a different story, but before she could get it out of him, the back door of the brewery opened and one of the officers came out. “A detective is on his way over. He’ll want to walk through with you when he arrives, Mr. Donovan.”
“Thanks,” Jamie muttered.
Tessa craned her neck to try to see through the cracked door. “You’re sure the tanks are okay?”
Jamie nodded. “Everything looks fine except for a couple of missing computers and one keg.”
The break-in should have been the most upsetting event of the day. On any other day, she’d be crying and wringing her hands over the violation. But if Eric found out what Jamie had done with Monica Kendall, it would ruin her brothers’ relationship, and her brothers … they were all she had. She had to fix this, somehow.
“Please, Jamie,” she said as the officer paced toward his car. “Tell me there’s no more bad news.”
He sighed as if he’d been holding his breath. “It was stupid. You’re right. Really fucking stupid. But it seemed like it would be no big deal this morning. It was fine. Only I didn’t realize … When we pulled up to her place last night, I thought it was just a house up in the foothills. But it wasn’t. She lives in the guesthouse. Her dad’s guesthouse.”
For a moment, the world actually turned around Tessa’s head. The sky and the clouds and the dark green pine trees—they rotated in a slow, sick spin. Tessa closed her eyes and prayed.
“When she was pulling out of her garage, her dad jogged right past. He saw me.”
“Oh, God.” This was the perfect storm of bad news. Their brother had been working Roland Kendall for months, trying to convince him that Donovan Brothers beer would be the perfect microbrew to serve on the fleet of the brand-new High West Airline. Eric had worked stubbornly toward this moment, intent on getting the brand into new hands, new customers. A few weeks before, he’d finally arranged a private meeting with Roland and his daughter, Monica. They’d made their final pricing offer. The deal had almost been done, the contracts sent over.
And now … disaster in the form of Jamie Donovan. “I’m going to kill you,” she said flatly. “This one woman. Just this one woman you had to avoid touching.”
“That’s not fair,” he snapped. “You two always talk like I’m with a new woman every night. I haven’t dated in months!”
Tessa crossed her arms and paced away from him, trying to think. “Are you sure he saw you?”
“He saw me. Though I suppose it’s possible he didn’t recognize me.”
“Okay. We can handle this,” Tessa said, thinking fast. “First of all, don’t say anything to Eric.”
Jamie shook his head. “I need to tell him.”
“Are you insane?” she snapped. “Eric is going to be furious. With both of us! I took your side on this, damn it. I told him to let you help with the negotiations. You are not telling Eric.”
“He’s going to find out. And I’m not interested in hiding from him like a kid avoiding punishment. This is my company, too. If I screwed up, I’ll face it.”
“This isn’t just about you, Jamie. We’re a family, and I don’t want this to be the wedge that finally drives us apart. So keep your mouth shut until I find out what Roland Kendall is going to do.”
He threw his hands up in frustration, but Tessa ignored him. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense, and Tessa was on the attack today.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” she said in a rush. “I’m going to leave. You call Eric as if he’s the first one you called. If he asks, you went home with a woman and she dropped you off this morning, but do not mention Monica Kendall. I’ll come back in twenty minutes or so and act like I’ve never been here.”
“God, you’ve gotten devious,” he muttered.
He had no idea.
“I’ll call Roland Kendall later and see if I can read him. You keep your mouth shut.”
“Tessa,” he started, but she stalked away from him, heading down the street toward her house.
She knew she should be worried about the robbery, but that seemed far and away the least of her problems. Even losing the deal with High West wouldn’t exactly be a family tragedy … except that it would be.
Eric was becoming more and more withdrawn into his role as head of the family. Tessa could understand that. He’d filled the shoes of their father since their parents had died in a car accident. Eric had only been twenty-four when he’d become responsible for two kids and a business. So Tessa could understand why, thirteen years later, he might have trouble stepping back from that. But he had to.
If Eric needed to relax a little, Jamie needed to add some stress to his world. He couldn’t keep living like a carefree bartender for the rest of his life. Hell, he didn’t even want to. He wanted to step up and act like a full-fledged partner. Minus, apparently, any restraint when it came to women. But plenty of successful men had that problem. There was no reason Jamie shouldn’t join their ranks.
Tessa spotted another patrol car approaching, followed by a suspiciously nondescript sedan. She ducked her head, trying to escape the crime scene undetected. Her house, the house they’d all grown up in, was only three blocks away. She’d change from her yoga pants to jeans and brush her hair as if she’d been up for an hour before receiving Jamie’s call. Speaking of …
She hit redial on her cell phone. “Did you call Eric yet?”
“He’s on his way,” Jamie muttered, then reminded her, “I don’t like this.”
“I know. But we have to make this right.”
“He’s our brother, Tessa, not our dad. I don’t answer to him.”
“No, but you owe him. We both do.”
While Jamie’s sigh was still echoing through the phone, Tessa hung up on him and rushed up her front walk. She’d done all she could for now. She couldn’t call Roland Kendall for several hours at least. If he hadn’t placed Jamie’s face yet, her phone call might trigger the connection. She’d have to be patient, and plan this deception with ruthless care.
It shouldn’t be that hard. She’d been managing her brothers’ relationship since the day her parents had died. She played referee, defused fights and forced them to spend time together over Sunday dinners and holiday feasts. They were the only family she had left and she wasn’t going to lose that, certainly not over a business deal.
“I can handle this,” she insisted to herself as she turned onto her street and rushed toward home. “It’ll be okay.”
So why did she feel so sick inside?
DETECTIVE LUKE ASHER whipped the latex gloves off and tossed them into the alley Dumpster before turning to shake hands with Eric Donovan. “Eric, it’s good to see you again, though not under these circumstances.”
“Well, Jamie was just telling me that not much was taken. In fact, I was surprised to see you here.”
“I’m sure you won’t be out more than your insurance deductible on the computer equipment. But we’re more concerned with the information on the computers. Social Security numbers, credit card information. There’s been a rash of these types of break-ins at local businesses. Patrol called me when they realized the alarm had been circumvented somehow. That makes it less likely to be a casual robbery.”
Eric’s eyes slid toward his brother. “Are you sure the alarm was circumvented? Maybe it was never set.”
Luke was sure he’d never seen someone snap from relaxed to furious as quickly as Jamie pulled it off. “I told you I set the damn alarm, Eric.”
“I know you think you did,”