“You can’t. You’d only get in the way,” Alex said matter of fact as if he had any say in the matter.
“Why, because I’m not Mr. Bad Ass GI Joe like you?” she questioned defiantly, fisting her hands on her waist.
“No, but—”
“But what? Because I’m a woman.” If he said yes, she might have to punch him in his sexist face.
“That’s not it at all,” he sputtered then looked to Colin for aid, but Colin didn’t look in the mood to rescue his friend. Good. Alex dug himself into the hole. He could dig himself out.
“Then what? He’s my father, Alex.”
“Exactly, you’re too close.”
“But I suppose you’re going to investigate his accident.” It wasn’t a question.
“Payton,” he groaned her name. “Leave this to the professionals.”
“Like you?”
“Yes.”
“And what can you contribute to this case? Are you an investigator?”
“No.”
“So how do you think combat training will help find my father?”
“It doesn’t matter, Payton. I have my resources.”
She knew he didn’t want to tell her, and he didn’t want to lie to her face about it. Payton could tell when someone was lying to her though, and she knew Alex well enough to know his tells when he was lying or omitting.
“So you’re saying I just sit at home like a good little woman and wait for the big men to take care of everything for me? To just walk away when someone just tried to murder my father?”
Alex didn’t so much as blink. “What do you mean murder? It’s being ruled out as an accident.”
Payton cocked an eyebrow giving him a ‘duh’ look. “Alex, you don’t believe that any more than I do. Car accidents are one thing, but—”
“Miss Weber,” a man called out as he crossed the sidewalk toward her.
Payton inwardly groaned at the interruption, but maybe it was the general she’d snapped at earlier and he had some results. “Yes,” she said looking over at the man who’d interrupted her.
There were two men. Neither she recognized. One was a big meat head that looked like he had more muscle than brains, and the other looked like an underwear model. Both of them looked out of place. It set her senses on high alert. “I’m Detective Jones, and this is Detective Smith. We’re investigating the accident of your father and had a few questions for you.” Jones held out a badge, but Payton didn’t look at it.
These guys weren’t detectives. Everything about them was off. They reminded her more of strippers pretending to be police than actual detectives. “I thought this was a military matter since Daddy was government.”
“It was in a public setting so it falls in our jurisdiction.”
It was true, but the government wasn’t letting her department help with anything in the search for her father. They were covering something up or keeping the police out of it. “Of course. Anything I can do to help.” They obviously didn’t know she was a detective. Might as well see what they wanted. They might give something away to her as to who they really were. Payton dropped her shoulders and looked the part of the sad and worried daughter. “Alex, Colin, if you’ll excuse us.”
She held a hand out for the ‘detectives’ to follow her to another set of benches on the other side of the walkway. The two detectives sat next to each other, and she sat across from them. “So what can I help you with?”
“First, I’d like to say how sorry I am for the loss of your father. When was the last time you saw him?”
Her father wasn’t dead. Only missing. How would these guys not know that if they were working his case? “Thank you. Yesterday.”
“And where was this?”
“A diner off I-25.”