Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(6)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

She burst out laughing. “Because you swear in French, and it sounds so very different. Kinda hot, and I know that sounds so cheesy.”

 

She looked over to see a grinning Rodney, who was nodding his head. “Yep, definitely doesn’t sound the same,” he noted. “Very poetic, very musical.”

 

Simon shook his head. “BS, I can swear in English just as well, but, for whatever reason, this one triggered my French version.”

 

“And yet,” she asked him, “you don’t use French very much, do you?”

 

He shrugged. “No, but it is something that I have worked hard to maintain for business.” He tapped the note. “So what will we do about this?”

 

“That’s the next challenge,” she admitted. “In order to do something with this, we have to understand who is behind this, and that’s a bit challenging. … That’s why you’re here. We need a list of people who hate you, a list of people who would want to do this to you, a list of people who would play a sick game such as this.”

 

“I think the game is what’s important,” Rodney shared.

 

“For some reason, whatever you have said or done to somebody, potentially in business,” Kate pointed out, “where somebody didn’t get what he wanted, it may have led to this. So maybe you stopped a deal from going through, and it caused somebody else financial hardship,” she suggested, tiptoeing around him. “I’m throwing ideas out there because I really have no way of knowing any relation you might have to this psycho.”

 

Simon nodded, as he again stared down at the note. “It’s not a game I would have ever played,” he admitted.

 

“And yet as a child?” Rodney poked.

 

“As a child possibly, but who can remember a childhood game?” He stared at the note again, his mind scrambling to make sense of this. “I don’t particularly like being somebody in a position of power, somebody who has the ability to hurt and to damage somebody else’s life,” he told them, with a shrug. “Would I have squashed a deal if it was unfair or if somebody was lying, cheating, something along that line? … Absolutely.” He took a moment to add, “I refuse to do shady deals, and I prefer to stay on the straight-and-narrow.”

 

She nodded. “Of course. That was an element of your grandmother too, wasn’t it?”

 

He nodded. “It’s an element of my gift. If I lie, cheat, steal, anything along that line, it’ll come back and haunt me. You might laugh about Karma, … but, when it comes to something in my world, Karma can be quite a bitch. So I cannot ignore that aspect in my business or my personal life.” He shrugged. “Now, if somebody were cheating someone or being a rank asshole and hurting someone, and I could do something to stop it, then I would.”

 

“So, more likely you would be obliged to act?” Rodney asked Simon.

 

Simon nodded. “Would that be the case here? I have no idea.” He frowned. “I can’t remember any time where that may have happened, but …” Then he kicked back his chair and stared at the note, his mind tumbling with ideas, and yet nothing really to lock on. Shaking his head, he looked over at the two of them. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got nothing.”

 

Rodney’s shoulders sagged, and he nodded. “We half expected that, but, of course, … we had to bring you in and ask.”

 

“Of course,” he agreed, “and because my name is right there in black-and-white, along with Kate’s, that will make me an integral part of this.”

 

“So maybe that’s what he wanted. Attention,” Kate said suddenly. “Maybe it’s not so much about hating something you did but hating you, hating your success, hating that you have a good name.” She hesitated. “Because, if this becomes public, that could certainly affect your life, wouldn’t it?”

 

He stared at her and down at the note, thought about the implications, and shrugged. “Maybe, but my world isn’t built on public opinion, and it’s not built on any of these assholes. So I’m not sure that that theory applies, but it is something to consider.” He frowned again at the note. “I just, … that whole bit, Simon can do this,” he muttered out loud. “That’s got a competitive edge, as if this guy’s lost beside me in some way. That other part, Simon thinks he’s so fucking good, but I don’t think he’s got answers for this,” he read out loud. “I can’t imagine the mentality of somebody who would be setting me up to fail.”

 

“That’s exactly what he is doing. Setting you up to fail,” Kate interrupted, “and this is the only way he knows to bring you down.”

 

Hearing the analysis in her words, he agreed and then slowly nodded. “I can see that aspect to this mess.” Simon sighed. “Yet that would mean that this is somebody who has either lost against me multiple times or knows somebody who lost against me. However, I’m not competitive.” He shrugged, shaking his head. “The only game I play is poker, as you well know, and I don’t do that lightly.”

 

“Yes, you do play,” she confirmed instantly. “For you, it’s … fun. It’s a release, and you do it to help, as all the money ends up going to charities—only most people don’t know that about you. I think if they did know that, it would piss this guy right off even more.”

 

Simon’s lips twitched, as he looked over at Rodney. “Rodney didn’t even know that,” he pointed out, “so thanks for letting that out.”

 

She flushed and looked over at Rodney. “But Rodney doesn’t care that you are somebody who makes money at poker and then turns around and donates it because you can’t live with yourself for having made it that way.”

 

Simon burst out laughing. “I can live with myself all right,” he countered, with a chuckle. “I don’t donate all of it, but I do certainly donate a very hefty portion of it,” he shared agreeably.

 

“So does somebody know that you do that? Because that whole philanthropic attitude might piss somebody off who’s literally trying to make ends meet. And here, with you in the kidnapper’s game, you could beat them not only at the game but at whatever it is that they’re attempting to do, which could be to simply survive,” she suggested. “Your world is so very different, for example, from what Rodney and I live, that I can understand a certain amount of—I don’t know that frustration’s the right word—but resentment maybe.”

 

Her words rang in his ears, and she was right; there had to be something more to this.

 

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