Prelude of Lies by Victoria Smith

changed majors and transferred to a bigger school. Sydney hadn’t been as heartbroken as she should have been. Maybe that was because he’d changed her life a little and the change was good.
    Her attention snapped back to the present, she blinked when she realized the winter time illusion had faded. Marshal came toward her, his expression a mixture of joy and seduction. She didn’t think her impression, at least of the seduction part, was on, but it didn’t matter.
    “That was incredible.”
    She waited. Would he take the scene at face value or try to find an explanation? “What now?”
    “We study the footage. See if there’s evidence of this being manufactured and go from there.” He touched her arm and pointed to the bathhouse.
    Sydney nodded, suppressing a groan at the bathhouse stake out. She hated that building and as soon as they had the money, planned to have it razed and a better facility built. Maybe her hatred stemmed from the way she and Daisy were punished when they misbehaved. Any time they stepped out of line, Gramps made them clean this bathroom three times a day for a week. She’d probably cleaned this bathroom for a total of two years. If not more. Daisy had way more time in.
    Before she had a chance to voice her opinions on sitting in the dank stalls and waiting for spirits, her cell phone vibrated with a voicemail. She knew the message wouldn’t be one she wanted to hear. Still, she pressed in the code for the mailbox and moved away from the recording equipment surrounding her on all sides.
    “Listen, I don’t know what you two are up to, but we have to talk. Grandmother is losing a lot of money waiting for you to find your sense of honor. You made a deal with her. You won’t get a higher price, if that’s what you think. Your grandfather would be so disappointed in you.”
    Tears filled her eyes as she saved the message and turned off the phone. Would Gramps be disappointed in them? Damn Jace. How dare he? What did he know of Gramps and his wishes?
    Marshal didn’t ask. So much for what she thought was the beginning of a friendship. She tried not to let his disinterest bother her. He was working and probably felt uncomfortable.
    The rest of the night passed in complete boredom. By three, Sydney yawned so frequently, Marshal sent her to bed with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a flirty comment. She crawled under the covers wanting to smack him and every guy in the campground all because of Jace.
    The night noises interspersed with an occasional loud burst of laughter. Despite her irritation and the weird laughter she’d heard again on her way back to the cabin, Sydney felt safe. Marshal’s crew was in rare form, probably due to the things she knew they did capture.
    Marshal planned to leave the equipment up overnight and assigned Dave first watch. Sydney had a feeling it was more of a safety measure than hope of catching any other activity. She turned with a sigh and allowed her mind to wander to places it probably shouldn’t. What would it hurt to dream about a night with Marshal? It was better than thinking about Jace’s message.
    Daisy wished she could hate Graham. They’d spent the past two hours paired with Eric and Ron, who basically ignored them and seemed to be more into each other than their jobs. She wondered if Marshal knew, not that he would care about how much they liked each other, but he’d flip to find out they weren’t doing necessary tasks to maintain the company’s credibility.
    Graham had whispered a commentary on what the men were saying to each other, adding a perverted twist and making it hard for her to not laugh. That was bad enough, but when he touched her back and squeezed to get her attention, she had to hide her reaction or embarrass herself.
    Damn. She didn’t want to be attracted to him and she didn’t want to follow her advice to Sydney. Sure, she’d had a couple of one-night stands, but it had been years. She preferred some commitment, the emotion