He paused, looking over his shoulder. “I’m armed, and I’m sure Jethro is as well. I’d rather the next attempt happened away from you anyway.” He disappeared into the hallway.

Jethro hesitated, his dark-blond hair still wet from his shower. “I’ll cover his back.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then shrugged his shoulders. “Engage the dead bolt as soon as we go. I’ll call when we’re headed up so you can unlock it for us. Thanks.” Then he was gone.

Nari looked at Roscoe, who’d sat on his hindquarters to watch the proceedings. “I guess it’s you and me, boy.”

He panted and went into the kitchen, where Angus had left a bowl full of dog food and some water. Roscoe sighed and looked over his furry body toward her.

She grinned. “You’d much rather eat that than anything I could cook for you, although I will refill your water.” His happily wagging tail spurred her on, and she lifted her burner phone to her ear to call Pippa.

“Hello,” Pippa said, the quiet sound of her typing coming over the line.

“Hi. Am I interrupting?” Nari asked, leaning down to grab the water dish.

The typing stopped. “No. I was just finishing up some financial records for a couple of clients. What’s going on?” Pippa asked.

Nari took a deep breath. She’d wanted to keep her emotions to herself to figure things out, but her mind wasn’t working fast enough. It was time to confide in a friend, and Pippa had great insights. “Angus and I slept together.”

“It’s about time,” Pippa said, laughing. “All right. Tell me everything.”

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

“Thank goodness Brigid is so good at her job,” Jethro said mildly, sitting in the driver’s seat of his car and staring out the window at a nice single-family home in a large subdivision in Virginia.

That was the truth. Angus looked through the file folder, although he’d already memorized most of the contents. Okay. All of the contents. “I don’t have a badge and you’re a college professor, so there’s a chance this guy won’t talk to us. Last time I met with him, I was casual, so maybe he won’t mind some more questions.” He scouted the peaceful neighborhood with its small, manicured lawns and now empty flower beds, not seeing a threat.

Jethro did the same. “How did the two attackers find you and your lawyer yesterday, do you surmise?”

“Dunno,” Angus said, looking again at the white-painted house with dark-blue shutters. “They caught my tail at the police station, that’s for sure. How they knew to find me there, I don’t know. Could be luck, but something tells me it’s more.” He hadn’t figured it out yet, and frustration tasted like sour candy in his mouth. “Somebody knows too much about us.”