“Uh-uh. Don’t you dare.” She danced out of his reach and then poured her coffee. “I’m going to get dressed. Answer the door.”

Eli waited until he heard the guest room door close before he moved. He opened the front door and let Tank and Matt in, then motioned for them to go in the dining room. “We’ll have more room to spread out on this table.”

Matt took the chair at the end and put the stack of folders he held on the tabletop. Tank took a chair in the middle. Eli sat at the other end of the table from Matt.

“All right. Let’s get started. Tank, anything new from our senator-to-be?”

“Yeah. It’s official. He’s running.”

“So, it’s confirmed?”

“It is. He’s having some benefit in a few weeks to raise money for his campaign.”

“Matt what about you? Anything unusual with Kay’s friends?”

Matt opened the first folder. “Her parents just paid off their mortgage, so I did a little digging to see where they got the money. It turns out her mom got a small inheritance from an aunt who just passed away. So that turned out to be completely on the up-and-up.”

Eli’s shoulders sagged. “Good. I would have really hated to tell her someone in her family was dirty.”

“Tell me what? Hey, guys.” Kay appeared in the doorway and they all sat up straighter. Matt closed the file folder.

“Nothing. We’re just going over some strategies for your case,” Eli replied.

She nodded. “Right. Well, I’d love to hear what you come up with.”

Not happening. Eli didn’t want her anywhere near this tangled web of deceit. She didn’t need to hear them debating which one of her acquaintances had sold her out.

A cry in the background had Kay on her feet. “Oh, baby’s awake. I’ll be back.” With a little wave over her shoulder for Tank and Matt, she was gone.

“I’ll talk fast before she comes back. Because I don’t think you’ll want her hearing this next part.” Matt opened his folder again.

“Well, I don’t want her mixed up in any of this. So what did you find?” Eli sat forward.

“It’s about her friend, Sasha. You mentioned her once before as someone who had a possible motive to want to hurt Kay.”

“I think so. She was in the same singing group, and Kay was picked to go solo instead of her. I’d call that a motive for jealousy.”

“It might be a motive to pass along information as well. I started digging into her financials. She has large cash deposits that started last year. They’re never the same amount and there seems to be no pattern to them either. I’ve got one a few days ago for two thousand dollars. That’s a lot of cash for a girl who works as a data-entry clerk in a warehouse.”

“What are you thinking?”

Matt shrugged. “This guy has to be getting his information from somewhere. We’ve been operating under the assumption that he’s in close contact with Kay since he seems to know so much about her, from her daily routine to when she’s going on a date. That got me thinking, what if he doesn’t know her that well, but he’s in contact with someone who does?”

“Aw, hell.” Eli pinched the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t want to tell her that her best friend might be dirty.”

Tank leaned forward. “Maybe you don’t have to. Just give Kay some bogus information and then we’ll wait and see if it gets passed along. Something we can control. Maybe tell her you’re taking her back to her apartment tomorrow and then we can send someone else in disguise. Then we’ll see what happens.”

Eli didn’t like it. The idea of sending his people into what could be a trap felt wrong in every way. However, Tank’s plan made the most sense. It would give them the chance to draw out the danger and keep it contained. Maybe it would be better to force a confrontation now when they were ready for it.

“Let’s see what we can dig up first. Maybe it won’t come to that. But if we can’t rule her out, then we’ll do it. But let’s see what pans out with Banner, first. He seems our most likely suspect.”

Tank flipped a page on his notepad. “This guy is a real piece of work. Typical rich shill who thinks he can buy anything he wants, including a senate seat.”

Eli wondered if this was it. The turning point where things would heat up. Every case seemed to have one, the moment when he knew shit was about to get critical.

“We need to talk to him. Before he goes public.”

Tank made a face. “If we talk to him, we risk tipping our hand. He probably has no idea he’s even on our radar.”

“Yeah, but there’s also the chance he’ll give us something we can work with. Catching him off guard has advantages. People give away so much more when they’re trying to act innocent.”

“When are you going to do this?”

Eli cracked his knuckles and regarded Tank. “I want you to do it.”

The other man couldn’t hide his surprise. Eli knew he had a reputation as a control freak. He liked for things to get done and proper. But in this case, he couldn’t be objective. There was no chance of it. Sitting down and having a civil conversation with the man who’d gotten Kay pregnant and then ditched her was one big journey to never-going-to-happen-land.

“I can’t be objective in this case,” Eli admitted. “And we need him alive after the conversation is over.”