“You’re more than just intrigued by her. There’s something else going on here.”
Three nights of research made that one hard to deny. “Of course. This woman, Tiffany, is missing, presumed dead.”
“No.” Garrett made a dramatic groaning sound. “I meant about Emery.”
Wren refused to discuss her. It was bad enough he kept imagining her naked and wondering what her hands might feel like as she touched him. That he thought about her last night when he should have been catching a few hours of sleep. That comments she made would come back to him and make him smile.
Her face kept floating through his mind. That impressive body. The way she looked on the verge of rolling her eyes every time he opened his mouth.
Not that he had any intention of divulging how intrigued he was by any of that. “I’m doing this as a favor.”
Garrett stared at him. “To whom?”
Good question. “The senator.”
“Try again.”
“Is it too late in the day to fire you?”
“You usually threaten to fake fire me around noon. You’re late today.” Garrett folded his arms across his chest. “Of course, you might not remember that since you were out on a coffee date again this morning.”
That fucking surveillance made having some privacy impossible. Wren toyed with the idea of canceling it. If Emery didn’t seem like the type who could walk right into trouble while digging around for clues and throwing his name around, he might have. “That was nothing.”
“What about your visit to her house?”
He should have known Garrett would find that out no matter what he threatened. “I have the sudden urge to fire people.”
“Not going to happen.”
Rather than debate employee relations or his interest in her, which he continued to hope was nonexistent or an aberration or a momentary confusion, Wren focused on the bigger issue. “I want to clear my name.”
“You haven’t been implicated. Part of your name was written on a piece of paper on some random guy’s notepad. How is this even an issue worth discussing?”
Wren couldn’t figure out if that looked bad for him or not. Didn’t really matter. He was all for stoking a dangerous reputation and letting that benefit him at work, but he couldn’t tolerate this. Other sins he accepted without question, but not this one. “The missing girl’s father. Not a random guy.”
“Okay, look.” Garrett dropped his arms. Sighed. Even shifted his weight around.
Whatever he was about to say made Wren nervous, and he did not get nervous. “Just spit it out.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Garrett continued. “Tell me this is not about—”
“You’d be wise to stop right there.” Whatever connections might exist between his mother and Emery’s missing friend in terms of understanding the toll that sort of devastation takes, Wren refused to think his interest in one was a result of living with the other. He’d walked out of therapy years ago and never went back. He didn’t need an informal version of it now.
“You have a soft spot for missing women.”
That was a safe topic. Wren could keep it off a personal level. “We all should.”
Garrett swore under his breath. “Don’t try to make me sound like an ass. You know what I’m saying.”
From anyone else . . . actually, that couldn’t come from anyone else. No one else in the building knew about his real identity or his mother or the father he never talked about. “This isn’t about my mother.”
Garrett didn’t move. “Are you sure?”
“Did you get a psychology degree when I wasn’t looking?”
“You have to admit there are parallels here.”
He actually didn’t. “Not any I’m willing to discuss.”
Silence screamed through the room.
After a few seconds, Garrett nodded. “So, we’re going to open a case on Tiffany Younger. Got it.”
With that emotional trap avoided, Wren pushed on. He needed to stay technical and distanced. He could do that if he thought of Tiffany as a case and not a person. Never mind the fact he could compartmentalize like that made him a shit.
“You’re to operate as if the case is ours even though, in fact, there is no case,” Wren explained.
“Didn’t I just say that? You know, right before you tried to fire me.”
Wren could hear the amusement in Garrett’s voice. The building tension evaporated and they returned to their usual back and forth. “What’s the point of owning a company that deals in information if I can’t use it on a personal matter?”
“Huh. That almost sounds logical. I hate that.”
“Only you would hate logic.”
“Wait.” Garrett glanced at the ceiling. “I’m thinking of a way around agreeing with you.”
“While you’re doing that, get started.” Wren reached out and grabbed the files, stacking them on his lap.
“You having coffee again tomorrow?”
Wren refused to look up and see Garrett’s annoying grin. Hearing it in his voice was bad enough. “You have your own office. Work in there.”
“This is going to backfire, you know.”
That time Wren glanced up. “I won’t let it.”
“We’ll see.”
CHAPTER 10