“I told you not to call me that,” James said after excusing himself from the group he had been in. “Makes me feel old.”
Douglas snorted. “Just wait until I tell you who just called me and what it was about.” James already felt the sigh coming out of his mouth before Douglas could explain.
“Let me guess—it starts with Chelsea and ends with pain-in-my-backside.”
Douglas laughed. “You got it, boss.”
James rolled his eyes but didn’t feel any real annoyance. He flipped his smartwatch around to see the date.
“Considering her bio lab test was last week, I’m assuming this call has something to do with the grade she got on it?”
But Douglas kept tight-lipped. “She wants you to call her back after the party,” he said. “And told me I’m not allowed to tell you one way or the other.”
James couldn’t help but laugh. “I should worry how easily my sister wraps you around her finger, but then again, I’m there, too.” He clapped Douglas on the shoulder. “I’ll go call her now. I didn’t help her study for that lab every weekend for the last month for nothing. Keep this party going in my absence. If anyone asks where I went, just tell them I’m in the wine cellar getting toasted.”
It was Douglas’s turn to laugh as James left the main room and went to the small set of stairs in the kitchen. He bounded up them two at a time and headed toward his office. He pulled out his cell phone and was calling before he even reached the doorway.
* * *
SUZY WATCHED AS James was pulled from his conversation by a member of the security team. Whatever the situation was, it didn’t appear to be serious, yet after they were done the man of the hour left the party. Curiosity filled her so quickly that before she had time to process what she was doing, Suzy had excused herself from Mara’s side and followed the millionaire.
Billy’s request that she question James within reason repeated in the back of her mind as she waited a few seconds before going up the stairs behind him. She walked slowly to keep her heels from making a sound until she was standing in the upstairs hallway. If James caught her now, she figured she could come up with a valid excuse for following him. Yet she found her feet stalling on the landing.
What exactly was she hoping to find?
Did she really expect the man to buckle beneath her questions, giving up answers that she had been looking for?
Suzy felt a swirl of adrenaline in her gut. Something she’d often experienced out in the field. A feeling she’d been missing for the last four months. For one small moment, she reveled in how it made her heart beat faster, her senses more alert and her mind more clear.
If James really was involved with what had happened to Gardner Todd, then that meant he was someone to exercise caution around. Add in his fortune and connections and being on his own home turf?
She was putting herself in a dangerous situation.
She was being careless.
Like not wearing her vest four months ago.
Suzy turned toward the window and stopped before going back down the stairs. The scar between her breasts heated up. She fisted her hands, remembering the look on her son’s face when she’d woken up in the hospital. He’d just turned ten and was trying his hardest to prove to her that he was old enough to keep it together. He’d been trying to be strong. For her. For himself. It wasn’t until she promised him it was okay to cry that he’d broken down on her lap.
The adrenaline spiked in her belly. Her nails bit into the palms of her hands.
Suzy never wanted to put him in that situation again. Not if she could help it. Not when she could avoid it.
She’d figure out what James was hiding, but not like this. Not creeping around in the shadows of his house. Not by putting herself in compromising positions.
No, she’d figure it out another way.
A safer way.
Suzy nodded to herself and fully intended on going back downstairs to the party, but movement outside the window caught her eye. The side lawn wasn’t lit up like the back patio, but there was enough glow from the hanging lights that she could just make out someone moving toward the house. Slowly and not at all steadily.
Limping.
She sucked in a breath as the man moved closer. The light from the kitchen window caught him.
That was when she saw the blood.
He was covered in it.
The swirl of adrenaline in her stomach upgraded to a storm.
Suzy hurried down the stairs, not minding this time that her high heels hit each step and sounded off like thunder crashing in the night sky. The chatter from the party in the center of the house kept going, uninterrupted. That meant no partygoer or security guard had spotted the bleeding man.
The cop in her rattled off four instantaneous questions in her head as she stepped toward the side door.
Who was the man?
What had happened to him?
Why had it happened to him?
Why was he at James Callahan’s town social?
No answers came as she flew out into the night and straight toward the unknown. The lights from the backyard cast a glow across the small patio and garden, but were still too weak to show her any new clues to help answer any questions. The blood was there, dark against his face and arms, but she couldn’t be sure where it had come from. His struggle to walk made her assume it was at least partly his.
“Whoa there, buddy,” she said, trying for soothing tones while staying cautious. She went at him with one arm out, like a deputy trying to direct traffic, while the other hung back so her hand was never too far from the holster hidden against her thigh. If she needed to get to her gun fast, she could. However, it would be interesting for any bystanders, considering she’d probably have to rip the dress to get to it. A small price to pay for being prepared, but still, she hoped she wouldn’t have to ruin it. Not only because she thought it was beautiful, but also because it was on loan from Mara.
The man’s head moved enough that, even in the poor light, Suzy knew he was looking at her. Now she was close enough to guess that he wasn’t a party guest or security. Instead of a suit, he wore jeans and a graphic T with some band’s logo on it in neon orange. In fact, the more she tried to find the source of his bleeding, the more Suzy wondered if he was a man at all. He seemed too young.
“Inside,” he groaned out, voice surprisingly strong. “I need to get inside.”
He lurched forward. Suzy’s reaction time since the accident had slowed, but she still managed to dance away from touching the blood on his arm. She latched on to his wrist instead.
“What’s going on?” she tried. “I’m with the sheriff’s department. I can help.”
The man reacted like she’d stung him. Suzy felt his arm muscles coil a split second before he pulled out of her grip. The sudden momentum, plus the fact that she was unaccustomed to wearing heels, threw her off balance enough that she was forced to let go or fall.
“Get away from me,” he hissed. “Where’s Mr. Callahan?”
He turned back to the house, eyes wild, but that didn’t mean she was done with him. Suzy took one step closer, pivoted enough to bring her back leg forward and kicked out at the man. The sound of fabric splitting was followed by a grunt as her foot connected with his stomach. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, but she was trying to control him.
He