Page 52 of I’ll Be Watching You

“I’ll run a query when I get to the office, see if they’ve been flagged for anything criminal, but I doubt it.”

“Thanks,” I said.

He grabbed my hand before I could follow Lu outside.

“Margo, you know I think you’re amazing and smart and know what you’re doing.”

“Why do I hear a but?”

“You don’t. If you are right—and you probably are, because in the two months I’ve known you, you’ve only been wrong once.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Keeping track?”

He grinned, but it disappeared pretty quick because this conversation was serious.

“There is more than one person behind the murder of Devin Klein and Liz Swanson. No matter how you slice it, I don’t see how one person could not only kill them, but also have the power to get your dad transferred to a federal prison so quickly. And very likely, whoever killed Klein and Swanson has a direct connection to the VA medical center, right? Because that’s where they both worked, and where Swanson noticed the deleted record. Killing that nurse . . .” He sighed, closed his eyes. “Damn. It was cold. I do not want you to be next. Listen to your gut, Margo. If it tells you to duck, duck.”

There was so much to unpack in Cal’s commentary. He had been giving this a lot of thought, more than I had realized.

“I’ll duck,” I whispered.

When he leaned in to kiss me, it was warm and steady and full of emotion. That threw me for another loop. All these loops were tying me in knots.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said as I walked out.

Lu was already in the car behind the wheel. “I like Cal,” she said.

“Me too,” I said, still thinking about the kiss. We had kissed a lot over the last two months—among other things—but that kiss was more than a kiss, and I didn’t know how to process it.

I glared at Lu as she started the ignition. “I like to drive.”

“I got here first,” she said and pulled out.

I didn’t live far from my mom, and it only took five minutes to get there even after hitting half the lights on Central.

We parked Mom’s Escalade in the driveway and went inside. Jack’s truck was there, but no other vehicles.

Jack was eating a bowl of oatmeal at the counter when we walked in. “Mom still sleeping?” I asked.

“Getting dressed. She’s set on going to Colorado today. Rita will be here at ten, their flight is just before noon. Quincy is going with them.”

“Really?” I was surprised. Quincy was a jerk. The only thing he wasn’t a jerk about was my brother Nico, which is why I tolerated him. I thought for certain that he would bail on this project because he probably thought we were bending or breaking laws. He didn’t bend anything.

“I laid it on pretty thick yesterday. Concern about their safety, the unusual transfer. He agrees about that, looked into it, but wasn’t able to find out any more than we have.”

“What good is having a Fed practically in the family if they can’t get info?” I said, half joking. Then, “Have you heard from Tess?”

“No. Did you send her the info on that drug company?”

“Before we even left San Diego,” I said. “Lu spent the entire drive trying to find Willa Blankenship, but nada.”

“I wouldn’t say I found nothing,” Luisa said. “I found her on paper, I just don’t know where she is right now.”

“What did you learn?” Jack asked.

“Born Willamina Ann Turnly in Chicago to two doctors, only child, fifty-nine years old, parents both deceased. Married to Vince Blankenship for thirty-two years, two children, Annette and Madelyn. Annette is single, a doctor. Madelyn is married, a stay-at-home mom with three young kids. I have Willa’s education and work history, and the last known job was working for Neurovantix, which ended last year.”

“Last year, not three years ago?” Jack asked.