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Instead, she got to work. Her email was the usual office correspondence along with a message from a source she used on the crime beat, letting her know that he had nothing to report. Disappointing. She was about to move on to another task when a new email came in. She recognized the sender’s email address as belonging to Wilson’s former lieutenant. A man known on the street as Razor.
Meet me today. 2 pm. Lemmy’s on fourth. Be on time. I won’t wait.
“Yes!” It wasn’t signed, but she hadn’t expected it to be. The message was the break she needed for her story, and the timing worked. Even with the drive back to Virginia Beach, she’d make it. She was moving around the room, putting her stuff in her day bag, when Owen came out of the bathroom.
“What’s up?” he asked as he pulled his shirt down his body.
Sophie realized that she was staring, mesmerized by his abs.
“I heard from the contact I was telling you about,” she answered quickly, trying to reorient herself. “He’s willing to meet this afternoon, so we need to get going soon.” She saidwe, but she intended to make it clear that this was her interview.
“Where’s this rendezvous?” He sat on the loveseat to pull on his sneakers.
“Lemmy’s on Fourth. I don’t know it, so we’ll have to find it.”
“I know that diner.” He eyed her. “It’s a dive, in the worst part of town. You’re not going in there alone.”
Did he expect her to argue? She’d agreed to his help and protection. It would be stupid not to take it. Within limits, of course. “You’re coming, too. I just need you to make yourself invisible while I meet with this guy. I assume you know how to blend in.”
“Yeah, but I won’t need to.” He stood and faced her. “Because I’ll be standing right next to you.”
“What? No! You’ll spook him,” Sophie argued.
“Don’t care,” he said. “I lost track of Helen when I let her go into a dangerous situation alone. I’m not making that mistake again. We stick together, or we don’t go.”
Sophie bit back a sigh. All right, so that was fair. Sophie herself had given him a hard time for letting Helen out of his sight. And since she was meeting with a known criminal, it might not be a bad thing to have another set of eyes.
“Okay, but let me handle talking to the guy. I can’t blow this opportunity,” she reminded him. So much was at stake, and she could feel in her reporter bones that this was what she’d been waiting for.
“Understood,” he said. “I’ll drive.”
Sophie went over what she knew about the drug lieutenant. He had done a few stints in prison, but usually managed to weasel out of any serious charges. She wasn’t going to waste time on his background, so she focused on her list of questions during the drive, determining which were the most crucial—and which he was most likely to answer. Pushing too hard could backfire. Time might be an issue, too. He might only allow her to ask a few, so she had to choose carefully which questions needed to be asked and how to phrase them to get the maximum response.
Owen put the vehicle in park.
“We’re here already?” She glanced up from her notes.
“We left the retreat an hour ago. Since then, you’ve put your hair up and taken it down three times and muttered to yourself repeatedly.” He was smiling at her. Damn that grin of his.
“Sorry, I do that when I’m working.”
“Or nervous,” he added.
“A little.” She took in their surroundings. It was definitely not the part of town that tourists saw. The buildings were run-down, and the street was full of potholes. “Where’s Lemmy’s?”
“On the next block. I drove by it. It doesn’t look open.”
She considered that for a moment. “Maybe it’s not. Razor might think that a closed diner is a good meeting spot.”
Owen glanced at his phone. “We’re early. Really early. Now what?”
“More planning,” Sophie answered. “There’s no such thing as being overprepared.”
“How about lunch?”
She shook her head and frowned. “Can’t handle food right now.”
The countdown to the meeting passed in a blur. Sophie was so focused on her prep work that she jumped when Owen reached over to gently clasp her shoulder.
