Book 5 - Page 145 (1/2)

“Cross.”

Turning my head, I found Benjamin Clancy. Like Detective Graves, Clancy’s eyes held the knowledge of what I’d done to eliminate Nathan Barker as a threat to my wife. Unlike Graves, Clancy had helped cover up my involvement, staging the scene of the crime and another unrelated scene to cast blame onto a dead man who’d paid for his own crimes with his life and wouldn’t pay further for mine.

My brows rose in silent inquiry.

“I need a minute.” He gestured to the hallway beyond him without waiting for my agreement.

“Lead the way.”

I followed him to a library, taking in the shelves of books that lined the walls. The room smelled of leather and paper, the color palette a masculine blend of cognac and evergreen. Four distinct seating areas and a fully stocked bar invited guests to get comfortable and linger.

Clancy shut the door behind us and sat in one of the two club chairs facing the unlit fireplace. I took the other.

He got right to the point. “Mrs. Stanton left behind over twenty-five years’ worth of handwritten journals and a backup computer drive with electronic journal entries. She asked that I pa.s.s them along to Eva in the event of her death.”

Keeping my curiosity to myself, I said, “I’ll make sure she gets them.”

He sat forward, setting his elbows on his knees. Ben Clancy was a big man, his biceps and thighs thick with muscle. He wore his dark blond hair in a severe military cut and his eyes had the flat, cold lethality of a great white shark—but they warmed when he looked at Eva, like the loving glance of a very protective older brother.

“You’ll need to judge the best time to give them to her,” he said. “And you may decide she should never see them.”

“I see.” So I’d have to go through them. It made me uncomfortable to think of doing so.

“Regardless,” Clancy went on, “you now have a new financial responsibility that you’ll have to take over on Lauren’s behalf. It’s not inconsiderable, but you won’t have any trouble managing it.”

I’d stiffened at the name he used, then grown more alert as he continued.

Nodding, he said, “You started researching her story after the Tramells died.”