The Object of His Protection - Brenda Jackson [15]
Drey looked at Charlene. He saw the nervous way she lifted her cup to her lips to take a sip of her coffee. There was more. He felt it. “What did he say when you questioned him about it?” he asked. There was no need to ask if she had questioned him because he knew that she had. It would go against her grain not to do so.
She met his gaze again. “He denied it. He said I’d made a mistake about what I thought was the reason Dennis died. Then he suggested that I take time off to clear my head. Three weeks. And he went on to suggest that I leave town.”
She paused for a moment and then added, “Something is going on, Drey, something that I don’t like. Nate was acting strange. Creepy. It’s like he was warning me off, making veiled threats, alluding that disappearing for a while would be in my best interest. I think we should go to the police.”
“No,” he said, squashing that idea quickly. “You’re right, something is going on, but I don’t think going to the police is the answer, especially when they are the ones backing up a faulty report. It can’t help but make you wonder if perhaps they are somehow involved.”
He saw the way Charlene was looking at him and knew he had gotten her to thinking the way he was doing now. Until they uncovered more information they were on their own. Then another thought entered his mind regarding the veiled threats her boss had made. If there had been foul play in Joe Dennis’s death, more than likely that meant Congressman Braddock’s death was no accident either. And if someone was out for more blood as a way to keep things quiet, Charlene could very well get caught in the crossfire and he refused to let that happen.
“Are you planning to take your boss up on his offer and leave town?” he asked, taking a sip of the ice-cold water a waitress had placed in front of him.
“No.”
He hadn’t thought so. “Disappearing for a while might not be such a bad idea, Charlene.”
He watched as a frown formed around her lips. They were lips he had tasted last night and would love sampling again today. “What good will disappearing do?” she asked.
He had a quick answer for her. “It might keep you alive. Think about it. Without evidence we don’t have proof of anything and who’s going to take your word over your boss’s? And if there is a cover-up, then whoever is behind it got to your boss somehow, and there’s a possibility the police are somehow connected.”
She shook her head. “What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone be interested in what happened to Joe Dennis and why go to that extreme with me, Drey? If there’s more to this mystery I would appreciate hearing it.”
He knew that was fair enough since, thanks to him, she might have unknowingly placed her life in danger. After the waitress came to take his drink order, he said, “Joe Dennis was the personal driver of Congressman Harmon Braddock. As you know, the congressman was killed in an auto accident a few months ago. I was hoping that Dennis could shed some light as to why the congressman was driving his own car that night instead of Dennis and—”
“Wait! Hold up. Back up,” Charlene said, using her hand to give him a time-out signal. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yes. I have reason to believe the congressman’s death was intentional.”
Charlene didn’t know what to say. Like everyone else in Houston, she had read about the congressman’s car accident but hadn’t had a reason to think much about it. “And is that what you’re investigating?”
“Yes. I was hired by his family. When they approached me I was doubtful that I would find anything, but after Joe Dennis died mysteriously I really got suspicious. And now…”
She nodded and waited until the waitress had placed his beer in front of him before saying, “But it’s hard for me to believe that Nate could be involved. He’s a family man with a wife and children.”
“Yes, but what if the person behind all this is using blackmail or threats? Nate warned you to disappear and you would be wise to heed his warning.”
Charlene nibbled on