Page 13 of Don't Tell

I shrug and follow her in. “I had no hand in this — I promise.” I take my seat just as she does. She pushes her dark hair out of her face and starts rifling through her overflowing desk.

“I apologize for the mess. I had to work through the night.” Her fingers finally land on a brown folder, and she slides it across the desk to me.

“Thank you.” I open it.

The NDA is two pages long. Her drafting is what I pay for. The language is airtight, the compensation sits in a clause I would have written myself, and the wordpermanentis buried in a sentence so quiet she could read it aloud at a cocktail party without anyone in the room noticing what she said.

Perfect.

I sign my copy. She slides the unsigned version into a plain manila envelope and places it in front of me.

"And the bar?" I ask. “Were you able to find anything?”

She breathes in. "Not really. Twenty-three minutes."

"Of?"

"Degraded feed. It’s a clean window. Right at the time you would have ordered the second drink. Everything before is normal. Everything after is also normal. We don’t have the woman on camera, so we’re not sure what to look out for. But we’re certain someone tampered with it."

I take this in. “Hmm…what do you think? It has to be someone with access. The hotel, perhaps. Do I know the owner of Cresswell? Have we had some sort of rift in the past?”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t think that’s it. You have no history with the hotel — we made sure of that. It could be the company that runs the surveillance contract. I have a friend there. I’m working on it."

I nod. This is turning out to be more complicated than I thought. Seems to me like I underestimated my enemy. “And the documents that were taken? Are you on that?”

“Yes. It’s all perfectly legal. We’re already preparing supporting documents and statements just in case.” Her blue eyes find mine. “We’re ready, Cade.”

“Good.” I button my suit jacket as I rise to my feet.

“I’ll try my best to fish out whoever did this. Or maybe if we wait them out long enough, they’ll reveal themselves. What do you think they want?”

“Revenge. Money. That’s what everyone wants.” I pick up the envelope. “I’ll call you if anything else comes up. But I’m sure they’ll come to me. They want something, and soon enough, they’ll start to get desperate. Thank you, Marisol.”

She nods. Marisol walks me out of the building, and I can’t help but notice that her assistant is still not behind the desk.

“Is your assistant off?”

Marisol shakes her head and stares down at her watch. “She was actually supposed to come in early today.”

“Hmm…call my assistant. We’ll get you someone more competent.”

“Mr. Nightingale, I appreciate the gesture, but — ”

“You need it. Let this one go today as soon as she reports for work or fire her right now. I’m not asking.”

She doesn’t say anything more.

I get into my car and drive back to the hotel. The drive back is noisier and less peaceful. My phone buzzes as I pull into the garage. I pick it up to find a text from Henry.

Henry

Your mom told me what happened. I’m so sorry, Cade. Are you okay? She’s worried about you. Please give her a call when you can, son.

Henry and I have a good relationship. I don’t exactly want to ignore the text, but he’s talking about something I’m not ready to face, so I don’t respond.

As soon as I return to the suite, I call housekeeping. The envelope goes on the corner of the desk where it can be seen from the door without being pushed at her. I pour coffee and take a slow sip.

My phone rings before I get a chance to sit. I pull it out again, half expecting Henry or my mother. I’m almost relieved when I see Beau’s name.