“Hey, it wasn’t my idea. Blame the guy who hired me and paid me five thousand dollars in cash.”
“Who did hire you?” Spencer asked.
“It was in a bar at a recruitment fair.” She gave a bitter little laugh. “I haven’t made it into the movies yet.”
“And who lives here?” He gestured to the house.
“I have no clue. This is where my cab is meeting me. No offense, guys, but small towns are not my scene. The guy who hired me made me stay hidden at that ranch place for a few days. When he said it would be okay to leave, I walked as far and as fast as I could.” As she was talking, a cloud of dust in the distance signaled the approach of a vehicle. “This is my ride.”
“Not so fast.” As the cab pulled up, Spencer signaled to the driver to keep going. “That ‘ranch place’ is going to seem like a palace compared to where I’m taking you.”
* * *
Darkness was falling as Spencer sat on the bench in Katrina’s yard and watched her put Holly and Dobby through their paces on the training course.
“Suzie said they did some good work today demonstrating techniques to the dog owners in her classes, but they haven’t had their usual walk,” she explained.
“Boris doesn’t have the same problem.” He stroked his partner’s ears and the dog rolled his eyes with a blissful expression. “He has a daily workout routine whether I’m there or not.”
When the dogs had completed their drill, she gave them a treat as a reward, then tossed a few balls across the yard for them to chase. Spencer’s heart gave a glad little leap when she came to sit next to him.
“Did we learn anything today?” she asked. “Because I’m feeling more confused than ever.”
He considered the question. “We only spent one day following Leigh, so it was a snapshot of her activities. From what we saw, she—and Micheline—are on the up-and-up.”
“Are you saying we have it wrong about the AAG? Cordelia said she stayed at the ranch when she was pretending to be Christie Foster.”
“But Leigh Dennings denied that they had any record of Christie as an AAG member and, to be fair, Christie didn’t actually exist. It’s possible that whoever hired Cordelia could have kept her hidden, even from the other AAG members. Right now, the next great actress to hit our screens is sulking and refusing to talk.”
“She didn’t strike me as the sort of person who could keep that up for long,” Katrina said.
“I’ve always said we should be objective.” Dobby dropped a ball at his feet and Spencer threw it across the yard. All three dogs bounded after it. “The AAG could be the socially responsible organization it appears on the surface, or it could be a cover for something darker.”
“Forget being objective. Just this once, tell me what you really think is going on,” Katrina said.
“Right now, with the limited evidence available, I think it’s possible a few shady characters have been drawn to the AAG. They could be using a genuine do-good group to disguise their own criminal activities.”
“Do you develop this open-mindedness during your police training?” she asked. “Do they teach you to give everyone the benefit of the doubt? Oh, hold on. I didn’t get that, did I?”
The words stung, but it was the look in her eyes that felt like someone was holding a knife to his skin. There must be something he could say to undo the hurt he’d caused, some way of showing her how much he was regretting his stupid mistake.
“Katrina, let me explain.”
When she remained silent, he almost didn’t dare breathe. Was she going to let him speak, or was she preparing to walk away? And, now that he had a chance, what the hell was he going to say?
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Not what I expected...
/> Katrina was staring at him as though he’d sprouted horns and he couldn’t blame her. He had no idea where the words had come from. “That’s your explanation?”
“No.” He smiled. “But I thought it was worth mentioning.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I know.” He hung his head. “Can we just pretend I haven’t been thinking straight since I met you because I was dazzled by you?”
She gasped. “No, Spencer, we can’t. Trying to get me to fall for that is almost as bad as believing I made up those threats.”