Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Fiona
Audra’s widened eyes told me I might have gone a tad bit too far, but when her glance toward Landon had me looking as well, it was to see his lip curling and the blue of his eyes going to the aqua I so loved. He didn’t appear the least bit shocked. If he’d asked me to clarify that statement, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have minded in the least. I could feel flutters in my belly as his steepled fingers came away from where he’d had them pressed to his lips.
“Let’s start there.”
My pleasure, Sir.
“The police.”
Police…
Jerking my mind out of the fantasy bed Landon had just pulled me down on, I brought my hand to my lips, a little shocked to find it was empty of any glass until remembering Landon had saved it from shattering. “Um, could I have some water?”
“Of course.”
I expected him to perhaps snap his fingers as a signal to Audra to provide the requested water, but like everything else today, that wasn’t what happened. Landon stood and opened a different door of the credenza where a small refrigerator was concealed.
“Audra?”
“Yes, please.”
I couldn’t help but notice he even cracked the seal on the bottles before passing first one to me and reaching further to offer the second to Audra. I took the opportunity to imagine the flex of his muscles the move required. Perhaps if I mentioned I felt a bit warm, he’d decide he felt the same and remove his suit jacket. And then maybe if I unbuttoned one or maybe two buttons of my blouse, he’d…
… pull a jar of jellybeans out of a drawer and remove the lid.
Again, not what I’d expected, but something I’d seen him do many times.
“Still not a fan of licorice?” I asked, nodding toward the jar where the variety of bright colors seemed a bit disproportional to the quantity of black ones.
“Let’s just say I’m not a fan of having a client passing out due to having her blood sugar go into the toilet. You’re not only white as a sheet, your hands are trembling.”
I hadn’t really noticed, but then, my mind’s attention had been basically kidnapped by the man standing next to the jar.
Landon used the small silver scoop inside the jar to transfer a generous serving to a small dish. He might have been able to pass off just happening to have my all-time favorite candy as a coincidence, but when he used the scoop a second time, moving it around the candy to only pick the black ones, adding them to the dish, I knew there was another reason. He hadn’t forgotten all about me.
“We’ll have a real meal in a little while, but for now, eat all of these and drink your water.”
I gave him a mock salute as I took the dish. “Aye aye, Captain.”
He looked at me and shook his head. “Wrong branch and rank, but I appreciate the respect.” He filled another dish with candy for Audra and then scooped a few into his palm. I smiled as he let a single licorice-flavored bean fall back into the jar. After resuming his seat and uncapping his own water, he nodded.
“Tell us what happened when you went to the police station.”
I couldn’t decide if the fates were playing a trick on me or weaving some sort of spell that had me choosing to walk into the sheriff’s office that morning. Never dealing with true fear before, I’d been at a total loss as to where to seek help. I’d watched enough television to know officers of the law required evidence of a crime before acting. While I had the slips of paper all it had taken was a ten-minute meeting with Sheriff Sherman to learn that words on slips of paper didn’t constitute proof.
“Miss Flanagan, it’s not illegal to write bad poetry…”
“But it’s threatening!”
Interrupting him only resulted in his hand lifting and his jowls shaking as he gave me a disapproving look and continued, “Threatening in what way? Have you done something you feel needs… what were the words used?” Fat fingers pushed the papers around until he found what he wanted. “Let’s see now. Sin, redemption, atonement.” The springs of his chair objected as his large girth settled deeper. “Sounds to me like someone is attempting to help you, Miss Flanagan. Instead of thinking some monster is lying in wait, perhaps you ought to consider the poet as a righteous person attempting to help you find the right path.”
I almost looked around to see if this was one of those reality shows. You know, where a fake office is set up and staffed by actors to perform some scenario so outlandish that one is left completely flabbergasted until the host, John Quinones, jumps out and informs you you’re on camera for his show, asking, “What Would You Do?”.
I didn’t particularly care what audiences thought of my performance or the delivery of my lines because I’d spoken nothing but the truth and continued to do so by stating, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! How in the hell did anyone so inept ever qualify to be an officer of the law?”
I figured the flush that crept up from the collar of his shirt to color his florid skin even redder had little to do with having the grace to be ashamed and far more to do with having his intelligence insulted.
Sheriff Sherman’s eyes narrowed as his breathing rate increased. Sitting forward, he made sure I saw his hand swipe across the shield on his shirt. Any semblance of compassion was replaced by contempt. “Don’t think I’m not aware of what you do for a living. I’m not so inept I can’t connect the dots. I was dealing with actual crimes when you were nothing but a thought in your daddy’s loins. Little lady, I suggest you stop wasting my valuable time and use that time to consider what you’re doing that has your very soul in question.”
I was so livid, I saw red. The metal chair fell backward when I jumped up to slam my palm on his desk. “It’s not my damn soul I’m worried about you-you… you misogynistic asshole, it’s my life!”
I paused in the telling of my morning’s activities to take a breath. Neither Landon nor Audra had interrupted me even once.
“Is that all?” Landon asked.
My nod cut off mid-bob as I remembered something else. “Well, he did threaten to arrest me for supposedly deriding his authority but when I held out my wrists to be cuffed, stating if he felt it was necessary, he might want to brush off the donut crumbs on his shirt and brush up on the law as cases based on arresting someone for simply questioning an officer’s authority have consistently been shut down by the Supreme Court.” I shrugged, lifted my wrists and wiggled them. “As you can see, he decided his easiest course was to have me escorted out of the station.”
This time the pause came with a small snort of laughter. “I suppose he helped me in a way. If he hadn’t ordered someone to personally make sure I actually left the premises, then I wouldn’t have met Deputy Greene who pressed a card in my hand before opening the exit door. He told me perhaps I could find what I needed at the address on the card. And, well, as you can see, here I am.”
“Girl, I want to be like you when I grow up. It sounds like this Sheriff Sherman needs to have a bit of arse-kicking as well.”
“Though I might agree it would be fun, I’m afraid assault is an arrestable offense,” Landon said. “And remind me to thank Stephen for the referral the next time we meet,” he added before reaching toward the phone on his desk and pressing a button.
“What’s up?”
The voice wasn’t familiar, thank god, as I don’t think I could have handled running into another blast from my past, but it was definitely male.
“Grab whoever’s in house and meet me in the conference room. We’ve got a client who is going to need Level One assistance.”
“You’ve got it, be there in five.”
I was rather impressed if I did say so myself. Landon hadn’t been lying. Evidently there were additional members of the firm he could call up on a moment’s notice.
“So I guess you really are the boss,” I said.
“No.”
His answer was immediate and also instantly confusing. I looked at Audra. “But you said this isn’t your office, and you”—I glanced back at Landon—“said it’s yours. You’re not making sense. You mention others, you just talked to one on the phone. You mentioned you had a team?—”
“All that is true and we do. As a team, we are equal.”
“Like the employees of Starbucks? You decide to go to work there so you can get a slice of the pie?”
“Not exactly. Six of us formed the company when we all discovered we had a common goal.” His gaze flicked to Audra and I instantly knew there was more to that story than was being said. I also knew I wouldn’t ask because something told me it wasn’t a pretty tale. Instead, I remained quiet, waiting for Landon to pick up the conversation, which he did after looking back to me.
“We wanted to do whatever we could to keep people safe. The rest of our staff came on as we realized there was more business than we could handle alone. People who do the paperwork, wade through law books, or do whatever research is required. That sort of thing. We all have military service in common and understand the importance of a chain of command. Depending on the job, we decide which one will be team leader. Still, everyone here has the same mission. To protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
The sign outside the building’s door popped into my head. “Is that why you named the company Citadel? It’s a sanctuary of sorts?”
This time it was Audra who answered.
“It’s sanctuary and more. From the moment we formed, our main goal has been to offer protection for the good people.”
Our. Which meant she was one of the founders. The way she said it had me asking another question. “And what happens to the bad people?”
At the question, Landon replied, “We make damn sure they learn the definition of consequences.”
“Do I want to know how exactly you do that?”
“Probably not.” Landon shrugged as he pushed back his chair and stood. Moving around his desk, he extended his hand to me. “Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Ready to meet your team, Fiona?”
My team…
That sounded good… really good.
I took his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet. I wasn’t sure if it was because my knees wobbled a bit when I stood, or whether it was just because he chose to, but when Landon didn’t release my hand, I didn’t complain.