“I need you to dig up the evidence your father compiled, and you need to pay the bills. This seems like a win-win situation to me.”
Marissa hit the mute button and snatched the phone off Ian’s desk. “Have you lost your mind? You can’t hire him. What if he’s working for Eric?”
“What if he isn’t, and he’s my only chance at getting any answers?”
“There are too many unknown variables,” Marissa sputtered, her face turning a bright red. “It’s not safe to hire a guy like this. You haven’t even vetted him properly.”
“I did, and he’s clean.”
“Did you run his name through the system?”
“Yes.”
Marissa frowned. “And he’s got nothing? No shady past? No strange debt?”
“That’s what ‘clean’ means.” Ian plucked the phone out of her hand. “Look, I appreciate you looking out, but I know how to do my job, Mar. I’ve got this.”
And here was his chance to take some things off his plate and make more time for his sick wife.
Marissa gave him a skeptical look and dragged her chair back across the floor. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“You can tell me I told you so later.” Ian took the phone off of mute and pressed it to his ear. “Sorry about that, Bryce. I had an emergency. So, what do you think?”
“I’ll send you my hours, and if you approve, we can get started right away.”
“So, you went from barely trusting the guy to breaking into his dad’s old office to hiring him as the PI?”
“Yup.”
Sophia leaned sideways and sniffed. “What are you on, and can I have some?”
Ian shoved her away. “I’m not on anything. I just need the information he has, and the guy has bills to pay. What’s wrong with what I suggested?”
“What’s wrong is Marissa is right, and he could be a dangerous guy, and you’re letting your impatience cloud your judgment.”
Ian stopped tearing off tiny pieces of his sandwich. “Impatience? Soph, it’s been forty-plus years since Mom was killed. This is the first real lead we’ve ever had. I can’t just walk away from it.”
No matter how much he wanted to.
Plus, hiring Bryce left him enough time to focus on Lucy.
Why couldn’t anyone understand that?
Sophia sighed, and her breath crystallized in front of her. “I still think it isn’t the right move.”
Ian set the sandwich down on the steps between them. “What would you do, then?”
Sophia tilted her head in his direction. “I don’t know, to be honest. It’s a lot to take in.”
In silence, they both stared at the empty street and the park across from it. Ian’s eyes swept over the streetlamps, stopping at a lone figure near the end. He squinted, and the figure disappeared, making it feel as if the two of them were alone in the world.
He knew Sophia meant well, but she couldn’t possibly understand what it was like for him.
How could she?
“I know that face.” Sophia stood up and dusted herself off. “I’m not trying to criticize you, E. I’m just letting you know what I think. We’re allowed to disagree, you know.”
Ian picked up his sandwich and handed it back to Sophia. “Yeah, I know.”
