“Nothing. I’m going to shower.” She got up and went back to the bedroom, leaving the phone on the counter.
When I heard the water running, I picked the phone up and swept across it.
A passcode screen popped up.
She’d put in a passcode? What the fuck? I held my thumb on the home button, wondering if she’d overridden my fingerprint identity, but the phone unlocked. I quickly scrolled through the phone log but it was empty. So were the text messages and the contacts list.
I went to my online account and pulled up the phone log. There was one twenty-eight minute call to a Miami area code this morning. I signed out and dialed the number.
“Michael Avis Investigations,” a woman with a brisk voice answered.
What. The fuck? “Mr. Avis, please, it’s urgent.” I held back my accent.
“I’m sorry, sir. He’s on another call. May I take a message?”
“I’ll wait.”
“It could be awhile.”
“I’ll hold.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Sam Archer.” The lie rolled off my tongue.
“Thank you, Mr. Archer. I’m putting you on hold.”
For two minutes I listened to a recording about the thoroughness of Avis Investigations, then a street-hardened voice came on the line.
“Mr. Archer, I don’t believe we’ve met. This is Mike Avis. What can I do for you?”
“You’ve met my wife, Nicole Archer.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny my client list, Mr. Archer. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”
I made up a bullshit identity. “It’s Sergeant Major Archer, United States Marine Corps. And I’m sure you can appreciate that while I’m on deployment, it becomes a delicate situation dealing with a wife who calls a private investigator this morning only hours after learning her ex-boyfriend is dead at the hands of his father. So I’m asking, as a favor, to know what that conversation was about.”
Avis sighed. “First, sir, I would like to thank you for your service.”
Asshole. “It’s an honor to serve.”
“Yes, well, that said, you’ve put me in an awkward position.”
He should’ve told me to fuck off. The fact that he didn’t would work to my advantage but it earned him a spot on my shit list for his lack of ethics. “Then may I suggest we speak hypothetically, off the record? I’ll pay you for your time.”
“No, no need to pay me.”
I held back a smirk, just barely.
“I’m former military myself. Army, First Infantry Division. But that was a long time ago. Listen, I can’t discuss anything about any of my clients with you but hypothetically, if I had spoken with a young woman today, I can’t recall any mention of a recently deceased boyfriend or his father.”
So she didn’t call this jackass about Stone or Carter? “Thank you, Mr. Avis. I appreciate your time.” What the fuck was going on?
“Good luck, sir.”
I hung up and erased the call log. I pulled out my new phone and sent a quick text to André.
Me: Nic called a PI in Miami this am. Mike Avis.
André replied a few seconds later.
André: Wtf?
Me: I dunno. You heard of him?
André: Yeah. Want me to call him?
Me: I already did. Said I was her husband n wanted to kno what she was after. He wouldn’t say but I don’t think this is about Carter or Stone
André: Did you ask her?
Me: No
André: Because?
Me: It’s complicated
André: I’ll see what I can find out. Give me five.
I drank my coffee and waited. It took him three minutes.
André: He wouldn’t tell me either but I did get him to say he referred her to someone else because what she wanted wasn’t his “specialty”
Me: Wtf does that mean? He spoke with her for 28 mins. How long does a referral take?
André: Don’t know. But Avis specializes in background checks and cyber shit. Field work isn’t his thing.
Christ.
Me: Thx
André: Later. Good luck.
I rubbed a hand over my face. I should’ve been in the shower with Siren, not wondering what the fuck she was hiding. I didn’t want to push her, not after everything she’d been through, but fuck if I was going to sit back and get played.
I strode into the guest room, intending to wait for her, but she’d left the bathroom door cracked. I waltzed in and leaned against the vanity, arms crossed.
A few minutes later, my heart took a hit as she came out of the shower naked and reached for a towel. Her back to me, I got a taste of her gorgeous curves and the ink that made my mouth water. My dick didn’t care what the hell was going on in my head. All it wanted was a repeat of last night.