Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Is here all right?” Victoria angled her car toward the curb in front of the apartment building Cillian had given her directions to as she drove.
“Let’s go around the corner here to the garage.”
“Very well.” Fatigue weighted her shoulders as she turned onto the cross street. There was nothing more exhausting than conflict. And death threats, apparently.
“Right here.” He pointed at the short driveway behind the building.
Victoria turned the wheel and drove up to the closed overhead door.
It lifted, slowly opening.
She glanced at Cillian.
He held a remote opener in his hand. He glanced at her, catching her observation of him. “I grabbed it from my bike before the tow.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “It didn’t fall off in the accident?”
“I have a locked compartment. It was in there.”
“I see. Well, have a good evening.”
“Trying to get rid of me already?” He grinned.
She didn’t respond.
“Just kidding.” His lips straightened into a line. “About what happened earlier…what I said.” He looked away and pushed his fingers through his hair. “You deserve a lawyer who knows you’re innocent and will fight to prove it.”
He swung his gaze back to her. “I only want to protect you.” His eyes sparked. “You know that, right?”
Her irritation, already lessening during the drive there, dissipated completely.
She’d known he had her best interests at heart at the lawyer’s office, too.
But she was caught in a difficult situation Cillian couldn’t understand.
He’d never known his father. He didn’t know the desire to please one’s father out of love and respect.
And that wasn’t his fault. “Yes. I know.”
The tension at the corners of his mouth eased. “Could you pull into the garage? You might be able to help me look for something.”
“All right.” She pressed the gas slightly and drove down the incline into the underground garage. She turned left to follow the space between the stalls that lined opposite walls of the long structure. “Isn’t that your jeep?”
“Yep.”
She slowed to a stop behind the car parked next to his jeep. “What do you want me to help you find?”
“I was thinking, there’s no way Glenn could’ve known for sure I’d drive my bike today instead of the jeep.”
“True. Anyone rational would assume only an insane person would ride a motorcycle in freezing temperatures.”
He chuckled. “There’s that biting wit I love. Thought you’d lost it at the lawyer’s office.”
Her pulse beat erratically, skipping and hopping at an alarming rate.
All because he’d said the word, love. He probably hadn’t even meant it in the way her emotions wanted to interpret his usage.
She wouldn’t let him see her reaction. “You mean the attorney’s office where you walked in looking like you’d been literally dragged in off the street?” She pointedly scanned his tattered jeans. “You could have at least washed off the blood. It’s no wonder he thought I was a murderer.”
Cillian grinned. “Hey, you were the one who wanted to be on time.”
“And I suppose that’s why you’d like me to test drive your jeep? I assume you’re getting to the point where you’re going to say Clinton Glenn sabotaged that, as well.”
“Very astute. But, no, I wouldn’t dream of having you test drive it.” His mouth twitched as if he was barely holding back a laugh. “I thought you could help me look it over and see if we can figure out what he did to it.”
“You do realize I know next to nothing about vehicles of any kind, other than how to drive them.”
“Ah, well.” He opened the passenger door. “Then I guess you can wait safely in your car while I check it out.”
“A sound plan.” She looked toward the jeep as he started to leave the car.
Something dark stained the floor beneath the jeep. “Cillian.”
“Yeah?” He turned back, bending to see her as he held the door open.
“There’s something under the jeep.”
He left the passenger door open and headed to his vehicle, crouching to see underneath. Then he lay on the ground and reached below the jeep, directly above the stain she’d spotted. Was it a puddle of some liquid?
He quickly pulled back, got to his feet, and stalked to her car. He leaned in to meet her gaze. “He cut the brake lines. Drained the fluid.”
Her breath caught. It wasn’t really a surprise. But something about seeing it, being close to it, made this sabotage even more real than Cillian’s accident. These weren’t simply acts of sabotage. They were attempts on Cillian’s life. And he could’ve been killed by either one.
The thought turned her mouth to sandpaper. She had pushed it aside for a bit, able to do so thanks to the distraction of the attorney and the argument with Cillian. Anger and other emotions were a useful means of forgetting the more frightening, painful realities.
“There’s a guest stall at the end of the garage.” Cillian pointed beyond the elevator that marked the halfway point of the garage. “Why don’t you park there and come on up to my apartment while we wait for the tow truck to get here?”
He was asking her up to his apartment?
Heat flushed through her. “I should get back to Sydney.”
“Treese is with her.” A knowing glint shone in his dark eyes. “Besides, we need to plan our next move.”
“We can do that here.”
“Only if you want to keep holding up my neighbor.” He waved to someone behind her car.
She twisted to see a black SUV waiting for her to move. “Why didn’t you say something?” And how had she not heard another person drive in? Those eyes and Cillian’s unnerving proposal must have distracted her.
“I just did.”
She rolled her eyes. “Close the door.”
He laughed as he shut the door and stepped back.
She drove ahead, found the empty stall marked for guests, and parked.
She might as well go up to his apartment.
If they must talk, she would rather do it there than in a garage.
And there had been nothing romantic about his invitation.
Exhaustion must be the reason she had added the romantic interpretation to his casual and practical suggestion to move their conversation to his apartment.
Practical was her middle name. She held on to efficiency as her goal, along with dissuading Cillian to stalk the curator, as she rode the elevator to the third floor with him and followed him to his apartment.
The modest apartment was furnished with simple, casual pieces in plain beige and brown colors. Not the furniture she would have expected Cillian to pick. No boxes or clutter evidenced he’d recently moved. The apartment must have come furnished.
Though that wouldn’t explain the lack of boxes or items. Perhaps he was a better organizer than she thought and had finished moving everything in quickly.
He stepped toward her inside the door.
Her pulse spiked.
“Take your coat?”
“Oh.” She breathed again. “Thank you.” She slipped off her coat quickly enough that he didn’t try to help, her heart rate still matching the erratic dance of her nerves.
“Want some tea?” He hung her coat on a hook mounted on the wall. “I have your favorite, chamomile.”
Warmth touched her cheeks. He’d remembered. “Yes, thank you.”
“Have a seat anywhere.” He took off his jacket and hung it up before walking into the kitchen that was open to the dining and living room areas.
She turned away and looked at the loveseat and armchairs. Her stomach knotted. What was she doing, spending time alone with Cillian? It was one thing to do so when they were working to prove her innocence or when they were dodging danger.
But this was different. It felt like two people exploring a relationship. Dating. It would be wrong to give the impression she was open to that.
She spun back and walked to the near side of the counter that bordered the kitchen. “I really should go.”
He shot her a surprised glance, tea kettle in his hand.
“I don’t feel right imposing on Treese to stay with Sydney longer than necessary.” That was the truth, even if it wasn’t the entire reason she wanted to leave. “But will you promise me you won’t follow Clinton Glenn? You can’t follow him now anyway, since you don’t have a car.”
“About that…” Cillian set the kettle on the counter between them. “I’ll need to borrow your car.”
“What?”
“Or I could get a rental. But it’d be cheaper to use yours, and I don’t think I’ll need it for long.”
“Is that your way of ensuring I won’t go anywhere without you?”
“Totally.” He squeezed his lips together and nodded with an attempt at innocent eyes.
She fought against the smile that wanted to come in response to his adorable expression. The man was incorrigible. “If I promise not to drive anywhere without you, will you drop this idea to tail Clinton Glenn?”
“Nope.”
“Cillian.” She folded her arms across her sweater.
“Victoria.”
She narrowed her eyes.
He chuckled. “Okay, but I’m serious.” He made an effort to sober his expression.
“And you’d see I’m right if you’d think about it for a second.
I’m worried about you and Sydney, too. You’re right she’s in danger as long as you are.
But she obviously won’t leave you, which I don’t blame her for, by the way. ”
His mouth quirked at one side. “You do have a calming effect about you. At least when you’re not mad like right now.”
She took in a long breath through her nose as she gave him a sidelong look. It was obvious what he was doing, trying to charm her into relaxing and persuade her to agree with him. But it was working anyway. “I’m listening.”
“All I’m saying is that you and I both know Glenn is going to keep after us until the police arrest him.
It’s obvious he thinks if he silences us, we won’t keep pushing this and making the police take him seriously as a suspect.
So we’re in danger until the police get him.
” Cillian planted his hands on the counter and leaned forward.
“I think the lieutenant is taking Glenn seriously, so it shouldn’t be too long before they bring him in.
But until then, it’s up to me to keep you safe. ”
“And what about you?”