Not a surprise. Jeff had the angry-guy thing down. He threatened and postured and refused to back down even when common sense demanded it. “Sounds like motive.”
“In worse news, he has skills. Has taken a bunch of survivalist courses and can definitely shoot.”
That qualified as terrible news. Jeff had skills, and that, combined with the anger festering inside him, made him very dangerous. “It would have been easier if he actually went into the military instead of pretending to.”
“Point is, Makena picked a bad guy to make an enemy.”
Apparently she possessed a knack for that. When Shane talked to her about everything else once this case ended, he’d bring up that point, too. He’d never be able to survive knowing she lived her life without taking precautions. The website or no, she was Holt’s sister and had ties to Corcoran, which made her safety a constant concern.
So did the men she knew, but Shane vowed to handle that part. “There’s more.”
That headache came roaring back to life. “You mean the other guys on the site?”
“Look closely at a guy named Frank Jay.” He was a wild card for Shane. He didn’t get the relationship or how the man had gone from foe to friend, but he’d figure it out. But he was not the main target. No, Shane reserved that space for someone else. “You should also do an in-depth search on the site’s owner, Tyler Cowls.”
Cam’s eyebrow lifted. “I take it your meeting with him didn’t go well.”
“There’s something about him.” Shane actually didn’t like anything about the guy, but the investigation would tell him what he needed to know.
“Anything specific?”
Shane heard the shower and knew Makena had dropped the tee and stepped under the spray. He tried to block the thought of her naked. “Tyler is in love with Makena.”
Cam whistled. “That’s a problem.”
“No kidding.” She protected the guy and he’d all but drooled over her. That made Shane the outsider, and he hated the sensation.
“I meant a problem for you.” This time Cam laughed. “Did you tell him there’s no room for him since you’re already in love with her?”
And then there was that. The needling he’d get from his friends as more and more information about this case came out. Forget Holt—the other guys could handle the verbal battle just fine in his absence.
Since Shane didn’t want Makena shutting off the water and overhearing something annoying, he tried one more time to get control of the conversation. “Keep your voice down.”
“That’s not a denial.”
Shane hadn’t even realized that had whizzed by him until it was too late. Probably better that way, as the idea of standing there insisting he felt nothing for her made something twist in his gut. “Just do the intensive background checks.”
Some of the amusement faded from Cam’s face. “We also need to know what case she’s working on now, or just worked on. Someone tipped someone off and this exploded. I’m betting she’s getting close to a piece of information someone doesn’t want revealed.”
Shane had been so lost in trying to stay away from her that he’d missed an easy check. Her work touched a lot of lives. The idea of a recent case setting this off sounded the most rational of all possibilities. “Makes sense.”
“Of course it does.” Cam slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You look awful, by the way.”
The mix of no sleep and a whack of guilt did that to a guy. “Did I ask?”
“It’s much more fun just to tell you.”
Not for Shane. Nothing about this case or his time with Makena ran smoothly. He felt two steps behind and half out of it. A terrible combination for someone on bodyguard duty.
Not that he thought she was in danger around him. She wasn’t. He’d dive in front of her if he had to, but his concentration kept getting tugged and pulled. Combine that with the confusing pieces of the case and the high risk of danger, and the worries of not being prepared kept pounding him.
He tried to put it all into words. “I have this feeling.”
“Your instincts are usually pretty good, so what kind?”
He could pretty it up, but he didn’t try. With Cam he didn’t have to. They’d been through everything as a team, and Shane didn’t play games with duty and team. Still, spitting it out meant giving life to the fear, and he hated to do that.
Cam’s eyes narrowed. “Shane? What feeling?”
“That this is not going to end well.” And it grew stronger every single day.
Chapter Ten
Makena thought meeting Frank in the park seemed a bit extreme, but he’d insisted on privacy and quiet. Shot down every suggestion that would have allowed them to sit down inside. No, he wanted out in the open, a fact that had Shane delivering an unending lecture for the entire drive over.