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“To warm up our hands?”
“To throw in Pete’s face if he tries anything stupid.”
Clary dropped her gaze to the white mug. “Wow. Okay. Never quite thought about that, but it’s a great idea.”
“Didn’t you take safety precautions while working at Safe Homes?”
“I had bear spray.”
“Huh.”
“And I de-escalate the situation.”
“And what if that doesn’t work?”
“I had my bear spray.” Clary grinned. “I’d hold my breath, spray it, send a kick to the groin, then grab whoever I needed to and run.”
“Did that ever happen?”
“Yeah. Not that I’ll admit it to Grandma Moretti or Mr. E. As far as they’re concerned, the bear spray he bought me was never used.” Clary squared her shoulders when she saw Pete approaching the café.
The ex-detective looked older—and had significantly less hair—than the photo he’d put on his website.
Pete scanned the surroundings before entering the café, and then his gaze made another quick sweep of the interior as he strode over. “Miss Fiore.” He eyed the steaming hot coffee as he sat.
Clary cupped her hands around the mug and pulled it a little closer to her.
“I’m glad you’ve finally agreed to meet me,” he said, his words clear. The ex-detective wasn’t slurring his words, and he could handle walking straight. He also didn’t carry a beer belly, so this probably wasn’t some drunken revenge he’d come up with.
“You’ve been very persistent.” Too persistent. Clary gestured toward Andrea.
“I’m Hannah,” Andrea interjected. “I’m an ex-detective.”
Clary wasn’t sure why Andrea suddenly decided to change her identity, but she went along with it.
Pete’s brows rose.
“I’d like to understand why you think my boss is in danger.”
Pete nodded. “I’m sure you don’t know this, but the Andersons weren’t always Andersons. They were Eolenfelds.”
Clary blinked. She wasn’t quite expecting that.
Perhaps she should have talked this through with Andrea, because Clary had no idea how to react. Should she pretend to be surprised? Should she keep her face straight?
She hoped it was the latter, because contemplating what to do had probably resulted in a blank look.
“The famous actress, Holly Eolenfeld, adopted them.”
Clary glanced over at Andrea.
Her assistant’s gaze, which was trained on Pete, flickered over to her, then went right back to Pete. “We’ve heard.”
“Then do you know that one child, the only girl Holly adopted, went missing? To this day, she hasn’t been found.”
Now Pete was worried about a missing girl? What about the case he’d worked on with Zane? There was a missing girl then too, but Pete couldn’t be bothered to stop drinking long enough to focus on finding her.
Clary blinked once as Pete’s scrutinizing gaze roamed across her face. Again, she wasn’t sure how to react.
