“What club?” Eli demanded.

“The Black Kitty,” Kay mumbled.

Eli cleared his throat.

Tank suddenly looked like he was trying not to laugh. “So she’s a stripper.”

“No, Sasha isn’t a stripper. She just sings at a strip club. And I don’t believe she would ever hurt me. Not her. We’ve been friends too long. I would know if she was capable of something like this. We know each other too well to hide things.”

“So, she’d know that Tim gave you that figurine?”

Kay glanced up at Eli again before she sank back into her seat. Her shoulders sagged slightly before she answered. “Yeah, she’d know that. I showed it to her after he gave it to me.”

“I’m sorry, Kay. But until we know for sure that she’s not involved, I need you to avoid talking to her. Just until we sort this out.”

“But I already told her we were heading back today…”

Matt looked at her, his eyes full of sympathy. “Why don’t you girls relax a bit? Watch some of those sappy movies you like so much, huh?” Matt squeezed her arm before following Eli and Tank out of the room.

Mara smiled back as she watched them disappear into the next room.

Kay looked devastated. That just wouldn’t do. She reached into her tote bag and pulled out the movies she’d brought and a chocolate bar.

“You have every right to follow them and kick their butts until they tell you what you want to know. But if I was in your shoes, I probably wouldn’t want to know every detail. So if you want, we can ignore it all and distract ourselves with chick flicks and chocolate.”

Kay reached for the chocolate bar immediately. “No contest. Come on, I need to medicate.”

“NOW THAT THE girls are occupied, let’s talk for real.” Eli sank down in one of the dining room chairs, Hope perched on his knee. Matt and Tank sat on either side of him. Jackson took a seat in the corner. He looked up to see his brother watching him, a silly little grin on his face.

“What are you smiling at, runt?” he teased. His brothers were all taller than he was, but he had them all on muscle mass.

“You. You’re holding a business meeting with a baby bouncing on your knee.” Jackson pantomimed wiping away a tear. “I’m so proud.”

Eli chuckled. “I learned from the best. You always made it look so easy.” He looked down at Hope, who was happily shredding the pages of the agenda he’d printed out for the meeting.

He could only hope to be the kind of father Jackson was and that their own father had been. It was one of the most important roles he’d ever play.

“I had a lot of help. You guys have been there every step of the way,” Jackson admitted.

“Yeah, yeah enough of the trip down memory lane,” Eli grumbled, determined not to get all emotional in front of his brother and two of his employees. A man had to have some standards. “Who’s up first?”

Matt spoke, templing his hands in front of him like he was in prayer. “I went to headquarters like you asked and we got a team ready to ride down to New Haven. They drove the same model SUV that you drive and the female agent was a similar height and weight to Kay. They even took along a car seat filled with blankets to make it more realistic. The ride down was uneventful, but as soon as they crossed into New Haven, they were followed.”

“Did you get any plate numbers?” Eli asked.

Matt shrugged, frowning. “Yeah, but they were all stolen.”

“That’s what I figured. But at least we know. Sasha is definitely involved. She’s the only one Kay called yesterday.”

“What do you really think about Kay’s friend? Do you have any reason to think she’s dangerous?”

“I’m not sure. She’s always appeared to have Kay’s best interests at heart, but at the same time, Sasha knows a lot about Kay. Also, I find it hard to believe that there were no hard feelings when their group broke up. Kay got a solo contract and Sasha is now singing in some strip club. What if she thought ‘Why Kay? Why should she have all the luck?’ and took things into her own hands?”

Matt didn’t look convinced. “That’s a lot of what-ifs.”

“True, but I’m not suggesting we indict the girl yet. I’m just saying we should keep an eye on her. Maybe she’s selling Kay out, or maybe it’s just a coincidence. But either way, she bears watching.”

“Fair enough,” Matt conceded.

Kay appeared in the doorway with Mara behind her. Eli held up a hand to halt any further conversation. “Hey. Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we just paused the movie so we could make more popcorn. Ridley’s having pregnancy cravings and just inhaled the first bowl. Don’t stop the meeting just because I’m in here.” She made a show of going back into the kitchen.

Eli raised his eyebrows. Matt and Tank nodded. Any further discussions of Sasha could wait until Kay was out of earshot.

“Have we made any progress finding out who Elise Able is?” Elliott asked.

“Ellie Sable? I know that name.” Kay poked her head back into the room. “I remember from when I was filing things at your office.”

“Ellie Sable? You saw that name on one of the files at my office? So she’s one of ours, too.” He looked over at Tank. “Jeremy must have gotten the name wrong. Can you run it and find out what kind of job it was? It has to share a connection with the other case. Maybe this guy was a client at one point and he’s fixated on women with a certain profile.”