Plumber nodded. “His son grew up and started Silencers. I took over your case five years ago. When you approached Troop Search and Rescue, we had a way in. I became Shadow Watcher.”
“You were spying on me.”
“Yes.”
A sense of betrayal so deep she couldn’t define where it started inside her, ran deep and wide and seemed to have no end. Then came the pain. And trust withered and died.
Chapter Eighteen
Tuesday, December 15, 12:45 p.m.
“I was spying on you, yes—but not really,” Plumber said. “At least, not in the way you might think.”
Trying to retain her very shaky composure, Gabby searched for her voice. “In what way, then?”
“Looking for anything to tell us whether or not you knew the truth—you didn’t—and then to keep you from meeting the same fate your mother met.”
Gabby believed him. “Why?” She lifted her hands. “Why did you care?”
“Your mother was one of us, Gabby. She was an operative.”
Surprise rippled through her. “My father,” she started, stopped short and corrected herself. “Adian Blake didn’t know that.”
“No, he didn’t. At least, according to Helena.”
“She didn’t tell her one person. Not even the man who married her?” What kind of woman did that?
“She told no one. She swore it,” Plumber said. “When my boss’s father shut down his firm, he devoted himself to watching over you.”
“How long did he do that?”
“Your whole life. When his health failed, his son had already started Silencers, Inc. He promised his father he would continue to watch over you, and he has. They’re good people, Gabby.”
For all the years she’d felt totally alone, she never had truly been alone. “Because she was one of you, and you lost her.” Gabby nodded. “I can see that.” She returned her gaze to Plumber. “Your helping me wasn’t for me, or because I fascinated you.” It sounded silly now. And she felt silly for having believed him. “It was just your job.”
“It was my job, that’s true.” He swiped his knees with his palms. “But I would have watched you with or without Silencers. You truly did fascinate me, Gabby. You still do.” Clearly picking up on her skepticism, he let out little noise from the back of his throat. “You have no idea how special you are.” He shook his head. “Your mind is sharp and quick, and it’s amazing the way you attune to the Troops, warning me when one of them needs attention. No one misses that you genuinely care about them or the kids, as if each missing one is your child.” The edges of his mouth curved. “It’s always personal for you.”
“They’re lost and afraid. I know the feeling, and I don’t want anyone else going through that.”
“I’m sorry you grew up feeling that way. Really sorry.” Regret burned in his eyes. “If you knew how many times I thought about just knocking on your door and telling you the truth . . .”
Their one-person rule, which kept them from being recused from cases. “But you couldn’t do that.”
“Ethically, no, I couldn’t.” The regret seeped into his tone. “But I wanted to—and if I had known how it would be between us, I would have.”
He had told her now. And as odd as it might sound, she wasn’t upset with him or his boss for making her an assignment. It was comforting to know that even when she thought she’d been alone, she hadn’t been. That their reason was to honor her mother and not her didn’t matter. Someone had been there, watching over her. “For your job?” she pushed, not wanting to read more into this than there was, especially with the all bombshells being dropped.
“No.” He stood up. “Well, yes, for my job. But as I got to know you everything changed.” He touched her hand. “Gabby, I couldn’t believe I’d finally found you.”
That confused her. “But I wasn’t lost. You, or someone at Silencers, Inc., knew where I was all the time.”
“That was the problem. I wasn’t free to meet you, to make it personal.”
Her heart fluttered. “But . . .”
“But what?”
She had a choice to make. She could accept the reality of the situation or deny it. But if she did deny it, the person who would lose most was her. And Plumber. “But it always has been personal.”
He smiled. “I didn’t know that until I came here,” he reminded her.
She rubbed his thumb with the pad of her finger. “True.”
“It’s always been personal for me, Gabby.”
“Always?” What did he mean?
“I went through the ‘I’m being crazy’ and ‘it’s impossible’ phases, but I knew better. Two years ago, I went into my boss to quit. I told him I’d fallen in love and I couldn’t do anything about that so long as I worked there. When I told him about the woman, he reminded me I had signed an NDA and he threatened to enforce it.”
She’d signed a non-disclosure agreement at Handel. “Could he enforce it?”
“They don’t hold up in most states,” Plumber admitted. “But he did make a threat he could enforce, and it would cost me huge.”
“What did he threaten?”
“He’d get my security clearance revoked.”
“He really could do that?”
“Oh, yeah. And if he did, that would blackball me in the field. I’d never be able to work for anyone, doing what I do, without clearance.”
Obviously, Plumber had forfeited the woman. He was still working for Silencers. “Who was she?”
Standing facing each other, Plumber clasped both of her hands in his. “The woman was you, Gabby.”
“Really?” She wanted to believe him. Every instinct in her body swore she could believe him.
“Really. I knew it the first time I saw you.”
That surprised her. “You saw me before coming here?” When he nodded, she asked, “Where?”
On Rue de Royale.”
She only went one place on Rue de Royale. “At the scent shoppe?”
That faraway look lighted his eyes. “You were inside, sniffing the scents. I was outside, looking in through the window, and you got this look. I love that look, and I’ll never forget it.”
“What kind of look?”
He held her gaze. “Captivated.”
Her face heated. “I love scents.”
“I knew right then no other woman would do. It had to be you.”
The door swung open and Kelly barged in. “Okay, Plumber, tell her you love her already. We waited through the shockers—” she paused and looked at Gabby “—Sorry about your dad . . . and about your mom.”
“Yeah, we are.” Lys shrugged. “But man, Adian Blake was some kind of devoted, wasn’t he?”
“I respect that.” Sara told Lys, then cut her glance to Gabby. “For what it’s worth, I agree with Plumber. Adian loved you. He was scared to know anything because him knowing anything could get you killed.”