Foundation for Three (6 page)

“Sure. Anything.”

She implied she’d eat whatever he ordered. From his phone, he looked at the menu and called something in. A return text stated the food would arrive in forty-five minutes. “There’ll be here in less than an hour.”

“That’s great. You look worried,” she said. “Was it bad news on the phone?”

Time to tell her.

Chapter Five

Z
oey studied Pete’s face. Where he’d been in control a moment ago, his cheeks had suddenly paled, and he appeared conflicted.

“That was Thad,” Pete said.

Thad wasn’t a common name. “Thad Dalton?”

“Yes.”

Her stomach cramped. Why would Thad be calling her construction guy? They must be friends, but now wasn’t the time to figure out the exact connection. What was important was if something had happened since she left the hospital. “Is he still okay?”

“He told me about being shot.”

She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Had I known you two were friends, I would have mentioned his name.”

Pete paced in front of her and stabbed a hand through his hair. “You couldn’t have known. Actually, we’re roommates.”

Thad had never mentioned Pete, but Thad’s cover was that he was married. “How about I get you something to drink?” Not only did she want to return the favor, she got the sense he didn’t plan on staying around to eat with her, and she wanted him to.

He looked to the side as if he didn’t know his next move. “Sure.”

She stood, and as she headed to the kitchen, he followed. “Beer or soda?”

“I’d love a beer. Thanks.” She handed him one from the fridge.

Then, as if it were totally natural, Pete slid onto one of the new high chairs that was positioned on opposite sides of the large center island. “It’s just that the damn fool drives me crazy,” Pete said. “He takes too many risks in my opinion.”

“All policemen seem to take risks, but it wasn’t like Thad asked the man who’d grabbed me to shoot him.” She slid onto a seat across from him. “What
exactly
did he say?”

“Thad told me that he took a bullet to the arm, and that you were the woman who’d been held hostage.”

“How did he sound?” She hoped Thad hadn’t had a relapse.

She had yet to wrap her head around the fact that they knew each other. What were the odds? Hell, probably pretty high. It was a fairly small town.

“Tired.”

“Did he talk about how he was feeling?”

“No.”

His one-word responses weren’t helpful. “Was he calling because he needed you to visit him in the hospital?” Thad was his friend. Pete should stop by.

“I’ll see him tomorrow.” A cute smile filled his face as he looked off to the side. “I’ll bug him so much, he’ll heal faster just so he can leave.”

Those two seemed to have a good bond. “Is there anything I can do?” If she kept busy, the elusive evil ether swirling in her brain might disappear.

“Do?” He pressed his lips together and slightly shook his head. “I can’t think of anything.” His cell rang again and he whipped it out of his pocket. Instead of the concern she expected, a bit of frustration flashed across his face. “It’s my former partner, Alex. Excuse me.” He slipped off his chair. He tapped the button and answered it, then walked into the living room.

He kept his voice too low for her to hear. Because her drink was in the living room, she retrieved another one from the fridge.

He returned a minute later. “Once again, I apologize.”

“No need. Do you have to leave or something?”

“No. Alex just needed some information. The drainage system on one of my projects wasn’t installed correctly. It’s an unexpected expense, and he wanted to know what I wanted him to do about it. I told him to fix it. Something like that can sink a project. Literally.” A quick smile appeared then disappeared.

“He’s at the office? I thought you said he was your
former
partner.”

“It’s a long story. And not very interesting.” He kicked back his beer.

“I’m a good listener.” She thought that would get another smile out of him, but maybe he didn’t know what she did for a living.

“You asked.” He glanced to the ceiling. “I don’t know where to start.”

She’d rather hear about him and Thad, but understanding his connection to Alex would be good, too. “How about when you met?”

“That’s easy. I met Alex when we were eight. His dad was my father’s gardener.” He studied her, perhaps to see if she’d react to the fact that his family was well off. She didn’t. “My father is a bit, ah, stuck up. You see, Dad’s a lawyer. A very successful lawyer. Hired help was
beneath him
.”

Ouch
. The name registered. “You aren’t Russell Banks’s son are you?” Of Banks, Emery, Caldwell, and Pearson.

Now his face reddened for real. “The one and only. Just so you know, if you ever run into dear old Dad, my family calls me Parker instead of Pete.” He scrunched his nose. “But I go by my first name.”

She mentally said his name and almost giggled. “Peter Parker. You’re Spider—”

He held up his bottle. “I know. Trust me, I know. But Pete isn’t as ostentatious as Parker. If anyone other than my family calls me Parker or Spiderman, well, let’s just say he’ll be singing in the choir.”

She did enjoy his ability to laugh at himself. “Let’s go back to your father’s actions toward the help. Are you implying your dad was a bigot?”

“Totally. He won’t deny it either.”

That was a shame. Pete seemed to be the opposite. “How did that make you feel?” As soon as his brows rose, she spotted her mistake. “Sorry. I slipped into shrink mode, didn’t I?”

“You’re a psychologist?”

“Yes.” His foreman knew, but he must not have mentioned it to Pete.

“I’ll answer your question. I was pissed and disappointed. But being the eight-year-old brat that I was, I went out of my way to be friends with Alex.”

A rebel. Good for him for standing up for what was right. She suspected he got his principles from some adult figure. “I take it your mom approved?”

His eyes slightly widened. “You’re perceptive. Mom encouraged me to be with whomever I wanted.” He leaned back and cast his gaze to the side. The tension around his eyes disappeared for a moment. “She never judges anyone.”

“She sounds like a wonderful person.” Zoey meant it. “But I’d like to hear the rest of the story.”

“Alex and I became great friends. He worked really hard at soccer and eventually received a scholarship to Montana State. I joined him there. When we graduated, we both worked with a construction firm. I worked with the manager and Alex was an accountant part time and joined the crew when he was needed. After a few years, we both got tired of answering to others, so we came back to Rock Hard and started our own firm. For a twenty-percent ownership in the company, Dad backed us. End of story.”

She doubted that was all. “I’m surprised your father would give money to you, seeing that Alex was involved.”

He shrugged. “Money is money. Maybe he gave up trying to separate us.”

Separate them? Interesting
. “When did Alex’s status change to
former
?”

“Two years ago, his dad became ill. He needed a lot of money for the chemo, so I bought Alex out. His dad had moved from Rock Hard to Georgia to be with his family, so Alex went to stay with his parents.”

That couldn’t have been easy to buy out his partner. She wondered if his dad helped with the financial transaction, but it wasn’t her place to ask. “When did he come back?”

“Two weeks ago. His father had passed about a month before, and his mom moved in with her widowed sister.”

Before she was able to ask any more questions, the doorbell rang. She jumped up to pay, when a strong ache stabbed her eye, and she grabbed the counter.

Pete was by her side in a second. “You okay? Sit back down. I got this.”

It was her house. She should pay. Before she could even recall where she’d put her purse, Pete returned with the tantalizing food. She inhaled deeply, and despite being exhausted, the muscles in her neck loosened.

“Let me get my wallet.”

Pete placed the two large bags in front of her. “It’s on me. For starters, I promised I’d be done today. Would have, too, if my worker hadn’t gone AWOL.”

So, that was what happened. “It must be tough to have to rely on others to get the job done.”

“You got that right.”

She nodded to the food. “Then thank you. I’m actually happy you were here instead of your missing worker.” The hostage situation and Thad’s injury must have cut right through her filter. But it was the truth. Had she come home to an empty house and broken down, no telling how she’d have coped.

“Well, I’m glad I could be here for you, too.”

How sweet was that? It felt odd to be on the receiving end of advice, but she’d been pretty needy.

As if Pete had lived here for months, he found two plates and some paper napkins that he stacked in a pile on the table. He drew in an audible breath and his lids fluttered closed. “Smells awesome.”

“It does.” Feeling stronger, she pushed back her stool. “I’ll find some silverware.”

“Got chopsticks right here.” He waved them.

She was going to say they needed a fork to pile the food on their plate but tipping the container worked for her. “Care to share how you and Thad met?”

“You were the shrink who was with Thad during his sting operation, right?”

She found it interesting that he redirected the attention away from himself. Once her mind settled, she’d have to find out why. He seemed to know a lot about Thad’s cases, but if they roomed together, it made sense. “Guilty.”

Pete dumped a little food from each container on his plate. Make that a lot from each container. She didn’t mind, as she wasn’t a big eater.

“Was that weird?” he asked.

“Was what weird?”

“Talking to someone about shrink stuff when you know it’s fake.”

Most people would draw that conclusion. “That was the odd thing about it. It was, yet it wasn’t.” She scooped up some Lo Mein and took a bite. “I was there pretending to be Thad’s therapist. We left the door open in case the killer walked by. Though I had to ask questions that were related to death, we actually had some good talks. Thad is a deep person.”

“I know.” He immediately stuffed so many noodles into his mouth that his cheeks puffed out. He swallowed then grinned, probably because she’d widened her eyes at the amount of food he’d jammed in there.

Too many unanswered questions swam in her head. “So tell me how the owner of his own construction company ended up with a detective for a roommate.” She really wanted to know why some woman hadn’t snatched up either of them already. Thad was divorced, which meant he was eligible again. Or was she missing something? Men in their mid-thirties who had established careers didn’t usually live together unless they were a couple. Were they?
Crap
. And here, she really liked Thad.
Hell, I think Pete is great, too.

“Well, let’s see. About eighteen months ago, I was finishing up the construction of a convenience store on Valley and Third when some thugs came in the middle of the night and broke the windows and sprayed graffiti everywhere. Fuck. It was a mess.”

“I bet that broke your heart.”

“Yes, and even though insurance paid for it, the lost time to repaint and reinstall those big plate glass windows set me back.”

From what Cade had told her, Thad worked for the Street Crime Unit. He was in charge of dealing with the gangs. “Was Thad the lead on the case?”

“You got it. Turns out it was a gang initiation stunt. We’d both grown up here, but our paths didn’t cross.” He held up his hand. “I knew of him in junior high, but since I was older, we didn’t associate with each other back then.”

“What about high school?” Age differences didn’t mean as much once a student entered ninth or tenth grade.

He waited a beat. “I went to private school.”

She smiled. “So did I.”

He gave her a high five. “Anyway, after we met again, we hit it off right away. At first we thought we had nothing in common, but after I ran into him at Banner’s Bar, we found out that we did. I used to hang out with his cousin.”