“I’ll be okay. The burning in my eyes has ceased a bit.” She coughed and Ben hurried to the table beside her to pour a cup of water. He handed it to her and she drank deeply.
A few seconds later she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine,” she stated firmly.
She would, because he would guarantee that himself.
He nodded. “I know you will. I talked to the doctor. They’re going to keep you until morning.”
“What? No. I can’t stay here. I’m just fine. I’m going home,” she protested and tried to push at the sheets on the bed.
“You are not,” her mother came to the other side of the bed pulling the sheets back up and tucking them tightly beneath her arms. “If the doctor says you need to stay, you’ll stay.”
The feisty older woman met Ben’s gaze with tight lips.
“Your mother’s right,” he said looking down at Victoria. “Besides your window needs to be fixed before you can go back home.”
“Right, they broke the entire front window,” she said with a sigh.
“That’s a big window,” her mother added. “Kids play too seriously nowadays.”
Ben wondered if he should tell them it wasn’t kids. She needed to be alert and she deserved to know if she was in danger. He also wondered if she’d seen the Lexus before the windows were broken?
“You’re working a really high-profile case,” he began. To be forewarned was to be forearmed. Besides, he already had plans for her protection.
“The police are going to want to investigate the scene a little more closely than they would if it were just a classic case of vandalism,” he finished.
“But itwasjust a classic case of vandalism, wasn’t it?” her mother asked.
“This is my mother, Naomi Lashley,” Victoria said by way of introduction. “Listen, I really don’t think police investigation is necessary. I’m sure it was just kids driving by and playing a prank.”
“Like a gang initiation prank?” he asked with a tilt of his head.
“Yes,” and then, “No!” she yelled.
“Look, I don’t want to upset you.” Ben moved closer touching a hand to hers. “I’m not saying definitively that it wasn’t vandalism. I’m just saying that in light of the case you’re handling, the police are going to take more precautions. And so should you.”
“Do you think there’s a hit out on her?” Naomi asked in a hushed whisper like she thought whoever put the hit out was somewhere close by to hear.
“No. No. Nothing that serious,” Ben said but inside he knew it wasthatserious. There was already a person connected to thiscase that was missing. Intimidating a DA wasn’t something that would scare Vega and his crew.
“I’m not being targeted,” Victoria replied somberly. “The police can investigate all they want. First thing tomorrow morning I’m going home and then I’m going back to work. I still have a case to try.”
Ben nodded. He’d expected nothing less from her. Naomi stood beside her daughter, holding her hand. She attempted to look as strong and serious as Victoria, but fear etched her eyes and Ben wanted to tell her that he felt the same. That he was worried about Victoria’s safety just like she was.
“Thanks for coming, Ben. Even though I still don’t know why you showed up in the first place,” Victoria said, her voice softer now. They’d probably given her something for pain and it was starting to have that relaxing effect.
And that was her way of telling him he could leave. Ben wasn’t going to argue with her, not now. Besides he’d come here to see that Victoria was okay and she was. Now, he’d go home and take care of the rest of this business.
“I’ll see you in court,” he told her. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Lashley.”
Naomi only nodded to him as he walked out of the room. He knew she still watched him carefully, knowingly. Ben smiled at the thought when he was headed for the elevators. If Mrs. Lashley had any idea what he thought of her daughter, she wouldn’t have just given him the evil eye, she probably would’ve punched him.
“You did what?” Trent asked, his eyes about to bulge out, his fingers flexing at his sides.
“I sat in the courtroom at the preliminary hearings yesterday. I saw Vega,” Ben told him.
“Why would you do something so stupid? And why would you do it alone?” Trent stood, paced the length of his office.
He moved with very controlled steps, hands at his sides as he thought about strategy. Everything with Trent was about strategy, either divide and conquer or ambush and kill. Either or, the SEAL mentality was something he’d never lose entirely. Especially when he thought one of his family members was in danger.
