“No.” Twitch.
Why is this guy lying to me? How the hell am I supposed to protect him when I don’t have a clue what’s really going on?
“You don’t seem worried.”
I’m really trying to remain calm, but between seeing Lucy and then Joseph lying to me more than telling the truth, I’m at the end of my rope right now.
He laughs, not picking up on my tension. “I’m not. I mean, look at the letter. But when I showed Chip this letter, he insisted on hiring protection.”
“Chip?”
“My boss, the president of the university.”
I nod. “You showed this to him?” I hold the letter up. At this point, I’m certain Joseph made this himself. The question now is why? And the president of the university took this seriously?
“He followed me into my office the day I found it on my desk. He saw it when I did.”
I stare at the note again. There’s glue overflowing from under the letters. This isn’t something this person does regularly. It’s messy.
“Did you tell him about the phone calls?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“The same time he saw the letter.”
Okay, so that likely explains why I’m here. Clearly, Chip hasn’t figured out Joseph lies.
“Does your boss have any idea who might want to threaten you?”
“It could be anybody. It’s clearly related to the team’s funding, and people in this school—hell, this entire town—take hockey very seriously.”
“Any other threats?”
“No.” Twitch.
Dammit. I throw the letter down on the desk and then step closer to the man. “Joseph, if I’m going to protect you, you have to be honest with me.”
He smiles. “Of course. But right now, I need to get to a meeting. It’s just down the hall. If you want to wait here, take a look around, I’ll be fine.”
You better believe I want to look around. I nod. Maybe I can figure out what this guy is really hiding. He doesn’t feel the need for security while in this building, and he expects me to believe this preschool version of a threat.
“That sounds good,” I tell him. “Oh, by the way, does your ex-wife work here?”
Joseph frowns. “Yes, she’s a professor.”
A professor? She always said she wanted to be a doctor.
He scoffs. “Why? You want to catch up?”
I don’t miss his accusatory tone. “No, I’m wondering how things ended between you two. Could she be behind this threat?” I know this likely has nothing to do with Lucy, but my response satisfies Joseph.
“Anything is possible,” he says as he walks to the door. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
I nod. I have one hour to figure out why my new client is not only lying to me, but possibly trying to push me in the wrong direction.
There’s no way Lucy could have anything to do with the threats against Joseph Taylor. But then again, I hadn’t seen her or talked to her in thirteen years. People change.
