In Her Sights (19 page)

She glanced to the back compartment and saw her pillow. She
couldn’t stop the laugh. “Excellent.”

“It was Julia’s idea, not mine.”

She finished the puny breakfast, and he pulled the protein
bar out of a glove box. She put it down nearly as fast and leaned her head back
on the seat with her pillow on the door as he sped from town and hit the
interstate. She just needed a few more hours. In this car, with his scent, she
dozed off fast.

Probably just leftovers from the sleeping pill more so than
his scent.

“We’re here.”

She woke to Clayton’s hand on her leg, her stomach dying,
and a pounding headache. “I’m awake.”

“You should have stayed home.” He felt back over her
forehead again.

She swatted his hand away. “I’m not running fever. Just
trying to wake up. Let’s just get this over with.”

He pulled the key from the ignition. “Don’t touch anything.
We won’t use our names just in case somebody else comes and questions him.”

She nodded and got out. That was the downside to her image.
People tended to think she didn’t know about the most obvious things.

He used his sleeve-covered elbow and rang the doorbell. A
moment later, the door opened and a man about three inches shorter than her,
with an outdated bowl-cut hairstyle stuck his head out. “Can I help you?”

“Jake Lowler?” Clayton prompted.

“Yes.” Jake nodded. “That’s me.”

Clayton grinned. “We’d like to ask you a few questions if
yo—”

The man shook his head. “I’m not interested in buying
anything, and I like my religion.”

Lexie tapped her toe, and her stomach growled. “We’re not
selling anything or trying to convert you.”

Clayton cleared his throat. He cut his gaze to her, and then
returned to Jake. “This won’t take but a few minutes. Are you familiar with a dagger
with a white handle? Has some gold on it?”

Jake puckered his lips. “Nope. Never heard of it.”

Clayton nodded. “Do you know anyone named Arnold Pritchard?”

“Knew him from college.”

“When was the last time you heard from him?”

Jake rocked on his heels, staring at the ground as he
scratched the back of his head. “Oh, I don’t know, fifteen years ago? Why? Is
Arnold in trouble?”

Clayton shook his head. “Have you seen or heard about a dagger
with a white handle? Has a silver case for the blade.”

Jake clicked his tongue in his mouth. “Can’t say that I
have.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts, an attempt to hold an
aching stomach through this useless back and forth. “We know it was here. We
know you’ve talked to Arnold. Just answer the question, and this can be over
with.”

Jake snapped his gaze to hers and sneered. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about.”

Clayton elbowed her in the ribs. Not helping any, but she
kept quiet while he talked. “Are you sure the last time you saw or spoke with
Arnold was fifteen years ago? You haven’t heard from him in the past few days?”

While Clayton kept asking questions Jake wasn’t answering,
she dug around in her purse for a metal nail file. It was in there somewhere. The
gun seemed a little extreme, and she didn’t want to alarm Clayton that much.

Tubes of lipstick tumbled through her fingers. Pens and pencils
too. Antibacterial gel. And what were her spare gloves to protect fingerprints
doing out of their pocket? She shoved them in the zipper compartment and found
her file. She gripped around the handle and pulled it out, keeping it concealed
under her wrist.

Clayton persisted on. “We’re not the police. You’re not in
any trouble. We’re just trying to get to the bottom of this.”

Jake shook his head. “I’d love to help you, but I really don’t
know what you’re talking about. If you two will—”

Enough was enough. It wasn’t some big secret to Clayton that
she could handle herself. She grabbed Jake by the shirt and shoved him inside
his house, banging his back against the wall. She gave his balls support with her
knee. Her forearm pressed his Adam’s apple against his spine. She pricked at
his temple with the point of her nail file. “Be still.”

Jake’s eyes widened and switched over her shoulder, flipping
between her and behind her. His breath panted out his mouth, and thank goodness,
it smelled minty-fresh. The door clicked closed and Clayton stood beside her.

Sweat formed on Jake’s brow. He opened his mouth and a
strangled sound she couldn’t decipher came out. He cleared his throat and tried
again. “What do you want?”

She added more pressure with her forearm. “The truth to our
questions.”

He nodded, his head bobbed.

“My friend is going to ask you some questions. If I feel you’re
lying to us, I’m going to keep lifting my knee until your balls crack like
walnuts. If I still think you’re lying, I’m going to dig into your temple so
far, I’ll be able to look at your brain for the answers I want. Still with me?”

He was sweating and sagging against the wall. She wadded her
fist in his shirt tighter. “You didn’t answer me.”

He twisted. Out the corner of her eye, his arm moved. His
fist rose. She dropped his shirt, caught his wrist and spun him around. Clayton
was reaching as she smacked Jake’s face against the wall and hitched his arm
high up his back. He grunted. Muscles flexed in his wrist where she held him,
and she poked the tip of the file into the back of his neck until he yelled
out.

“Okay! All right!” He whimpered. “Just stop.”

She didn’t let him go, but she didn’t press the file into
him any harder, either.

Clayton grabbed Jake by the other arm and held it down. “What
do you know about the dagger?”

“I don’t kno—”

She gave the nail file a little twist.

Jake let out a strangled shout. “I really don’t know!”

Clayton nodded. “When was the last time you were in contact
with Arnold Pritchard?”

Jake took a deep breath. “About two months ago.”

“What for?”

“He wanted to know if he could have a package sent here. And
then if I would mail it to him the day it came in. Said he’d pay me a thousand
dollars.”

“Did this package come?”

Jake sniffed, his eyes tearing. “Came last Friday or so. I
mailed it like he asked as soon as I got it that morning.”

“Did you open the package?”

“No. I got a slip in the mail saying I had a package at the
post office. I signed for it and mailed it to Arnold right then. I never even
touched the box.” His voice squeaked.

“Did Arnold say anything else?”

Jake swallowed heavily. “No. I asked what it was all about.
He said for a thousand dollars, it didn’t matter. I left it at that.”

She took a step back. Jake tumbled to the floor and stayed
that way. She shook her head as she stepped outside. All he had to do was
answer their questions. He had brought that down on himself.

She faced Clayton and dropped the file in her purse. “So now
we know Arnold’s at the bottom of mailing the package around—not whoever he
bought it from. Jake has nothing else.”

Clayton didn’t respond, and she looked over to see him
watching the ground while they walked back to the car. “What kind of
self-defense classes did you take again?”

He just couldn’t accept anything he saw at face value. She
offered him a smile anyway. “Come on, this isn’t new. You know I can take care
of myself.”

He shook his head. “It’s just, more. There’s always more to
you than I’m expecting. Even when I tell myself not to expect anything, I do.
You always exceed it. I don’t know what to make of it.”

She couldn’t help but be a little flattered by that and wanted to show him more even though she knew better. This part of her
life she’d had to keep under wraps for so long. Little pieces of it were
getting to come out. Not everything. She’d never get to be all of herself to
any one person. Had learned that long ago. To Gen, she was her best friend. To Alex
and Julia, the daughter and part of the family they never had. Her parents,
that disappointing child to fight about. To victims and people afraid, she was
some sort of hero—according to the papers.

But in all those instances, she couldn’t just be herself.
With Clayton, God, she was so close. She didn’t have to watch her language or
constantly smile and be grateful. On some occasions, she had to dumb herself
down a little, but it was marginal compared to being with other people.

He rubbed over the steering wheel and let out a sigh before
finally backing the car out of the driveway. “I don’t know. You scare the hell
out of me sometimes. But then I see you with Julia, or hugging your friend Gen,
and I just don’t know what to think because there’s nothing scary about that.”

Just continue the appearance of normal. Actually for her,
this feels like it could be normal. At least, normal for her. For anyone else,
it was the complete opposite. “Is there a restaurant where you slide that tray
down and pick what you want, like a buffet?”

Clayton’s brow rose over his widened eyes. “A cafeteria?”

She nodded and moaned. “I haven’t been to one of those in
years. Julia took me to one once when I was a kid. Oh, or maybe Mexican?”

Chapter Eighteen

Hours later, after a nap and a proper meal while she did a
light search on Adam Breeze, she stared into her closet, naked other than a barely-there
tan thong. Not the sexiest thing in her drawers, but the sleekest under her
dresses. Her hair was in hot rollers, and the clock showed twenty minutes
before Adam was supposed to arrive. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be terribly early.

It would have been handy information if she had known where they
were going to know how to dress. Surely he wasn’t taking her to some fast-food
place. She reached in and pulled out a green silk dress, fingered the sleek
material, and shrugged. Why not? She’d have to put on those sticky bras to
cover her nipples. Again, not sexy, but that didn’t matter. This date wasn’t
going anywhere beyond the restaurant.

She pulled the hot rollers out and slipped on the dress. The
halter top came to a loose V at her chest; the back included more skin than
dress, scooping at her lower back. It hugged her curves down to her hips and
flowed loosely to just below her knees. She sighed and taped on the bra cups. Adam
really wasn’t worth the trouble for these things, but she didn’t have time for anything
else. She stepped into gold ankle strap spiked heels that she knew would cause
her to be taller than him. Not a problem with Clayton, though. She groaned and
returned to finishing her hair, finger-combing the curly strands and adding a
burst of hairspray.

She looked in the mirror and couldn’t imagine doing
something to make herself look better, but yet, everything felt so wrong and
uncomfortable.

Maybe the dress was too revealing? Or the wrong perfume? She
shook her head. It wasn’t her. The doorbell chimed and her shoulders lowered.
It was the wrong man standing on her doorstep.

Well, this wasn’t a date, but a business arrangement—whether
he knew it or not. If all went well, there would be no more slight accusations
made over lunch, like before.

She walked downstairs with her beaded clutch under her arm, and
was glad to see Adam in a nice attire of black slacks with a coat, collared
shirt, and tie. With an offer of his arm, he walked her to his car.

“You look lovely, Lexie.”

“Thank you, Adam.” He pulled open the door of his white SUV
and closed it softly when her feet cleared the slip. It was freezing cold in
the vehicle, and she shifted the vents off her and quickly turned down the fan
as he rounded the front of the car.

“How about pasta?” He hopped in and pulled out of the
driveway. The moment they got on the road, he turned the fan on the air
conditioner back up. Freezing her wasn’t the worst of it as his cologne started
overwhelming the car. It was a spicy scent with a tad of musk mixed in. The only
thing the combination did for her was tickle her nose.

“Sounds great.” She kept a close watch on the street signs
as he drove. Adam didn’t volunteer the information about where he was taking
her, and she wasn’t going to ask.

“The men who broke into your house will be going before the
judge next week,” he said flatly.

“You don’t sound too thrilled.”

“We’re expecting them to get off fairly easy because of the
few broken bones. Judge is rumored to be the type to let their beating teach
them a lesson. He might strike a little harder and hand out heavier community
service since it was your house they broke into. But that would be the only
reason.”

“Well, as long as they don’t come back.” Something just didn’t
add up with this. With the mile-long list Clayton’s men had pulled together,
they should be getting more than community service. Sounded to her like someone
made a deal.

He pulled in the parking lot of Gina’s. The place had the
best Italian food found in the area, with everything handmade fresh every day. Down
to the last breadstick and pasta noodle.

She walked in with him by her side. A few people stood in
the waiting area. Through the thick crowd, there was one person who was
impossible to miss. And the person he guarded needed her attention.

She placed her hand on Adam’s arm and stopped him. “There’s
someone I need to say hello to.”

“Go ahead. I’ll tell them we’re here.”

She released his arm. Reid smiled when he saw her coming.

“Good evening, Ms. Lexie. Almost didn’t recognize you in a,
uh, dress and carrying a purse.”

She laughed out loud. Louder than she expected. Heads were
turning. She patted his arm. “Thank you. Do you mind if I talk to Senator
Dearing for a moment?”

He nodded and stepped aside.

Uncle Sammy got up from the small group of three people he
talked with and hugged her. “Lexie, how are you?”