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Her insides were just as bruised. She’d become a killer, and no one knew.
No one but Tristan and a few of his people. She thought of going to see him at the shop, but she’d worked so hard to get away after they returned from the warehouse.
Besides, she didn’t have the energy to figure things out. She needed time to think.
Or pe
rhaps time to sleep.
Turning away from the mirror, she dressed in a militia t-shirt and workout pants. She then transferred one hundred thousand credits into her blackmailer’s account and slipped under the sheets.
Her head had barely touched the pillow before Isabel knocked upon her door. “Your father and Chief Shaw are downstairs,” she said, peeking inside. “I’m sorry, madam, but they insisted.”
Lila didn’t even bother changing clothes; she merely slipped on her boots and her blackcoat and trudged downstairs. She’d worn worse when training, and she was too tired and too irate to care how she looked.
Lemaire and Chief Shaw stood as she shuffled into the parlor. She flopped into a sofa chair next to the white couch they sat upon, her damp hair wet against her arm as she tiredly propped up her head. “I’m on vacation,” she said, imbuing the last word with a growl, adding more force than necessary. “A vacation you’re interrupting. I’d almost managed to fall asleep.”
Shaw shifted in his chair. “Rebecca has been returned.”
“Good work.”
Her father drummed his fingers upon his knee. “You already knew about Rebecca, just as I thought. I suppose you also know about the other two girls taken in New Bristol?”
Lila raised an eyebrow.
A lying eyebrow, and her father knew it.
“Damn it, Lila, this is an official investigation. When were you going to inform Chief Shaw and Chief Vance that you’d found a break in the case?”
Lila looked at her father and Shaw for quite a long while, then sat up with a great deal of effort. “You were right about one thing this morning, Father. I’m tired. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of bending over backwards trying to help you, only to have you go behind my back and negotiate with members of my own militia as though I’m a child.”
She glanced at Shaw. “I’m tired of both of you, expecting me to be at your beck and call, then meeting me with suspicion anytime I answer. For gods’ sake, do you think I enjoy your inquiries every time something’s been hacked? Do you think I enjoy having to defend the people I’ve chosen to help us? Do you think I enjoy anything about these little chats?”
The two men eyed one another and said nothing.
“I’m done. I’m done with both of you for a while. You were missing children. The children have been returned. Case solved. Good night.”
Shaw turned his gaze back and forth between them. After a quick study of their faces, he stood and straightened his coat. “I think I’ll take a walk among the maples. The trees are lovely here in the autumn.”
Lila watched him go, all too happy to see the back of him.
Her father leaned back into the couch. “You’re angry because I talked to Commander Sutton and took you off the oracle case.”
“Oh please, like you could take me off anything.”
“Lila, where were the girls?”
“They aren’t your concern any longer. Neither am I for the next two weeks.”
The pendulum swung back to mistrust. Her father peered at her as if trying to read her, trying to figure out if she’d become such a skilled liar that he couldn’t tell anymore or if he’d become so paranoid that he couldn’t even trust his own daughter.
Lila didn’t know which one she wanted him to pick.
One thing was certain. He no longer trusted his own judgment about her.
“Elizabeth, where were the girls?” he asked again, threading his fingers in his lap.
“I told you they’re safe. Don’t ask for more.”
