Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“They’ve been supportive of Avita,” Mary said. “Pablo, one of her brothers, told me that many people had reached out to their family. Miguel introduced those women to Avita. She needs friends right now.”
“How do they know Miguel?” Mary asked.
“He’s not only their personal trainer, but he’s helping them learn to boulder,” Shabina said.
“I heard a rumor that you’re married, Shabina,” Martha said, clearly wanting to change the subject. “Is that the truth?”
Shabina nodded, reluctantly showing the ring on her finger. She didn’t want her hand to tremble, and she was still unsteady every time she thought about Rainier and any possible harm that could come to him.
“That looks so perfect for you. I think it matches your eyes,” Mary gushed. “I also heard your man is a hottie, and when Bale threw his hissy fit, he just calmly walked out of the kitchen and informed him he expected Bale to pay and that you were taking out a restraining order against him.”
“I am. It’s already in the works. Rainier was in the kitchen doing dishes. No one was aware he was in there. He doesn’t like the spotlight on him.”
“He’s the dishwasher?” Martha was amused.
Shabina laughed. “It’s true. He hides in the kitchen, preferring to do dishes and not have to talk to anyone.”
Mary glanced at the table where the two FBI agents were eating breakfast and lowered her voice even more even though the two men were a distance away. “Rafferty was furious that there was an implication that if you turned in evidence against Bale, it would disappear. He didn’t like it stated in front of the feds.”
Martha made a disparaging sound in her throat. “I don’t know why he would get upset when it’s the truth. He makes a good political sheriff, and he’s intelligent when it comes to running his department, but when his family is involved, his brains go out the window.”
“He had to realize that sooner or later, someone was going to call him out on it,” Mary added in a whisper. “Do you really have evidence proving Bale was harassing you, Shabina?”
Raine answered. “He wasn’t simply harassing her, he threatened to burn down the café with her in it, shoot her dogs and her. He started with harassment, but his behavior has escalated in the last few months. He believed he could blackmail Lawyer into destroying the evidence before I could get to it. He had no idea we had installed military cameras and they’re always monitored and backed up. There is no way, even if the evidence was removed, that we couldn’t reproduce it.”
“Good,” Martha said firmly. “It’s about time someone let Bale know that he isn’t running Knightly, and neither is his family.”
“Lawyer told me Bale was attempting to blackmail him,” Mary said. “He knew if he swore out a complaint, Rafferty would ignore it. Things like that make the entire department look bad. We have good men and women working for us. It sucks that Rafferty was elected and doesn’t represent everyone, only his family.”
“Have you seen Bale since the incident in the café?” Martha asked.
Shabina shook her head. “I haven’t, but then my security team is with me in force everywhere I go. Someone is always watching the café. Bale is probably aware of that.”
“Tom and Judy said he was out at the hot springs with Sean and the two new ones interning under Sean.”
“What in the world would Bale and Sean be doing at the hot springs?” Shabina asked.
“They were part of the group sitting around the fire and telling stories about Lucca,” Mary said.
“Bale didn’t like the Delgotto family,” Shabina said. “Why would he be there? That makes zero sense.”
“I think when you go out on a rescue and discover a body, especially one from your hometown, and they worked together on Search and Rescue, it can change your perspective,” Martha said.
Shabina had to admit that was probably true. Had she known about the get-together, she still wouldn’t have gone. She knew Larado would insist she take a protection team as well as her dogs. That was something she would have to discuss with Rainier. She didn’t want to make decisions about where she could go based on worry that she would cause a scene with too large of a protection detail.
And what about the times the women all went hiking together? She couldn’t very well bring along her protection detail. More than once she’d gotten in trouble for leaving her dogs behind when they rented an Airbnb that didn’t allow pets. She knew she could get around that or ask the women to find a different house, but she always did her best to be as normal as possible.
Hopefully, once the danger to her from Scorpion passed, Rainier wouldn’t worry so much about her safety. That was another conversation they would have to have.