Chapter 5 #2
“Only the interesting ones.” Lucy tilted her head, studying me with the same patient focus I’d watched her use on the stray cat twenty minutes ago. “So. Two days in a row. Either you’ve got a follow-up question, or you’re working up to adopting a dog.”
“I need to talk to you.”
“You know, most people call first. There’s a number on the front desk. You dial it. A phone rings. Dani answers. It’s a whole system. Very advanced.”
“I didn’t want to do this over the phone. It’s about Coleman.”
Fear spiked in her scent before she got it under control.
“We can talk in the break room again.” Her eyes flickered from me to Dani. “Dani, if we’re not out in ten minutes, release the hounds.”
“We don’t have hounds, Luce. We have Bernard, and Bernard has a limp.”
“Bernard has spirit,” she called over her shoulder, already walking. “And he’ll gum anyone to death. Don’t test him.”
I followed her down the hallway. Same break room. The yogurt war on the fridge had escalated; a new note read:
To the yogurt thief: I licked every yogurt in this fridge. ALL of them.
Lucy leaned against the edge of the counter.
“So,” she said. “What came up?”
Tell her. She needs to know.
“There was a car on your street last night. Dark sedan. Tinted windows. Mercedes. It came through around three a.m., slowed outside your building, sat there for about a minute, then left.”
The almost-ease she’d been wearing dropped away. Her posture didn’t change, but something behind her eyes went very still.
“Lots of cars drive down Birch Street,” she said.
“Not in a Mercedes rented by Andrew Coleman.”
Fear spiked in her scent again, sharp and raw. Her breathing changed. Shallow, fast, then forcibly slowed, I could hear her dragging each inhale longer, making herself steady.
“You’re sure?”
“I ran the plate.”
She nodded, her eyes focused on a point somewhere past my shoulder, and for a moment, she wasn’t in the break room anymore.
This wasn’t a normal reaction to an ex. She was scared of him. The hairs on my arms rose, and rage flooded through me. What the fuck had Coleman done to her? Whatever it was, he was going to pay for it. I would make sure of it.
“Hey,” I stepped toward her, until there were only inches separating us. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
She looked up at me. She held my gaze, and I watched her come back to here and now. Then she lifted her chin.
“Three a.m.?”
I frowned. “What?”
“You said the car came through at three a.m. On my street. Outside my building.” She tilted her head. “Why exactly were you outside my building at three a.m., Warrick?”
Oh shit.
“I’m searching for Coleman. It’s important we find him for the case.” That was true; I wasn’t technically lying. I was just leaving out the fact that the real reason I’d been there was for her. “After our last conversation, I thought there might be a chance he’d—”
“He’d what? Be stalking me?” Her eyes narrowed. “Or did you think I lied yesterday, and I had him stashed away in my apartment? That I was part of whatever messed-up financial scheme he was involved in?”
Fuck! How had this gone to shit so quickly? I needed Lucy to trust me; that was never gonna happen if she thought I doubted her story.
“It’s my job to investigate all possibilities, but that means I can catch it when someone’s in danger.
Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I had to warn you about Coleman.
Driving past an ex’s place at three a.m. is not usual behavior.
I’m a PI, I’ve seen where this leads, and it ain’t pretty.
So whatever you think of me, whatever you decide about me, you need to know that he’s here, and he’s watching, and he’s not going to stop. ”
“I know exactly what he is.” Her voice was quiet, and in that moment, I knew I’d do anything to make sure she was safe. No one was ever going to make her voice quiet like that ever fucking again.
“Lucy, look at me.”
She lifted her eyes to meet mine.
“I meant what I said. I won’t let him hurt you.
From now on, change your route to work. Don’t take the same streets two days in a row.
Park under lights, as close to the entrance as you can.
Lock your car the second you’re inside.” I pulled a card from my jacket and put it on the counter between us.
“That’s my cell. If you see anything, a car you don’t recognize, someone on foot who doesn’t belong—anything that feels wrong, even if you can’t say why—call me. Day or night. I’ll be there.”
She looked at the card. Didn’t pick it up.
“Is this what you do?” she said. “Give women safety checklists and your phone number?”
“Usually, the checklist comes as a PDF. I’m making an exception by giving it in person.”
She almost smiled. Almost.
“And how long do I do this?” She met my eyes. “A week? A month? The rest of my life?”
I didn’t answer.
“I already did this, Warrick. You know, when I left, I promised myself I was done living like that. Done making myself smaller to fit around someone else’s ideas of what I should be. And now you’re standing here telling me to change my routines.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“It feels the same.” She said it without heat. “He doesn’t have to touch me. He just has to exist, and I’m right back to running escape routes in my head.”
My tiger made a sound low in my chest. That fucker was gonna die, and I was gonna enjoy every fucking second of it.
“You’re not making yourself smaller,” I said. “You’re making yourself harder to find. There’s a difference.”
She looked at me for a long moment. I couldn’t read her expression—not with my eyes, not with my nose, not with any of the senses that usually gave me an advantage in reading people. She was somewhere I couldn’t reach.
Then she picked up the card.
“Day or night?”
“Day or night.”
She put the card in her back pocket.
“Thank you for the warning. I need to get back to work,” she said. “Cleopatra’s due for her second round of antibiotics, and she’s already plotting my death after I tricked her into taking them yesterday.”
She was the fucking cutest. I was in so much trouble.
“Lucy. The route thing. It’s temporary. All of it’s temporary.” I held her eyes. “I’m going to find him. And when I do, you won’t need the checklist ever again.”
She didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure she believed me but she nodded once, and I knew it was all I was going to get from her right now.