32
Vivian
Target Practice
The elevator door had barely closed when Rowan put an arm around her and pulled her into his chest. Vivian let out a woof of air and then realized that she had been holding herself with a rigid tenseness.
She burrowed her head into the hollow of his shoulder and leaned into him.
She hadn’t realized the power of a simple hug to make things feel immeasurably better.
“She was ignoring me.”
“I don’t think she disbelieved you,” said Rowan. “At least not entirely.”
“She wasn’t going to go talk to Chucky.”
“I think she’s just going to work her way through all the variables first. It’s methodical. And it means that when she gets there, she’ll have all the evidence to support it.”
“You hope.”
“Yes,” said Rowan. “That is what I’m hoping.”
“Meanwhile, Chucky is still out there. What if he tries to hurt Howard again?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Well, that’s why we’re not waiting for the police.”
She looked up at him. “We’re not?”
“No. I’m not a cop. I don’t have to wait for shit. Were you planning on waiting?” He looked confused.
“Well… no. But I thought you would probably try and talk me out of it.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Probably something about it being too dangerous.”
“What are you planning on doing?” he asked, looking alarmed.
“I haven’t decided yet. I mean, I’m not going to rush over to the Tate’s or anything, but something needs to be done.”
“Well, I might object to that. I thought we could talk to some people and see if Teddy found the shooter’s vehicle yet.”
“If Teddy’s done what?” Vivian looked up at him in surprise.
“I’ve got Teddy and the team out looking for the vehicle. He texted and says he’s got a line on it. We’ll see if he turns up anything.”
“Since when?”
“What?
“Since when have they been looking?”
“Since last night. If you want to pursue the enemy you have to move while they’re still in disarray. At a minimum we disrupted the plan last night.”
“Rowan Valkyrie!”
“What?”
“You are…”
The elevator reached the parking level with the little bounce and he raised his eyebrows waiting for her to finish the sentence.
“Incredibly sexy.”
He grinned. “I feel like I’m getting kudos off the hard work of others, but I’ll take it. Wait here, please.”
Vivian was startled into doing what she was told as Rowan stepped out. She watched him survey the area and walk away. She pushed the door open button and leaned out to see what he was doing. He walked around his car, seeming to check his vehicle and then unlocked it and returned.
“OK, let’s get you inside.”
“Rowan, are you guarding me?”
“Yes, because you are also a target,” he said. His head was up, eyes scanning the garage, looking everywhere but at her.
“I don’t think I’m a serious target.”
“I disagree. In fact, could you call or message Barb? We should let her know that Chucky is a suspect in the attack and that if he makes an appearance, her crew should alert authorities and approach with extreme caution.”
“Oh. That’s a good idea,” said Vivian taking out her phone. She was three texts into her conversation with Barb when she realized that Rowan had diverted her argument about whether or not she really a target.
She finished another text with Barb, which got her up to speed with the building security chief, but it hadn’t given her long enough to figure out how or what she felt.
It had been a long time since she’d had to answer to anyone about where she was going or why or what the hell she was going to do when she got there.
She tried to remember the last time anyone had even tried. She squinted out the window. There had been that one guy. He’d lasted about three weeks because he had been a jealous freak. This was not the same, but it still felt weird.
But why?
She glanced over at Rowan. Because she was the boss. Except he was also the boss. Technically more of a boss than she was. Except that she was always the boss of herself.
Usually.
“I think we don’t need to find Chucky,” said Vivian.
“Well, if he’s shooting people then, yeah, we do.”
“I don’t think he is shooting people. I think he hired someone to shoot people. He’s effort adverse, but very pro spending money.”
“That tracks,” agreed Rowan, pulling out onto the roadway as rain drops hit the window with gentle insistent taps. September was always glorious, but October was mixed bag of weather that slowly devolved into the drizzling, spitting, rain and gloom that would last through at least March.
“So, if we don’t need to find Chucky, what do we need to do?” he asked.
“We need to find the will,” said Vivian.
“The will definitely wasn’t at the office on Friday.
It’s possible that Howard dropped it off on Saturday before the gala and then Chucky, if that’s who actually searched the office, would have found it.
But Howard didn’t say anything to me about it at the gala. ”
“He wouldn’t have,” said Rowan sounding amused. “You were busy. But from the state of the office, I don’t think they found it.”
“I agree. But Howard’s wife, Nadine, might know what happened to it.
The thing is, even if we don’t find the will, we still have a signed and dated document of intent that I scanned into files weeks ago.
Charles Tate Senior’s wife and daughter still have plenty of documentation to fight the old will. ”
“Not without you and Howard,” said Rowan. “It’s one signed document that no one else in the firm can speak to. And there is plenty of evidence of him changing his mind. You and Howard are the ones who know what Senior intended. Without you, and that will, Chucky will get the money.”
He paused at a stop light, and looked over at her.
“You are making a very grumpy face.”
“Yes, because I think you’re right and that makes me really mad. Someone needs to punch Chucky in the face. I have thought that since I met him and I’m trying very hard not to elevate that to putting a bullet or six into him, but it’s is proving very difficult.”
“I put your gun in my safe, by the way.”
Startled, Vivian turned in her seat to look directly at him.
“What?”
“The movers delivered the gun and your father’s flag directly instead of boxing them. Well, they gave them to Jake. And Jake carried them over. I put them in the safe at home.”
Vivian felt an intense moment of panic when tears threatened to overwhelm her. She blinked rapidly.
“Um, thanks. I don’t like… I wasn’t looking forward to figuring out what box that was in.”
“I meant to tell you earlier. I forgot. Sorry, I derailed that conversation and now the light’s green and we can’t hug.”
Vivian swiped at her eyes and laughed. “It’s fine. I appreciate that people took care of them.”
“Did your dad get you the 1911?”
“No, I got the 1911 because I liked it. Not because it’s a classic military side-arm, thank you very much.”
Rowan chuckled.
“Dad had a Beretta that I liked, but I sold all of his guns after he passed. I don’t go shooting enough to justify having eight guns.”
“You don’t need to justify it. Sometimes you just like having shiny things because they’re fun and they make you feel pretty.”
Vivian chuckled. “Yes, but as a responsible gun owner, I couldn’t keep up with cleaning and or practicing enough to be comfortable using them. I’ve got one gun that I know, like, and I’m trained on. That’s all the gun energy that I have.”
“Fair,” said Rowan with a shrug. “Want to go shooting sometime?”
“Yes,” said Vivian hesitantly.
“That wasn’t an enthusiastic yes. We don’t have to go.”
“I would like to go. I haven’t been in a while. But I don’t want to be mansplained to while I do it. I want fun date night shooting. Not Mr. Valkyrie telling me how to use my gun.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said instantly and nodded. “Fun date night making things go bang and then we go bang.”
Vivian laughed and he grinned.
“You’re only going to encourage me if you keep laughing.”
“I know, but I can’t stop!”
“Well, then you know I’m not going to.”
Vivian laughed again and then looked around at the traffic.
“Where are we going?”
“You wanted to see Nadine? I’m heading for Harborview while we wait for Teddy to call me back.”
“Oh. Great. I can check on Howard and talk to her about the will.”
“And I can check building security and update Delacroix. And also make sure there’s a rotation roster so Delacroix can get some shut eye. I’m assuming Mark has some sort of plan, but I haven’t been fully updated. I’m going to be making calls while you talk to Nadine. If that’s OK?”
“Teamwork,” said Vivian, with a nod, trying to ignore the fact that he’d added the plan check as an afterthought.
“Teamwork,” he agreed, and flashed her a grin.