As I move toward the door, she pulls me back, twisting my arm so that I have to look at her. That little poke-poke-poke begins at the edge of my mind again, as her eyes bore into mine. She’s focusing so hard that I can see a vein twitching at her temple.
Several emotions flit across her face once she finally accepts that my wall isn’t going to come tumbling down. Frustration, anger, and maybe a touch of fear. She masks them quickly and pastes on a smile, but it’s not nearly as broad and confident as it was when she first entered the room. I get the feeling that smile is more to impress the guard who accompanied her than anything else.
“No problem, Anna,” she says, releasing my arm. She crosses over to the guard, who’s holding out her coat, and slips her arms into the sleeves. “You’ve given me all I need. We’ll be in touch.”
It pleases me to see her wobble slightly on her too-high heels as she turns to leave. But my satisfaction vanishes quickly when I realize that her guard or assistant or whatever is looking directly at me for the first time since they came in. He doesn’t say anything, just gives me a long, slightly puzzled look before following Dacia into the hallway.
I slump down into a chair at the table and rest my head on my folded arms. But I don’t let my walls down. I can’t, at least not for a while. If I was able to feel Dacia poking at my mind back at the townhouse, when she was—or at least I assume she was—miles away, then I’m not sure when or where it will be safe to let down my guard.
Sorry, Molly.
I have no clue if she can even hear me.
A few minutes later, the door opens.
“Stay here,” Daniel says. “I’ll be back.”
As if I actually have a choice.
The next time the door opens, Deo is with Daniel. Deo is dressed in various shades of blue today, with blue streaks in his dark hair, and he’s wearing the silver-and-turquoise ear cuff I bought him last Christmas. His face doesn’t reveal that he’s upset, but his hair is mussed, with a few strands sticking out at odd angles from his usually impeccable quiff. If Deo hasn’t bothered to find a mirror, or a window, or even a shiny doorknob to make sure his hair looks right, then he’s not in a good state of mind.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as I hug him. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
“Not your fault. Let’s just get out of here.”
“I don’t think we can. This Baker guy—”
“No,” Daniel interrupts. “He won’t be questioning you now. We’ve been ordered to return you to Bartholomew House.”
“Ordered . . . by whom?” I ask.
“Someone way the hell above Baker’s pay grade,” Daniel mutters, shoving two white capsules and a paper cup into my hands.
I’m a little surprised that Daniel followed through on the promise of Tylenol. I wash the pills down with the water, then follow him into the corridor.
As we approach the front desk, I see the uniformed cop who was in the room with us, holding a Big Gulp in one hand and a sandwich in the other. She’s just taken a chomp out of the sandwich when she spots us.
Beyond them, I see Aaron in the lobby. He jumps up from his seat to join us, grabbing his phone and a sheet of paper lying on the bench next to him.
“Are you okay?” he asks in a tight voice. When I nod, he turns to Daniel. “The woman who just left. Who was—”
Daniel makes a kill motion and nods toward the exit. “We’ll talk outside, okay? Need to take care of something first.”
Aaron looks like he wants to argue. Actually, he looks like he wants to hit someone or something.
The uniformed cop gives Aaron a flat stare. It apparently convinces him to follow Daniel’s advice.
“He all right?” she asks Daniel softly, nodding toward Aaron’s back as he heads out the door. “Looks like he’s on somethin’ to me.”
Daniel laughs. “Nah. Aaron’s just had a rough day. He saw Porter—” He stops, apparently rethinking what he was about to say. “He saw Porter this morning. An hour or so before he was shot. Kind of has him worked up.”
She nods, takes another bite of her sandwich, then starts to wrap it up. Daniel puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Go ahead and finish your dinner, Lupito. I’ll take them. Just need to get their things.”
“Uh . . . no,” she says around a mouthful of food. She pauses to swallow. “You heard that woman. She said for me to take them.”
“The girl here is on an antipsychotic, which she left at my brother’s place. We’ll run by and pick up her meds, then I’ll drop the two of them off.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. So I keep quiet, even though the antipsychotic comment, when I’m standing right here, makes me want to kick him again.
Lupito shakes her head and talks extra slowly, as if Daniel is mentally impaired. “You don’t even work here anymore.”