Taken by Tuesday (Weekday Brides Series) (17 page)

His silence made her look into his eyes. The lack of dimples made her pause.

“That one’s for Roxy.”

“A woman?” Now she was sorry she asked.

“My sister.”

Oh. Judy wasn’t expecting that. “I take it you’re close.”

“We were. She died when she was seventeen.”

“Oh, Rick. I’m sorry I asked.”

He kissed the top of her head and encouraged her to lie back on his chest by stroking her hair.

“It was a long time ago.”

She was about to ask if he wanted to tell her about it when he started in with the story.

“Roxy had a big fight with her high school boyfriend and when he left all pissed off he took a curve too fast. Stupid kid. He didn’t survive and Roxy blamed herself.”

She closed her eyes with the image of a teenager dead, another one broken. “It wasn’t her fault.”

“Hard for a young kid to accept. She fell into a depression that left her hospitalized. I used to spend time just sitting with her, talking to her about life . . . anything to make her smile. I thought she was coming out of it toward the end of her junior year. We took dance lessons together and I took her to prom.” He grew quiet again.

“What happened?”

He sucked in a deep breath.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s OK. She a . . . she slit her wrists, and when that didn’t seem to do anything she took a handful of sleeping pills in a bathtub.”

“Oh, Rick . . . did you find her?”

He shook his head. “No. My mother has to live with that memory.”

Judy looked at him now, saw the shadow of his sister’s death in his eyes. “How awful.”

“I joined the Marines the day after her funeral.”

“It must have been hard on you . . . your parents.”

“I worked my grief out in boot camp and spent every day trying to stay alive . . . make a difference. Now when I think of her I remember the good times, her laugh. This star reminds me to keep going . . . no matter how hard life might be.”

She kissed the star again. “And you’ve been playing hero for the world ever since.”

“Ah, Utah,” he said, cupping her face and drawing her closer. “I don’t mind playing hero for you. The world at large can go bite themselves.” His kiss was tender, just like the way he made love.

She drew away and sucked in his beautiful eyes. “The world needs more heroes.”

“The people close to the hero keep him fueled . . . that person for me is you.”

Judy knew his words took a chunk of her heart and handed it to him with a big red bow. “I like being your fuel.”

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You’re not scared anymore?”

Only two things scared her at this point . . . the threat of the police taking Rick away, and her attacker returning. “Not of you . . . not of this.” She shifted a finger to both their chests.

He made love to her again, slowly, with soft words and occasional laughter. Dreams of laughter and lazy beach days helped her sleep the entire night.

“It’s four thirty, woman! The day’s half over.”

A hand slapped her naked ass, crashing all her dreams. “What the?”

Rick climbed over her, fully clothed in shorts and a tight T-shirt, and kissed her briefly. “My workouts are early, babe. We gotta go, get sweaty, and get you back here showered and dressed before work.”

Judy glared through slitted eyelids. “It’s dark outside.”

“It won’t be when we start running. C’mon. I’ll wake Meg.”

“Wait! I didn’t even tell her about the workout yet.”

“Saw her last night in the kitchen when I went for water. Told her to be ready bright and early.”

Judy nodded toward the dark window. “It’s not so bright, buddy.”

Rick pulled the warm blankets back, leaving her cold and bare to his stare.

She squealed.

He licked his lips. “Tempting . . . so tempting.” He slapped her butt instead.

Right as the sun started to make an appearance Rick had her and Meg running up a long trail and back down as a warm-up. On the second lap they stopped at a station where Rick had them doing push-ups. Every time she dropped, he was there to push her to do five more. All the while, he’d switch between one-handed push-ups, or one-leg push-ups . . . anything to make it harder on himself. Meg cussed like a sailor halfway through the circuit and swore revenge. “I need coffee for this shit.”

“Coffee is your reward, Margaret Catherine,” Rick teased. “Now get your chin over that bar.”

Meg glared at Judy. “You just had to tell him my full name, didn’t you?”

Judy struggled to pull her body weight up with her arms and didn’t have the energy to snark on her friend. Rick grasped her hips and helped her with her last three chin-ups. She dropped to the ground and struggled for a breath. “You’re killing me.”

Rick grabbed the bar sailed through twenty-five reps.

“Five more, Utah.”

She managed three, and two with help.

“You just want to play with her ass,” Meg teased while she controlled her breathing during her break.

“It’s a nice ass,” Rick said. He started running up the hill to the next station.

When they finished, they picked a patch of grass to stretch.

“Half an hour and I’m beat!” Meg fell on the grass, her arms stretched beside her.

“We’ll start on the self-defense stuff tomorrow. Give your muscles a chance to wake up.”

Judy leaned over her legs. “My muscles are awake and cursing you.”

Rick winked.

“It feels good though,” Meg said. “And so much cheaper than those classes we did in Seattle.”

“Think of all the money we’ll save feeling this beat-up.”

They finished their stretches and made their way back to the car. A few more cars were parked close by than when they arrived. At the far end of the lot sat a car with a man wearing a suit leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

Judy peered closer. She elbowed Rick, who had opened the passenger door for her and Meg. “He looks familiar.”

Rick followed her gaze. His smile fell. “Detective Raskin.”

She paused. “Why is he here?”

The detective slid into the unmarked car, turned over the engine, and waited.

“Watching me.”

She didn’t like it, not one bit. “This isn’t right.”

“He’s doing his job, Judy.”

“No he’s not. He’s working to nail the wrong guy.” She wanted to scream.

Rick ushered her into the car. They drove in silence until Meg interrupted their thoughts. “How about we work on some self-defense stuff in the evenings . . . starting tonight.”

Rick glanced in the rearview mirror. “You think you’ll both be up for that so soon?”

Judy watched her friend and knew she had more to say.

“I’m ready . . . what about you, Judy?”

The uncertainty of Rick’s long-lasting freedom was the reason for the rush.

“I’ll be ready,” Judy said.

Rick picked up her hand, kissed the back of it.

Chapter Eighteen

“Russell couldn’t find anyone at the flower shop who remembered you.”

This was not the information Rick wanted Neil to tell him. “I’m assuming the police already have this information.”

“We can assume. And the flower shop records over their surveillance footage every third day.”

Rick slammed his hand on the desk in Neil’s control room. “Damn it.”

“They won’t nail you for this,” Neil assured him.

“The hassle of being arrested, the vulnerability of Judy when they do . . . the fact they aren’t looking for this guy . . . that’s what’s pissing me off.” Rick pointed toward the monitor outside his home several miles away. The camera in front of the house was pointed toward the street. Parked on the opposite side was a government-issue surveillance sedan about as inconspicuous as a heart attack. “Everywhere I look, I see these guys. I’m trying to teach Judy to trust her instincts when someone is watching her, only there’s always eyes on her . . . or me if I’m with her.”

Neil leaned back in his chair, rubbed the stubble on his chin. “How are things going with you two? Dennis says you’ve been staying over every night for the last week.”

Rick smiled into the memory of her trying to distract him from their morning workout. A sexual bribe, but a bribe nonetheless. “I care for her, Neil. The thought of being locked up and not getting to her makes me ill.”

“You won’t be locked up for long. We have a lawyer on standby. If they pick you up, keep your mouth shut and call me.”

Rick gave him a mock salute.

Neil clicked into the monitors and brought up the Beverly Hills home. “Tomorrow is three weeks.”

“Yeah. Hard to believe it’s only been that long.”

“Our guy’s been quiet.”

Rick ran a hand through his short hair. “He was quiet before.”

“But this was personal, and when it’s personal the perp doesn’t just disappear. I’ve been thinking about what you said she remembered.
Not so tough now.
”

“That’s bugging me. If we were in Seattle, I’d want to know all the places she played pool, who she beat. She is tough with a pool cue.”

“You two might want to visit the pool hall she and Meg visited when they first got here.”

“Already ahead of you. I had Meg talk with their new friends to meet us there tomorrow night.”

“Good. I’ve searched her social media history. She hasn’t been on much since the incident, but before that she updated at least once a day.”

“You mean Facebook?”

“Yeah.” Neil pulled up her profile and scrolled down the page. Two of the articles about the attack were tagged and placed on her page by her friends. It looked like Meg had gone on her own profile to assure everyone she was recovering. “I’m going through her friends, seeing if anything rings an alarm. About half the people on this thing don’t have their privacy setting set up, giving me access to just about everything. It’s crazy how people think they’re safe on this stuff.”

“Find anything interesting?”

Neil scrolled down. A picture of Judy at her graduation and hugging Michael had dozens of comments.

“Most of it is meaningless to me. People asking questions, stuff about school . . . new friends following her from her work. I can’t help but feel there’s a clue in here somewhere.”

“Any disgruntled pool players?”

“There’s a couple of ‘meet you at Bergie’s tonight’ comments. Nothing else. She has over two hundred friends on here. I wonder if she knows each one personally, or if some of them share a common interest that brought them together.”

“I can ask her.”

“Do that. See if we can access this complete account so we can do a little digging around.” Neil turned off the monitor.

“It’s been too quiet.”

“Might have something to do with the tight security. Judy hasn’t been alone since this happened.”

“I’m not going to open her up just to attract this guy.”

Neil looked wounded. “I wouldn’t think so. But if he’s in need of making a statement, he might go after someone close to her. Or figure a way to approach her at work.”

“Meg has been on alert. She’s a quick study with the self-defense moves. At work, Judy is always with someone.” He looked at the time and cautioned himself for Judy’s pickup time.

If something happened to Meg, Judy would be devastated. “We should have more eyes on Meg.”

“We’re stretched a little thin. Dennis has an old friend I’m checking out now to help us out,” Neil said. “Good thing Michael is out of the country.”

Rick couldn’t imagine trying to watch the movie star and his sister. “Still think we need eyes on Judy’s best friend.”

Neil reached for the phone on his desk. “Dennis? Yeah . . . I need you at the Wolfe residence.”

Rick nodded with agreement.

“No, Meg. Rick is on Judy.”

The monitor on the Beverly Hills property switched automatically, tracing movement. “Gardeners come on Thursdays,” Neil told him. “And yes, we’ve already screened them.”

“I’m out of here. Gotta go pick up my girl.”

“Be safe out there,” Neil said.

Rick patted his sidearm. “I’m always safe.”

Judy’s palms were moist with anticipation. Today was the day . . . the day she walked back in that garage, got in a car just like every other employee, and drove home. Well, Rick would do the driving. The results would be the same.

“You ready for this?” Rick asked as they stood outside the elevator doors in the foyer of Benson & Miller.

“No. But I can’t avoid this forever. The sooner I get it done, the better.”

He held her hand and called the elevator. Inside were several people from the building, most of them chatting with each other and completely oblivious of her discomfort. Rick pressed P-3, the very level where the attack had taken place, and stood back.

They inched toward the garage and Judy forced slow, deep breaths into her lungs as if she were Meg and her lungs were closing in.

The doors to P-3 opened and Rick encouraged her first step out the double doors. The others in the elevator stepped around them when she and Rick didn’t move fast enough for their taste. Judy noticed the nameless employees walking in separate directions from each other. “How soon everyone forgets.”

Rick narrowed his brow.

Judy nodded toward the lone woman walking to her car.

“Human nature. People never think something will happen to them until it does. Truth is, you’ve walked into a parking garage all your life and never thought twice about it. Now you’ll think about it every time.”

Judy’s gaze moved to find her car. The garage was still busy, even for a Friday night when many employees left early.

Rick directed her away from the elevator and kept a hand on the small of her back. With him at her side, the space didn’t suffocate her . . . until she rounded the corner and her eyes drifted to the dark corner her attacker took advantage of.

“Oh, God.”

“I’m right here. Deep breath.”

She sucked in one and then another. “I’m OK.”

The elevator far behind them dinged and the sound of voices traveled in their direction. Rick continued to walk toward her car. She avoided looking at the corner and hurried into the car.

Rick closed her door and walked around to the driver’s seat. Once inside, she pressed the door lock, closing them inside.

Only when he pulled out of the parking lot did he ask how she was doing.

As the building slowly disappeared in the rearview mirror, her heartbeat slowed to normal. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re such a bad liar.”

She wiped her palms on her skirt. “OK, it sucked.”

“It sucked, but each time it will get better.”

He leaned over and opened the glove compartment. Inside was what looked like a cell phone. On closer inspection, it looked like a child’s toy meant to look like a cell phone.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a stun gun meant to look like a cell phone.” They’d talked about carrying a stun gun when they practiced self-defense. “I have one for Meg, too.”

She opened the box and removed the device.

“You put the strap on your wrist and hold it.”

Judy placed the strap next to her bracelet and put her thumb over the button on the side.

“It makes a lot of—”

She pressed the button and the car filled with an electrical buzz that made her jump. From the fake cell phone, an arc of electricity moved between the two points at the top.

“Noise,” Rick finished with a laugh. “You press that against an attacker and he’ll be down. I guarantee it.”

“What if he takes it and uses it against me?”

They stopped at a light and Rick grabbed the device from her hand. The wristband stayed on her arm. He pressed the button and nothing happened. “The current is cut off when that pin is disconnected.”

The light turned green and she connected the device again and pressed the button. Sure enough, it worked perfectly. “Clever.”

“And effective. Remember to place it on your wrist when you leave work, or are alone working out . . . anytime, really.”

She tucked it in her purse and left it there. She wouldn’t need it any time soon. Not with Rick at her side.

Lucas and Dan met the three of them at Penthouse Pool. “This place is a dive!”

“Completely,” Meg said with a huge smile. “It’s part of its charm.”

Rick didn’t see charm . . . he saw a dirty bar with equally sketchy patrons.

“Cheap beer,” Lucas added.

“Cheap pool,” Dan said.

“Cheap people who don’t want to part with twenty bucks lost in a game?” Rick asked.

Judy shrugged. “I think you’re looking under the wrong tablecloth, babe. I played one person who gave up after what, one game, Meg?”

“Yeah, I think it was only one.”

“What about the guy who hit on you when Meg told him you were lesbians?” Lucas asked.

Rick looked at his little pixie with surprise and admiration.

“It’s a great excuse,” she told him. “And again . . . I don’t think so. He didn’t look back.”

“Let’s grab a table, play a couple rounds, and see if anything comes back to you.” The beer was cheap, but to be safe, Rick stayed away from the tap and grabbed a round of bottles for their little party.

Dan and Judy played a game while Rick sat watching beside Meg and Lucas. While they chatted, Rick studied the bar. The five of them stood out for their sobriety. It was early and there were already men sloshy drunk and leaning against the bar for support.

“It looks like she’s bouncing back,” Lucas said.

“She is,” Meg said with a sigh. “But . . .”

“But what?” Rick asked.

“She’s not back completely. I can’t even put my finger on why I feel that way. She bitched about work all the time, before. Now there’s almost nothing.”

“Work is getting better.”

“Yeah. I know.” Meg glanced at Judy taking down a striped ball. “It’s little things. She’s not spending any time online decompressing with those stupid games she plays. She stares off sometimes.”

Rick took a swig from his beer. “She plays games on her computer?”

“On her tablet, mainly. She was obsessed with this war game and now she doesn’t play it at all. It’s stupid, I know . . . but it was her favorite procrastination pastime.”