Chapter 12
Twelve
“I HEAR you’re out of here today,” Tia said as Bristol passed her friend—one of a few she’d made.
“Yep.”
“You’ll miss us.”
“I’ll miss seeing you, but I definitely won’t miss this place.”
Tia shook her head. “No one does.”
“Okay,” Lulu said outside her cell door. “Go ahead and get changed. Your clothes are in the bag, change into them, then pack your belongings in the bag.” She tossed a yellow plastic bag at her. “Then I’ll escort you out.”
“Thanks.” The bag was probably overkill. She had very little to take. Some cards from Dalton, a teddy bear from him, and the photograph she never left anywhere without.
Lulu turned her back while she changed into the clothes she’d been wearing at the time of her arrest. A slim-fitting white dress, a pair of nude Louboutin heels, and her favorite diamond necklace from Dalton.
“All done,” she said. She’d never thought it’d feel so great to slip into her own clothes.
“Be safe and smart,” Lulu said.
“Always.”
Agent Marshall stood at the end of the gated walkway. Her heels wobbled over the rock-strewn path, but she managed to stay erect.
His eyes widened as he turned around, his gaze skimming over her.
Was that attraction there? Nah. No way. She must be off her game with the excitement of walking out that gate and never having to hear the clang of cell doors shutting again.
Reading people was her talent. Deck’s too, but she didn’t go there. Couldn’t go there. Anyway, she could have sworn that when Aubry looked at her, there’d been something there, but she laughed at the absurdity of it.
“What’s funny?” he asked, slipping his sunglasses on.
“Nothing.” She smirked.
He pushed off the chain link fence. “A little dressed up for this.”
“It’s what I had on when you arrested me. Besides, since when is a cocktail dress too dressed up?”
“We can stop at a store to get you clothes and things you’ll be needing,” he offered.
“Thanks, but Dalton kept my apartment for me. All my stuff will be there. I told him he didn’t have to, but he insisted.”
“Oh, he kept it, all right.”
She narrowed her eyes, then raised her hand to shelter them from the direct sunlight spilling over her. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll see.” He gestured to the black Palisade one row over.
What was it with government agencies and their black SUVs?
She’d expected a black Suburban. That’s what the agents drove around, thinking they blended in, when all they did was stand out.
“But my stuff is still there?” she asked.
“Yes. As far as I know.”
“Good. I’ll go change before heading over to see Dalton.” She wanted to look her absolute best.
“We need you to surprise him. Show up and tell him you wanted to do so upon getting out early for good behavior. He’ll be so happy to see you, I imagine, he won’t think anything of it.
But we need you to go there first. You don’t want anyone telling him you and a Fed showed up at your apartment to get stuff before he sees you for the first time. ”
She narrowed her eyes as he held the passenger door open for her. “Who would tell him?”
“He has guys stationed there—at least one all the time.”
She frowned. “Stationed there? Why?” She climbed up onto the leather passenger seat.
“I’ll explain on the way,” he said before shutting her door, walking around to the driver’s side, and climbing in.
“So?”
He turned the ignition. “We think it has something to do with his nefarious dealings.”
Dalton probably just had someone at her apartment to keep an eye on the place. Enough of that vein of conversation. “We’re going shopping.” She clapped her hands once as they pulled out of the prison lot. “On the Feds, right?”
“Right.” He grunted, clamping the steering wheel tightly.
“Wow. I really bother you, don’t I?” Not that she minded. She had the ability to get to all men—she either attracted or irritated them, and she loved both effects.
“I’m just doing my job, ma’am.”
She crossed her legs, the slit in her dress falling open with the movement.
He cleared his throat and kept his gaze firmly on the road.
“I told you not to call me ma’am.” Multiple times over the duration he’d chased her, which felt like forever. It was like there wasn’t a moment he hadn’t been on her tail. Always only steps away, but she’d eluded him for over a year and took great satisfaction in that.
“And I told you not to call me Aubry.”
She chuckled. “Then I guess we’re at an impasse.”
He tapped the steering wheel. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Now, where do you want to shop?”
“They have some cute boutiques in Santa Fe.”
“Too close to Dalton. We need something farther out.”
“Okay, hang on and let me Google it.” A minute of scrolling passed. “Got it. Anthropologie is twenty minutes down the road. That’ll do.”
He typed the store name into his GPS and switched lanes to ramp up on the interchange.
“I hope . . .” He cleared his throat. “I hope this puts you on the straight and narrow. You have a chance at a new life. Don’t blow it.”
“I won’t.”
He glanced over out of the corner of his eye.
“I’m out and not going back. And, for your information, since Dalton and I got serious, I’ve been on the straight and narrow.”
“Uh-huh. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“And when you do, you can apologize.”
“Not sure I see that day happening.”
“You’d be amazed what a day can bring.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“Always assuming the worst . . .” Though she shouldn’t chide him. She always assumed the worst too. Never trust anyone. But she had come to trust Dalton. And that trust couldn’t be shaken by Special Agent Marshall’s assertions. He was wrong, and she was about to prove it.