Page 121 of See You Again
“I’m not here to hurt you, Ms. Messina,” he said. Cami breathed past the tightness in her chest. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. It took all of her willpower not to look for James. He hadn’t threatened her, and he was unlikely to pull a gun in such a crowded place.
She hoped.
“I’m sorry if I frightened you by helping myself to your files, but I needed to assure myself of something.”
“You mean when you broke in? How did you, by the way?”
A ghost of a smile teased at his lips. “You need a better lock on your front door. The numbers you press to unlock your door are more worn than the others. After that, it was just a matter of going through the permutations.”
Cami blinked. He almost sounded like he was giving her fatherly advice. “Why not just call my office if you had information? Why go to my mother’s house?”
He spread his hands. “I’m sorry if I disturbed your mother. I didn’t expect her to be…” Cami averted her eyes at the sympathy in his expression. This man, whoever he was, was not turning out to be anything like what she expected. “As to why I didn’t call… I’m trying to keep my anonymity. In my line of work, it would be bad for it to get out that I had saved something that would incriminate a former employer.”
“What line of work?”
“I help people,” he said with an oblique smile.
“If you have evidence, why give it to me? Why not send it to the police?”
He shrugged. “Because nothing I have would be admissible in court, not without my testimony—which I’m not giving. As to why I contacted you… I like you.” Cami’s eyes widened, but he chuckled. “I enjoy your show, and when you started your current case, it brought back a memory of something I’d forgotten. I realized I had something in my possession that could help.”
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t just contact me directly? Why all the subterfuge? Why steal the file?”
“I needed to be sure if what I had was of value. I’m taking a risk contacting you about Matt Crawford, and if I didn’t think it would prove useful, then there was no reason to take the risk. Plus, you are involved with James Bloom, which brings a new set of complications. Some that work in your favor.”
Cami’s mind raced.
He did have evidence on Matt!
“What does James have to do with it?”
“I know how strong his ethics are, and if he is involved with you, it means you are the same. What’s important to this conversation is I can prove Amy was in Matt Crawford’s SUV the night she disappeared.”
Cami’s ears buzzed as adrenaline flooded her body. “How?”
He ignored her question. “I needed your file because I wanted to check the missing person’s report, particularly what Amy was wearing when she was last seen.”
“What’s the evidence?” she persisted.
He didn’t answer at first, but then he exhaled and leaned back, resting against the low bench. “I only want to tell this story once. Tell James it’s safe to come over now.”
Cami’s mouth dropped open before she caught herself. “James isn’t?—”
“Don’t bother.” He sounded amused. “It was smart to come early, but I was here earlier. James is far too protective to let his woman meet me alone.”
Cami reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, and almost immediately, James was standing in front of them. Where the heck had he been hiding?
The man rose to his feet and extended his hand to James. To her surprise, James shook it.
“It’s been a long time, James.”
“It has. I can’t say I like the cat-and-mouse game you’ve been playing.”
The man’s lips twisted. “I heard Declan was looking for me.”
Cami’s gaze bounced between the two men. “You two know each other?”
James had a blank expression on his face when he said, “Cami, let me introduce you to Vincent Menardi, my father’s head of security.”