Warrick Read online

  “As soon as business hours officially start,” he said, “I’ll phone the police and get an update. I did leave a voice message earlier, but nobody has responded yet.”

  She nodded. “I don’t imagine we’re on their priority list.”

  “Not to mention they were up all night too,” he reminded her.

  She winced. “Like we were.” She glanced at her phone. “I don’t know if I should go into work or not.”

  “Why would you?” There was no condemnation or judgment, just curiosity in his voice.

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Two reasons. One, there are a lot of forms that need to be processed, yours for example, and it gives me something to do that keeps me busy. Two, while I’m at work, I’ll be 100 percent focused on getting the job done, and I won’t be worrying.”

  He rapped his fingers on the table as if thinking deeply. “Both of those are good reasons. It’s nice to see you’re dedicated to your job.”

  “It’s not even so much dedication. I like my job. I like seeing things get processed and completed. I like knowing I’m helping others. For many people, the type of work I do is boring, dull, a necessary evil. But there is an occupation for everyone out there, and I’m quite happy with mine.” She gave him a bright smile. “But, in order to do that, I need to go home and get a change of clothes. And, before I show up at the office, I need food.”

  “Do you have to make the decision right now?” His voice was low. “Let me check with the police. See if they have any problem with you reporting to your job. If they suspect you’re in danger, they may feel obligated to put a detail on you. And that won’t be good for anyone. They may also forbid you to go to work in order to protect those you work with. The fact that Nina works there too just adds to the danger factor.”

  She stared at him, that ugly twisting in her gut intensifying. “I hadn’t considered that,” she admitted.

  He smiled. It was gentle and reassuring. “You’re not alone here. I won’t turn around and desert you while this madman is making our lives difficult.” He had his foot resting on the chair, but he swung it the floor now. “This makes my job a little more difficult, but we’ll manage.”

  She groaned. “The thing is, it shouldn’t be your job.” She emphasized the last word. “It’s not that I’m against having a little more security around me, given what happened to Tabitha, but this really hasn’t got anything to do with you.” She caught his gaze and saw a glint of anger there. She frowned and demanded, “Why are you getting mad?”

  “Stop insulting me, and I won’t get angry,” he snapped back.

  She glared at him.

  He glared right back.

  She sighed. “This is a stupid conversation.”

  “With you it often is.”

  She shook her head, decided now was not the time to start another fight with Warrick and stared around the kitchen to avoid setting him—or her—off. “So what do we do until you call the cops?”

  “See if there’s any food here. If not, we can go out for breakfast.”

  “I don’t really want to take advantage of your friend’s generosity any more than I have to.”

  “You’re assuming you’ll sleep in your own bed tonight,” he said with a headshake. He lifted his phone and waggled it at her. “It’ll take an okay from the police to convince me that’s a good idea.”

  “I want my life back.”

  “We all want our lives back.” He lifted his ankle. “This has had me sidelined for weeks now. If I had my druthers, I’d be back on active duty, out training with my buddies. But I’m not. I have to do my best with that. You’ve been targeted by a madman. You have to do the best with that. Mine is an inconvenience. Yours could be the end of your life.”

  As a rebuttal it was pretty damn effective. And there wasn’t a whole lot she could say in response. “I get that. I just don’t know how to handle it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “I highly doubt your boss wants you at work if you’re bringing danger to anybody else,” he said. “Isn’t there anyone who can handle the files on your desk?”

  “Sure,” she said. “But they’re all on my desk, and I feel responsible.”

  “But, if you aren’t replaceable, you can’t be promoted.”

  Her jaw dropped. “I hadn’t ever heard that before,” she said slowly. She rolled the idea around in her mind and shrugged. “I’m not exactly a career woman. If I get promoted, I get promoted. If I don’t, I don’t.”

  “Is it what you want to do long-term?”

  She frowned. “I have no idea what I want to do long-term. I fell into this job. I enjoy it. It makes me feel good, but it’s not like it’s a passion. But then I don’t have any of those. I’m not an artist or a musician or a writer or anything like that. I don’t have a driving need to coach anyone, so this gives me something to do with my life.” His lips quirked, and she could feel her ire rising again. “There’s nothing wrong with being an average person.”

  “Absolutely not,” he said. “But there’s nothing average about you.”

  Inside, she admitted to being pleased at his comment. But she didn’t see anything special about herself. She really did enjoy her work. “The thing about the job I do is that I can be productive. I can mow my way through a ton of files, and, at the end of the day, I can see I’ve accomplished something. The fact that what I’m doing is helping people makes it that much better. But there’s another factor. I get to close the door at the end of my day, and I don’t have to think about it until I go into work the next day. It doesn’t come home with me. It doesn’t keep me awake at night. I have a life to live the rest of the time.”

  “What do you do with the rest of your life?”

  She grinned. “Lately I have been teaching yoga to little kids.”

  His eyebrows shot up.

  “Right? It’s a moms-and-tots type of class I teach at the community college. I love yoga, and I used to teach classes for adults. But then I realized so many people offer those kinds of classes, and I wanted to hit the other age groups who didn’t have access to the same kind of training.”

  “So moms and tots?”

  She nodded. “I also teach at two senior centers on Saturdays.”

  “Would this George character know about them?”

  She frowned. “I wouldn’t think so. I highly doubt Nina said anything about it. I also haven’t been doing the senior centers for all that long. I’ve been teaching at the community college for two years now though.”

  “And what about at the Y?”

  She nodded. “I don’t currently have classes there, but I start again in July. I do yoga outside. We all go on the front lawn where there is sunshine and fresh air. I teach classes for relaxation, for health, for back pains …” She shrugged. “I do a lot of different classes.”

  “And yet you don’t want to do it full-time?”

  “I never really thought about it,” she said. “I have a job that gives me a nice paycheck. That allows me to not have to worry about making my hobby a full-time career.”

  “Interesting. A lot of people would prefer to do it the other way around, take the hobby and turn it into a career.”

  “And then there’s that money-making pressure. Maybe I wouldn’t enjoy my hobby as much anymore.”

  Just as he was about to respond, his phone rang. “It’s the detective answering my call.” He got up and walked a bit away.

  She sipped her coffee as she listened to Warrick. It was a short call.

  He returned and sat down. “They don’t have any leads. Your office is under surveillance just in case George does approach. The detective wants you to lie low for today and for the weekend.”

  “And the yoga classes? I have two tomorrow at two different senior centers.”

  “I mentioned them. Told the detective how you didn’t think George knew anything about them. The detective said, as long as you didn’t feel anybody would be in any danger, and George doesn’t know about them
, and if you are smart getting there and leaving, it should be fine. I also told him that I would be attending your sessions with you.”

  “Oh, you’ll love that,” she joked. But inside she was thrilled. “I need to call my boss though.”

  “That’s a good idea. And make sure somebody else gets all those priority files to work on.”

  “And then we have a full day ahead of us,” she said with a frown. “What do you want to do?”

  “Mason is running by my house to grab me some clothes. Do you want Tesla to go to your place and grab some clothes too?”

  “Can’t we go?”

  “The cops don’t want us to. They’ve got your apartment staked out.”

  “Well, I’m certainly not letting Tesla put herself into any danger.” Penny frowned. “If we can leave, I suggest we go out for breakfast, maybe do a little shopping. I could use a new set or two of yoga pants and tops anyway. I do have a favorite shop at the Bradbury Mall.”

  He nodded. “In that case, we’ll do breakfast, shopping and make more plans after that.”

  She chuckled. “Is everything so easy with you?”

  “There’s no need to make this difficult,” he said gently. “I will do most of the driving, so you can keep a low profile and still enjoy the day.”

  “And hopefully the cops will pick up George soon.”

  “They’re on it. We have to trust they’ll do what they can to make this all go away.”

  “Can we see Nina?”

  He frowned. “In theory, yes. But I will check in with them first to make sure that’s still okay.”

  “Did anybody tell her about Tabitha?”

  “I don’t know. That’ll be up to her doctor to decide, whether news like that could set back her progress. Her healing has to come first.”

  Penny pulled out her phone, found her boss’s number, checked the time and said, “It’s after eight. He’s usually in the office by now. She tapped her Contact entry for him and waited for him to answer. When he did, she explained the situation. “The police aren’t expecting him to show up at the office, but please be extra careful.”

  “I can do that,” he said. “We do have a ton of work here, so it’s not great timing, that’s for sure. But we need to keep you safe.”

  “It’s more than just me,” she said. “You need to be safe too.”

  “If you have a picture of the gunman, that will help.”

  “I’ll have Warrick send you something.” At that, she rang off. “My boss wants you to send an image of George, if you’ve got one, or if you can get one from the detective. My boss will give it to building security and have them go on high alert.” She stared restlessly out the kitchen window. “And, if that’s the case, surely it would be okay if I was there.”

  “No. He could be watching for you to arrive. If you don’t show up, he won’t likely go after anybody there.”

  She still hated the thought of it, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do to make this any easier on anyone. “I don’t have my laptop.” She frowned. “I wish to hell I had gotten that from home. It’s got my schedules and everything on it.”

  “I can ask the cops to pick it up from your apartment if you want.”

  She spun. “It’ll take cops to go in there?”

  He nodded. “I would highly suspect so. I was thinking Tesla might be able to get in because Mason would be with her. But I think a police officer should go in and grab you a change of clothes and your personal belongings.”

  He pulled out his phone and called the detective again. While Penny listened, they made arrangements for one of the men on standby to get a policewoman to go into Penny’s apartment and collect a list of items.

  She nodded. “I still want to go shopping though.”

  “We can. They’ll take the clothing and laptop to the police station. We can swing by there and pick it up after breakfast.”

  She turned and glanced around the kitchen. “We could be here for a few days, couldn’t we?”

  He nodded. “We could. Good thing we have the apartment then, isn’t it?”

  She smiled. He was right. It was much better to be grateful for what they had than to rail against the circumstances she was forced to live with.

  *

  He was glad she could see reason amid her currently more emotional state. He understood her frustration, but, at the same time, Warrick knew it was not a smart idea to be moving about with a crazed gunman out there. Warrick was willing to go to a restaurant and do some shopping in a mall, but he’d already tagged Mason, asking if anybody with days off could act as a backup. Mason had responded quickly, saying Tanner had two days off. Warrick had agreed that Tanner would be ideal. He was relatively new to the SEALs unit. He had come in from back East months ago. But he was a good man. And there was a good chance nobody would know his involvement with Warrick.

  “Did you send a picture of George to my boss?” Penny asked.

  “The detective did,” he said absentmindedly as he put the key in the engine. “I also sent it to Mason, who sent it out to everybody we know. His photo should be up on all the social media sites and on the news platforms too.”

  “Good,” she said with relief. “I don’t want my boss and coworkers to be sitting ducks. George could pull that same stunt from the hospital, taking everyone at work hostage and demanding that I appear again.”

  “Even if he calls your office and gets your voice mail saying you aren’t there right now, he’ll wonder if you’re there and not taking calls.”

  “Do you think he’ll try to get in?”

  “He can try, but, with the security beefed up, hopefully he’ll see that as a deterrent.”

  “Which means he’d try to get me at my home.”

  Warrick shot her glance, hearing the despair in her voice. “And maybe that’s a good thing. The police are on this. For all I know, they’ve got a policewoman set up in your apartment as a trap.”

  She stared at him, biting her lower lip. “And what happens if that policewoman gets injured? How am I supposed to live with that?”

  “You’ll live with it, like we have to live with everything out of our control, including Tabitha’s death.”

  Her face crunched up, and she sighed, sagging back in the seat. “I know you’ve dealt with so much death in your career, but this is a new event for me—knowing people who ended up murdered. It’s going to take some adjustment for me to get your level of guilt-free dealings when it comes to such brutality.”

  He pulled out into traffic. He knew of a favorite restaurant in the same mall she wanted to go to. Tanner was already there, watching for their arrival. He knew exactly where they were coming from.

  “Can we drive past my place to see if there’s any activity?”

  He nodded and slowed as they approached her apartment.

  “I don’t see anyone.”

  “You’re not supposed to, but they are there. Now for breakfast.” And he drove past and on to the mall.

  As he pulled into the parking lot, she looked around and said, “This is where I wanted to shop, but I thought we were having breakfast first.” She opened the door and hopped out.

  “We are having breakfast first.” He walked around and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her up against him.

  He moved smoothly but definitely kept an eye out all around them. He had George’s face memorized in his head, but he also knew how easy it was for someone to disguise himself. And, if this guy had any skill at disguises at all, he’d already have made some major changes. Just adding or taking away facial hair and changing his normal hair color made a huge difference.

  Inside the building Warrick relaxed ever so slightly. He motioned her down the front hall to another hall heading off to the left to another exit. “The restaurant is down here.”

  She followed at his side, looking around. “I don’t usually come to this part of the mall.”

  “That’s why you don’t know about the restaurant then.” He opened th
e door to the restaurant and smiled at the waitress. “Reservation for two for Warrick.”

  He felt Penny’s gaze but ignored her. They followed the waitress to a booth with no window, just as he had asked.

  Penny sat down and looked at the window tables. “Couldn’t we sit over there?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  She frowned, looked at him for a brief moment. “Because it makes us targets?”

  He nodded.

  “Your mind must be full of horrid scenes and vivid memories that I really do not want to deal with.”

  The waitress returned with coffee and water, then asked if they needed a few minutes to look at the menu.

  He nodded and smiled. “Just a moment or two longer please.” He picked up the menu and took a look. He had no idea what his day would be like, so he had to ensure he would have enough energy when he needed it. He glanced over the top of his menu. “Did you see anything you want?”

  “All of a sudden I’m not hungry,” she muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter if you are or aren’t. You need fuel. If not for right now, then for later in the day in case we need to run.”

  Her gaze widened, and then she dropped her eyes to the menu again.

  He could see the menu shaking in her hands. He closed his, reached across the table and clasped her hands. “It will be fine. But I don’t want you getting hungry later when we can’t get you any food.”

  She nodded quietly, closed the menu and said, “Then you order for me.” She picked up her water glass and took a hefty drink. It seemed to stabilize her. She replaced the glass. “Make sure it has lots of meat in it.”

  He gave a bark of laughter.

  The waitress returned, and he ordered two of the specials. It came with eggs, sausages, ham, hash browns and toast. He didn’t know how much she’d eat but figured he could finish the rest.

  They discussed the weather, friends, anything to do with something that wasn’t their current situation.

  When their breakfast finally arrived, she took one look and laughed. “I said I was hungry earlier, but there’s still just one of me, not two of me.”