She said, “Mr. Paltz?”
He stood up from his desk. No mask, so she could see a once-sharp jawline sliding into softness. Leigh’s snap judgment hadn’t been far off. He was mid-thirties with a tightly trimmed goatee and a flippy early-Hugh Grant wave in his thinning dark hair. He was dressed in khakis and a light gray button-down shirt. A thin gold necklace was around his thick neck. His eyes gave her the once-over, an expert face-to-breast-to-leg evaluation that Leigh had been getting since puberty. He came off as a good-looking asshole, but not Leigh’s type of good-looking asshole.
“Mrs. Collier.” In normal times, they would’ve shaken hands. Now, he kept his hands in his pockets. “Call me Reggie. Nice to finally meet you.”
Leigh felt every single muscle in her body stiffen as she clocked the Mrs. and the finally. This entire time, she had been in such a hurry to figure out how to extricate herself from this fucking case that she hadn’t given one damn thought to how she had gotten into it in the first place.
Mrs.
Leigh had taken Walter’s last name when they had married in college. She hadn’t bothered to change it back to her maiden name because she hadn’t bothered to divorce him. She had legally changed her first name from Harleigh to Leigh three years before they’d met.
So how did Andrew know to ask for Leigh Collier? As far as he knew, she was still going by Harleigh, still using her mother’s last name. Leigh had been very careful over the years to make sure that connecting her past and her present took jumping through several hoops.
That led to the bigger question of how Andrew had found out that Leigh was a lawyer. Sure, the Tenant family knew Cole Bradley, but Cole Bradley hadn’t heard about Leigh until twelve hours ago.
Finally.
Andrew must have hired Paltz to look for her. He was glad to finally meet her after doing a deep dive, jumping through the hoops, landing in the middle of Leigh’s life. And if he knew how Harleigh had become Leigh, then he would know about Walter and Maddy and—
Callie.
“Guys, I’m sorry.” Andrew shook his head as he walked into the office. He slumped into the low couch. “Sid’s down in the car. That did not go well.”
Reggie pulled a face. “Dude, does it ever?”
Leigh’s knees felt weak. She sank into the chair closest to the door. Sweat rolled down her back. She watched Andrew slip down his mask around his chin. He was texting on his phone. “She’s already asking how long.”
Reggie’s chair squeaked as he sat back down. “Tell her to shut the fuck up.”
“Thanks for the advice. I’m sure that will calm her down.” Andrew’s thumbs started moving across the screen. An emotion had finally punched through his unreadable veneer. He was visibly worried. “Shit. She’s furious.”
“Dude, stop replying.” Reggie tapped his laptop awake. “We’re burning through your mama’s cash big time.”
Leigh unhooked her mask. The Mrs. and the finally kept knocking around inside her skull. She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “How did you two meet?”
Reggie volunteered, “Andrew sold me my first Mercedes. What was that, dude, three, four years ago?”
Leigh cleared her throat again, waiting, but Andrew was still distracted by his phone.
She finally asked, “Is that so?”
“Yeah, dude used to be a fucking stallion until Sid neutered him with that engagement ring.” He caught a sharp look from Andrew and abruptly shifted back into business, telling Leigh, “I got your firm’s server encryption key from your assistant this morning. I’ll have everything uploaded for you by this afternoon.”
Leigh forced herself to nod. She mentally tried to unwind her paranoia. The Mrs. was because he had done his homework. It wasn’t unusual for high-income clients to make sure they knew who they were dealing with. The finally meant—what? The simplest explanation was the same as the one for the Mrs. Andrew had hired Reggie Paltz to investigate her, to delve into her life and family, and he was finally meeting Leigh after reading so much about her.
“Y’all, I’m sorry.” Andrew stood up, eyes still on his phone. “I should check on her.”
“Ask for your balls back.” Reggie shook his head for Leigh’s benefit. “Dude’s back in high school with this chick.”
Leigh felt the unwelcome tremor return to her hands as Reggie hunched over his laptop. The simplest explanation still did not answer the most important question. How had Andrew found Leigh in the first place? He was an accused rapist staring down a jury trial that started in one week. It didn’t make sense that he would stop in the middle of it to find his babysitter from two decades ago.