“What progress are the police making?” Mr. Thompson asked.
“Our liaison with the Los Angeles Police Department, Detective Warren, will be here momentarily to update you,” Ash said.
“You got any coffee?” Mrs. Thompson suddenly asked, gesturing to the cup Ash still held, unconsciously, in his hands.
“Of course.”
Ash stood and made his way to the kitchen, digging a mug out of the cupboards and pouring coffee for her and refreshing his own. He turned to take the mugs back to the living room only to discover Mrs. Thompson had followed him. She was standing practically in his face, only inches from him, a warm smile on her lips.
“You sure are a looker,” she said softly, her eyes moving slowly over the length of him. “Are you married?”
Ash could normally handle himself with women, but this one was about as far from typical as any woman he’d ever met. He stepped back, but there wasn’t much he could do to protect himself, not with two coffee mugs in his hands.
“Veronica?”
She didn’t turn even as Donovan came up behind her.
“What do you say we go back to the couch? I think Daniel and Kate could really use your support right now.”
“Daniel can take care of himself,” Mrs. Thompson said, not taking her eyes off of Ash. “And Kate never liked me. She thinks I’m some sort of gold digger or something.”
“Yes, well,” Donovan began, clearly at a loss. “Sometimes even tough guys need a little comfort.”
Mrs. Thompson sighed heavily. “Oh, alright,” she said, her eyes raking over Ash one last time. “But you and I should have a conversation sometime.”
She took the mug of coffee Ash was holding for her, her fingers purposely scraping against his as she did.
Donovan and Ash both watched her walk away, settling beside her husband and making a great show of offering him a little hug.
“That one’s trouble.”
“Did we do a background check on her when we took the case?” Donovan asked.
Ash shrugged. “Don’t know.”
“Seems to me she would have reason to get Kate out of the way.”
Ash focused on Donovan, his eyebrows raised. “You think she’s smart enough to pull off some of the things this perp has done?”
“She wasn’t terribly smart, shooting the security guard in the middle of a fairly busy street, even if it was late at night. And she would have known about the security measures we placed at Kate’s house. I’m sure Daniel would have told her. Maybe she was just testing it the other night, trying to see what we’d do next.”
“Maybe.”
“Should check her out.”
“Yeah. I’ll get David on it.”
“There’s something else,” Donovan said. “Kate mentioned that her car was broken into two weeks prior to the security guard’s death. On a Monday, just like the night of the attack.”
“Might be connected. Might not.”
Donovan nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“I’ll talk to Emily about it.”
Detective Warren arrived a few minutes later. Ash and Donovan returned to the party and listened as she laid out the evidence they’d gathered thus far, which wasn’t much.
“We believe the perp was trying to place some sort of wire inside the window. We don’t know what the purpose was. It could have been for some sort of camera. Or it could have been for something else.”
Ash saw Donovan take Kate’s hand and squeeze it. He was the explosives expert. He knew what the wire was most likely for.
“We were unable to get fingerprints. The perp was apparently wearing gloves. And we still don’t know what scared him off.”
“In other words, you have no idea what’s going on,” Mr. Thompson announced, clearly and understandably frustrated.
“This is the way it generally goes with these kinds of cases, Mr. Thompson,” Detective Warren said, leaning forward and studying him with an earnest expression. “We are doing the best we can.”
“And what? My daughter remains some sort of target until you figure it out?”
“We’ll keep her in the safe house, safe from whoever this is, until we have a break in the case.”
“Wait a minute,” Kate said, suddenly straightening in her seat. “I have a business party tomorrow night. Ash said I could attend it.”
Detective Warren shot Ash a dark look. “Is that right?”
“That was before the wire was placed on her house.”
“Well, we can’t allow that to happen, Miss Thompson.”
“You don’t understand,” Kate said. “This is important for my career. I’ve already missed several days of work this week. If I miss the party, too, I could miss out on a promotion that they’re supposed to hand down at the end of the month.”
“There are more important things than your career,” Mr. Thompson said.
“But my career is important to me. And I’m going to go back to a normal life when this is all over, right? I deserve this promotion.”
“Kate…” Mr. Thompson said, warning in his tone.
“We can make it work,” Donovan said.