He was surprised by the question and wasn’t about to answer it. “Why do you want to know?”
“She’s important to us.”
“Important how?” Did these cops forget they were talking to a lawyer? If there was anyone well practiced in the art of obtaining facts, it was him. Not to mention his ability to elude questions like the politician he was.
“Are you dating her?” James asked from the other side of the table.
“Are you an Uncle…a cousin?” Carter asked.
“You’re not going to answer our questions, are you?”
“Give me the reason behind this meeting and I’ll consider your questions.” He wouldn’t answer them, but he’d consider them.
“Eliza is a stubborn woman.”
Carter chuckled. Understatement of the year. “And?”
“We have reason to believe that she could be in danger. If we knew the nature of your attachment to her, we might be better equipped to help keep her safe.”
The smile attempting to break because of the “stubborn” comment disappeared when the word danger was uttered. “What kind of danger?”
Dean exchanged a look with James, but neither of them elaborated. From the firm set of Dean’s jaw, they weren’t going to either. “Someone needs to start trusting someone here. You guys called me…remember?”
James pushed away from the table. “It would be best for Eliza to disappear for a while.”
“Disappear?” Carter didn’t like the sound of that.
“Yeah. Only she isn’t seeing the wisdom of our years. If you’re close to her maybe you can convince her.”
Disappear? Danger? Carter was starting to find the clear dots on the page. The lines between said dots were muddy with more questions than answers. He needed more answers. The best way for him to secure those answers was to bluff and let these men think he knew more than he did. “You said yourself Eliza is a stubborn lady. You guys have obviously known her for a while.”
“Longer than anyone,” Dean said behind his coffee cup.
James cleared his throat, obviously attempting to shut Dean up. “Our only goal is to keep her safe. You’ve spent enough years with your head in the business of law, Mr. Billings. You know how budget cuts keep our hands tied. Eliza needs protection and we can’t always be there to render it.”
“Protection from whom?” As the words left his lips, he knew he’d given away the fact that he knew little.
“Telling you that isn’t possible. We brought you here in hope of getting Eliza to listen to reason. She understands the risk. She knows she should leave.”
Carter thought of the recent wedding, of Eliza’s friendship with Samantha, and her love for Eddie. “Not gonna happen.”
“Meaning you won’t help us?”
“Meaning you had it right the first time. Eliza isn’t prone to doing something because she has to. She does only what she wants.” He thought briefly of the God-awful yellow bridesmaid dress and her unease when speaking with the media. Okay, maybe she did do things she didn’t enjoy, but she did them for someone else.
“We thought you might say as much,” Dean said before pushing away from the table and poking his head out the door. “Keller?” he yelled.
Footfalls sounded beyond where Carter could see, combined with a tapping of nails.
Dean’s gaze slid low as another cop entered the room with a four-legged friend at his side.
The German Sheppard wiggled his dark eyes from one man to the other. Its tongue lapped to one side of its mouth as he panted.
“This is Zod. A newly retired member of our force.”
“Why is he here?”
“You’re going to give him to our mutual friend.”
Carter’s brow shot up. “I am?”
“You are.” Dean thanked Keller and the other man left the room. “Zod is fluent in German commands. Ones I’m sure Li-Eliza remembers. If we gave her the dog, she’d probably laugh in our faces. Maybe from you, she’d keep him.”
Like anyone who watched the evening news, Carter knew the damage a police dog could do. What worried him wasn’t that Eliza could stay safe with one at her side, but why she needed him.
“You really think this is necessary?”
“It’s an added layer of security we can slip Eliza without too much of a fight. Making her move in with a friend…or a boyfriend to help keep her protected isn’t something she’d agree to easily,” James said.
Dean huffed out an exacerbated breath. “She’s more stubborn than my ex-wife.”
“Which one?” James asked, laughing.
“Both.”
“She’s really in that much danger?”
Dean nodded.
“And you’re not going to tell me why, or who might be after her?”
“We’re telling you to give her the dog and watch her back. If anything looks suspicious we need to know.” Dean removed a card from his wallet and handed it over. “If you weren’t running for office, I’d suggest you stick to her like a shadow until we know she’s safe. Your high profile life is what started this mess, and the last thing Eliza needs is more media exposure.”
The sick feeling deep in Carter’s stomach started to spread. He needed answers.
He needed them yesterday.
Carter stood and both men followed. James secured a leash on Zod and offered the other end to Carter.
“Zod? That’s really his name?” Sounded like a sci-fi god.
Zod responded to his name with a bark.
“He eats special food. One of the deputies will bring a case of it out to your car.”
A stat call to Roger was in order. Eliza couldn’t be the only one able to call the dog off.
****
“Witness relocation program.” Roger’s words resonated through Carter’s hands free connection in his car.
“I should have guessed that earlier,” Carter informed his friend.
“Digging information up is like peeling layers of duct tape away from each other. You’d be better off going to the source to find answers.”
Carter glanced over to Zod who pressed his nose to the crack in the window for a sniff. He’d tried Eliza’s home, but she wasn’t there. And she wasn’t returning his calls. A message from Blake revealed that Eliza was having lunch with Samantha in Malibu.
“I don’t know if she’ll talk.”
“Most don’t. But then, most avoid the spotlight and split once their identity is revealed.”