Suspect Lover. Stephanie Doyle

needed to break the connection to her past and embrace her future.

      With Dominic. Her husband.

      In the midst of all that, she’d learned she wasn’t pregnant. Not that she wanted it or expected it to happen so quickly, but inexplicably she felt disappointed.

      “And so this is everyone he works with?”

      “Most of us, yeah,” Steven answered. “There’s a bunch of programmers. Plus some account reps, salespeople and support staff. And Denny, of course. Denny, come over here and try to be sociable.”

      Caroline spotted the man Steven was waving over. He wasn’t hard to miss. Separated from the rest of the room, he stood alone with a beer dangling between his fingers. His gaze lingered on something or someone behind Caroline, but before she could turn her head to see what it was, he moved and was walking toward them.

      Different from the rest of the men who wore slacks and sport coats, he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt that had seen better days. His sandy brown hair was unkempt and overlong, as was his five o’clock shadow. As he moved closer, she could see that his eyes were almost bright red. Caroline hoped with fatigue and not drugs. There was no polite way to say it. The man was a mess.

      “Hey,” he nodded. “I’m Denny.”

      She held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

      “Yeah.”

      She wanted to say that Dominic had told her so much about him, but the truth was she only knew that he was a programmer. An excellent one.

      “So you’ve got to tell me how all this happened.” Steven nudged her. “Dominic literally walks into my office on Friday, says he won’t be working this weekend because he’s off to Vegas to get hitched and leaves. Please tell me you guys haven’t been dating for years and I’ve been that oblivious.”

      Caroline smiled and found herself instantly liking this man. He had an easy way about him that was in direct contrast to his wife’s intensity. “No, we haven’t been dating long.” She wondered what else to say, wondered how much Dominic wanted to reveal or conceal about their relationship. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed about using the agency, but the speed in which it all came about might raise a few eyebrows.

      “I met her in Washington.”

      Dominic came up behind Caroline and handed her a glass of wine. She took it gratefully.

      “Yes,” she added. “A mutual friend set us up. And there was a connection at first sight.”

      “Oh, isn’t that romantic!” Anne who had been circling, joined the group and beamed at the two of them. “And this was when?”

      “Two months ago,” Caroline answered her, counting the time from when he first contacted her rather than when they actually met.

      “And Dominic never said a word,” Anne repeated still evidently shocked by the news.

      “He’s entitled to a private life,” Russell told his daughter.

      “Yes, but surely you would tell your partners about your marriage,” Anne said directly to Dominic. “In some ways it affects all of us.”

      “How so?” Caroline asked.

      “Come on, Anne, nobody wants to talk about that stuff now,” Steven said casually taking hold of her elbow and giving it a slight squeeze.

      Anne huffed and then turned to Denny. Instantly she sighed and rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t have at least shaved for the occasion? Really, Denny, sometimes you can be almost disgusting in your appearance.”

      “Sorry.” He tipped the beer to his lips in a sort of toast. “Congratulations anyway.”

      “Thank you. But tell me more about you,” Caroline urged him. “Dominic said you were working nonstop on some important new program for them.”

      There was silence and Caroline got the impression that tense glances were being traded.

      “Yes, Denny,” Steven said. “Please tell us what you’re working on. I’ve been trying to get budget figures and projections on this latest endeavor for two weeks and I can’t because you won’t tell us what you’re doing. You stay locked up in that cell of yours. You won’t even come out for air.”

      “I don’t want to talk about it.” He shuffled his feet and took another sip of beer.

      “You’re supposed to be making sure our product is perfect before we make our presentation at the committee hearing next month,” Steven scolded. “That better be done.”

      “The program is foolproof,” he snapped. “I was working on something else. It doesn’t matter. I’m done with it.”

      “What? You said what you were working on was important.”

      Caroline looked at Dominic. She’d never heard that angry tone in his voice before. His face was sterner than she’d seen in the last two weeks.

      “It doesn’t matter,” Denny repeated.

      “Boring. No one wants to hear about work, now. This is supposed to be a party,” Anne said gaily.

      Time for a change in topic, Caroline agreed. “When did the three of you become partners?”

      “Actually, it was Denny and Dominic for a long time before I came on the scene and bought in,” Steven explained.

      “You mean until I bought in,” Russell slapped his son-in-law on the back in a good-natured gesture.

      “Right,” Steven said tightly. “As for how Denny and Dominic met…you won’t believe this but I don’t think I even know that story. You guys started Encrypton twelve years ago, but how did you originally get together?”

      “Forget that, Steven,” Anne interrupted him, patting his arm. “No one cares how Denny and Dominic met. This party is about getting to know Caroline. I understand you’re a writer.”

      

      The party continued and Caroline made the rounds and chatted to each of Dominic’s employees. Deciding she needed a break and probably a bit of freshening up, she made her way upstairs. A few people lingered on the second floor loft, but not many. She smiled at them and made her way to the guest bedroom to check in on Munch, who had been quarantined.

      Munch immediately left her warm spot on the bed to greet her mistress. She stroked the animal’s head until the dog decided she’d had enough and returned to the bed to continue her nap. Caroline shut the door behind her and headed for Dominic’s room. Her room, she mentally corrected. Her home, her bedroom, hers. It was going to take some getting used to.

      She opened the door, but stopped when she saw Anne with another woman by the window.

      “Caroline! Oh, good. I don’t think you’ve met Serena.”

      The woman turned and smiled graciously. She was older, perhaps late forties, with dark hair pulled back into a severe bun. She looked tidy, if a bit conservative, in a navy blue suit.

      “I’m Mr. Santos’s assistant. I’ve been with him for a number of years.”

      Caroline shook Serena’s hand. It was a loose grip, and Caroline noted that the polite smile didn’t quite reach the woman’s eyes. She didn’t think it was personal, more like Serena wasn’t the type to smile easily. She imagined that she and Dominic worked well together.

      “We were just up here swapping recipes. Serena makes a burrito with homemade salsa that is simply to die for.”

      “You’ll have to share.”

      The older woman’s head dropped once formally. “I’ll send the recipe home with Mr. Santos tomorrow.”

      “I hope you don’t mind us sneaking away up here. But this view…” Anne turned back to the window and sighed.

      “Of