Fine with me. Bet he has terrible penmanship anyway.
Pulling on my jacket and scarf, I watched Holbrook drop a few bills on the table. As he passed the wide-eyed hostess by the door he inclined his head and said, “Sorry about the mess, Ma’am.”
“Sure. No problem,” she murmured, shrinking back a step as I passed.
The wolf, being a bit of a sadistic bitch, was sorely tempted to bare our teeth at her, but I managed to restrain myself, following Holbrook outside into the parking lot instead.
Point for team Riley.
“Can’t take you anywhere, huh?” he asked with a quirk of his lips, digging his keys out of his pocket.
Shrugging noncommittally I stopped beside the SUV and watched the cop car begin to pull out of the parking lot, my new friends handcuffed in the back. Ted’s gaze bored into me with the ferocity of the truly vicious and dangerous. Plastering a saccharine smile on my face I wiggled my fingers at him in a farewell wave. I couldn’t make out his words, but the murderous look on his face needed no translation.
“What can I say? I make friends wherever I go.”
Chapter 28
SHOUP’S APARTMENT BUILDING was a non-descript, six story building in the nearby Glendale neighborhood, and I wondered if she and Johnson had ever met at the Denny’s we’d just left behind. Had they planned his attack on me while sipping coffee in one of those vinyl booths? Had they talked about slicing me open over a piece of pie? The number of people who wanted to see me hurt, or worse, was piling up fast, leaving me feeling adrift as if the world had shifted on its axis and no one had bothered to tell me.
I was halted by Holbrook’s hand on my arm as I reached for the door handle of the SUV. Turning in my seat to face him, I found myself struck by the concern in his eyes. In the close quarters inside the vehicle, I couldn’t escape the smell of him, the hot air billowing out of the vents seeming to intensify the aroma of warm molasses. I wanted to reach across the center console and crush his lips beneath mine, my fear making me crave the brush of his fingers against my skin, tugging at the zipper of my jeans, sliding into…
Disrupting the fantasy that had flared up in my mind like wildfire, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“Umm…getting out of the car?”
“I don’t think so. Stay here.”
“Are we really going to argue about this again?” I asked with a sigh. “How about I save us some time and explain how the conversation will go, and then we go nail Johnson?”
Crossing his arms over his chest, the fabric of his suit jacket straining against his shoulders, he looked menacing, and delicious. “And just how does this conversation go?”
“You argue that I’m just a civilian and that I should wait here—”
“Which you are, and you should.”
“—and then I explain how I can sniff out whether anyone is in the apartment, and if Johnson has been there. We’ll bicker back and forth for a few minutes before you eventually give in and let me tag along, by which time Johnson has already spotted us and escaped out the back.”
“Is that so?” he asked, the corners of his mouth twitching with the beginnings of a smile. “You some kind of tactical genius now?”
“Yep.”
“And if I handcuff you to the steering wheel?”
“I’ll just rip it off and come after you,” I replied, shrugging. I wasn’t sure if I actually had the strength to rip the steering wheel off, but he didn’t know that, and as his shoulders began to slump in resignation I fought to keep the triumphant grin off my face.
“All right. Follow my lead, stay behind me, and don’t do anything stupid.”
“Yes, Sir,” I said, throwing him a mock salute.
Pulling my hat down over my ears to protect them from the cold, I eased down to the pavement, once again telling Loki to stay put, and hurried along behind Holbrook. Collins and Hill were already waiting beside the building’s front entrance, and made no attempt to hide their surprise at seeing me standing there while Holbrook explained the plan to enter the building.
“Collins, I want you to circle around back and see if there’s a rear entrance. If anyone in the apartment decides to make a break for it, they’re going to head for the back door. Hill, you’re with me.”
“What about me? What do I do?” I asked.
“Stay quiet and out of the way.”
Collins and Hill smirked at each other, their shark grins reflected in their sunglasses, while I huffed in irritation.
Assholes.
Although the building proclaimed to have a security system, the lock was broken and we encountered no resistance getting inside. There was a pervasive smell of boiled cabbage about the place, making me regret the milkshake I’d sucked down at Denny’s.
“Why do these places always smell like my Great Aunt Ina?” I asked aloud.