In Her Sights (11 page)

She blinked and looked to the officer, who nodded and smiled
at her a moment before looking away. And it seemed he covered for her. She
wanted to bend over and let out a breath of air, but she didn’t. As always, she
couldn’t behave exactly as she wanted. “Walk with me to where?”

He shrugged. “She didn’t say. I assumed you’d know.”

Julia at work with her imagination again, no doubt.

Adam looked at Clayton. “If you’ve given your statement, you’re
free to go.”

Clayton nodded. “Just gave it, but I’ll be here for the
night to continue observation of Ms. Olympia’s home.”

The last officer stepped in their circle now. “I’m ready to
look around outside. Benson is finishing up, too.”

Clayton looked between them. “If it’s not a problem, I’d
like my man to join you.”

Adam nodded. “No problem.” He looked back at Lexie. “Try to
get some rest, Ms. Olympia. You have nothing to be concerned about the rest of
the evening.”

“Thank you.”

Reid left with the officer and Adam, leaving her alone with
Clayton again.

He studied her as she stood at the base of the stairs. “Well.”

She rubbed her hands down her hips, then crossed them under
her chest, needing her hands to go somewhere because she didn’t have pockets like
he did. “I think I’ll go upstairs until they leave, and we can discuss
this later.”

“I’ll join you.”

She didn’t move. “I know where my room is.”

“Probably, but the way I figure it, with this whole shaking
leaf act you’ve got going on, it’ll be best if I walk you.”

The officers were nearly out of the room. She could wait
five seconds and it wouldn’t be an issue. She didn’t wait. Stupidly. Because
when it came to him, at times, he made her feel like a shaking leaf. For once,
it wasn’t an act. “Very well.”

Chapter Ten

Halfway up the stairs and well out of hearing range, Clayton
couldn’t hold it in any longer and chuckled. “Nice performance. Were drama
classes mixed in with the martial arts?”

Lexie met his gaze out the corner of her eyes. “It’s not a
complete performance.”

He wasn’t falling for that. That woman in front of the
officer was not the woman he’d come to know over the past twenty-four hours.
The one kicking ass in the night and catching burglars. “Don’t make me call
bullshit on you again. You’re far too ballsy to really be that scared.”

She smiled. “Sometimes, it’s easier to get what you want
when you are the person they expect. Tonight might have been a bit exaggerated,
but that woman is me, too.”

He figured he could probably quote half the things she said
and make some book out of it. With all the people in her life who were close to
her, God only knew where she picked up half of it. It all added up to make her
that much more interesting. At times, he could see the snotty woman who knew she
owned everything, then, other times, she was someone completely different. It
was hard to get a read on her. “This morning I admitted you’re not what I
expected at all and I still can’t figure you out.”

Her brow raised. “Is that a good thing or bad?”

He honestly couldn’t say. The more he looked at her, the
less he was starting to feel like he knew. In all the things he’d researched on
her, she still seemed out his grasp. “I don’t know. Just different. I’ve seen
you with the mayor and other people. That woman at those events is more like that
woman downstairs who gave a flawless performance with the detective. But you
kicking ass and taking names?” All he knew to do was shrug. “There’s just more to
you.”

“Everyone knows I took a lot of martial arts classes. That
wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”

“Lots of people take things. Most can’t apply it
successfully.” Hell, even the academy trained for things, but it’s just nothing
like being tossed out in the real world. Nerves were real. To this day when the
danger was high, his heartbeat pounded and breath got away from him. Seeing her
move flawlessly and attack two men as swiftly as she had, she hadn’t looked
nervous. Not a hint of doubt. He just didn’t know. It all added more to her.
More layers. How many people knew her through and through? He was guessing very
few. “I would be willing to bet few have seen you in action.”

“There’s not much need for physical violence considering
most of the places I go to.” She was silent for a moment, then breathed out a long
sigh. “Being someone who kicks ass and takes names, as you put it, isn’t
something I want to take into a board room or town hall meeting.”

They rounded the second floor landing and went up the third
flight of stairs.

Of all the things most important to her, that one still
surprised him. “You said that before. I respect your thoughts, but I don’t
think it would make a big difference if they knew.”

That got a laugh out of her. A sad laugh that had her gaze
straying toward the baseboards. “It would make all the difference in the world.”

The way she said it, just so defeated. He wanted to know
more. “If anything, I would think they’d respect you more for being stronger.”

She stopped and hung her head for minute. Took a deep breath
and looked up at him. “That’s because you don’t get it. My role in politics isn’t
to be the strong one. I’m the humored one.”

In all the times he’d been close to her, he’d always felt
suckered in. Drawn in by the same smile and face she used to pull in a crowd and get them to do her bidding. This was different. Standing there in the long and
deserted hallway, there was sadness around her softened eyes. Lips were flat.
It kind of just socked him in the gut a little. More layers. More confusing
things about her. “I don’t understand.”

She walked ahead, rubbing her arms. “I’m sure you know I
lost my parents when I was nine.”

Everyone knew about that. He’d seen the police report and
the photos. His stomach churned a little. It wasn’t the dead bodies or the blood that got to him. It was the gruesome way her parents were killed. They weren’t
just quickly murdered. They were butchered. Whoever came after them took their
time. Seeing the scene in pictures as an adult made it hard for him to
comprehend. Seeing it as a nine year old girl like Lexie had? He didn’t even
want to think about what that could do to a kid. Somehow she came out great. “My
condolences.”

She nodded. “Gabe Maxwell became my legal guardian and
holder of all Olympia accounts until I came of age.”

Gabe Maxwell was a hell of a man to reckon with. He had
power, and knew it. It’s a wonder Lexie wasn’t a complete stuck-up snob with
that kind of man in charge of her. Clayton nodded so she’d finish.

“He wanted me to understand politics, understand how to work
the system and how the system worked so it couldn’t work me. He wanted to make
sure people couldn’t take advantage of me. Including him.”

Interesting to hear this side of Gabe Maxwell. He was such a
cut and dry man, it was hard to picture him raising a kid. Lexie could have
easily been sent off to a girl’s school or anything while Gabe focused on the
company. Instead he’d taken the time to bring her in the company and keep her
focused on it.

“In the beginning, any business purchase he wanted to make,
I was pulled in. Not even a teenager, and I was making the final decision on
multimillion dollar deals. Pros and cons were explained the best they could be.
I didn’t understand half of it when we started, but before any changes took
place, he made sure I knew the score on it all. It was hard. Sometimes I had to
make choices that put people out of jobs for a while to save part of the
company that was struggling. I wasn’t pulled into a room of VPs to argue my
point. Gabe did that. He just wanted to know I was in agreement before he spent
my money.”

God. Nine, ten, and eleven years old and he was riding bikes
and playing baseball. She was running a huge company. How could someone put
stress like that on a girl, but at the same time, who would Lexie be if he hadn’t?
“Sounds hard.”

“Very. But it didn’t stop at business deals.” She took a
breath. She started to talk several times, but stopped. He just kept with her
casual walking pace as her lips parted again and she found what she wanted to
say. “Olympia gets a lot of requests for different charity functions. Those
were harder. We can’t just support everyone and anyone. After a lot of talking with
anyone who listened, I told Gabe I wanted to focus on the functions that had
the least amount of funding. The ones who needed money the most.”

“Admirable.” Not just because she made a choice, but because
she consulted others. Clayton kept his chuckles to himself. She could be so
unyielding with him, but then she wasn’t at all on other things.

She nodded. “But not as front-page newspaper worthy, and
that’s where Uncle Gabe wanted me. That way, my positive appearance could
balance with the cutthroat real estate decisions. Anyway, we’d figure out how
to make headlines with it in the long run. One day, some kids came to Olympia
and asked for a playground on an empty lot that was mostly trashed out. Uncle
Gabe knew this was the headline we were looking for. He made the request. It
was city property and he was turned down by a panel of mostly grouchy old men
who wanted the lot for paid parking.”

Bureaucrats. He’d be willing to bet those plans for that
parking lot had been plans for years and was never going to happen. “That doesn’t
surprise me.”

She smiled. “He fully expected to be turned down. That’s why
he knew this was the project to put me on the map. I didn’t care about the newspapers.
I was furious he was turned down. A parking lot over a playground? I was twelve
by this time, had no parents left. Only a few things made me really happy, so
this hit me hard. It made no sense. I went to the next public meeting, walked
to that microphone, and asked in front of a few hundred people—including local
media—why the city thought an abandoned property for a future paid-for-use
parking lot was more important than a safe playground that my company was
prepared to build.”

He chuckled. “Pleading for a good thing with your big eyes
and blonde hair?”

She was laughing again. This time, the sound was full and
hearty. “Anyone who wanted their job at the next election wasn’t turning me
down. The papers made sure of that by putting me on the front page. Radio and online editions featured me. All of it captured me leaning into that microphone.”

She cleared her throat. “To the public, I immediately became
that girl they can’t turn down. The politicians knew it, but there was nothing
they could do about it. A lot of pictures have ended up in the papers that I’ve
forgotten about, but that first one has stayed with me. When I saw all of it
air on TV and everywhere else the next day, I understood politics. I understood
what I could do with it, so long as I knew my role.” She looked to him. “I’m
that poor little girl who found her murdered parents.”

She blinked and turned away, but she hadn’t been fast enough
that he missed the tears in her eyes. The sharp inhale she took shook her
breath and pinched his heart. He didn’t know anyone who liked hearing girls
cry.

She swiped her face. “Sorry.”

“You shouldn’t apologize for grief. It’s hard losing people
you love.” He’d only lost Kate and Audrey eight years ago. Even now he’d
sometimes wake in the night while reaching for his wife. Other times he’d swear
Audrey was in the next room laughing even though it wasn’t possible. Killed him
inside all over again each time. “Does it ever get easier?”

“Sometimes it seems like it does. Doesn’t take much to take
you back, though. A sound. Picture. Especially a scent.”

Like fire. Thick smoke billowing up from a campfire, logs
cracking in a fireplace, or even burnt food had him back to that
night on his lawn. Being held by firemen and watching his house cave in,
knowing his family was trapped inside.

She studied him a moment, then walked again. Strength filled
her steps with her head lifted. She flicked hair from her forehead and
seemingly left her thoughts behind her. Maybe with time, he’d be able to leave
it all behind that easy too.

She lifted a shoulder. “So anyway, I was humored. They still
humor me because we work to make sure they still see that girl. If they knew I’m
kicking ass and taking names?”

Now it all made sense. “Then you’re no longer that sad little
innocent girl with blonde hair and big eyes and no parents asking for a
playground.”

“Exactly.”

And that’s how the role was born of her always being
pictured around town doing innocent things. All the shots of ice cream in the
summer and pointing at Christmas lights in the winter. It all contributed and
focused her into that niche position. He had to admit, it was damn brilliant
and no doubt a pain in the ass to maintain. A twenty-four hour life-long job. “Sounds
exhausting. Always checking yourself to make sure you’re the right person when
you need to be.”

She shrugged. “People behave differently around their
parents than their best friends. It’s basically the same.”

Or not even close. This wasn’t minding her manners and
watching her language. What he witnessed was a complete change in character,
body movements. No shoulders back, chin up, observing gaze as he’d known her in
private. This explained so much on why he couldn’t get a finger on her. He’d be
willing to bet the woman he saw in private was her and the one in public was
all an act. “It doesn’t sound like you had much of a childhood if you were
figuring out politics and fighting in them before you were old enough to get a
driver’s license.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.” She glanced at
him from the corner of her eyes with a smile on her lips.

He chuckled. She was witty and a little sarcastic at times.
It was a shame she kept a lot of it buried. “You have to tell me who quoted you
Spiderman
advice.”