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“That’s good to hear. She scared the shit out of me and Winnie when she got hurt. I don’t know how you let her out of your sight.”
“It’s not easy to be honest. It feels like I spend every second worrying about her. Is she happy? Is she hungry? Are other kids being mean to her at school? Did I remember to put the permission slip in her folder for the field trip? The constant fears of a parent never go away, I think you just get used to living in a permanent state of anxiousness until you see them again,” he shrugged.
“Better you than me, El Capitan, kids are terrifying,” Roe said, picking up a blueberry donut off the platter in the middle of the conference table. “Good to have you back, by the way, your replacement never brought us breakfast.”
“Because that one donut’s full of so much simple sugar you’re going to drag ass the rest of the day and be hungry again in about five minutes,” I pointed out.
Roe stuffed the rest of the donut in his mouth before grabbing two more. “For when I get hungry again in five minutes,” he said, dropping crumbs everywhere. Sam walked in and slapped the back of Roe’s head on her way to the chair opposite me.
“Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. Obviously, I’m back and Gage is gone. He agreed to take over for me in the field while I handle things back here from now on. Unfortunately, the case has turned more complicated in the two weeks I’ve been consulting.”
I rocked back in my chair and stifled a yawn as I listened to Gray discuss the details of what he had been working on. It was going to be a long day.
* * *
A knockon my office door made me glimpse up from the report I was reading. “You got a sec?” Gray asked, settling into the chair in front of my desk.
“What’s up?” I set the report aside, giving him my full attention.
“I want to talk to you about my sister.”
Fuckkkk. How did he find out? Maybe someone on the team let something slip? Or maybe he was still suspicious about the outing with Daisy and why I was there. I guess it didn’t really matter how he knew but it was time to come clean and accept whatever punishment he decided to inflict.
Gray bounced his leg in agitation, “I just got off the phone with the sheriff.”
“Is Winnie okay? Where is she?” I jumped up, looking around for my truck keys.Goddamnit, where did I put them?I lifted the reports and folders strewn all over my desk.
“What? I don’t know, the diner probably, why are you asking if she’s okay?”
“Because you said the sheriff called you!” I shouted at him. Why the hell was he so calm when his sister was in trouble?
“Ohhh, no, she’s fine, Kane. Calm down, Jesus. I followed up with the sheriff about the robberies that have been happening. You need to lay off the caffeine, man,” he looked at me like I had lost my mind.
I dropped back down into my chair, my pulse still racing. For a second there Ihadlost it, the thought of Winnie being hurt or in danger scared the absolute shit out of me. Was this what Gray was referring to earlier? The constant worry and fear for another person? It felt like my heart had left my body the second she drove away from me the other night and the torment wouldn’t stop until she was safe in my arms again.
“Anyway,” he started again, eyeing me suspiciously, “the perps have been getting bolder. Their last score was a truck stop in broad daylight, they aren’t waiting until closing anymore. The assholes shot a customer this time and the guy didn’t make it.”
“Fuck, where was it?” I scrubbed my hands down my face, hating this shit.
“Johnston County, which is way too fucking close to home. I think we need to be prepared in case they come here next. There are only two places that would draw their attention in town, Brooks’ and…”
“The diner,” I finished for him. The fear from earlier came back. “What do you want to do?”
“Deputies are going to cover Brooks’ since it’s open later and has a larger crowd. But I told him we would handle my family’s place. We know it better than anybody, not to mention we already handle the security system.”
I nodded, liking that idea, “Protection duty?”
“Yup, Win’s there alone a lot, she closes most nights and I just have a feeling in my gut that we should expect the worst. With Gage gone, that leaves the four of us that can take shifts making sure the place is always covered. I can take weekdays while Daisy’s in school and work from one of the booths if necessary. I was thinking you, Roe and Sam can switch off opening, closing and the weekends.”
“I’ve got Winnie,” I said firmly, not liking the idea of leaving her safety to anyone other than myself. “Whenever she’s there, I’ll be there, too. I don’t have any outstanding cases right now like Sam does and we can’t conceivably take Roe away from his computer when we need him too much in that capacity. Your time’s better spent running things here and you need to be available for Daisy.”
“You sure, Kane? It’s a lot of early mornings and late nights where you would have to be on constant alert.”
“Absolutely, I won’t take my eyes off her,” the fact that I wanted to be wherever she was didn’t need to be said.
21
Winnie
