“You don’t have anything to defend, Dakota. It’s just one of those weird things. We might never get to the bottom of it.”

“I’m sure you’re far too busy for this kind of BS.”

Stan laughed. “This is Timberlake, Dakota. We don’t have that much going on. But let me be straight with you here—I don’t like the thought of someone doing nasty things to one of my people. Lying about assaults, stabbing tires, fouling someone’s car with garbage, and I frankly don’t care if it’s a man or a woman. So I’m checking out this Neely character. I’ll let you know what I find. You let me know what’s on your camera.”

Dakota smiled. “Thanks, Stan.”

* * *

Sid was serving in the bar in the afternoon. The happy hour and dinner crowd would be descending on them soon and she’d heard from Dakota that he was on his way over. She was completely unprepared to see Neely come into the bar, dressed to the nines as usual, and jump up on a bar stool, all smiles.

“Hi,” she said brightly. “Sid, isn’t it?”

Sid frowned. This was a leap from her finger-snapping order for a chicken Caesar. “Have we met?” Sid asked.

“Well, I guess not officially,” Neely said, putting out her hand. “I’ve heard other people in here call you Sid. I’m Neely.”

“I know who you are,” Sid said. She took the offered hand reluctantly. “What can I get you?”

“Let’s see... I almost always have a salad, but I missed lunch. How about a BLT, fries and... Let’s see... I don’t drink... I just don’t like the taste... How about a tonic with a sliver of lime. Two slivers of lime.”

“You got it,” she said, turning away. She keyed in the food order, then prepared and delivered the drink.

As she was turning away, Neely spoke. “Excuse me, but you seem a bit aloof. Was it something I said?”

“You ordered your meal,” Sid said. “And I said, ‘You got it.’ I think we’ve covered everything.”

“Then why are you so unhappy with me?” Neely asked.

Sid was stunned for a moment. Then she smiled. “You’re reading me wrong. I have things to do before the happy hour crowd arrives. Will there be anything else?”

“I was just wondering, when do you get off work?”

Sid tilted her head. “And you’re asking because...?”

“Maybe we could get together sometime, get to know each other. Maybe for coffee or dessert. Or if you have days off, I’d love to have dinner. I don’t know that many people and we’re about the same age. I bet we’d find we have things in common.”

“Thank you, that’s very nice, but I’m very busy with my job and family and I don’t think we’d have much in common.”

Neely smiled chillingly. “We have Dakota in common. Dakota and Sierra. Sierra is a good friend of mine.”

“Is she?” Sid asked, as if surprised. “I didn’t know that. Then you’re pretty well fixed up. Excuse me.”

Sid went to the kitchen. Rob wasn’t there. She went to the small office he kept in the back, behind the kitchen. He appeared to be on the phone with a vendor. She couldn’t tell if he was arguing about the price of something or complaining about the cost of a delivery, but she lingered in the doorway until he hung up. “Problem?” he asked.

“A very unique problem,” she said. “I’m sure I didn’t tell you about this before but there’s this woman who’s been hitting on and aggravating Dakota and she’s in the bar, waiting for her sandwich. She wants to know if we can be friends. Will you please take the bar for ten or fifteen minutes? I’ll do anything you ask in return.”

He raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “Now I can’t miss it.”

“She’ll hit on you,” Sid said. “Don’t hook up with this one. She’s pure poison.”

“I’m a big boy.”

“No, you’re not all that big. This has fatal attraction written all over it.”

“Yeah, and now I have to see her,” he said.

Because it was irresistible, Sid peeked through the cook’s glass to watch as Rob fastened a white apron around his narrow hips and picked up a cloth to wipe off the bar. He completely ignored Neely, but Sid knew he checked her out. Rob never missed a thing. And she’d loaded the bait—Rob was hot. She knew that, even though he was her brother—he was just plain hot. Six-two, strong shoulders from lifting crates of drinks, narrow hips, long legs, big hands and a face that would cause Hugh Jackman to file charges for theft.

She watched as Neely signaled and Rob went to her, cloth in hand. She said something humorous, he said something back, they laughed together for a moment, then he fetched her sandwich and fries and took it to her. There were only three customers in the place so he went through the swinging door to the kitchen.

Sid was waiting. “What did she say to you?”

“She asked where the waitress was and I said, ‘What waitress? I just have the bartender until four o’clock.’ She asked for you by name and I said you were working in the kitchen for a little while but you’d be back in the bar soon. Then she asked if I was married and I said that I was, to a very jealous woman. She thought that was very funny. But she accused me of making it up.”

“Because I bet she knows exactly who you are. She’s creepy. And there doesn’t seem to be any proof, but we’re pretty sure she’s been stalking Dakota. And she’s tried to alternately pick up Dakota and then accuse him of assaulting her. She’s making a mess for us.”

“What the hell does she want?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Dakota, probably.”

“Aw, Sid. What have you gotten yourself into? Are you sure he’s telling you the truth?”

“Yes, of course I’m sure!” she insisted. “There are many inconsistencies surrounding that woman and not once have I been confused by Dakota!”

“Were you confused by David?” he asked.

“Not at all. I thought I was stuck with David!”

There. She’d said it. Her brother just looked at her in shock.

“I had a terrible marriage, all right? It wasn’t like your marriage with Julienne, young lovers so devoted to each other. Within a year I knew I’d made a terrible mistake but I’d made the promises. I did my best knowing all the time he didn’t love me, either. But I didn’t realize he was loving someone else—I thought he was loving his career. His plans. We didn’t fight, we got along all right. I thought maybe what we had was typical, and besides, I had things to do! It was my fault, don’t you see? Because I really didn’t care. So failing in that, I—Ach! We can’t do this now!”

The kitchen had gone kind of quiet. Rob looked like he was in shock. “If it was lousy...if you didn’t love him and he didn’t love you...why...?”

“Why would I have a nervous breakdown over it? Because he used me. Because he made a mockery of work that was important. Because I was hanging in there for him, and when he was done with me, he threw me away.”

Sid’s phone chimed and, thinking it might be a text from Dakota, she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. “What super timing,” she said sourly. “Dr. Faraday, my old boss. Please find time to call me, he says. I really need your help, he says.”

“I’ll take care of the bar if you want to go call him.”

“Not now. He probably has some code problem and I’ll need my computer and some quiet. Besides, I should deal with psycho Neely. I’m telling you, she’s a little crazy and she’s making trouble everywhere. I have no idea what her goal is. If we knew her endgame, we’d know what to solve, wouldn’t we?”

“I’ll take the bar...” he said.

“No, I’ve got it.” She went through the swinging door just as Dakota was walking into the bar.

Sid watched as he stopped short, recognizing the back of Neely’s head. He frowned and she thought, See! He’s not hiding anything! He hates her and might even be a little frightened of her. He walked all the way around the bar to the far corner, as far away from Neely as he could get.

Sid slapped a napkin down in front of him. “What can I get you?”

“I’d better have a cup of coffee. Looks like I’ll have to be alert.”

“Sure, let me get that for you.” She turned around to pour from the pot, and when she turned back toward him with the coffee, all of a few short steps, Neely had moved to the chair beside Dakota’s. And he was wearing a black scowl.

“Now see, I think we all need a do-over,” Neely said brightly, seeming to include Sid in her conversation. “I don’t know what happened but—”

“What happened is that you told the police chief I assaulted you,” Dakota said, his voice gravelly and dark.

“Is that what he said? That’s not exactly accurate. It was wrong of me to say anything at all that could be misinterpreted like that, but I didn’t say you assaulted me. I just said you kissed me. I admit, that was not the truth. I shouldn’t have done that. But I was just embarrassed. And I did apologize to you.”

“And the boyfriend who was stalking you?” Dakota asked.

“Apparently my imagination. I haven’t seen him around. So,” she said, grinning. “We can all be friends now.”

“We can be polite,” Dakota said. “I think friendship between us is not in the cards.”

“Well, that’s pretty rude,” she said indignantly. “I humble myself in front of you, take blame I shouldn’t really have to take, and that’s your response?”

“I’m not going to be manipulated, Neely. That’s my response. I’d like to order an early dinner, if you’ll excuse me.”

Neely sat there for a moment, shock etched on her beautiful face. Then she turned in a huff and walked out of the bar.