Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (49 page)

Double gulp.
"What are you saying?"

His voice dropped to a whisper.
"We need to
discuss
putting you in a safe house."

"Like witness protection?" I asked
, just as quietly
. My knees felt weak and I
sat heavily
onto the sofa. Witness protection was the one thing I wanted to avoid. Call me crazy, but I liked my life. Sure, maybe it wasn't an exciting, glamorous
one,
but I had an apartment I liked, a big family who loved me
,
and a job that I...
could
tolerate. I wasn't about to give all that fabulousness up for a life on the run.

Maddox knelt beside me
, his hands resting on my legs
. "It won't be for long. Just a couple of weeks," he said
softly
. "We'll catch them. Then everything goes back to normal. We do this all the time."

"
If
you catch whoever is responsible for this," I said, because that was the
stipulation
Maddox should have included.

"We're going to catch them," Maddox assured me. "But I'm not prepared to lea
ve you as
bait. I don't want to find you..."

"Dead," I finished.
Me neither.

~

"The building is
definitely
being watched," said Maddox. He stood to one side of the window, looking out onto the street below. I had waited quietly for the past hour while he made phone calls, talking cryptically. "
Don’t worry,
"
he said to me.

"Why
would I worry
, Adam? You're here." I didn't ask
, C
an you stay over?
But I wanted to.
I really wanted to. I didn’t want to leave my home
,
but I didn’t want to be alone in it either.

Maddox shook his head. "I can't guarantee your safety here."

A knock at the door interrupted us. I flopped
backwards
, my shoulders hunched, while Maddox went to answer it. After a moment, he returned with Solomon. Solomon held a small plastic bag
,
which he handed to Maddox. Maddox looked in
side
it
,
then
at
me
,
and I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he had to say.
But first
,
he put a finger to his lips as Solomon took out a black device and moved around the apartment.

“It’s clean,” he said after a while.

“
Thought so, but c
an’t be too sure,” said Maddox.

At least my thoughts about a bug hadn’t been totally wrong. Given that I’d forgotten about it pretty quick, I was glad my apartment was confirmed bug free.
“What’s in the bag?” I asked.

"You need a disguise."

"Like a costume?" That wasn't so bad. I could do costumes.

"Think of it as a makeover." Maddox held out the bag and I took it reluctantly, peeking inside. After a moment
,
I looked up and frowned, not quite believing what I was looking at. Maddox continued, "If we take out a pretty blonde, all they have to do is follow us
,
and we don't know what kind of manpower they have. If one of us walks out with a different woman, maybe we can throw them off. Your upstairs neighbor is a brunette."

I didn’t know how Maddox knew that. I didn’t even know that.

"You want me to dye my hair," I said flatly. I looked back in the bag and a tear pricked at my eye. Okay, call me vain, but I really loved my hair. It had been a boring
,
dark brown all through high school and college
,
and only a couple of years ago
,
I'd taken the plunge and
bleached it
a gorgeous
,
glossy blonde. I'd grown it out so it swung to mid
-
back
,
and, if I d
id
n't say so myself, it was my crow
ning glory. And now it would
all
be
gone.

"You can fix it later," said Maddox. "After this is over."

"I guess." But I knew I couldn't. It had taken too much work, too long and too many dollars to get my hair to look like this. Now my job was in jeopardy, I probably wouldn't be able to afford the disaster relief session with my hairdresser to get it this good again
,
or the upkeep either. Still, blonde or dead? The decision should be easy
,
but it was compounded by all the other hor
rible things over the past week. Combined with the murders
,
the creepy gifts
,
and the home invasion,
it was all
becoming
a bit too much.

I blinked back the tears as Maddox continued, "You'll need to pack a few clothes. A week's worth maybe. I'll take them out so it doesn't look suspicious."

"Then you'll come back for me?"

Maddox shook his head. "No, they probably
already
associate me with you. Solomon will take you out in an hour."

I glanced over at Solomon. He leaned against the doorjamb, hands in pockets. He nodded, just a slight incline of his head. They had probably already discussed what would happen if it came to this.
It should have reassured me that they had contingency plans.
But i
t didn’t.

"Okay," I said, the box of
hair
-
coloring
clutched in my hand.
"I guess I'll pack
and dye
."

Maddox flinched.

I slid past Solomon and walked down the hallway to the bedroom. The lights were on, and someone, Maddox I suppose, had drawn the curtains. I opened my closet doors and stood in front of them
,
wondering what someone on the run would pack. That immediately discounted all my dresses and pretty shoes. I shoved jeans and tops and a couple of sweate
rs
on the bed, adding underwear—with a grimace—socks and a pair of pa
jamas. Moving to the bathroom, I packed my travel bag with a few items of makeup, deodorant and my hairbrush
,
tuck
ing
the
m in the middle of the clothing
. I
left
them all on my bed.

Back in the bathroom, I pushed both doors closed
and
pulled the box of hair dye out of the bag
, placing
it on the sink. After a few deep, calming breaths I snapped the carton open and pulled out the instructions and the plastic gloves. It was now or never. I took one
final
look in the mirror, swung my blonde hair
for the
last time and got on with the job.

First
,
I pulled my hair into a ponytail, and took out my scissors. Snip, snip, snip. Three inches of hair fell to the floor. I gathered it with my hands, brushing them off over the little plastic bin under the sink. Standing in front of the mirror, I pulled out the band a
nd let my hair swing free. I
pulled on the plastic gloves.

Forty minutes later
,
and
a new me
reflected from
the mirror. In place of the blonde was a glossy
,
dark brown,
cut
shorter
and
fuller
. It
framed
my face
and still
swung
past my shoulders
. It seemed to
enhance
my color
ing
. My face looked paler, my eyes bluer, my lips more red. It lifted my spirits a
little;
actually, I didn't look too bad at all. Not blonde and pretty anymore, but still pretty.
I felt
slightly
better.

I scrubbed the last little blotches of dye from the tops of my ears and pulled out some nail polish remover. After a couple of minutes
rubbing
, my nails were plain and I cut them shorter, too. Next went my clothes. I switched the dress for black skinny jeans, a pale blue top and a zip-up
,
black sweatshirt, pulling on sneakers
last
.

When I went back to the living room, both men turned to me and I stood there hesitantly,
a
waiting the
ir
verdict.

"You look different," said
Maddox
. "I like it."

"Better than the blonde?"

"Yes, most definitely. You look sensational."

I smiled, a little color rushing to my cheeks. "Thanks,
Adam,
" I said. "I
laid out
everything I'll need on my bed. I wasn't sure if you wanted them in a bag or something else."

"I'll take them
now."
He
nodded to Solomon. "Wait close to an hour
,
then
t
ake Lexi to the safe house. I'll meet you there."

Maddox moved over to me. Placing both hands on my shoulders, he looked down at me. "You'll be okay," he said. "Keep calm."

"And carry on?"
I asked, aping the slogan.

"You bet."

I wasn't sure what to do when Maddox left, so I got a soda from the refrigerator and offered Solomon one, but he declined. We watched television for a while
,
but I only stared at the box without really
seeing any of it
. All I could think about was what was going to happen next. It struck me that the most dangerous few minutes would be leaving the apartment and making our way to wherever Solomon's car was parked. There was every chance that
my
disguise was for nothing. I gulped.

A hand landed on my
thigh,
making me realize
my leg had been nervously jiggling up and down. I followed the hand, up the arm
,
to Solomon's face.