“Which house?” Diego asked. “Which house does she live in?”
“She’s not there anymore,” Martino said, but he gave them the address. “We waited for her to get her things together and leave.”
“Where does she work?” Brett asked. He would never be able to explain the tension he felt—or how he knew what Dewey would say before he said it.
“Sea Life Center,” Dewey told him.
Brett nearly broke his coffee cup, he set it down so hard. “Her name is Lara Ainsworth, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, that was it,” Dewey said. “You know her?” He seemed perplexed at first, but then his eyes widened. “Oh, hell, how could I have forgotten? They had to close the place down when they found part of a body in the lagoon. Jeez, I feel like an idiot.” He turned to Martino. “Don’t know the connection, but she really could have been in danger. We should call in, find out if the captain wants some kind of protective detail on her.”
Brett was already standing. Diego regretfully dropped the remains of his sandwich.
“We’re heading out, guys. We’ll be her protective detail,” Brett assured him. He dug in his pocket and set money on the table.
“I’m sure she’s all right. She said there are always people around,” Dewey said.
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s all right, too,” Brett said, though he wasn’t sure at all. He didn’t know how any of this was connected. He’d had calls from Anthony Barillo and one of his sons—threatening calls. No information had been released identifying the body parts found at Sea Life as those of a man who’d been presumed dead over a week ago, but the Barillos had called after he had been at Sea Life to deny responsibility for murdering both Miguel and Maria.
And Lara thought she was being stalked.
He suddenly felt desperate to get to her and make sure she was safe—and the hell with Dr. Treme. They could see him in the morning, just as Diego had been recommending all along.
“You know,” Diego said from behind the wheel as they headed down US1, “you can make a call and have the local cops out there in an instant. Though you might want to call and alert her first. You’ve got her number, right?”
Brett nodded and punched in her number. He was relieved when she answered.
“Agent Cody?” she said curiously.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
“Yes, thank you.” She sounded puzzled. “You know what happened?”
“Yeah. We ran into the cops who were at your place when we were in the Grove getting some dinner. You’re at Sea Life?”
“Yes. And I’m fine. I went to dinner with Rick, Grady and Adrianna. I’m in my office. I couldn’t sleep, so I was working on some press releases for future events.”
“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Brett said. He waited, sure she would protest. She wasn’t alone, after all; she was with friends.
She didn’t object, though she was silent for long enough that he almost thought he’d lost her.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Of course.” And then he said, “Don’t worry, we’ll see that you get some sleep. Diego and I will hang around for the night. We’ll call when we get there so someone can let us in, all right?”
Diego stared at him.
Brett shrugged.
And once again Lara Ainsworth said softly, “Thank you.”
It was the job, he told himself. His job. What they did, in the end, wasn’t only catch criminals and bring them to justice, it was save lives.
And right now, they weren’t talking just any life. They were talking her life.
She thought he had a stick up his ass. She could be sarcastic, even abrasive, but...
But there was something about her. The way she was confident but not in-your-face about it, the way she smiled...
All he really knew right then was that he had to keep her alive. If he didn’t, somewhere in there he would lose his own soul.
*
“Coward—you’re really a coward,” Lara told her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She’d come in to brush her hair. She wanted to retain some sense of dignity when the FBI agents arrived.
After the call, she’d hurried to Grady’s office-slash-apartment and found him still awake, working on his Spanish lessons via computer. He was glad to hear that the agents were coming. “I’ve talked to Adam. It’s getting weird down here.”
That’s putting it mildly, she thought.
Lara nodded. “I just hate to bug him, you know?”
Grady grinned at that. “Weird is what he and the Krewe do.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Anyway, I’m glad that Cody and McCullough are on their way.”
So was she. But no matter what Meg had said, they might not be able to make it down that night, so it was a good thing the local agents were on their way. Like it or not, Lara was unnerved, frightened, and she needed sleep so she could do her job. And whether she thought Agent Cody had a stick up his butt or not, he was solid and practically reeked of strength and security.