Page 7 of Shadow Strike
“I’m usually back there, doing the cooking,” Lucy said, setting the coffee in front of him.“But Regan insisted on filling out her inventory spreadsheet the moment the rush was over.”She rolled her eyes.“That girl and her spreadsheets.She’ll be out in a minute.”
Lucy wiped the counter and studied him.“Your family’s been in this area a long time.”
“It has.”
“I knew your father.Henry—my husband, God rest his soul—knew him better.”Old grief flared in her eyes.“Henry loved everyone.”
“My father spoke well of him.”Wade had mentioned Henry Hill exactly twice in CB’s memory, but both times had been without the edge he brought to most subjects.From Wade, that was as close to warmth as it got.
Lucy reached under the bar and brought out a manila envelope.“I have some photos for you,” she said.“They were Henry’s.I thought you might want them.”
She couldn’t have surprised him more.He opened the envelope and shook out some aged pictures.There was his dad, decades younger, with Ray and Henry outside this very bar, raising beers together.Another of Wade on his motorcycle, his black Outlaws jacket in mint condition, and CB’s mom on the back, her hair windblown, a smile lighting up her face.
He studied that one for a long moment, his own mouth curving up at the edges.“These are fantastic.Thank you.”
Lucy opened her mouth to say something else when a woman who looked like a younger version of her came through the swinging door, studying a screen.“Mom, I think we’re short on the Malbec order.I’m going to need you to —”
She looked up and came to a dead stop.
The one thing CB hadn’t done was get a photo of her.He was inadequately prepared for Regan Hill standing ten feet away, looking at him like she’d just come face to face with the last person in the world she wanted to see.
Her dark hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head.Several curly strands had escaped and framed her face.Her tan skin was highlighted by a bright turquoise tank top and cut-off shorts.A butterfly tattoo peeked out from the neck of the top, and she wore a silver cuff around her left wrist.Her eyes were a rich sable, the top lids lined in black with wings at the outside corners.
As he tried to find his manners, she recovered—clean, with no visible tells except a slight adjustment in how she held the tablet, her fingers tightening on it.
She knew who he was.
He stayed seated and unmoving, the smile on his face now there for an entirely different reason.Damn, she was beautiful.“Hey,” he said.
She stepped back.“Mom, who is this?”
Lucy didn’t hide how pleased she was about how her plan was unfolding.“Oh, Regan.You know exactly who this is.Clive Briggs.He was kind enough to come by and pick up some photographs your dad had.I’ve been meaning to get them to him, so I called him.”
Lucy sent him aplay alongor I’ll string you up by your thumbslook.CB held up one of the pictures as proof.
Regan glanced from the photo to him to her mom.“Is that right?”
“It is.”Lucy smiled with the kind of satisfaction that only a mother who’d outmaneuvered herindependentdaughter could fully own.“And while he’s here, I thought the two of you could talk about those threatening letters.”
A beat.
“You called him about some old pictures,” Regan repeated, as if confirming this wasn’t a setup that she totally knew was.
“I did.”Lucy wiped her hands on a towel and glanced at one of the tables.“And since he works for that security outfit you told me about, why don’t you pick his brain about those letters while I refill George’s glass?”
Regan’s face flickered with the briefest of emotions before they were gone.Irritation, yes, but something else…fear.
For her mom.
If Ryder and Denny were behind the letters, sheshouldbe scared.
CB liked Lucy, even though her attempt at subterfuge was horrible.He might have to give her pointers if he ever got permission from her daughter to set foot in here again.
“Mr.Briggs,” Regan said.
“CB,” he said, still grinning.He couldn’t wipe the damn thing off his face.
“CB.”She stared at the bar top for a moment, carefully setting down the tablet.“My mother seems to have invited you here under false pretenses.I apologize for that.”
