With those muscles and an inner tension that seemed hotter than any fire, she would pick him in a fight any day.
Lara went back to her office and waited for Agent Cody to call again, then headed to the gate to meet him and Diego.
As always, Diego was cheerful.
As always, Agent Cody was grim.
She let them in, then locked the gate and reset the alarm.
She didn’t want to sound like a crazy person and tried hard not to.
The effort failed.
“I feel guilty about getting you out here so late. I should have told you to go home and get some sleep. I’m so sorry. But this man was here today, and then he was in my backyard. And even though I know the dead man in our lagoon doesn’t really have anything to do with me, with everything going on, I—”
“It’s all right,” Agent Cody said, cutting her off. And then he added in a surprisingly gentle tone, “Besides, you didn’t call us. We called you and said we were coming.”
“Were you worried about me for a specific reason?” she asked.
“Let’s just say that with everything going on and you having a possible stalker, yes, we were worried,” Agent Cody said. “And it’s not a problem. We’re glad to be here.”
“Absolutely,” Diego said.
She wasn’t sure why, but she believed there was something else behind their words, something they weren’t telling her, but what, she wasn’t sure.
“Well, come on to the offices,” she said. “There’s a nice communal area on the first floor. There’s a kitchen with snacks, coffee, sodas...and the couch folds out to a bed. Grady has a combination office and apartment on the second floor, and Rick and Adrianna live here. Someone needs to be on the property at all times, because of the dolphins, and we don’t have private security. The police patrol the area, of course, but...”
So much for not babbling on and on, she thought, and trailed off, but she couldn’t help herself and started speaking again almost immediately.
“Well, thank you again. I’m just glad you’re here. I was really unnerved tonight. And honestly, I swear I’m not a total coward. And I’ll be fine as of tomorrow. I have friends coming down. They’re FBI, too. You may know them. Probably not. I mean, the FBI is a pretty big organization, right?”
“You have friends in the Bureau?” Diego said. “And they’re able to just come on down?”
“I guess. I hope I’m not causing them any problems. They work for a special unit.”
“What unit?” Diego asked.
“It has some official name, I think, but they’re known as the Krewe of Hunters.”
The two agents looked at one another. She knew that the Krewe had a reputation within the Bureau. Some liked to mock them; others were in awe of their record in solving unusual cases.
“What are their names?” Agent Cody asked her.
“Meg Murray and Matt Bosworth.”
He arched a brow. “I don’t know Meg. I do know Matt. We were in a training class together a few years ago. He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah, the best,” she said huskily. “I’ve known Meg forever. I met Matt through her.” She wondered if she should just tell them what had happened to her, and how Meg and the Krewe had saved her.
Of course, they’d heard what had happened already, she was certain; the entire country and beyond had heard what had happened. But since she wasn’t going by her real surname, they wouldn’t know that she’d been the victim.
“So they haven’t been officially assigned to the case?” Agent Cody asked. He was eyeing her oddly now.
As if she had suddenly turned another color or something, like a chameleon.
“Not that I know of.” She wondered if she’d said or done the wrong thing. She hoped she hadn’t made Brett and Diego feel that someone else would be horning in on, even trying to take over, their case.
She led them down the winding path and around to the house. It was odd to realize just how beautiful the place was at night. Sea grape trees, palms and other flora and fauna nestled by the paths, shading them by day. A light breeze sweetened and cooled the night air. The slight movement of the water murmured in the background, and despite everything that had happened here, the place had the feel of a tropical oasis.
“Coffee?” she asked them, unlocking the front door.
“Coffee is always good,” Diego said.
“And then we’ll have you tell us about this man you saw,” Agent Cody told her.
“Of course,” she said.
The men took seats in the lounge area, while Lara slipped into the kitchen and brewed a pot of coffee. When it was done, she took it out to them, adding a cup for herself. She’d fixed a tray with sugar and cream, but neither of the agents used them. She wondered with a certain amount of humor if drinking black coffee was a job requirement.