After the steaks were cooked, and they’d finished eating, Daniela pushed away her empty plate with a happy sigh. “That was a really good steak.”
“And you did a marvelous job on the potatoes and the salad. Thank you,” Weston said sincerely.
She smiled. “I’ve always loved cooking. But cooking for just me and Sari is not the same as cooking for a man.”
He nodded. “I tend to eat alone most of the time.”
“What will you do now?” she asked curiously.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “Like a lot of the guys in my career situation, we’re at a crossroads, trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do next.”
“You have options though, right?”
“Yes,” he said. “Lots of options. I just haven’t necessarily pinpointed what I want to do, as in a second career.”
“You’re really good with Shambhala, so you could always do something with dogs. It might be good for her too.”
“I think her working days are over,” he said, as he put a hand down to the dog, who was ever hopeful and settled at his feet. “She’s a music lover apparently. When we get her settled, we’ll have to find out what kind of music she likes.”
“She’s certainly suffered physically, hasn’t she?” She studied the poor dog, looking far more battle-scarred than others she’d seen on TV. “She deserves a few years of good rest.”
“That is exactly why the government’s been checking into making sure these animals are doing okay.”
“That is so great. Do you have any new skills or training you picked up while you were in the navy?”
“Lots of them,” he said with half a smile. “But not exactly the kind that can land me a job.”
“So you didn’t pick up any tradesmen certifications or a university degree or anything like that?”
“Lock Picking 101, for example?” He smiled.
She shrugged. “As I don’t know exactly what you did in the military …”
“Secret operations. Usually black ops. Learning to jump out of a plane in the middle of the night and not get fired on was always a popular course.”
She laughed and then realized he was serious. She leaned forward. “Wow, you’re lucky you’re not in the same shape as Shambhala.”
“Well, I’m not all that much better,” he said. “I was injured pretty badly myself, which is how I ended up retired from active service.”
She nodded, wishing she could ask more questions but not wanting to get too personal. “Is there money for retraining?”
“There is. Yes,” he said cautiously. “But it still needs to be something I want to do.”
“Well, there are things that you want to do, and then there are things that you may need to do while you figure it out,” she said humorously.
He shrugged. “I had a few things I was thinking about. I’ve just come from a center where a bunch of guys like me came together and created a security company, but they’re also helping a lot of vets reenter the workforce.”
“That’s awesome,” she said. “I really like the idea of people who’ve been through something themselves being the ones to help someone else get back into life.”
“I volunteered for this job with the dog because I was bored,” he said. “I was doing a variety of jobs with them but nothing too major, while I figured out what I wanted to do. Not to worry,” he said. “I’ll figure it out.”
She nodded and didn’t say anything.
“Are you looking for support?” he asked abruptly.
She stared at him in surprise and then shook her head. “If you mean, child support, no. I adopted Sari, fully aware of what it would take to raise a child.”
“Fully aware as somebody who doesn’t have a child could be?” he said gently, and she flushed and nodded.
“That sounded kind of arrogant, didn’t it? At the time, it hadn’t become clear that Charlie’s days were numbered, and things hadn’t gone south yet. But back to your question. No, I’m not looking to you to support me or Sari.”
“But, on the other hand, why shouldn’t I help?” he murmured. He studied the little girl, who smiled up at him.
She was still working on her dinner, which, at the moment, appeared to be mashed carrots. She was working the spoon with a great deal of enthusiasm and not a whole lot of efficiency and splattering carrots all over the floor.
“You almost need a water hose for her, don’t you?”
Daniela laughed. “Normally I just feed her and don’t give her too much time to play with it,” she said. “But we were talking, and she was having fun, so it seemed like a good idea to let her just run with it.”
“I’m all for that.” Then a particular piece of carrot landed close by, and he said, “But we’re getting into the danger zone now.”
Still chuckling, Daniela grabbed a wet paper towel and removed the plate and the fork from Sari’s reach. “You, young lady, are obviously full, if you are throwing your food around.”
Sari giggled.
Daniela wiped her down, then lifted her from the high chair and let her run free. She ran right over to Shambhala, tripped and fell over the dog, landing on her belly. Shambhala gently nuzzled Sari’s face, then lay back down again.
“I still can’t believe how well the two of them get along,” Daniela exclaimed.
“I know,” he said. “It really restores faith in the bond, doesn’t it?”
“Is it hard to figure out what you want to do next?” she asked curiously.
He looked at her smile and saw she was sincere. “For some guys, yes. Most of us think our future, whatever it will be after our service, is down the road much later,” he said calmly. “So I wasn’t prepared for an accident with an injury that sidelined me long before I started planning my next career move.” He showed her half a smile.
She nodded slowly. “Any clue what you want to do?”
“Maybe security,” he said. “It’s something I certainly know.”
“Like a security guard?” That seemed so wrong to her because it seemed like he could do so much more.
He just smiled and said, “That’s one aspect to it, but I’m pretty good with computers. I was thinking about setting up a cybersecurity company maybe. I’m not sure yet.”
She stared at him, surprised. “That’s a huge field, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he said with a nod. “And I could probably find enough work that I’d have to hire some people pretty fast.”
“Then you can hire other guys like you,” she said with delight.
He chuckled. “Getting a little ahead of myself there,” he said.
She smiled. “But there’s time, right?”
“There’s time,” he affirmed.
Just then her phone went off. Without thinking, she reached for it and saw it said Private Caller. She groaned. “Damn it. It’s Angel again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. I had at least four or five calls, but no one ever answered. I finally got frustrated and said something rude. But then I thought I heard someone call out, so I felt terrible and worried someone needed help. And then the next time, it was Angel. But now this one, I don’t know.” She hit Talk. “Angel, is that you again?”
“Yes, it is,” Angel said piously. “Did you think about what I said earlier?”
At Weston’s motion, she put the phone on the table and pushed Speakerphone. “Not a whole lot to think about,” she said calmly.
“Sure there was. I just didn’t give you my terms yet.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? You actually want something in order to let me continue being Sari’s mother?”
“It’s not like your lawyer will back you up, will he?”
“Why not?” Daniela asked, staring down at the phone, then at Weston. And the grim look on his face had her heart sinking. “What are you talking about, Angel?”
“You should read the news first. Don’t worry. I’ll be calling you back.” And, with that, she hung up.
Daniela stared at Weston. “What did that mean?”
“Your lawyer is dead,” he said. “I ran by to have a talk with him about the paperwork,” he said slowly. “And I found the body in the office. As far as I know, it was your lawyer.”
Weston hadn’t really expected to break the news to her that way. And he really didn’t like the idea that Angel was hassling Daniela and coming back around, looking for something more. And he especially didn’t like the idea that Angel was already aware of Daniela’s attorney’s death.
“We’ll have to stop Angel somehow.” Daniela stared at her phone and realized she had gripped her fingers together so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.
He grabbed both of her hands with his and gently opened them. “Look. Detective Kruger said the paperwork looked like it was all fine and dandy. Let’s not get panicked over something we don’t know yet is wrong.”
She took several deep breaths.
“I realize I’m not the one who should be saying this,” he said, “because obviously you’re afraid of losing custody, and your feelings are totally understandable. But you’re doing a wonderful job, and we have to trust in the system.”
“The system doesn’t always work,” she said softly.
And he could feel the fear rippling up and down her back. He looked down at the phone. “There was no number?”
She shook her head. “No, it kept coming in as Private Caller.”
“I wonder if she’s using a burner phone.”
“If I knew what that was, I might be able to help you,” Daniela said, “but I don’t.”
“Untraceable,” he said.
“Why would she do that? And how would she even know to think of it?”
“A very good question,” he said, studying her. “Why is she being covert about this at all? That is the bottom line.”
“True,” she said. “Why doesn’t she just show up and ask for five thousand dollars or something?”
He studied her curiously. “Could you do five thousand dollars?”
She looked at him and shook her head. “No, not at all.”
He nodded as if that lined up with what he knew. “So, if she knows you don’t have any money, why would she be asking you for some?”
“My sister has money,” she said sadly. “And she knew my sister too.”
“So she’d expect you to go to your sister, but would your sister give it to you?”
Daniela hesitated and then shrugged. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”
He picked up his phone and sent Badger a text about Angel. We need more information. She’s now making harassing and threatening phone calls. She may have killed Daniela’s adoption attorney. Angel’s looking for something but isn’t being clear as to what she’s after.
“Who are you contacting?” Daniela asked.
“My ex-boss. Or still my boss really, I guess,” he said. “We need information on Angel, and we need it now. That’s the fastest way to get it.”
“If it was so easy to get, wouldn’t the detective have it?”
“Sure, but why would he?” he asked.
She looked at him in surprise. “Well, the dead lawyer is Angel’s brother.”
Stunned, he stopped and stared. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “You didn’t know?”
“Of course not.” He picked up his phone again and dialed Detective Kruger. When his tired voice answered, Weston said, “So, your case and my case just connected. What I didn’t realize is the legal documents I showed you today—the mother, the person who gave over the child—she’s apparently the sister of the dead lawyer.”
“Interesting,” the detective said. “I didn’t know that. I suppose we’d have figured it out eventually.” There was a moment of silence on the other end. “Oh, and he didn’t die today, he was killed yesterday as far as we can tell.”
“Wow,” Weston said. “Murdered? And he was lying there all this time undetected?”
“Yes,” the detective said. “And I hate to ask this, but when did you hit town?”
Weston looked over to see the shock and horror on Daniela’s face. “Yesterday,” he said. And he gave his flight info. “I’ve also been with Daniela 90 percent of the time. Or with you.”
“Yeah, getting in trouble the rest of time,” the detective said with a note of humor.
“Absolutely,” Weston said. “But now we need to pursue the Angel line of inquiry.”
“I know you were probably a hotshot in the navy,” the detective said, “but unless you’re actually signing up to do this job that I’m doing on a full-time basis, you’ll have to back off and let us do what we do.”
“I hear you,” Weston said. “But Angel’s threatening Daniela. If you get this solved fast enough, then I’ll leave you to it. But if not, well, I do have some resources to bring into play myself.” And he hung up.