At least I have my blanket and Eddy back.
“Hi, Nina,” Meg called out from where she was cleaning up the waiting room snack bar.
“Hi, Meg.”
“Everyone’s upstairs.”
Everyone?
“Not everyone,” Matt reassured me. “Half of us are providing muscle without being kept in the loop.”
Was that normal? Was he mad?
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize; it’s the nature of the business.” Matt smiled and led me upstairs.
I enjoyed the summer sun shining through the second story sky light, knowing I’d soon be in the closed off conference room.
Austin stood as I walked through the door Matt opened for me. “Thank you for coming, Nina. Please have a seat.”
He pulled out a chair between himself and John.
I waved to John and his sons. They waved back. When I waved to Ryan, he dipped his head in greeting before looking back at his laptop.
“You should know, we had a tail,” Matt said to John.
I sank into my chair.We did?I hadn’t noticed, and Matt never said anything.
“Did you get any info?”
“No plate, they’re pros. They pulled back when they realized I was on an access road.”
“Email what you have.”
“Copy that,” Matt said before leaving.
The tension in the room did nothing for my nerves.
Once again, Austin placed a bottle of water and a box of tissues in front of me.
Does this mean he’s going to make me cry again?
Not that he wanted to make me cry, but he rarely delivered good news.
“Did you find something?” I asked. He was cryptic when he returned my things this morning.
“We did, but before I tell you what we found, I’d like to apologize.”
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the arms of the chair and braced for the news.
“We had to cut into your teddy bear to retrieve what was hidden inside.”
My jaw hung open. “You…” I’d examined Eddy but hadn’t noticed anything different. “You cut Eddy? But he looked the same.”
“I sewed him back up,” Austin confessed.
I squinted and tilted my head as my brain tried to imagine Austin using a needle and thread.
