like you to call Patrick and get him to work on this. Have him report back to you, and you can keep us updated.”
Cole’s eyebrow rose.
“What?” Ethan asked.
“What happened to would you do this?”
“Sorry.” Ethan rubbed neck muscles as hard as rocks. “Something about this case is getting to me.”
“Something or someone?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Kat told me our client is the infamous Jennie who bailed on you.”
“Does no one in this family ever mind their own business?” Ethan scowled at his brother and headed toward the back of the gallery.
He could feel Cole’s eyes burning into his back. Too bad his brother chose this topic to take an interest in. Since he’d come home from a second tour in Iraq, he’d rarely gotten involved in anything personal, and Ethan hated to shut him down.
Fresh paint fumes caught his attention and he noticed a new coat of paint covering the ominous message. Good. He’d rather not see the threat again. He found Madeline and Linda in the refreshment area. Madeline stared down on Linda, who was sitting in a wrought-iron chair and fidgeting with the cuff of her jacket.
As he neared, Madeline looked up. “Ethan, good. Now we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She moved her focus back to her assistant. Working hard to keep his anger over Linda’s betrayal from his face, he nodded a greeting and waited for Cole to settle. He leaned against the wall, his ankles crossed in a casual pose, but Ethan saw the intensity in his brother’s eyes. Intensity constantly present since his return from Iraq. Linda cast him a wary gaze, so Ethan sat next to her, drawing her attention.
He kept his posture relaxed and leaned toward her. “Why don’t you tell me why you contacted the newspaper?”
“It’s my job.” She met his gaze with a hard stare, but her hands trembled, making him think she was hiding something.
“Explain.”
“I’m in charge of PR. After all the news stories ran about the break-in, I knew people would assume we’d canceled the event and no one would show up. If we don’t get a good crowd at an event, Madeline blames me.”
He ignored her jab at Madeline. “Do you routinely make this kind of decision?”
“Depends on the event.”
She was stonewalling him and his anger was starting to bubble up again. “But for this event you had the freedom to make all the PR decisions?”
“Yes.”
Madeline took a step closer and her painted-on eyebrows rose. “You knew I didn’t want the press to know about our plans.”
“No, I didn’t.” Linda looked away, but Ethan caught a flash of guilt in her eyes before she turned.
She was hiding something, but what? Had she decided to leak the info about Jennie to the newspaper on her own or had someone coerced her into doing it? Or did she simply not like working for Madeline and wanted to cause trouble?
Madeline circled the table and got in Linda’s face. “Don’t lie to me, Linda. I told you our plan was to keep publicity to a minimum and just call the invited patrons.”
“I—”
“Don’t lie again and say you didn’t know that.”
Linda crossed her arms and glared at Madeline.
Ethan was more certain she was concealing something, but he still didn’t know what, so he merely kept a curious gaze trained on her and waited for her to speak. People often talked during prolonged silences, revealing something they didn’t plan to say, just to cut the tension.
His phone rang, and he glanced at the caller ID. Jennie.
“Excuse me.” He moved away for privacy. “Everything okay?”
“Fine. I just wanted to see if you were done talking to Linda.”
He sighed out a breath. “Not yet.”
“But you think she’ll tell you something to help us find this creep, right?” she asked, hope blossoming in her tone.
He heard Madeline’s raised voice in the background, threatening to fire Linda if she didn’t come clean. He glanced back at them. Linda still had her arms crossed and glared up at her boss, defiance now mixed with anger. Even if he kept questioning Linda tonight, he doubted she’d admit her reasons for calling the newspaper, or any connection to the gallery break-in. They’d need to do some legwork to find out why and how she was involved.
He turned his attention back to the phone. He hated to do it, but he had to tell Jennie that they were no closer to finding and stopping her attacker from coming after her again.
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