A Guilty Affair (5 page)

“Which proves absolutely nothing.”

“Maybe if you put me in front of a police sketch artist, we could come up with a composite of this man, then run it through the system to find out if there's a match.”

Bemused, Noah shook his head at her. “If you've got it all figured out, what do you need me for?”

Riley frowned, biting her lower lip for a moment. “Because no one will talk to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when I went to see Chief Pittman a few weeks after the funeral, he treated me as if I were a hysterical woman who couldn't cope with the death of my fiancé. When I told him about the German man at the funeral, he dismissed it as coincidence.” Her mouth twisted cynically at the memory. “He pretty much patted me on my head, offered his condolences, and sent me home with the promise that he wouldn't mention a word of our conversation to anyone else, because he knew how much it would hurt Trevor's comrades to know what my concerns were.”

“He's right,” Noah said grimly. “Every one of those cops worships the ground you walk on, Riley. If they find out what you're doing, what you're
trying
to do, they'd never forgive you.”

Riley looked him square in the eye. “That's a chance I'm willing to take.” She paused. “But I guess you're not.”

His expression darkened. “My decision not to help you has nothing to do with what other people will think.”

“Are you sure about that?” she challenged.

“Damn it, Riley,” he growled, leaning forward in his chair. “I don't have to sit here and defend myself to you. Nothing you can say or do would convince me to launch an investigation into Trevor's death. I spoke extensively to every last member of the Officer Involved Shooting Team responsible for investigating Trevor's murder. You don't have enough evidence to suggest there was anything more to the shooting than what the OIST determined. And if you were a complete stranger waltzing into my office, I'd tell you the same damn thing!”

“All right then,” Riley said with measured calm. It was time to play her ace in the hole. “Maybe you're not the person I should be speaking to.”

Noah just watched her, saying nothing.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Riley stood and walked to the door, expecting Noah to call out to her. He didn't, even as she put her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned. She silently counted to ten, then opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

She got as far as the supply closet before she spun on her heel and marched back to Noah's office, stepping inside and closing the door.

To his credit, he didn't greet her with a triumphant grin. He said quietly, “You don't want to involve Kenneth in this matter, because deep down inside, you know if you're wrong about Trevor, you'll never forgive yourself for calling his character into question, and causing anyone else to do the same.”

Riley swallowed with difficulty, her back pressed to the door. He was right. God help her, he was right. And even if her suspicions about Trevor were correct, she knew she would keep the truth to herself. It would be her own terrible secret to bear. Hers—and Noah's.

Closing her eyes, she tried one final appeal. “You have inside connections, Noah. People who would give you information, no questions asked. Believe me, if I could do this on my own, I would have a long time ago.”

“I'm sorry, Riley.” For the first time, she heard a trace of genuine regret in his voice. “I can't help you.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Can't or won't?”

“Both.” His expression softened. “I think you should see someone, Riley. About the dreams—”

Anger swelled in her chest. “And here that's what I thought I was doing,” she said bitterly. “So much for
that
idea.”

Without another word, she yanked the door open and started down the corridor, nearly colliding with Janie, who was emerging from the supply closet with an armful of Xerox paper.

She took one look at Riley's face and frowned. “Are you all right?”

Riley blinked back the sting of tears. She would
not
cry. One way or another, she'd walk out of there with her pride intact.

“I'm fine,” she told Janie, her words belied by the tremor in her voice.

Janie pursed her lips, glancing in the direction Riley had just come from. “Listen, do you have a minute?”

Riley glanced at her watch. “I really should be going. I have an appointment with the caterers for my grandmother's party in a few weeks.”

“Oh, yeah, that's right. Her seventy-fifth birthday bash. Mama Hubbard mentioned something about it a few days ago. She and your grandmother were talking about the party when they saw each other at the senior center. She told us we were all invited.”

“Of course,” Riley said, managing a wan smile as she followed Janie down the hallway to the reception area. “The formal invitations will be mailed out this week. In fact, that's one of the projects my grandmother and I will be working on this afternoon.”

“I won't keep you much longer then,” Janie said, loading the package of paper into the printer. “I wanted to run an idea past you. You can take your time and think about it, then get back to me at your earliest convenience.”

“Um, okay,” Riley said slowly, her curiosity piqued. “What is it?”

“Well, I don't know whether Noah mentioned it or not,” Janie said, frowning as the printer paper got jammed, “but we're thinking about hiring another private investigator to help with the caseload. We've got clients coming out of our ears, and with Daniela being on her honeymoon for a month, we're really feeling the pinch.”

Riley frowned. “I don't understand. Are you asking me to fill in for Daniela?”

“Not exactly. You have to be licensed to work as a private investigator in the state of Texas, and that process takes months. However,” she said, pulling out the printer tray, “there are things you can do while working under a licensed investigator.”

“Such as?”

“Well, you can help with online research, background checks, asset and court searches, missing person searches, serving legal papers. You could even help Noah and Kenneth conduct surveillances and install hidden videos to protect children from abusive babysitters. You could be, like, their apprentice.”

Riley was intrigued, even as a germ of an idea began to take root in her mind. “You mean I can do all those things without a license?”

Janie nodded, giving the printer one good whack with the flat of her palm. “You'd be really good at it, too. Being an investigative journalist who also specializes in law enforcement, you're already familiar with a lot of laws and criminal codes. Plus you can probably do research in your sleep.”

Riley grinned. “That's definitely true.”

“You'd be perfect.” Janie gave a satisfied nod when the printer jam finally cleared. “I've got my hands full with the phones, scheduling appointments, doing the bookkeeping and payroll, maintaining the case-management system—not to mention a gazil-lion other administrative tasks that fall squarely on my shoulders. The fellas have divided Daniela's caseload pretty evenly between themselves, but there's only so much they can do, given the long hours they already work. They'd really benefit from having someone step in to help with a lot of the leg-work, even if only on a part-time basis.”

“What do Kenneth and Noah think about all this?” Riley asked carefully.

“I think it's the best idea I've heard all morning,” Kenneth said, emerging from his office.

Riley turned to see him smiling easily at her, hands tucked into his pockets as he propped a shoulder against the wall. “Janie's right—although my brother and I have been too stubborn to admit it. We could really use some help.”

“So, would you be interested, Riley?” Janie asked hopefully.

Before Riley could answer, Noah's deep voice interrupted. “Interested in what?”

Janie glanced over her shoulder as Noah appeared in the entryway beside his brother. “We may have found the solution to our staffing shortage,” she told him.

“What?”

“You're looking at her,” Janie said with a nod toward Riley.

Noah frowned, his dark eyes meeting hers. “Riley's not a licensed P.I.”

“She doesn't have to be for what we need her for,” Kenneth pointed out.

“So are you interested, Riley?” Janie asked again. “I mean, I know you didn't take a leave of absence to come home and work, but if you've got any free time to spare—”

“She doesn't,” Noah said through gritted teeth.

“Actually,” Riley said lightly, holding his steely gaze, “I do have time. As it turns out, I'm going to have
plenty
of time to spare. So, yes, I think I will take you up on your offer, Janie.”

“Great,” Janie said, grinning from ear to ear.

For the first time since arriving in San Antonio, Riley felt a glimmer of hope that all was not lost. After the showdown in his office, Noah may have thought he'd seen the last of her. But as any savvy reporter knew, the key to landing a good scoop was persistence.

Persistence was Riley's middle name.

The moment Riley left the building, Noah ground out tersely, “I'm calling a staff meeting.
Now
.”

Janie glanced at the ringing telephone. “But what about—”

“Let voice mail pick it up,” Noah growled over his shoulder, jerking his tie loose as he strode down the hallway toward the conference room that would eventually be converted into a fourth office. Kenneth and Janie followed more slowly.

“What the hell was that all about?” Noah demanded once they were seated at the large conference table that dominated the long, narrow room. “Since when do we make decisions about hiring personnel without everyone's input?”

Kenneth and Janie traded amused glances. “If memory serves me correctly,” his brother drawled, “we started that practice last year, when you and Daniela ganged up on me and offered Janie a job against my wishes.”

Noah scowled. “That was different.”

“How's that? I had objections to my wife working here, just as you obviously have very strong objections to Riley working here. The only difference I see is that my reasons—though they've since been proved wrong—at least made sense at the time.”

Noah's scowl deepened. “I have perfectly legitimate reasons for not wanting Riley to work here.”

Kenneth and Janie looked at him expectantly.

“Well?” Janie prompted after a prolonged moment of silence. “Let's hear your reasons for not wanting her here.”

Because I'm in love with her, and the idea of working beside her every damned day and not being able to touch her, and tell her how I feel, is the worst form of torture imaginable
.

Aloud he said, “For starters, I thought we'd already decided to hire another private investigator,
not
an assistant.”

“We did,” Kenneth agreed. “But getting the right person on board may take a couple of months. And we also decided we didn't want to hire another P.I. without Daniela's input. So either way we have to wait for her to get back from Italy.”

“Then why don't we just hold off on hiring anyone—period?”

“Because we need help now. We all know that.”

“And before you say Riley's not qualified,” Janie chimed in, “I think we can all agree she's
more
than capable of doing the job. She's an award-winning investigative journalist, for crying out loud. If she wasn't returning to D.C. in two months, I'd offer her the P.I. position in a heartbeat.”

Noah countered, “She's not licensed.”

“So she'd get licensed,” Janie said with a shrug. “No big deal.”

“It
is
a big deal,” Noah snapped.

His brother and Janie stared at him, their eyes alight with avid curiosity.

“Why is it a big deal, Noah?” Kenneth asked quietly. “The way Janie and I see it, it's a win-win situation for everyone. I don't know Riley's reasons for taking a sabbatical from work, but she's obviously not opposed to pinch-hitting for us here at the office. She'll probably welcome the opportunity to get out of the house for a while and do something productive with her time.”

Janie chuckled. “It's not as if she's gonna sit around baby sitting her grandmother. Florinda Kane has more of an active social life than all three of us combined.”

Noah couldn't argue with that, much as he would've liked to. So he raised another issue. “Who's going to train Riley? I sure as hell don't have time, nor does Kenneth.”

“I'll work with her,” Janie blithely volunteered. “I can already tell she's going to be a quick learner.”