AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What? Why?” Maxi had spent several hours this morning with the detective assigned to her case. He hadn’t said anything about contacting her father. “Why would Detective Grover speak to my dad?”
“I’m sure that he’ll want to interview everyone that’s close to you.” Jessie spoke as if it was just common sense.
And maybe it was. Maybe she should’ve drawn the same conclusion. Maybe if she could think straight, she would have.
“I have to go,” she stood. Her dad couldn’t find out about all of this from a police officer. She had to be the one to tell him.
A large, warm hand wrapped around her wrist and she sucked in a breath at the ripple of tingles that Billy’s roughened fingertips caused. Her mind knew that the contact was innocent, her body however had all kinds of other ideas about his touch.
“Charlie’s up at Whisper Lake with The Colonel until Sunday night. They’re fishing. I talked to him this morning when I landed. He’s planning on being home for Sunday dinner. We can bring him up to speed on everything then. It will be better if he hears it in person. From both of us. We can let him know that the police want to talk to him. I spoke to Grover on my drive into the city and he’s agreed to hold off contacting your dad until Monday.”
The deep timbre of his voice vibrated through her body. It took a moment for his baritone words to register in her consciousness. Once they did, she sat back down. Her legs were shaking. She had no idea if her wobbly limbs were a side effect of the emotional roller coaster that she’d been strapped to for the past six weeks, or if they were due to the relief that Billy knew, and that Billy was being Billy and taking control. She wasn’t alone. This wasn’t all on her shoulders anymore.
He’d thought of how and when they would tell her dad. He’d known where her dad was. He’d spoken to the detective.
This was not going to help her prince, knight-in-shining-armor fantasies.
“That’s right.” Jessie shifted in her chair. “I remember Sophie mentioning that Grandpa J was going fishing this weekend.”
Grandpa J, aka The Colonel, was Jessie’s cousin-in-law’s actual blood relative, but he’d been adopted by everyone in Harper’s Crossing, the small town where Jessie was from. It also happened to be the current residence of one Billy Marshall. Maxi had met Grandpa J on several occasions, and over the past couple of years he and her dad had struck up quite the friendship. They golfed. Fished. Argued about sports.
“Right, I forgot…Dad texted me last night about the trip.” Normally, Maxi wouldn’t forget details like that but with all the stress she’d been under, it seemed that her brain was processing information like sand sifting through a strainer. Some granules stayed and some slipped away.
When the text had come in, she’d been so happy to hear that her dad was taking a weekend to relax and fish. He worked too hard, and lately she’d been noticing that he was getting tired, really tired, after the smallest amount of physical exertion.
“Great.” Jessie’s tone broadcasted finality as she stood. “I’m glad that’s settled. Maxi, why don’t you go ahead and take the rest of the day off. We’ll see you back here Monday morning. Call me if you need anything.”
The last part of her boss’s statement was directed at both Billy and Maxi.
On still shaky legs, Maxi pushed to stand and Billy did the same.
“I’ll stop by the event before—”
“No need.” Jessie cut her off. “You have a good team that is handling everything. I’ve been in constant contact with them and everything is running smoothly. Besides, by the time you make it across town, the only people there would be the cleanup crew.”
Over? What? How could that be? She was sure it was still before noon. Maxi looked down at her wrist watch. Everything since she’d opened the door to find her condo ransacked was a blur. The police showing up. Her being interviewed by three separate officers. Going down to the station to give her official statement, then finally coming into work, and going directly into this meeting.
It was almost three p.m.
Shit.
The listening luncheon was over. Her mind started racing with how she would explain her absence to Ricco. He’d been surrounded by yes people since he was fourteen and hit unprecedented internet fame with his cover of The Jackson Five’s “I’ll Be There.” Now at twenty, he’d spent years having his every whim catered to. Maxi knew he wouldn’t be happy about the fact that she wasn’t there today.
As if reading her mind Jessie stood taller. “He’s one client. If he doesn’t like the work our firm does, then he can move on. We were fine before you signed him, we’ll be fine after. One client does not define us.”
Just as Maxi was going to tell Jessie that while she appreciated the sentiment, the truth was, this client did define her, the door swung open before she got the chance.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we have a code red.” Jessie’s assistant, Martin, swept into the room with dramatic flair. “Colby Saint just got detained at customs. Apparently he decided it was a good idea to bring back pot in his suitcase. He’s on line two making about as much sense as a waterproof towel.”
Jessie gave a quick nod as she picked up the phone on her desk.
Maxi and Billy both followed Martin out of the office, before they made it to the door Martin turned to them and mimicked smoking weed.
She found herself smiling for the first time that day. Martin had a way of always making her smile. He never let whatever stressful situation was happening—which in their line of work, there were always fires to be put out—affect his mood. He brought sunshine and light into the world. He was her emotional safe place.
Billy was a safe place, too. Which scared her even more than her car being broken into, a package containing dead birds, naked photos being taken of her and distributed, or her apartment being broken into.
Billy was the kind of safe that was all kinds of dangerous. Not physically dangerous…emotionally dangerous. The scariest kind of dangerous.
