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At that time Hollis had been working at the Bureau and had absorbed everything written about the man like a sponge. What she and many others had found amazing was that during his fifteen years of confinement, Sheppard Granger had changed the lives of several inmates for the better, by initiating such programs as Toastmasters, Future Leaders of Tomorrow, GED, and online college. Now some of those same former inmates were respected business owners, politicians, and, in the case of Locke and his two partners, well-known attorneys. Men that Sheppard Granger considered surrogate sons.

“If I recall, he married his attorney the same day he was released in a very big wedding.”

Locke chuckled. “Yes, he did. I was one of his groomsmen. Shep has three biological sons. His youngest was in his late twenties when The Princess was born.”

“Why do you call her the princess?”

“To Shep’s twenty-plus surrogate sons, she is that to us. When we heard that he and his wife, Carson, were having a daughter, we decided she would be our little princess. Not only does she have three biological brothers and a godfather, who owns a protection/bodyguard company, but she also has twenty-something surrogate brothers who would protect her with our lives if it ever came to that.”

She heard the strong conviction in his voice, and said, “The Princess is a blessed little girl.”

Locke nodded. “I agree, and anyone who spent time with Shep in prison also feels blessed. We’ve always thought that, as unfortunate as it was for Shep, there was a reason he was sent to prison. A Higher Being knew there were men at Glenworth and Delvers who had lost their way and deeply needed Sheppard Granger’s mentoring. There is nothing like knowing when you feel like you’re at your lowest, there is someone who has your back.”

She knew what he meant. Derek had always been that person for her, although there had been a twelve-year difference in her and her brother’s age. She hadn’t cared that people thought of her as her parents’ “oops” baby. It had taken them ten years before Derek had been born, and at fifty, her mother figured there was no way she could get pregnant again. She had been wrong.

Because her parents had been older, Derek had become more like an additional parent than an older brother. He took her everywhere, and whenever he returned home from college or the military, the two of them were inseparable. He had even taken her on his dates. He had done three tours of duty in Afghanistan.

It was while he had been stationed overseas that both her elderly parents died in an auto accident. She had been in her junior year of college. Derek took a year’s leave to be with her before going back to war, only to never return. To lose her parents and then her brother within three years of each other had been hard.

Hollis was convinced that was why Ryan took her in so easily. They had met at the FBI academy and married less than a year after graduating. He had promised to love, protect her, and be there for her for the rest of her days. He had lied. Their marriage had barely lasted two years.

“Is the coffee okay? You’re frowning.”

She glanced over at Locke. “Yes, the coffee is perfect. I was just thinking about something.”

At that moment, the doorbell rang. She appreciated the timely interruption. The last thing she wanted was for Locke to ask what she had been thinking about to make her frown.

“Excuse me,” he said, placing his coffee cup on his desk. “That’s probably the detectives.”

In a way, she hoped so. She was ready to find out anything they could share about Nick’s murder. What did they know? For the first time in two years, she felt she was finally involved in a case that she could sink her teeth into, and she was ready for action. But then she had to remind herself that Locke Dangerfield hadn’t hired her to play any part in this investigation.

Little did he know that on her way here, when she had learned about Nick Underwood’s death, she had decided she was all in, regardless of whether Locke wanted her to be or not. She would operate independently if she had to.

She smiled, thinking she rather liked being back in the trenches and would remain there until this case was solved.

CHAPTER 6

Locke might be wrong, but Detectives Tomlin and Connors appeared to have a better disposition today than they had yesterday. He found that rather strange when someone who was part of the case they were investigating had been killed less than twenty-four hours after being released from their custody.

“Do you have any more questions, Detectives?” he asked, trying to keep the irritation from his tone.

He was getting annoyed at the number of times Detective Connors seemed to glance over at Hollis. He had a feeling it had nothing to do with her involvement in the case, but with her being a woman. Granted, after her scuffle with Nick yesterday, she had appeared a little worn, but as far as Locke was concerned, she had still looked beautiful. To him, even more so, since he’d known she had kicked the man’s ass. But he was curious as to why Connors seemed so captivated by Hollis today.

It might be the way Hollis looked. She was dressed professionally in another business suit, with not a strand of her short hair out of place. And why had the detective stared so hard at her mouth whenever she answered one of his questions? And why did it matter to him that he had?

“We have no more questions,” Detective Connors said, standing. “It appears our line of questioning was the same as yours, and Nick Underwood provided the same responses.” He then glanced over at Hollis. “And I’m sure you’ve done your research on Underwood, Special Agent Calloway.”

“Yes, I did,” Detective.”

Locke frowned. “Why did he feel as if he was missing something here? It was obvious Connors knew Hollis was a former FBI agent. Something the man hadn’t known yesterday. That meant he had done research on her. It would have made sense for him to do so after determining a link between yesterday’s event and Barcos’ death. However, he had a feeling there was another reason he had said what he had. Especially when he had addressed her as if she was a current agent and not a former one.

“We’ll be going,” Detective Tomlin then said. “I trust if something turns up that we need to know about, you will tell us.”

Locke felt there was no need to tell the detectives that it would depend on what was discovered. His job was to prove Halifax was innocent and not to assist law enforcement in doing their job. For that reason, he said, “I’ll see you gentlemen out.”

Moments later, he returned to his office to find Hollis pacing. She stopped and glanced over at him when he entered the room. “I now know what I was trying to remember yesterday,” she said.

He lifted a brow. “About the watch?”