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Chapter 11
Bright and early the next morning, Asher’s eyes felt heavy after he hit the alarm and dragged himself out of bed. He was weighed down with concerns for Remy. He wasn’t sure how much sleep he got through all the tossing and turning he did last night, but it definitely wasn’t much. He had wanted her with him, wanted her close. Christ, he wanted her in his arms, where he knew no one could touch her. But that was pure testosterone talking, and he refused to take a wrong step, especially since she was finally stepping toward him again.
When he arrived at the station carrying a bag of food and a tray of coffees, he found the place quiet. The receptionist didn’t come in until eight o’clock; as for the beat cops, the shift change would have happened at seven in the morning, sending them out onto the road. Any special units or investigators didn’t typically start their shift until nine o’clock. The dispatcher was the only one sitting in the back of the station, set up at her desk in the corner, and the only sound that carried through the station was the clicking of her fingers against the keyboard. “Morning, Gianna.”
The feisty sixty-year-old lady with the short brown hair and olive-colored skin turned around in her swivel chair. She smiled at the coffee cups. “Please tell me one of those is for me.”
“You know I’d never forget you.” Asher handed her the coffee with one cream, just how she liked it.
Gianna grinned. “I’ve taught you well, my boy.”
Asher smiled. Gianna had been a close friend of his mother’s when she’d been alive. He supposed that after her death, Gianna had stepped in to make sure he always had a birthday card, or congratulate him on an achievement, and she always invited him for Christmas dinner, even though Asher went to Boone’s every Christmas. “Busy night?” he asked, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. Night shifts were hard. No way around that.
“A couple domestics and an accident,” Gianna said, taking off the lid of her coffee cup. “Nothing serious.”
“Glad to hear it,” Asher said.
“How’s—” The telephone on her desk rang and she smiled softly. “Let’s catch up when we can.” She gave him a wave and then answered the phone.
Asher turned away, fighting against the tightness in his chest. While he appreciated Gianna, seeing her was hard. Years had gone by since Mom died, but it felt like she’d passed away yesterday. His world never quite looked the same without her there. He missed how she’d light up and hug him whenever she saw him. He missed the smell of her cooking. He missed the way that, no matter what happened, she’d always made him feel like everything was going to be fine.
Until, it wasn’t fine at all.
Through the glass windows, he found Rhett and Boone already waiting for him in the command center. Rhett noticed his arrival first. He looked at Asher’s hand and then said, deadly serious, “Breakfast burritos. You’re either buttering us up or want forgiveness.”
Asher snorted a laugh. “Neither. Call it being grateful.” When Asher woke up bright and early this morning, he knew he needed more than coffees to get Boone and Rhett into work at seven thirty. “Thanks for coming. I know it’s early.”
Boone grabbed a burrito out of the bag, then handed the bag to Asher. “I’m guessing this has something to do with Remy.”
Asher took his burrito out before handing the bag off to Rhett. “The guy I had you look into for me, Lars Violi, came into Remy’s shop and scared her.”
Boone froze, halfway to taking a bite of his burrito. “This Violi doesn’t have any connection to the phone call you made last night about Antonio’s?”
“Yeah, he does,” Asher said.
Boone set his burrito down, his brow furrowing. “How did Violi scare Remy?”
“Just came in asking about Damon and where he was, but she was shaken,” Asher explained, then took a sip of his coffee. “What did you get from the photograph I sent last night?”
“What photograph?” Rhett asked with a full mouth.
Asher grabbed his phone from his back pocket and brought up the picture. “Remy and I followed Violi when he left the B and B where he’s staying.” Both men went brows up. Asher snorted and went on. “Kill the lecture you’re about to give me. Remy wants to be involved. Until it’s not safe for her to be, I’m letting her.”
Rhett whistled.
Boone’s mouth twitched.
Yeah, Asher had gone totally soft. He already knew that. “The photograph,” he repeated, staying on task.
Boone finally reached for his burrito again, and said, “The other two guys in the picture you sent me are big players in some underground crime. Money laundering. Dirty business.”
Asher finished off his bite and then dropped the burrito to reach for his napkin. “I don’t want this prick anywhere near her. We need to find out the connection here. Anything that can help us ensure we get this guy moving on from here and back to where he came from.”
Boone watched Asher a moment, then nodded. “I couldn’t agree more. What do we know about Violi?”
“I’ve dug around,” Rhett said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a file. “I found out some interesting things about him last night.” He handed the file to Asher. “He’s got a rap sheet a mile long, connections to people you don’t want on your bad side, all matched with a terrible attitude.”
Asher opened the file and stared down at Violi’s cold, dead eyes in his mug shot. Rhett wasn’t wrong. Aggravated assault, harassment, the list went on and on. And the more Asher read, the more he wanted this guy far away from Remy. Dammit. He should have demanded she stayed with him last night. He reached for his cell phone, then texted Remy: Rise and shine.
