Page 67 of Unseen Danger
As if Nevaeh could even consider inviting Branson to the wedding, sitting close to him at the reception. But Jazz’s words conjured a tempting image in her mind. Branson in a tuxedo, watching her stand in front as a bridesmaid. His smile soft and warm.
Yeah, awfully good was an understatement.
“I think we’ve lost her to daydreams of a bodyguard.” Sof’s mirth-filled tone cut through the too-pleasant picture.
Bris laughed. “Boy, you’ve got it worse than I thought.”
“All right, you’ve had your fun.” Nevaeh grinned at her PK-9 family. “Not as much fun as I had at your expense, of course, but it’s a decent try.” She glanced at their silent boss, her eyes steady and observant beneath the bill of her charcoal baseball cap. “If we don’t knock off the boy talk, Phoenix is gonna wish she hadn’t come.”
It was probably cowardly to use Phoenix as a diversion, but she figured the boss wouldn’t care. And Nevaeh was getting desperate. Mostly to stop the images from coming to mind that the girls were putting there. Images that made her think way too much about the strong, handsome man who’d held her in his arms last night. So gently, as if she were someone to be cherished instead of crushed.
And then, after he’d seen her at her weakest, he’d let her go to stand on her own two feet. Given her a chance to show she could be strong.
He hadn’t taken advantage of her. Hadn’t hurt her when he could have. He’d kept her safe.
And the truth was, she didn’t know what to do about a man like that. It was scary in a different way. Especially because, according to her skipping pulse and emotional reaction to every mention of him today, her heart was already getting ideas about Branson Aaberg. And those could set her up for a whole different kind of hurt.
Twenty
“There. That’s it.” Branson pushed off the hand he’d braced himself with as he leaned over the monitor in the security room.
Louis pressed in closer from the chair as he paused the recording on the shot of Jill Jacquet, D-Chop’s wife, driving her white Ferrari out of the garage. He blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his short brown hair, leaving a tuft of it sticking up at the back of his head. “So Jill, Peter, Brian. They all had access and opportunity.”
Branson folded his arms over his chest. “Yeah. Peter didn’t tell me Jill took her car when she was here until I asked him if anyone had been in the garage today. Apparently, she made a big thing about it with D-Chop when she dropped off the kids, and he let her have it since he’d bought it for her as a wedding present. He said he thought it’d give her one less thing to fight him about in the settlement.”
“Brian goes in there pretty much every day, so I don’t know that we should suspect him.”
Branson nodded. The groundskeeper always had complete access to the garage since the landscaping supplies were housed there. And Branson couldn’t think of a motive the man would have to harm or threaten D-Chop. But maybe he should run that down in case he was missing something.
“Peter went in when he took the Bugatti for the tune-up?” Louis looked at the monitor and rewound the video again, stopping on the time-stamped section where Peter entered the garage. “At ten fifteen a.m. He’s not carrying anything.”
Branson moved closer to watch over Louis’s shoulder as Peter disappeared into the building. “True.”
Louis sped up the video to a minute later when Peter backed out in the expensive sports car. “He drives those cars all the time to one thing or another for D-Chop. And he always has complete access to everything around here. Nothing unusual.”
Branson couldn’t see him wanting to harass D-Chop either. The man had a cushy job with generous pay and plenty of perks. Branson had never heard him complain.
D-Chop had shown off his car collection to friends just last night. They’d walked through the entire garage with Branson accompanying them. Whoever had planted those fireworks would’ve had to do so after that tour.
According to the security footage, no one had gone in or out overnight. And only three people had entered and left during the daytime hours.
Only Jill had obvious motive as well as opportunity.
“But do you think Jill would endanger her own kids?” Louis must be thinking along the same lines.
“I don’t think she did endanger them.”
Louis swiveled in the chair and faced Branson head-on, his eyebrows lifted.
“She knew Darren and I were with them and that they don’t have access to the garage. With the remote setup, she could’ve even watched with binoculars through the fence somewhere to be sure the kids were a safe distance before she set off the fireworks.”
“But how would Jill know how to set up something like that? She’s not exactly a mechanical genius.”
Definitely an understatement. She’d once demanded that Branson show her how to operate the toaster when their live-in chef in Los Angeles had the day off. “She is smart, though. Maybe she had someone show her how to do it. Or there are probably video tutorials online.” Seemed to be a video for everything these days.
But could Jill have done the other things? Her motivation fit—someone who felt D-Chop owed her something. She wanted money in the settlement, custody of the kids, and wanted to win. She also talked about the waste she thought her years with D-Chop had been, as if he owed her for that time. And for the philandering, even though she was guilty of the same sin herself.
Did she have the access and ability to carry out the fire and the attack on the gate guard? Probably not. But she could’ve hired someone. Though no one unusual had accessed the garage or come on the premises except for D-Chop’s guests, and they’d been monitored during their visit.