Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-Five
“Ithink we have a good plan of action here.” Colton skimmed the final page in the notebook in front of him, then took a bite of syrup-drenched pancakes he hardly tasted.
“We?” John chuckled. “This is your show. All the way.”
Colton glanced out the window of the restaurant where they’d met for breakfast this cold, gray day after Christmas. “I might be point, but it wouldn’t have come together without your input and resources. I’ll send it over to Petersen so they can start staffing personnel.”
“Still, I like to give credit where it’s due.” John consulted the time before downing the last of his orange juice. “We should probably hit it.”
“Nice watch.” Colton closed the notebook and took the last swallow from his now lukewarm coffee. “New?”
“Christmas gift from Avery. I’m afraid to think what she paid for it.”
“What’d you give her?”
“A tennis bracelet. Probably more modest than she’s used to, but she squealed as if I’d given her the Hope Diamond.”
“Really?”
“No. She went on a tirade about how cheap I am. Of course, really. I guess the girl loves me. Doesn’t care that I’m a poor civil servant.
” John swiped a napkin across his mouth and set it on his empty plate.
“You ready? We’re slated to be there by ten, and I don’t want to leave my men cooling their heels outside. ”
Colton grimaced and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “Yeah, I guess we should go.”
John’s brow furrowed. “Nervous?”
Frowning, Colton dropped some bills on the table to cover their meal plus a generous tip for their attentive waitress. “Why would I be nervous?”
John’s gaze went from the money on the table back to Colton. “I can pay for mine.”
“Nah. I got it. Merry belated Christmas.”
“Thanks. I’ll cover lunch next time.”
“Deal.”
John shrugged into his jacket. “I have to meet with my captain this afternoon about this op, so I’ll ride back to the precinct with one of my guys after we brief Riley and your crew.”
“No problem. I’ll wade back into the file at Petersen until you get back.”
“Sounds good.” John regarded him for a moment. “You didn’t answer my question, except with another question.”
“And that was …?” He’d hoped Stapleton would drop it, but what was that saying about a dog and a bone?
“You nervous about going back out to the estate?”
He turned and started toward the door. “No.”
“When was the last time you spoke to Riley?”
Yep. John got hold of that bone and wouldn’t be satisfied until all the meat had been picked off.
Colton frowned at his friend as he held the door open. “You know the answer to that.”
The detective’s jaw fell slack. “Last week, when she called to let us know about Warren and Caitlyn’s dust-up?”
“Correct.” He followed John out the door, the biting wind prompting him to pull up the collar of his coat.
“Didn’t you go to the shelter on Christmas Eve?”
“I did.”
“So, you saw her but didn’t talk to her?”
With a sigh, Colton came to a stop at the door of his Jeep. “Why all the questions?”
John peered at him across the top of the vehicle. “It seems odd to me you haven’t spoken. You’re friends. Her feelings notwithstanding, that shouldn’t change.”
Shaking his head, Colton unlocked the doors with his fob and slid behind the wheel.
He started the Cherokee and ramped up the heat before addressing his friend’s question.
“I worked in the kitchen for the shelter dinner. Cooking in back, not serving up front. Riley stayed in the common area with the families. Petersen had six other security specialists there besides her usual detail.” He swallowed as he put the car in gear and backed out of the parking spot. “She didn’t need me.”
“I don’t know about that. I think she likes knowing you’re still on the job for her, even if you aren’t with her every day. She’s a good friend. Don’t throw that away.”
Sitting at a red light, Colton propped his elbow on the window and rubbed his brow with his fingers. He wasn’t sure how many more sleepless nights he could endure and still keep his head in the game. The Bible said he shouldn’t worry, to leave it all in God’s hands and trust.
And he was trying. Trying so hard to believe this would all work out the way everybody hoped it would, with Riley safe and able to move on with the life she lived so well.
John cleared his throat. “Look, Blankenship, I haven’t known you long. But we’ve been working a lot of hours together the past couple of weeks, and something tells me you don’t turn yourself inside out like this for every assignment you get. If you did, you’d have burned out long before now.”
Colton shook his head. “I don’t know. I can usually walk away once a detail ends or I’m pulled off. But this one’s … special.”
“The assignment? Or the girl?”
“They’re one and the same, aren’t they?”
“You tell me.”
Colton didn’t know what to say. Yes, Riley was special.
More special than anyone had been to him in a long time.
The two-and-a-half weeks away from her hadn’t eased his feelings for her like he’d hoped they would.
Maybe immersing himself in her case was the reason, keeping her at the forefront of his thoughts, the focus of all his energies.
Maybe once this was over, it would be easier to walk away. And let his life get back to normal.
Whatever that might look like without the woman who’d forever changed him.