Page 54 of Velvet Vaughn

Chapter Ten

Leo was back in under twenty minutes, dropping into the chair across from Anja without a word. He picked up a highlighter. “Talk to me. What did I miss?”

Remi walked him through what they had so far. Matching names to charity events and holiday parties came easier than Leo expected once he got going. Turned out all that networking at too many events to count over the years was good for something besides landing contracts.

He tapped a photo of a Kellerman Gates client who was one of the eight names. “He’s Danica’s guy. I sat across from him at a table last spring.”

“I’ll add it.”

Anja’s board grew.

The afternoon went that way: Tyler and Remi searching for data, Leo’s memory filling in the gaps, and Anja tracking connections on butcher paper until her hand cramped around the marker. Leo almost forgot, for stretches at a time, what all of it meant. Then Anja tacked up a copy of one of the photos of Chloe taken yesterday, and it all came flooding back.

“What is it?” Anja asked, watching him.

“Nothing.” He stood. “I need some air.”

Leo didn’t wait to see what she made of that. The side door clicked shut behind him.

The yard was exactly as he’d left it that morning, with the same fence line and overcast sky threatening rain it never delivered. He walked it with his hands jammed in his pockets, trying to outpace whatever had climbed up the back of his throat.

It took longer than twenty minutes this time.

Leo came back inside as the clouds darkened over the rooftops, his knee aching from too many laps, and found the house smelling of herbs and garlic.

Remi stood at the stove with a dish towel over one shoulder, expertly stirring a pot. It was such an unexpected sight, a man that size wielding a wooden spoon with that much care, that Leo stopped in the doorway to take it in.

“You cook?”

Remi glanced over his shoulder. “Rangers eat better than people think.” He tasted whatever was in the pot, considered it, and added something from one of BeBe’s well-stocked cabinets. “Figured you two needed it.” He nodded toward the island. “Have a seat. It’s twenty minutes out.”

Anja was there, the case board apparently having reached a stopping point, a glass of red wine at her elbow and her hair down for the first time all day. Leo tried not to notice that and failed, continuing a streak he’d been on for a couple of days now.

They ate at the kitchen island because the formal dining room felt absurd for three people. Between the second helping and Remi refilling the wine, the conversation flowed into the evening.

“We need to talk about how you’re walking into the office tomorrow,” Anja announced. “I don’t want you going in alone.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Leo set his fork down. “I can’t suddenly show up with a bodyguard. The second anybody at Pinnacle clocks security, the whole act falls apart.”

Remi leaned back in his chair. “If the person responsible is in that building, they might go radio silent, and we’ll lose our window.”

“Agreed.” Anja turned to Remi. “Which is why it should be you. Everybody at that fundraiser met me last night. I shook forty hands as Leo’s date. I can’t suddenly turn up at his office Monday morning without it reading as exactly what it is.”

Remi nodded slowly. “Nobody at Pinnacle’s ever seen my face.”

“You’re the one who shadows him,” Anja agreed. “The question is what you are while you’re doing it.”

Leo turned it over, looking at Remi across the island, the size of him, the haircut, how he held himself even relaxed at a kitchen counter. There was an answer in it.

“You just got out.”

Remi’s brow quirked. “Of?”

“The military. Which is true, more or less, so you won’t trip over it.” Leo was warming to it now, a plan coming together. “Soldiers leave the service all the time looking for what’s next. Plenty of them want to go into sports, agency work, management, and the business side. It’s a real pipeline. They come in with discipline, a work ethic, and knowing how to handle high-pressure clients. Agencies eat that up.”

“So I’m a vet looking to break into the agent world.”

“And I’m mentoring you.” Leo nodded, the idea coalescing. “It’s not even out of character for me. I’ve taken on people before and shown them the ropes. Nobody at Pinnacle will blink an eye at me bringing somebody around to learn the business. You can shadow me for a couple of weeks, sit in on meetings, and watch how it works. You’re allowed to be everywhere I am and ask questions about how the place runs,” he glanced at Anja, “which is the whole point.”