a soft city boy.”
“I’m not surprised.” When Callum looked over at her, brows raised, she shook her head, silently passing on Chris’s answer. “He’s always been proficient at self-preservation.”
“Well, he hasn’t been doing too well, lately—other than at dodging arrest,” Chris shared. “He’s run into some money trouble—the kind that has burly guys chasing him with baseball bats.”
“Really?” Callum looked at her questioningly again, but, this time, she just mouthed “later” at him and returned her focus to her conversation with Chris. “How’d that happen? Not that I know the specifics, but I assume my stepdad pays him a pretty hefty salary.”
“Brent was trying to run in some affluent circles, and he wasn’t able to do that on his income, as generous as your stepdad is. Brent disappeared two weeks ago. He mentioned something about a ‘family situation,’ but your stepfather hasn’t been able to contact him since. He’s been worried.”
Lou snorted. “Richard should be worried about what’ll happen when I get my hands on that tire-slashing, cabin-burning creeper.”
With a laugh, Chris joked, “After we bring him in, do you want five minutes in the interview room with him when the camera’s off?”
“Is that an option?” she asked with real interest.
“Ah, no,” he said, although he sounded amused. “There’ve been a couple of people who’ve tempted me, but I haven’t gone over to the dark side yet—that one, at least.”
“Thatdark side?” she teased. “Deputy Chris, how intriguing.”
As Chris coughed and mumbled something, sounding flustered, Callum shot her a dark look. “Stop flirting with him.”
Rolling her eyes, she refocused on the conversation. “Sorry, Chris. Let me know if Brent pops up somewhere, okay? It’ll be nice not to imagine him lurking in the bushes wherever I go.”
“Will do.” Chris sounded as if he’d regained his equanimity. “And don’t go looking for trouble.”
She laughed. “I’ll try, but it won’t matter. Trouble finds me.”
His sigh was heavy, and she could tell it was only half put-on. “Bye, Lou.”
“Later, Deputy.”
After ending the call, she sighed. “Everyone’s being weird and cagey today.” After finding Mary’s number on her recent-calls list, she texted it to the deputy while filling Callum in on Chris’s side of the conversation.
“What I don’t get,” she said when she was finished, “is why Brent’s fixated on me. If he has bad guys trying to squeeze the money he owes out of him, why doesn’t he just disappear? It’s not like I can give him anything more than a free coffee, especially now that he’s burned all of my earthly possessions. And why does he want tokillme? I would think my being dead would defeat his purpose.”
Frowning thoughtfully, he mused, “Maybe he just snapped, blaming you for the way his life has turned to shit?”
“But why?” Lou shifted to look at him. “All I did was date him, dump him, and then avoid him ever since. I haven’t had a single conversation with him since I’ve lived here.”
Callum pulled into the alley behind the coffee shop and eased to a stop. “You said he was supposed to take over your stepfather’s business once you were…married.” He muttered the last word between gritted teeth. “Maybe he blames you for not going along with that plan.”
“I suppose,” she said doubtfully. “My stepdad likes Brent a lot better than me, especially now. I can’t see him handing off control of the company to anyone else, whether I’m Brent’s wife or not. Whatever the reason, I just hope the cops find him soon. I’ll be glad when I can quit looking over my shoulder for stalkers.”
“I second that.” He leaned back against the seat and rubbed his eyes.
“Once they nab him, I can concentrate on checking over my shoulder for murderers instead.”
His head snapped to the side so he could shoot herthe look.
Grinning, she opened her door and hopped out of the truck.
Chapter 16
Ivy was completely over her fit of sympathy. Lou already knew this from the grudging way her boss had agreed to cover the first half hour of Lou’s shift when she’d called that morning. Lou had managed to eat a shocking amount of greasy bar food and then make it back to Simpson in just over an hour, so Ivy only had to tack ten minutes onto her shift. The way the other woman was acting, though, it could’ve been tenhours.
Lou was happy to see her affronted boss leave. When Smelly Jim entered immediately after Ivy had stalked out the front door, Lou began breathing through her mouth, but sent him a big smile. After all, he’d noticed Brent following her. Looking back, the description fit her stalker exactly.
“Sm—uh, Jim,” she greeted him, wondering why he was standing in the doorway, half-in and half-out of the shop. “What can I get you?”
