“Cami, please.” He touched my hand. “Please don’t ask me anything more. I won’t lie to you, but I can’t tell you the whole truth.”
Panic clawed up my throat again, but I swallowed it down. I patted Bella’s head and took comfort in the way she leaned against my leg. Kyle wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Despite knowing he was hiding things from me, I wanted to trust him. I would let him watch over me and be my hero again, at least for now.
11
KYLE
Getting out of the police station without planting my fist in someone’s face, preferably Forrester’s, was quite a feat. When he’d started on the bullshit about Cami’s sister, my blood pressure had shot through the roof and I’d clenched both fists. It was Bella’s whimpers that snapped me back to good behavior. She didn’t need to be around any more humans behaving like assholes. Kat acted as a buffer, too, one who could get shit done, so I let her do her job and did my damnedest not to make it harder for her.
My fury had dropped several notches when I saw Cami face to face. By the time she’d agreed to come home with me—not that she’d had a choice, but it made it easier to have her comply—my mood had ratcheted down to low-level pissed off.
“Time to go,” I told Cami and Bella.
At the front of the building, I handed Bella’s leash to Cami. “Give me a sec.” I stepped into the bullpen and stopped in front of Officer Downey’s desk.
She slid a thumb drive over to me. “I put in your request that the interview footage not be erased, but just in case.”
“Thanks.” I slid the drive into my pocket. “I owe you one.”
“I’ll remember,” she said. “I have a feeling I just scored a favor from someone who can make things happen.”
We left the station just as the heat of the afternoon was reaching its peak. In the car, I cranked up the air and adjusted a vent so it would hit Bella on the back seat, then pulled out of the parking lot. I knew we were being watched by Forrester’s friends. I could spot each one in the various positions in the parking lot and along the street. I kept my eye on them as we drove away. Luckily for them, no one was stupid enough to follow us.
An hour later,with two of Cami’s suitcases in the trunk, I turned onto the narrow, poorly paved county road that was my new address. I drove half a mile, then I headed down my long dirt driveway. I didn’t mention the buried cables or point out the infrared cameras we passed. I also wouldn’t tell her about the bullet-proof window glass, steel cores of the office and owner’s suite door, and the advance-warning alarms that outfitted my house.
It was over and above normal HEAT-agent home security because, in a pinch, it could double as a safehouse if our HQ building were ever compromised. Lang and I had proposed the idea when the agency had picked the town for our team’s central location, although somehow, I’d envisioned his property as being HQ 2, not mine.
Now, despite the remote possibility and low-level nature of the threat Cami might be facing, I was glad for the overkill. But she didn’t need to know the details, whichmight make it seem like she was entering a locked fortress. I wanted her to feel protected, not imprisoned.
“It’s pretty back here,” she said. “I love old stone houses.”
“That was one of the reasons I bought the place. Also, it has good bones and a new roof, and it’s in the perfect location for me. It needed an electrical overhaul, but the plumbing was sound.” I switched off the engine. “Don’t expect an old farmhouse on the inside, though. Come on. I’ll give you the tour.”
She loved the wide, wrap-around front and side porch I’d built. “Have you thought about porch swings?”
“Thought about it, ordered two, and expect delivery next week.”
“Great minds,” she said.
At the front door, I punched in the security code and pressed my palm against the reader as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. We stepped into the cool foyer. She immediately oohed and aahed over the light-colored, refinished wooden floors. Bella trotted across the planks, her clipped nails pattering lightly.
I pointed to our right and explained that renovation on that side of the house was completed. “Living room slash family room here in the front. I took out the wall so it flows right into the kitchen in the back right corner. Above us on this side is the owner’s suite with the upgraded full bath. It has the only working shower in the house.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I thought the plumbing was sound.”
I smiled. “Thanks for paying attention. It is. But the bathrooms needed upgrades. The fixtures are out in the upstairs guest bathroom. The new ones should arrive around the same time as the porch swings.”
I pointed to a door that led to a room positioned underthe staircase. “This powder room is also finished, as well as a guest bedroom at the top of the stairs, but—” I pointed to the left side of the house “—previous to getting the new roof, there was water damage on this side of the house. I’ve replaced some drywall and floorboards, so the hard part is over, but there’s still painting and baseboard installation to be done.”
“Upstairs and downstairs?” she asked.
I nodded.
She stepped into the room to the left of the entrance, the only closed off space on the first floor, and one of two safe rooms. She touched the blanket that covered the office furniture piled in the middle of the room, away from the primed but unpainted walls. “And what’s this room?”
“It’ll be my office once I’ve painted it, installed the baseboards, and put the furniture back in place. On the other side of the wall, in the left back corner of the house, is the dining room. It runs into the kitchen, too, although there’s a partial stone wall with...” I inclined my head. “I’ll show you.”
I led her to the back of the house. Actually, Bella led us both. She’d been here for less than an hour yesterday and hadn’t come inside the house, but she was so excited, trotting from room to room with her tail wagging. It was as if she’d always belonged here and was happy to be home. Both of which, I realized, were true.
