“I know what you mean. I would be more than happy to sit outside of Lewis’s house and wait for him to show up, but he likely wouldn’t be able to tell us anything when I was finished with him.”
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Byte asked as he crossed the room with his laptop in his hand.
“Sure,” I said and looked around the common room. “Here?”
“Here’s fine,” he said and took a seat at the nearest table.
My best friend joined us at the table like he had every right to be there, and he did as far as I was concerned. He was just as invested in Daphne’s situation as I was.
“I haven’t had much time to do a thorough search, but I’ve already come across a few things that have caught my attention,”he said. “When I was looking at Leah’s phone records, I noticed a phone number she exchanges phone calls with a lot. She even called it today, not long after the accident. That phone number belongs to someone named Victoria Bell. According to Victoria’s social media accounts, she is friends with Daphne’s husband and has several mutual friends with Daphne. I don’t think it’s worth interrupting her at work, but will you ask Daphne if she knows Victoria Bell when she gets home from work?”
“Of course,” I said. “Anything else?”
“Not yet, but it’s still early,” he said hopefully.
“Thanks, man,” I said. “I’ll let you know what Daphne says.”
With that, Ink and I headed over to the garage to try and get some work done.
“How wasthe rest of your day?” I asked Daphne as soon as she walked in the door.
“Much better than the first part,” she said and slipped off her shoes. “We spent the afternoon looking at houses with the Potters. I think they may make an offer on one of the houses we saw today, which kind of sucks, because I really enjoy working with them. What happened with the Finleys, or the people pretending to be the Finleys?”
“That’s a bit of a long story,” I hedged. “Do you want to change and get settled before we get into all that?”
She scrunched her nose. “It sounds like I should. Am I going to need wine for this?”
“That might not be a bad idea. I’ll pour you a glass. Red or white?”
“Surprise me,” she said as she walked to the bedroom.
When she returned a few minutes later, she was dressed in a pair of leggings, an oversized hoodie, and fuzzy socks. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun. She looked comfortable, and she also looked sexy as hell. It was becoming increasingly harder to keep my feelings to myself. I’d already almost kissed her, and I’d been making a great effort to not let that happen again. Not that I didn’t want to. Because I very much did. But she had a lot going on, and she was still married. Personally, I didn’t have an issue with her situation, but I wasn’t sure how she felt about it, and I hadn’t had an opportunity to ask her about it.
“All right, let me have it,” she said. Picking up the glass of wine, I handed it to her, even though I knew that wasn’t what she was referring to. “Thanks,” she laughed, “but I meant the news, or whatever it is you’re going to tell me.”
I gestured to the couch. “Let’s sit.”
“You’re starting to make me nervous.”
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a long day, and we’re both tired. We might as well be comfortable.”
“Agreed,” she said and dropped onto the sofa.
“After Carbon and Mason left with Lewis and Leah, they were hit by another vehicle and pushed off the road. We think whoever was driving the other car was there to get Lewis and Leah, so we didn’t get to question them.”
“Wait. Carbon and Mason were in a car accident? Are they okay?”
“More or less. Carbon’s arm is broken. Mason has a concussion and a cut that needed stitches. But they’re okay otherwise.”
“They live on the farm, right? Can we go check on them or see if they need anything?”
“I’m sure they’re fine, but I’ll give Harper a call and ask.”
“I feel awful. This is all my fault.”
“This is not your fault. I can see why you would think that it is, but it isn’t,” I told her. “The fault lies with whoever is doing this, and that’s not you.”
“I know, but I still feel bad,” she admitted.