‘It’s okay,’ Adam said. ‘I know that you’re good at yours too. And I do appreciate your fear, because it’s well founded. I’m thinking the condo. That’s no stuffy one-room safe house. Would you go there? Until we find this asshole?’
The condo was the penthouse of a very secure building in Eden Park. Meredith had never been there, but she knew about it because Faith had used it last year, as had Kate’s fiancé, Decker, over the summer. She had no idea who it belonged to or why CPD was allowed to use it as a safe house, but it seemed like an ideal solution. ‘My grandfather too?’
Adam’s nod was definite. ‘Yes. Absolutely.’
‘And people can . . . visit me?’ Because Christmas was coming and Alex was coming and Meredith did not want to be alone.
Adam was studying her face, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘Of course.’
Diesel’s laugh scraped out of him. ‘You had that already set up, didn’t you?’
Adam’s lips tilted. ‘Well, yeah.’ He held Meredith’s gaze. ‘You okay with that?’
She let out a breath. Felt her calm return. ‘Which, that you made the decision when you said we didn’t have to make a decision, or that you cared enough to give me an option that would keep me and my grandfather safe without giving me a panic attack?’
‘Both. I think. But I’m way too tired to parse what you just said.’
‘Take the bed, man,’ Diesel offered. ‘You really look like shit. Smell like it too.’
Adam let go of her long enough to flip Diesel the bird. ‘But thank you for the kind offer,’ he added graciously. ‘I will take a shower. Do you have any more of your cousin’s husband’s clothes, Meredith?’
‘Yes, but I also have the suit you were wearing when you were here the last time. I had it cleaned. It’s hanging in the closet in the room where Diesel was sleeping.’
Adam’s expression softened. ‘Thank you.’
She ran her thumb over his lower lip. ‘It was no trouble.’
‘It was still kind,’ he said quietly.
Diesel cleared his throat loudly. ‘I am obviously in the way here. Give me a second to pull my shit together and I’ll go . . . Well, where do you want me to go? I can stay with them until you’re ready to take them to the condo.’
Adam lifted his gaze to Diesel. ‘If you can, I’d really appreciate it.’
‘Me too,’ Kate said, returning from upstairs with a cold pack. She winced when she got close enough to see Meredith’s face. ‘Oh, honey. You look awful.’
She laughed, but it was a hollow sound. ‘Adam and I both look like shit then.’
Kate’s smile was satisfied. ‘But you laughed, so my job is done. I’ll stay with you, Diesel. Decker’s out of town for the weekend and I’m not on call.’
‘Where did he go?’ Diesel asked, because he and Kate’s fiancé had become strong friends since the summer.
Kate flitted her hand. ‘Seminar. Florida.’
Meredith turned on Adam’s lap so that she could study Kate’s face, things making sense now. ‘You were with him. You were in Florida and you came home because of me.’
Kate gave her a wide-eyed look of innocence. ‘Moi? No way.’
Adam leaned in to whisper in her ear. ‘She’s got sunburn on her nose.’
The tickle of breath on her ear made her shiver. She tried to ignore it, narrowing her eyes at her friend. Adam was right. The tip of Kate’s nose was a red brighter than the woman’s sunrise-red hair. She’d noticed it earlier, but thought Kate had been cold. The red nose had not subsided. ‘You’re so busted, Kate.’
Kate put the ice on Meredith’s face, then kissed the top of her head. ‘We were scared, Decker and me. We saw the shooting on the news and . . . I had to make sure you were all right. Decker had to stay, but I didn’t, so I came home. You take care of us all the time, Mer. It’s your turn. Let us take care of you.’
She went back up the stairs, leaving Meredith staring after her.
‘She’s right,’ Adam murmured. ‘Let us take care of you.’ His shoulders relaxed a fraction when she nodded. ‘I need to tell you about Broderick Voss. Trip and I interviewed his wife tonight and met his daughter.’
‘Penny.’
‘Yeah. We want to question Voss, but we want more information before we bring him in. We need to know what Penny saw that her father doesn’t want her to tell you.’
‘You think Penny knows something that her father finds damaging enough to try to kill me? That sounds so . . . paranoid.’
‘It’s not paranoid if they’re really trying to kill you,’ he said dryly.
True. ‘Did Candace agree to allow Penny to continue seeing me? If not, we can find another therapist for her.’
‘She was afraid you’d turn Penny away. I told her that’s not who you were.’
A flood of tenderness had her eyes filling again. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
‘It’s true.’ He leaned closer until their foreheads touched. ‘If you could talk to her, it could give us a clue as to why he’s so keen on keeping her away from therapists. You’re apparently number three. The other two quit.’
Meredith frowned. ‘I know. Fuckers.’
Adam snorted a laugh, then smiled down at her. ‘Did you really just curse?’
She shrugged. ‘I curse. A lot. I’m just selective where and when I let go.’
He really smiled then, a dimple appearing in his cheek, and Meredith realized she’d never really seen him smile like that before. ‘That makes me happy,’ he said, but then he was back to business once again. ‘Can you be ready to leave in an hour or so? I want to close my eyes for a bit and then I’ll escort you to the condo.’
‘So . . . when Faith hid there, Deacon hid with her. And when Decker hid there, Kate hid with him. Are you going to hide with me?’
‘Yes. As much as I can anyway. But when I’m not there, I’ll make sure you’re safe.’
Twelve
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Sunday 20 December, 3.15 A.M.
He roused when his cell buzzed. Rolling over quietly, so as not to wake Rita, he pressed his fingerprint to his phone and opened Butch’s text.
Shane’s headed to Cinci.
Fuck, he wanted to snarl, but he breathed carefully through his nose, keeping his temper under control. Grabbing his phone, he slid out of bed. Of course Rita stirred.
‘What’s wrong?’ she whispered. She always assumed something was wrong. She was usually right, but he’d never let her know that. She was the best camouflage he could ever hope for. She was respectability and normality personified.
And she was a good cook. All in all, not a bad reason for a marriage.
‘Nothing,’ he soothed. ‘Gotta pee. Go back to sleep.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ She obeyed and minutes later she was breathing rhythmically again.
When he’d shut the bathroom door, he texted Butch back. What happened?
Girl is resolved. Got her phone. Sending you pics of convos.
Did anyone see u?
Pls, came the reply and he had to smile. Butch could sound insulted even over text.
His phone buzzed several more times as photos came through. Butch had issues with many things, but he was remarkably savvy about not leaving a trail. He’d taken photos of the girl’s phone with his own, versus sending from the girl’s phone.
That the new phones could be unlocked with a fingerprint made their jobs so much easier. Butch had probably removed the girl’s finger and taken it with him to unlock her phone, so ‘resolved’ most likely meant ‘dead.’
He scanned the texts that had flown between Shane’s friend Kyle and Kyle’s girlfriend Tiffany. Kyle had written that Shane was freaked because his old friend was dead. He needed to get Shane to Cincinnati and asked to borrow Tiffany’s car.
She’d agreed, poor thing. If she’d said no, she might be alive right now. Shane himself had texted from Kyle’s phone at one thirty-five Cinci time, saying they were two hours away, so they should be arriving soon, if they weren’t already here.
He wondered where they’d go. Probably to the house where Andy Gold had lived, which was now crawling with firefighters, including an arson investigator. Well, he hadn’t been very subtle, after all. He’d doused that house with enough accelerant for three houses.