Barrett's breathing was a soothing rhythm, and the questions that had nagged at her all day went quiet.
Cadie tried not to focus on what the next day held.
Chapter 18
Barrett woke with Cadie curled against him.Her hair was dark against the white pillow, and the faint scent of her shampoo enticed him.The room was quiet.He lay still, enjoying the feeling of her next to him.He reflected on the call with Kal, the drive to Folly Beach, the long walk on the pier.Then the dinner where the mood had shifted away from the gravity of murder and conspiracy.Later in the evening, she had fallen asleep in his arms.
But peace was temporary.Barrett knew that better than most.
His mind was already shifting.The softness of the morning gave way to the hard edges of what the day required, and Barrett let the transition happen the way he always had.He did not fight it.He simply moved from one mode to another, the way a man steps from a warm room into cold air and adjusts without complaint because the work is outside and the work must be done.
Kal Davis was not just an aggressive developer with a grudge.He was not just a bully who had grown up to become a man with money and influence.He was a murderer.
And he had threatened Cadie on the phone with the casual confidence of a man who believed he was untouchable.
Barrett had operated against men like Kal in other theaters, in other contexts, under different rules of engagement.The specifics changed.The type did not.Kal was a man who treated people as instruments and discarded them when they broke.The only way to stop someone like that was to remove his ability to act.
Olivia's interview was scheduled for that morning.
Barrett eased his arm from around Cadie's waist and slid out of bed carefully.She stirred but did not wake.He stood beside the bed for a moment and looked down at her.
He wanted this to be over.He wanted Cadie safe and the case closed and Kal in handcuffs.Every day the investigation remained open was another day she lived under threat, and Barrett could not tolerate that.
He moved quietly to the bathroom, showered, and dressed in dark jeans with a button-down shirt.He looked professional but not intimidating.He wanted Olivia to be comfortable enough to keep talking, because the more she talked, the more her story would unravel.
When he came out of the bathroom, Cadie was sitting up in bed with the covers pulled up and her dark hair loose around her shoulders.She blinked at him with sleep still in her eyes and smiled.
"You're already dressed," she said.
"Sullivan's expecting me at the station."Barrett sat on the edge of the bed beside her."He's interviewing Olivia shortly."
Cadie's expression shifted."What time?"
"Early, because he wants to get started before she has time to think too much."
Cadie pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them."I got a message from Jaxon Boone.He wants me to do a preliminary walk-through at Stratton House this morning.He wants to assess the condition of the interior spaces and talk through some of the restoration details on site."
Barrett felt the familiar pull of competing priorities.He did not want Cadie at Stratton House without him.The walk-through was a necessary step in the property sale that Cadie had worked hard to arrange.She was handling it with competence, and he would not undermine that by hovering.
"Text me when you get there," he said, "and when you leave."
"I will."
He leaned down and kissed her, then got his phone and keys from the desk.At the door, he looked back.Cadie was watching him from the bed, her dark hair framing her face.Barrett committed the image to memory the way he used to memorize the terrain before a mission.She was worth protecting…and coming back to.
"I love you, honey," he said.
Cadie smiled."I love you too."
Barrett stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him.
*****
At the Charleston Police Department, Barrett walked through the front entrance and the desk sergeant waved him through without a word.He found Sullivan in the corridor, holding a file folder and a coffee mug."She's here," he said.
"How long?"
"About fifteen minutes," Sullivan said."She came in voluntarily.I told her we had follow-up questions about her care duties."
