“Do you have any questions about our wine list, Mr. Wolfe?” she asked.

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the chance to peruse it yet. We just got here.”

“Excellent,” she said. “If you do have questions, my name is Eleanor, and I’m at your service.” She bowed slightly and then left us alone.

I was used to obsequiousness in restaurants. The servers were all out for Wolfe tips. The thing was, they didn’t have to kiss my ass. I always tipped well for good service. That was all I ever expected.

My old man used to like having his ass kissed.

All this time, I’d known he was a bastard. Never in a million years, though, had I considered that he might be a psychopathic criminal as well.

What he’d done to this woman next to me…

She was so strong. She didn’t even know how strong she was.

She turned to me, still with red cheeks. “Thank you for…for having my shoes repaired.”

“You’re very welcome. It’s the least I could do.”

“But the other stuff,” she continued. “The other five pairs. I’m afraid I couldn’t accept them.”

“Of course you can. I want you to have them.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve already shipped them back to the return address.”

My stomach dropped. Why did I care so much? I’d sent out a personal shopper with Zee’s shoe size on a whim. This shouldn’t bother me.

But it did.

“I told her she was nuts,” Mo said.

“You’ll have to excuse Mo,” Zee said. “She’s a shoe whore.”

Zee’s description shocked me a little, but Mo brushed it off.

“I admit it,” she said. “I love shoes, and those were some beauties.”

“It was very generous of you,” Zee said, “but it was just too much.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” I picked up my menu. “What are you ladies in the mood for tonight?”

Nice save, Reid. Why was this bothering me? I’d sent the shoes as a way to woo Zee, but now I realized I truly wanted her to have them. Why?

Was it because…?

Guilt? Guilt for what my father had done to her?

Maybe, though what he did wasn’t my fault in any way. If Roy and I had known what he was doing all those years, we would have stopped it. Tried our damned best, anyway.

But as Riley told us, he most likely wouldn’t have let us.

Derek Wolfe held all the power.

No longer. The bastard was dead and cremated. but his partner in crime—Father Jim—was still very much alive.

And Zee could identify him.

This dinner wasn’t going to get me into Zee’s head or into Zee’s bed. She’d seen to that by inviting Mo along.