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Chapter Twelve

Jonah

After dropping Briar off at her car, I circled the block, intending to go back to my cabin to get ready for my shift. I’d let myself get way too distracted last night — not that I had any regrets — but now I needed to focus. That live video and the comments under it could lead to a mess of people eager to invade the place I was hired to protect.

My phone screen was black where it sat in my cup holder. I’d shut it off last night and not turned it back on. As soon as I hit the button a text came through on channel 1031.

Alden: Jonah, my office in thirty.

Colt: In trouble again?

Alden: I told you to get back to work!

Damien: You are all blocked!

I rerouted in that direction, wondering what this was about. Alden had given me a heads-up about the video Mercer had posted, and now he was calling me in. My coffee turned to acid in my stomach. I just hoped whatever he had to tell me wasn’t bad news about Briar.

I walked into HQ to find Alden and a tall, thin man in his mid-fifties talking at the table. I tried to get a read on the situation from Alden’s face. I was good at reading people, but Alden had one hell of a poker face.

“Jonah, this is Steven Smith—”

“You’re the one who hired me,” I cut in, remembering the name.

The man stood, reaching out his hand, and I shook it. “Right, that’s what I’m here about.”

“Have a seat,” Alden said, gesturing to the chair.

I did, reluctantly. My adrenaline was running on overdrive, but I didn’t know why. This was just a meeting with a client. I had these all the time.

Mr. Smith folded his hands in front of him. An easy gesture for someone who seemed used to commanding a room. “It’s come to my attention there were two influencers in the cemetery yesterday.”

I frowned. “There was one. Mercer. He got there before my shift, and I removed him.”

“Two,” he corrected. “A young woman by the name of Briar Hart, aka Names In Stone.”

“She isn’t a threat,” I snapped, then reined myself in. “She has permission to be there from the county.”

“I have some concerns regardless,” Mr. Smith said. His face was perfectly stoic and it made me more suspicious.

I crossed my arms over my chest, struggling to keep my face blank as this man made assumptions about Briar.

“We can’t have people coming and going from the site. Especially influencers. It will just attract attention.”

“Mercer is the one doing videos. Briar is doing restoration work. She—”

I was silenced by Alden’s hand on my arm.

“Jonah, it’s done. Mr. Smith has the county putting a pause on her access to the site.”

I saw red and fought not to let it show.

“She’s investigating a historical mystery, not flashing lights and making ghost noises like that Mercer asshole.”

Mr. Smith’s eyebrows rose. “And what is it that she found?”

I shook my head. “You’d have to ask her.”

This guy may be paying the bill and have ancestors buried there, but I wasn’t telling him a fucking thing.