Relentless (Colorado Crimes Book 5)

Chapter 11

Noah watched her expression falter. He could tell she was hiding something and he wanted to know. "So?"

Natalie swallowed. "I just do. Cop shows." She faked a smile.

Noah furrowed his eyebrows. "Please don't lie to me. I know you're lying." What was she hiding? Was it bigger than he expected. Dread curled into a heavy ball inside his gut and he had trouble keeping his gaze on her. 

Natalie's all-too-fake smile faded.

Noah bit his lip. She was definitely not telling him something and it was bothering him. "Natalie..."

"I'm a PI." She blurted.

Noah felt his stomach churn with uneasiness. "What? Not possible. You're a financial advisor." Unless...

"I lied." Natalie's knuckles on the steering wheel turned white.

The breath whooshed out of his lungs, "Care to explain?" 

Natalie nodded. "Yeah, I will." She didn't say anything for a long minute before speaking again.  "I'm a private investigator and I work with Raelyn in a business called Thomas and Mitchells PI. Someone called me and told me that he suspected someone of dealing counterfeit bills around, so I had to go undercover and collect evidence to see if they were really guilty or not."

Noah was shocked. She lied to him. Easily. Ouch. How had he not seen the obvious? He knew that Raelyn was a private detective, how did he not see that Natalie was obviously one too? "Who is suspected for dealing counterfeit bills?" 

Natalie grimaced, "You."

~~~~~

Natalie turned her head back to face the road while she let Noah process all of it. "I lied to you and I'm sorry. I wasn't allowed to tell you. I shouldn't even have told you just now."

Noah looked upset. Very upset. "So when you agreed to the first date, it was to find more information on me? When you insisted that you pay for our meal it was because you thought that I was paying with counterfeit money? When you called me from my house this morning, it wasn't because you happened to be in the area, it was because you were sneaking around my house? When you gave me all these specifics on what to do when I was tailed it's because you're actually a PI so you know how to deal with these things?"

Natalie swallowed. "Yeah." She had screwed up royally and didn't know what to say. 

"I can't believe it. You lied to me. You actually thought I was guilty of dealing counterfeit bills."

"No! I never thought you were."

"Why didn't you just tell me right off the bat, then?"

"Cause it's in the contract to keep it confidential."

"So you thought lying was a better option?" Noah fumed, raising his voice.

Natalie merged onto the interstate, "I guess."

"So the arson fire at my house and someone tailing me wasn't a random dude just targeting me, it's because I'm suspected of dealing counterfeit bills? How, Natalie tell me, how does that make sense!?"

"I think that someone is setting you up and trying to make your life horrible and have you end up in jail, so they think that setting your house on fire, tailing and shooting at you, and blaming you for dealing counterfeit bills is the best way to do it." Natalie braced herself for more anger. This was not going down how she hoped.

"Swell. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He hissed.

Natalie grimaced. "I told you, because I'm supposed to keep it confidential."