“You need to file a claim with your auto insurance.”
“I will,” she said. “It’s just hard to do without my phone.”
“You can use mine.”
“All my contacts were on my phone, including my numbers for all my contacts in Virginia as well as the San Antonio Field Office.”
“Let’s start by getting you a phone.” Grant’s brow dipped. “Not that I think the killer will try anything inside the store but be careful. He did attack one of the women at a shopping center.”
Avery nodded. “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.”
Grant nodded toward the phone. “Keep my phone. Hopefully, they can get me set up quickly with a burner. I’ll call you when I’m done. Aiming for fifteen minutes.” He glanced at his watch.
Avery checked the time on the phone.
They parted ways and set off with purposeful strides.
Avery grabbed a shopping cart and headed for women’s clothing. She selected a pair of jeans and a shirt and headed for the fitting room. Once inside, she stripped down and slipped into the black jeans and a black ribbed knit, short-sleeve shirt. The jeans fit just right, molding to her waist and hips.
Satisfied with the selections, she dressed in the clothes she’d arrived in and gathered the items she’d tried on.
Back out among the racks of clothing, she grabbed a pair of blue jeans in the same size and design as the black ones and two more black shirts and two white versions of the black shirt. She selected a seven-pack of bikini panties and another seven-pack of socks, which would hold her over as long as she located a laundry facility at least once a week. Hopefully, the case wouldn’t stretch out that long. At the killer’s current rate, he’d kill another in the next couple of days. She couldn’t let that happen.
With her cart of clothes, she hurried to get some toiletries, a razor and a good brush. Having been born with clear skin and dark lashes, she’d never needed too much in the way of cosmetics.
The phone rang. She reached for it in her back pocket and answered. “Hello.”
“I have your phone. I’m at the front, ready to check out when you are. No rush.”
“I just need to find a ball cap and sunglasses, and I’ll be there.”
“They have some Texas A&M caps and sunglasses in a display near me. Come to the front.”
“Thanks. On my way.” Avery wanted to get back to TJ’s Bar and Grill, afraid the imposter might leave before they returned. The sooner she led them to the killer, the sooner Avery could reclaim her identity. The woman pretending to be her irritated the fire out of Avery. She’d nail her eventually.
Grant stood at the front of the store, holding a red-and-white Texas A&M cap in one hand and sunglasses and a new cell phone in the other.
Avery’s pulse quickened as it had always done when she saw this man. Today was no exception. He was tall, broad-shouldered and sexy as hell. The two years she’d been undercover had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. Harder still because she’d had no contact with him. She’d been the one to ask for a divorce.
Yes, he’d been angry that she’d taken the assignment, but they could have worked past it if she’d wanted.
Knowing how dangerous the syndicate would be, Avery had chosen to use that argument as a catalyst to ask for a divorce. If the syndicate had found out she was FBI, it would have been bad for her. But the syndicate wouldn’t have stopped at killing the person who’d betrayed them. They’d have gone after the betrayer’s entire family as a brutal message to those working with them.
They would have found out about her husband and killed him as well. She’d banked on the divorce to keep him out of their sights should she be outed.
Seeing him standing there with the hat, a smile curling his lips, brought back all the good memories of their life together. It made her yearn for that closeness, the laughter…the sex.
Heat rose up her neck into her cheeks and down low to her core. Making love with Grant had been amazing.
As she neared, Grant’s smile slipped, and a frown dented his forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”
Avery ducked her head. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Your face is flushed. Are you sure you’re not running a fever or have some kind of infection?” He shifted the hat into the hand with the phone and sunglasses and touched his palm to her forehead. “You’re a little warm.”
She was even warmer with his hand pressed to her skin. “No, really, I’m fine.” Avery pushed the cart into a line and focused on the clerk checking out the customer in front of her.
In her peripheral vision, she could see he was studying her, trying to gauge whether to believe her or not. Finally, his frown lifted, and he moved up beside her to lay the contents of the cart on the conveyor belt.
