The Rock

Chapter 1-1

1

Jake Rockwell loved having a twin sister, except when that sister believed she knew every single thing about him.

“I’m worried about you, Jakey. You’ve been making weird choices lately,” Isabelle told him over the speakerphone in his rental car.

Jake rolled his eyes as he pulled up in front of the suburban Los Angeles strip mall office of James Investigations. Izzy liked to treat his life like an ongoing telenovela that she had tons of opinions about. Some of the time, they were on point. But this time, she clearly didn’t understand.

“Have you met me yet? Weird choices are kind of my thing.”

“That is a good point. You did eat nothing but pickles for two weeks in second grade. Not to mention that mullet you rocked until I snuck into your room and chopped it off. And you were the one who stuck around Rocky Peak. But now you’re the only one of us who—”

“If you mention the fact that I’m the last single Rockwell one more time…”

Isabelle laughed, the sound so vivid it felt as if she was in the car with him. “I wasn’t going to. I was simply going to point out that you have your pick of girls in Rocky Peak, and yet you never get serious about any of them. Instead you’re on this wild goose chase in LA and I just don’t get it.”

“Serious is overrated. You know me. I like to keep things fun.”

“Yeah, I might believe that if you weren’t at this very moment about to hire a private investigator. That’s about as serious as it gets.”

“Maybe that depends on the investigator,” he said lightly. “This one’s kind of fun.”

“Oh ho, now it’s all making sense. Word has it Olivia James is pretty hot. Do you have a crush on her? Is that what’s going on?”

“This isn’t third grade. I’m not here to pass a note to the cute girl in the front row. This is for Mom. You know that.”

Their mother, Amanda Rockwell, had died in a car accident fifteen years earlier. All of Jake’s siblings had come to peace with that, in their own way. Jake still hadn’t, and he was pretty sure he knew why.

“But Jake, we know what happened. I’m not sure what else you’re going to find out. Isn’t it time you focused on your own life?”

“That’s what I’m doing,” he said as patiently as he could. He loved his sister, but some things a guy just had to do. “Look, Izzy, I don’t know why I can’t let it go. But I can’t. So get off my back and go canoodle with your billionaire hunk. Don’t worry about me. I got this.”

“Canoodle? Really? Trauma surgeons don’t canoodle, we—”

“Bye, Izzy.”

He ended the call and swung out of the Taurus. This was the third time he’d come to James Investigations looking for help, and he still wasn’t used to the barebones appearance of Olivia’s office. She came highly recommended—by Isabelle’s fiancée Lyle, as a matter of fact—and had a reputation for thoroughness and professionalism. But nothing about the office or its location gave any hint of the dynamic woman behind James Investigations.

Not that he had a “crush” on Olivia, the way Isabelle suggested. Absolutely not. He respected her work, that was all. He admired how smart and determined she was. He’d never met anyone quite like her before. But a crush? Please. He had more important things to think about, like this nagging suspicion about his mother’s death.

Nope. This meeting with Olivia James was all about business. Nothing more, nothing less. Especially because he knew how she saw him—as just a client, and an irritating one at that.