He switched his gaze from Striker to the big hulk of a guy standing beside him. “And you are?”
“Quasar. Quasar Patterson.”
Dalton decided not to ask what Shep had kept him from doing. Instead, he asked, “And you’ve been guarding my brother? Jace?”
“Yes, ever since Roland told us what Shep wanted.” He chuckled. “Nice honeymoon, by the way. I enjoyed South Africa.”
“Let me make sure I understand what you’re saying,” Jules said.
Dalton rolled his eyes. Why did she feel the need to clarify anything? She wasn’t in the family, so she needed to just keep her mouth shut like she had been doing up to this point. He was about to say so, but when he glanced at Jace, he got his older brother’s warning glance and held his tongue.
“Are you saying that someone sent Sheppard Granger an email threatening to do bodily harm to his sons if they reopened his case?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Carson said, meeting Jules’s intense stare. “Sheppard immediately requested that I hire bodyguards. I agreed to do so with the understanding that if a situation came up in which I needed to reveal the truth to his sons, I could make that call.”
“And you made that call tonight,” Jules clarified, understanding completely.
“Yes. Bobby’s cover had been blown, so I had no choice.”
“Who wouldn’t want Jace, Caden and Dalton to reopen their father’s case?” Shana asked.
“Sheppard has no idea, but he wasn’t writing the email off as a prank. He loves his sons too much to do that.”
“So Quasar has been guarding Jace, Striker has been guarding Caden and Stonewall has been guarding Dalton?” Caden’s wife, Shiloh, confirmed.
“Except for tonight,” Stonewall answered. “I had personal business to tend to, and Bobby was my replacement.”
“And I made a mess of things,” Bobby said, with regret in his voice. “I should have been more cautious.”
“You were cautious,” Jules reassured him. “But I’m a private investigator and an ex-cop. I’m suspicious by nature. When Dalton arrived home, it was easy for me to pick up on the fact that you had followed him. Someone else might not have noticed. Dalton clearly didn’t.”
She would have to remind him of that in front of everyone, Dalton thought, frowning. He knew how to fix that. “Had I known you were parked outside in the cold waiting on me, Jules, I would have hurried home,” he said in a deliberately seductive tone.
“Yeah,” Bobby chimed in, grinning. “If you ask me, that was some kiss you laid on her before she could even get inside your house.”
Dalton frowned. Well, nobody asked him. He didn’t have to meet anyone’s gaze to know their eyes were on him and Jules. Speculating. Wondering. Assuming. He glanced over at Carson. It was time to get the conversation back on track.
“Regardless of that email my father received, we’re reopening his case. My brothers and I have already discussed it.”
Carson shook her head. “Sheppard won’t allow it. Like I said, he won’t take a chance with your lives.”
“Why would anyone not want Sheppard Granger cleared?” Jules asked, her mind turning with all kinds of questions. Dalton could see it in her eyes. Spinning like a whirlwind. Just like the name he’d given her.
“Only Sheppard can tell you why he assumes that,” Carson said after a brief hesitation.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dalton said matter-of-factly. “Dad has served fifteen years in prison too long. Granddad made us promise to do what we could to get him out.”
Carson shook her head. “Sheppard wouldn’t want you to do that. He’ll be eligible for parole in a few—”
“We don’t care about that,” Caden interjected. “He didn’t kill our mother, and it’s time we proved it.”
“He does not want the case reopened,” Carson stressed again.
“Do you think we’re wrong in wanting to clear our father?” Dalton asked.
“No, but my client doesn’t want—”
“What do you think?” Jace interrupted.