Ghost nodded. “Cody Pike, forty-seven. He’s not a local, but he does live in Cottonville.”
“Any connection to her parents?”
“Not that Keys knows of yet, but he’s still looking. Now that he has a name, it’ll be easier to figure out what’s going on.” Outthe window, Ghost watched as Tally and Toni made it into the office. “Showtime,” he murmured.
* * *
Toni could understandwhy Gwen might mistake the man standing in the lobby as her father. They had similar builds with salt and pepper hair, but Toni put this man a few inches taller than her dad had been. Toni never confirmed with Gwen whether she actually believed this man was Toni’s father. Ranger and Ghost had warned her not to, saying that they didn’t want to draw any more suspicion to the situation for Gwen’s sake. If the woman knew, then they’d have to come up with a story to cover why a man was pretending to be Toni’s dad, and why Toni knew immediately that itwasn’ther dad. The fact that Toni had asked Gwen if she was safe already hinted at trouble. Most likely, Toni was going to have to come up with some story to tell Gwen, because the woman wasn’t stupid, but for now, her concentration was on what the man wanted.
“Toni,” he said, standing. With a wide smile on his face, he could have easily been mistaken for a trusting uncle-type, but Toni wasn’t buying it for a second. “Come give your old man a hug.”
The verylastthing Toni wanted was to give this man a hug. Thankfully, Tally saved her from having to follow through on it to keep up the farce.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize your dad was here.” She tapped her cane on the carpeting, her face angled up towards the ceiling with the sunglasses still over her eyes. “My case isn’t that pressing. If you could get me to a seat, I can wait, Ms. Anderson, while you talk to your dad in your office.”
Crap. That implied that she was going to be alone with the man.
“Thank you, Mrs., uh, Conrad,” Toni said, making up the name on the spot when she realized she didn’t know Tally’s last name. As she guided Tally over to a chair, she held her purse out to Gwen. “Can you let my dad in my office please?”
Gwen hesitated slightly, but then rushed over to get Toni’s keys from her purse. “Of course, Ms. Anderson.”
Toni took her time as she unnecessarily seated Tally in the chair. “I don’t want to talk to him alone,” she whispered to Tally.
“You’re not. Scar’s in there. You won’t see or hear him, but trust me. He’s there, and he won’t let that man touch you,” she vowed.
Toni’s jaw dropped, and it took her a moment to remember that Tally couldn’t see her reaction. “He’s…in my office.”
“Don’t keep Daddy waiting,” Tally coaxed as she nodded her confirmation.
Toni recalled the scarred man from her house two nights ago. She wasn’t entirely sure she understood what Tally meant that she won’t be able to see or hear him, but she had to admit, she found comfort in the fact that Tally was not sending her into her office on her own. She must have realized that the man wasn’t going to talk to Toni with Tally present, even if Tally had portrayed a friend instead of a client.
Feeling like she was part of a play that she didn’t know her lines to, Toni straightened and headed into her office.
Passing Gwen on her way in, her secretary asked, “Are you sure you don’t need anything, Ms. Anderson?”
“I’ll be fine, Gwen. Thank you. If you could keep an eye on, Mrs. Con…uh…rad,” she asked, praying that was the name she’d used before. “Please.”
Gwen nodded. “I’ll be right on the other side of this door if you need something.”
Wishing the door could remain open, but then this man wouldn’t likely talk, Toni closed it after Gwen. Her eyes flickedabout the room. She didn’t see anyone but the man posing as her father, didn’t even feel anyone else in the room. Fuck. Was Tally wrong? What if Scar wasn’t in here with her? What if she truly was alone with this man?
He wasn’t the largest man she’d ever seen. Ranger was certainly bigger, but he was still bigger than she was. Even in jeans and sneakers instead of her heels and a skirt, she did not feel safe being in this room with him. And for a few terrible seconds, Toni could not remember for the life of her why she had argued against Ranger coming with her. How stupid could she be? Even if Tally was here, Toni wasn’t sure she’d feel safe.
Her office wasn’t overly large, but she kept the shades down since it was on the first floor and looked out onto the town’s main street. The lobby windows were kept open to be inviting to potential clients. Would it be suspicious if she opened her windows now?
Toni skirted widely around the man to her desk, wanting to put something solid between them. But the moment she was behind her desk, she realized that she just put him between herself and her escape. Her office wasn’t soundproof. If she screamed, Gwen would hear her. But then what danger would she be putting Gwen in? Tally?
“The famous Toni Anderson. Wayne spoke so highly of you, I feel like we’re already good friends,” the man said as he turned to face her desk.
His arrogant smirk filled Toni with such despair that she almost opened her mouth and begged Ranger through the mic to come running. She didn’t want to be alone with this man a second longer than she had to. She was not brave. She was not a warrior. She was scared shitless, just like she’d been on the night she’d killed her father. Why did she think she could do this?
Then a man stepped up behind her fake father. Toni’s eyes widened slightly, and she just barely kept the gasp from her lips.She recognized him from her house, the one she’d accidentally pointed her empty shotgun at. Scar. He was here, in her office, and somehow the man impersonating her father had no idea. He didn’t turn, didn’t twitch like he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising. Nothing. There was absolutely no evidence on his arrogant face that he had any idea they were not alone.
Scar met Toni’s eyes over the man’s shoulder and gave her a nod.
A wave of serenity fell over her. This man was dangerous. Even without the long scar on the side of his face, it was in his eyes. Toni had no doubt believing he’d killed people. A lot of people. And yet, she wasn’t afraid of him. The knowledge of his presence in a closed room she had no idea how he’d entered gave her the courage to sit down behind her desk and face the current threat to her life and livelihood.
“You have me at a disadvantage,” she said calmly. She did not invite him to take one of the chairs facing her desk.
