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“She’s not under my investigation,” Vivian said calmly. “She’s under yours. Skyla is simply an acquaintance of mine. Someone I met at a bar and then talked to at a mutual friend’s party. No big deal, and Skyla wasn’t even upset. She probably assumed I was there to take photos of the wildlife. Which I did. And I got plenty of great shots I plan to frame.”
He swallowed the bile rising in the back of his throat. Skyla wasn’t her acquaintance, and Vivian’s casual indirect mention of Hallie only drew more ire out of him. “How do you know Skyla wasn’t upset?” He asked, thinking of her most recent texts. “How do you know she doesn’t suspect we’re on to her because of your stupid actions?”
Vivian balked. “I can assure you I calculated my actions very carefully. Skyla is no more aware of her predicament than the woman I’m looking for. But once I find her -”
“Her?” Blake asked. Vivian wasn’t talking about Skyla anymore.
“Yes, her. I’m fairly certain the tip came in from a woman.” Vivian settled her hands on her hips. “Now, as I was saying -”
“How?” Blake sat back down in his chair as if this was a mere curiosity to him. Like her answer wasn’t about to determine the possible risk to one of his closest friends. “How can you be so sure?”
Vivian smiled and lowered herself to the seat across from his desk. “I have my ways, Blake. That’s what I was trying to tell you. Women respond differently to other women than they do to men. I can help you with your case, if you agree to help me with mine.” The sinister tone in her suggestion made his skin crawl.
He’d sooner die than help her get to Hallie, but he’d be more than happy to help lead Vivian in every wrong direction he could think of, and as far from Hallie, and Orly, as possible.
He gave her his most convincing smirk. Going against FBI protocol, snooping on Skyla, this woman wasn’t afraid of crossing lines and breaking protocol to get her way. Fine. He’d play her game. “You’ve got my attention. What were you thinking?”
***
“She wants me to do some digging to see what I can find out about the woman who sent in the tip about me.” Blake didn’t need to see Caden’s face, when his friend looked up at him from the computer screen he’d been staring at, to know that he hadn’t missed what Blake had just revealed.
“How the hell does she know it was a woman?” Caden was obviously doing a better job at keeping his temper under control than Blake had. But he also knew his friend well enough to know that all his anger and rage was simmering just beneath the surface.
“Said she had her ways. I agreed to help her in exchange for her help with our case. I figured at the very least, I could warn you before she gets too close, and at best, I’ll be able to steer her away from you and…” It was an unspoken rule that Hallie’s name was hardly, if ever, actually said in the office. Nor did Caden have any photos of her or of them together on display here. He took every possible precaution to keep her as out of the public eye as possible when it came to his work. It was bad enough her name was somewhere in the database. They could only hope they had erased and buried enough files that Vivian would give up before finding anything.
Caden leaned back in his chair, whatever was on his screen forgotten for the moment. “And how is she planning to help us?”
Blake shrugged. “She said women react differently to other women than they do to men.”
“She still has to follow protocol, which means she can’t go gallivanting around private property without a warrant.”
“I made that clear to her,” Blake said. Even he wasn’t dumb enough to do something like that. “We might have another problem though, and I didn’t tell Vivian because I wanted to run it by you first.”
Caden nodded, then waited for Blake to continue.
“I think Skyla suspects something. She messaged me and asked that I meet her at Madigan’s tomorrow.”
“Did she say why?”
“No. But if it has something to do with Vivian -”
“Then you tell her the truth. You had no idea she was going there or what she was doing on her property. Don’t forget, you’re friends with me and Luke. She knows and trusts us, and by default, more easily trusts you. It’s why she hasn’t raised an eyebrow to you hanging out at Madigan’s so much lately.”
Blake sighed. He hadn’t told his friend about their last encounter, or the strange feelings he’d started developing for the woman. They didn’t factor into the case, and he wasn’t planning to act on them anyway. Nothing good ever came of him chasing a happily ever after. He’d learned that the hard way. These days, the only thing he could do was stay in his line, keep his head down, and focus on what he could do. Be a good friend. Be a good agent. The rest, he’d leave for others to enjoy. Those who wouldn’t lose it or make a complete mess of it. “You’re right. And it’s the truth. I had no idea Vivian was going there, and I would’ve done my best to stop her if I had known.”
Caden nodded. “There you go. Now, as for the digging…”
“I’ll dig,” Blake said, crossing one leg over the other knee as he got more comfortable in the chair across from Caden’s desk. “Never said it would be in the right hole. Or even in the right continent. But I’ll be more than happy to dig like a Retriever.” He smirked, and Caden cracked a smile too.
“You’re a good friend,” Caden said. “Thank you for watching my back.”
“You’d do the same for me. Hell, you did the same for me. It’s only because of you that I still have my job after the shit I pulled.”
“And don’t you forget that,” Caden smirked, pointing at him with his index finger.
Blake shook his head. The man was being all light hearted about it, but Blake could never forget the lengths Caden had gone to ensure he got to keep his badge. More than that, Hallie had put her own freedom on the line to save his life before she even knew him.
“I’ll make this right.” Blake vowed. He owed Caden and Hallie more than he could ever repay. She might not blame him for this mess, but he sure as hell blamed himself.
