Chapter Eighteen #2
“Audra!” It was Rosalie’s voice, immediately followed by the bedroom door slamming open. Copeland breathed through the moment of panic and the thought that if Rosalie hadn’t yelled before she’d opened the door, he might have shot her.
Rosalie made a distressed sort of noise, threw her hand over her eyes. “Oh my God. Gross.”
Fighting his own embarrassment, the mix of relief and terror coursing through him at being awakened so suddenly, Copeland surreptitiously slid the gun back onto the nightstand shelf, where Rosalie wouldn’t be able to see it and worry even more.
Maybe Audra had rubbed off on him.
He picked up his pants and pulled them up. Audra was scurrying out of bed now while he collected his shirt and pulled it on.
“Rosalie… How… You weren’t supposed to be here until this afternoon.”
“Yeah, well Duncan greased some wheels. We picked Franny up on our way too.” She dropped her arm with some trepidation, and aimed a wrinkled-nose expression in Copeland’s direction.
But Audra had already gone into full big-sister mode. Had he thought she wouldn’t? She was moving toward Rosalie, arm outstretched. “Let’s go downstairs. I’ll put something together for breakfast. You and Duncan must be exhausted. You should head on home and rest.”
Rosalie didn’t budge. She stared at him over Audra’s shoulder, like she could “gut him like a fish” with her mind.
He didn’t wither. Did she think he would?
“Rosalie.”
Rosalie finally looked from Copeland to Audra. “We’re going to all go downstairs and talk this through,” Rosalie said firmly. “And regardless of the outcome, just know Duncan and I are staying here until things are settled.”
“Rosalie.”
“Try to stop me,” she replied firmly. Then hooked her arm with Audra’s and sailed out of the room, dragging her sister along behind her.
Audra looked back at him a little helplessly, but he only shrugged. He didn’t mind more bodies here. More help. Anything and everything that upped the odds of keeping Audra safe worked for him. Even if it was bound to be…awkward.
He could handle awkward.
Copeland followed them down at a safe distance.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Franny had already engulfed Rosalie and Audra in a hug so that the three women held on to each other and swayed gently.
They spoke in low, private tones. He didn’t have to hear the words to know Rosalie was chastising Audra, and Audra was assuring Rosalie and Franny that everything was fine.
Copeland found himself…relieved. Maybe she was only giving them half truths, but here were two women who cared about her, who would try to take care of her. She wasn’t as solitary and alone as she’d seemed this past week.
Had it only been a week? How had she upended everything inside of him in a few days? It didn’t make any sense. He hadn’t been looking to be upended.
But here he was.
He glanced at the man who came to stand next to him. Duncan Kirk surveyed him. Copeland had once watched this man play baseball on national TV. He’d always been a fan, though he’d never let Duncan know it. Especially when he’d been investigating the murder over at his parents’ place last year.
So Copeland figured he deserved the clear lack of friendliness on Duncan’s face.
“Beckett,” he greeted, but coolly.
Copeland matched his tone. “Kirk.”
“We’ve got everything under control,” Audra said above Rosalie and Franny’s demands. “The police are looking in to a few leads, and nothing violent or dangerous has really happened. It’s all small, petty things.”
Rosalie turned to face Copeland with a glare. “Is she telling the truth?”
Audra looked up at him helplessly, and no doubt his loyalty was to Audra, but he also knew what she wanted from him wasn’t right.
“There’s a lot of truth to what she’s saying,” he agreed. But he couldn’t help the full truth. “She’s also downplaying it.”
Audra stiffened, aimed a glare at him. But he could only shrug. “You are. There haven’t been any physical threats made to her, that’s true, but they are threats all the same. And you never know when threats will go too far.”
Rosalie looked angry. Franny looked distressed. And Audra got that detached queen-of-the-manor look about her.
“There’s no need to worry—”
“There is need to worry,” Copeland interrupted her, even though it earned him an icy glare.
“But there’s no need to panic. We’ve got leads.
We’ve got strings to pull. Which is an improvement.
That doesn’t mean we can be careless…” He moved his gaze from Rosalie and Franny to Audra. “Or martyrs,” he added firmly.
That chin came up, shoulders back. She was pissed, but there was no way to get through this without making her angry. He already bent as far as he could by not making her leave. Everyone here needed to know how serious the threat was.
“I’m going to make some breakfast,” Audra said, turning on a heel and marching into the kitchen, Rosalie and Franny trailing after her with another round of questions.
Copeland made a move to follow, but Duncan stepped in his way.
“You know, it seems to me, Audra is surrounded by family now,” Duncan said, his tone polite, but very, very firm. “I’m not sure she needs you hanging around here unless it’s official police business.”
Copeland thought about that. How it would be easiest, maybe even best, if he took a few steps back. He could put everything he had, everything he was, into getting to the bottom of Austin and Karly Young. He could give her the space she likely needed, deserved.
But he’d never be able to focus if she wasn’t in his sight. He’d be worried, every second of every day, that something had happened. Someone had gotten through. Something had snapped.
And more, he understood that she knew how to manipulate all these players. Maybe it wasn’t a fair word, but she’d maneuver Rosalie and Franny, convince them everything was alright when it wasn’t. She couldn’t do that to him. Maybe someday she’d be able to, but not yet.
So he shook his head, even though he appreciated that there was someone in this world who was protective of Audra. Besides him.
“She might not need me,” Copeland agreed easily. He didn’t look away or let any of his own personal discomfort over his feelings show. Because maybe he was making every kind of mistake, the kinds of mistakes he’d made before, but for Audra it just wasn’t possible to step away. “But she’s got me.”