Chapter 9 #6
“A goddamned restraint,” Sam said, the words falling out of his mouth like stones.
“A what?”
“A restraint.” He turned, eyes burning into hers. “He was planning on handcuffing you.”
“Why would he—” Nicole began, then stopped. There were all sorts of reasons an intruder would be willing to handcuff her, none of them good.
Sam nodded. “Yeah. So let’s fucking figure out what the fucker wanted so fucking badly, so we can fucking go get him.”
Nicole sat back, a little shocked at the idea that Sam had foiled a plan that not only included guns but also included handcuffs. And, if they included handcuffs, it probably also included pain.
A part of her also noticed that Sam’s language deteriorated badly when he was stressed.
“You seem to do a lot of banking stuff,” the lieutenant said again, breaking the silence.
Nicole nodded. “Yes, we do have a great deal of economic expertise.”
“Could there be anything someone would be willing to kill for in those bank reports? Sometimes a lot of money can be involved in these things. Maybe someone was looking at losing millions.”
Nicole was shaking her head before he finished.
“I can definitely rule that out. Most of the economic texts we translate are to fulfil legal requirements, for board meetings and such. In Europe, the record usually must be in the language of the meeting and English, so foreign shareholders can read it. No one would send us information that would involve a lot of money. We’re simply too small and too young for that kind of data. Our work is strictly routine.”
Silence.
“Okay. I think we might be done here.” The lieutenant was staring at her, face closed like a fist. He blew out a breath. “Can you send me a copy of everything you’ve received over the past three days? No, make that a week.”
Nicole hid her wince. It was borderline unethical, her clients definitely would not want her to be sending out their documents. But this was the police, and they certainly wouldn’t be broadcasting them. “Yes, of course, though most are in foreign languages.”
The lieutenant looked pained. “Yeah, that will be part of the fun.” He stood. “I think we’ve done everything we can here. Jansen—” he indicated the young fingerprint tech, “will be taking your prints for comparison purposes. Will we find anyone else’s?”
Would he? Nicole thought about it. “I don’t know.
I actually don’t think so. The last client in here was Maxwell Rubens, the software guy, to discuss an ongoing contract for translations of his programs into Chinese.
But he was here ten days ago, and the cleaning service has been in here at least three times since then.
So if you find prints that aren’t mine, they might be Mr. Rubens’s.
And anyway, as Sam said, the intruder wore gloves. ”
“We’ll check anyway.” The lieutenant gave her his card. “If you remember anything, anything at all, call me. Day or night.”
Nicole understood very well that she was getting special treatment because of Mike.
No way would a botched burglary, where nothing was actually stolen, be getting all this attention.
Not to mention a police lieutenant giving her his private cell phone number and authorization to call him day or night if she needed something.
She put the card in her purse and held out her hand. “I cannot begin to thank you enough, Lieutenant.”
His grasp was firm and dry. “No problem.” He nodded. “Sam, Harry. Mike, you’re with me.”
A source of energy left the room with him, the medic, the young tech guy, and Mike.
Nicole felt suddenly drained, exhausted beyond measure.
She swayed slightly, then felt Sam’s strong arms go around her.
She leaned into him, into his strength, leaning her forehead against his chest for just a second, inhaling the scent that had been imprinted on the primitive part of her brain all last night.
Harry cleared his throat and she straightened, suddenly ashamed of her weakness, but Sam held her tightly before she could pull away.
He spoke over her head to Harry. “I’m taking her home. You look after things here.”
Harry nodded.
“And check our security cameras, I’ll bet you anything we caught him as he was running away.”
“Yeah. I’ll freeze a couple of frames and e-mail them to the SDPD. They’ve got facial recognition software, just like the FBI. If the guy’s in the system, we’ll get him. I’m on it.” Harry closed the door softly behind him. They were alone.
Sam tightened his embrace and bent down to her ear. “Let’s go home, honey.” His voice was so low, she felt the vibration in his chest more than heard the words. His breath washed over her ear and she broke out in goosebumps.
She pulled away and looked up at him. At that strong, unhandsome face.
Of course she was going home with him. There was no question of that.
He’d come for her in her hour of need, without hesitation.
He’d saved her life. In some important, primordial way, a way that was blood and bone deep, she now belonged to him.