Kate Donovan - Parallel Lies

“No,” she murmured, holding up her hand to stop him. “He’s got a point. If he’s the best Perimeter’s got—and that’s a scary thought by the way—he needs to hear this.”

Zack walked over to Theo’s desk and sat on the edge. “Okay, let’s have it.”

Sabrina studied him, again trying to figure out what had impressed her uncle enough to give this guy her father’s job. Zack was dressed in faded jeans and a navy-blue polo shirt, barely disguising a good, lean build. His forearms in particular were pure muscle, all of which would make him a good bodyguard, she conceded. But head of Perimeter operations? No way.

It was discouraging, but she reminded herself all she really needed was background information, not “Sully level” skills. So she gave him a perfunctory smile and said, “The guy’s name is Johnny Miller. He’s an attorney. Supposedly with a tax firm. He’s been dating Shelby, aka Michelle, for a couple of weeks. They took off on a trip and I haven’t heard from her in almost four days. We’ve never been out of contact for that long.”

“She didn’t say where they were going?”

“Some sort of tropical island. He wanted to surprise her.” Sabrina bit her lip. “It all happened pretty quickly. And it seemed innocent. It probably is. I hope I’m overreacting, but, like I said, we keep in touch. Always. No exceptions. Four days for us is like a lifetime.”

Theo cleared his throat. “It sounds like she’s in love.”

“Head over heels,” Sabrina confirmed. “But even so, she’d keep in touch. She even told me she would. Listen.” Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out a recorder disguised as a pen. “She left two messages on my answering machine. I rerecorded them on this.”

“Wait!” Theo arched an eyebrow. “That’s Perimeter-issue. Where’d you get it?”

“It was a gift from my father.”

“You weren’t supposed to take anything with you to RAP that night. Clean slate, remember?”

“Dad trained me better than that,” she said with a shrug. “I took the things I needed to protect Shell. We couldn’t know for sure whether Adonis Zenner would come after us next. I had to be ready.”

Theo was clearly struggling not to smile. “I escorted you personally. All you had were the clothes on your back.”

“And the kitten,” she reminded him, biting back a smile of her own. “The pet carrier had a false bottom. Big enough to hide a few tools. And my gun, of course.”

“Are you armed now?” Zack interrupted, eyeing her purse.

“None of your business.”

“Actually, protecting me is part of Zack’s business,” Theo told her gently. “I don’t allow guests to carry weapons in my home.”

“It’s outside. In the trunk of my car. Frisk me if you don’t believe me,” she added in Zack’s direction.

“That’s not necessary.” Theo stepped between his two visitors. “You were going to play a recording for us, weren’t you?”

“Right. There are two messages, both from Shell.”

Sabrina pushed the switch, and Shelby’s recorded voice said, “Hey, Brie. Pick up if you’re there. I was hoping we’d get to say goodbye. Johnny’s whisking me away for a week of lust on some top-secret tropical island. We’ll be incommunicado, but I’ll call you as soon as I get home. Take care. We love you!”

The first call disconnected, then a second message began.

“Breezie?” Shelby’s voice was hushed. “I’ve only got a sec. Johnny was in the room before, and he’s really hot on this incommunicado thing, so I’ve been pretending to go along. But obviously I’m going to call you. And I’ll have my cell with me, so leave me messages, okay? I know I’ll miss you. Plus, I’ve been getting a funny feeling lately—like in the Dad days. I’ll be worried if I don’t hear from you. Watch your back, okay?

“But don’t worry about me,” Shelby’s voice continued, “because I’ll be with Johnny, so I’ll be safe. And happy. Sooo happy. Can you believe how great he is? And before you roll your eyes, I’m not just talking about the sex. He’s so different from other guys. Doesn’t just go to sleep when he’s done, you know? We stay up for hours afterward, talking about everything under the sun. It’s so—oops, I hear him coming. Gotta go. Love ya!”

Sabrina switched off the recorder, trying to keep a cool head. But the sound of Shelby’s sweet, trusting voice had brought a lump to the older sister’s throat again, just as it had every time she’d listened to the messages.

“How long ago did you say she left?” Zack prodded.

“It was Saturday morning.”

Something flickered in his green eyes and she knew that even a jerk like Zack Lansing thought four days without a call was too long.

But she wanted him to be wrong, so she insisted, “Shelby doesn’t have her cell phone with her. I know that because yesterday I finally began to panic, so I went to her house. Her phone was lying right on the kitchen table. The innocent explanation is that Johnny took it out of her purse when she wasn’t looking. Because he wanted her all to himself. She didn’t realize it was missing until they were already in the middle of nowhere and now she can’t call even if she wants to. Or something. But…”

“Take it easy,” Zack advised. “We’ll check the guy out. We’ve probably got information on him already.”

“Really?”

“Sure. We don’t stalk you or anything, but we’ve always kept tabs.” Turning to Theo, he asked, “Where’s last week’s report?”

“We don’t get weekly reports on the girls anymore,” Theo told him with a wince. “Just monthly ones. The next one isn’t due for a few days.”

“Monthly? I never authorized that.”

“I know,” Theo replied. “I did.”

Zack’s eyes flashed and Sabrina thought he was going to lose his temper again. Then he shifted direction, literally and figuratively, and pushed a series of buttons on the phone on Theo’s desk.

After three rings, a recorded voice said over the speaker, “You’ve reached Connor Boyle’s message service. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.”

“Connor, it’s Zack. Where the hell are you? I’m at Theo’s and we need to talk right away. Call back on his home number, and make it quick.”

Breaking the connection with a flourish, Zack gave Theo a scowl. “That guy never answers his phone. What the hell are we paying him for?” Without waiting for a response, he asked Sabrina, “Where did Shelby meet this Miller guy?”

“At my house.”

“Huh?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a nice story, actually. Like she said in her message, he’s a sweet guy. And he’s probably harmless. But I had to know for sure. So I came here.”

Theo gave her an encouraging smile. “We’re glad you did. Aren’t we, Zack?”

“Yeah. Thrilled. Let’s hear the sweet story.”

Sabrina settled into a gray-velvet wing chair. “A few weeks ago, my cat disappeared. He does that a lot, so I didn’t take it too seriously. But after a week passed with no sign of him, I started posting notices around the neighborhood. The next day, Johnny came to my door with Zorro. That’s the cat’s name. Anyway, he had a cast on his leg. Zorro, not Johnny,” she clarified sheepishly. “Johnny explained that he had found him a week earlier, lying by the side of the road, hurt. So he took him to the vet.”

“Miller lives in your neighborhood?”

“No. He was just visiting his sister in Sacramento. He’s from Seattle. Apparently he was out jogging when he found Zorro. Anyway, I was grateful to him. Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Zack drawled. “Go on.”

Sabrina wasn’t sure what he was implying, but she was sure she didn’t like it. Turning away from him, she addressed her uncle. “I invited him in. He stayed for dinner and we had a lot of fun. He seemed like such a nice guy.”