Page 26 of Protecting Salvation

“Okay. I’m an only child, my parents had me late in life, and by the time I was twenty, they were struggling to run the farm. When I was twenty-five my mother got sick with cancer and my father already had the first signs of Alzheimer’s. I became their legal power of attorney and when she died, I sold the farm. My father died three years ago and I used the rest of the money to set up my practice and put a deposit on this place.”

“Any other family?”

Peyton curled her lip thinking of her only living relative. “I have a cousin.”

“What caused that pretty face of yours to sneer like that, sugar?”

Peyton blushed at the compliment and the way he said it in front of everyone. But nobody seemed to notice. “Martin is my cousin on my dad’s side. We don’t get on and he tried to sue me when I sold the farm, saying that as it had been our grandfather’s before my dad inherited it, he had a right to a share of the money.”

“Dick.”

“Yeah, he is but it never got anywhere. He didn’t have a case but we haven’t spoken since.”

“Is he capable of this?” Titan asked.

Peyton’s nose wrinkled. “I doubt it. We haven’t spoken in two years so I don’t know why he’d start something now and, honestly, he doesn’t have the balls.”

“Anyone else that might have a grudge? Ex-boyfriends, clients?”

“I haven’t had a boyfriend since before, well, you know.”

Lotus offered her a small smile of reassurance and nodded and Warren squeezed her hand to let her know he was there.

“Yeah, we know. What about clients?”

Peyton paused, she didn’t want to give the names of her clients away and violate their privacy when there was nothing to suggest any of them were involved. Although, in all likelihood, if they wanted them they could just have Watchdog hack her files. “Do you really need those?”

Bás leaned forward. “Peyton, I respect your desire to protect them but at this point, we don’t know who or what we’re dealing with. It could be a simple case of vandalism, but it could be more and we need to know so we can figure this out and keep you safe.”

“I know but it takes a lot for some of these people to come to me, and I don’t like feeling like I’m betraying that by sharing their details with you. Apart from that, there’s also the fact I could lose my licence.”

“Nobody is losing anything. Just have a think and see if any of them or their families stand out. Are there any conversations that made you feel uncomfortable or raised red flags more than usual?”

“Okay, I can do that.” She liked that they weren’t pushing her on this. “Did you manage to figure out who the man was that I saw yesterday?”

Lotus shook her head. “Not yet. Watchdog is on the case, but so far all we have is his profile or the back of his head, which isn’t enough for an ID.”

“Isn’t that unusual for someone to be so aware of where cameras are located?”

Lotus cocked her head. “Usually I’d say yes, but with this being a town with a special forces camp, it doesn’t shock me as much. Operators, even retired, are always aware of everything. It’s second nature to most of them, so I’m not overly concerned but we’ll be checking it out. We’ll also run checks on McCain and his cronies and see if anything of interest pops there.”

“We should see if any large quantities of ammonium nitrate have been bought or stolen recently. We can’t rule out that some jerk is planning something bigger, and Peyton is just a pawn.”

“Like a bomb?” Peyton felt her face blanche at Warren’s words.

“I’m just being cautious.”

She could see him frowning, tension lines bracketing the sides of his eyes. His lips were tight with strain and she recognised the signs of a headache. It was hard not to worry or react knowing what she did now, but she also knew he wouldn’t want a fuss or for her to treat him differently, so she kept quiet. “Well, I’m going to pretend I never heard that shit, so I actually have a chance of sleeping tonight or, in fact, ever again.”

She hadn’t given it much thought until now. Between the crazy shocking revelations of today and the house full of people, she hadn’t had the chance but now the thought of being alone left her cold. This morning she’d been happy, carefree, or as carefree as she ever was and now her life had been thrown into chaos by some asshole. Why couldn’t people just leave her the fuck alone so she could live her life?

She didn’t want a lot, not fame or crazy amounts of money, just a quiet life but, oh no, the universe just had her name all over its shit list. She hated to admit it and sure as hell wouldn’t in front of these people who faced untold danger for work every day but the thought of being alone here left her with chills.

“We won’t let anything happen to you and you’re welcome to come and stay with us if you want,” Val offered.

Peyton wanted to hug the other woman for offering but they had Marni, Bás’ niece to consider now and she’d never bring her shit to their door. “Thank you, but I need to be here. I won’t let these assholes run me off and, as you say, it might be nothing.”

“Well, if you change your mind, we have the room.”