“I’m going to be here all day,” Trey said. “Kellie has a girls-only baby shower. Come get me when you leave and I’ll work out of this space.”
“I appreciate that,” Seth said.
“Here’s what you’ll appreciate even more. I’m calling in a pizza order at noon.” Trey turned to walk out the room.
“I would marry you if Kellie hadn’t beaten me to it,” Seth said, calling after him.
Trey’s pithy response echoed back into the quiet conference room, making Seth smile. He really had the best partners in the whole world.
A half hour later, Seth saw a car pull up and park in the no-parking zone in front of the boutique. He recognized it as the same one that Evan Chevalier had been driving the night before. He got up to get a better look but stayed back from view. Megan got out of the back seat. Her dress was a pale-yellow-and-white print that reminded him of his favorite lemon dessert. Her hair, which she’d worn long yesterday, was pulled up and in some kind of fancy bun on the top of her head.
Evan Chevalier got out of the car, walked around the front, and opened the front passenger-side door. He helped his wife out. Then Abigail and Megan waited while Evan opened the trunk. The first bag he pulled out was a big suitcase that would never have fit into an overhead compartment. It was a rich-looking buttercream. The second was a matching garment bag that zipped up the front and had a wide leather strap. Classy. It was going to make his black same-as-everybody-else’s look almost shabby.
Seth smiled when he saw the last thing that Evan removed from the trunk. Megan’s umbrella. She had said that she was going nowhere without it. Now she reached for it and tucked it under an arm. They were expecting rain today but it likely wouldn’t start until the afternoon. She reached for her other bags but Evan waved her away and grabbed for both.
He watched as Megan unlocked the door and held it for her sister and brother-in-law. Then disappeared.
Seth waited. Shallow breaths. Knowing that he was crazy but really unable to stop himself. He did not believe those gunshots last night were random. Regardless of the story that Megan was spinning.
He didn’t breathe easy again until Evan came back outside five minutes later, got into his car and drove away. He sat back down to work. Twenty minutes later, a cab pulled up. Out got two men, both with gray hair. One was carrying a cardboard tube, like what an architect might use to carry around rolled blueprints. The other carried a laptop computer.
Old school, new school.
Old school knocked on the glass door. Megan opened it and shook both men’s hands. She was smiling. Then they were all inside.
She was safe. She knew these people. He sat back down. Tried to work. Fifteen minutes later, he dialed her number.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Fine.”
“Yeah, uh, I was just checking on the time that I should pick you up? Was it four?”
“Yes. At the boutique,” she said.
She sounded fine. Certainly not under duress. Maybe a little puzzled that he’d forgotten.
“Great. I’ll be there.” He hung up.
He got busy. He had a lot to do. When Trey came in with pizza later, he pushed the paperwork aside. After his first piece, he sighed. “This is great. Thank you.”
“All’s well across the street?” Trey asked.
“Yeah. Megan and Abigail are inside meeting with two men. Architect. General contractor. Something like that.”
“You want me to make up some excuse and go knock on the door, just to make sure everything is okay?” Trey asked.
“I already called her.”
“I knew it,” Trey said. “You can be such a mother hen.”
Seth accepted the criticism. He didn’t care about things or that many people. But those he did care about, he protected fiercely.
Megan, by virtue of signing that contract, fell into that category. That’s all this was.
By two, his desk was clean. He left an out-of-office message on his desk number and also on his business email. Told Trey he was leaving and waited until his partner was settled in the conference room. Then he got in his Jeep and drove to Everpark to see his mom.
When he arrived, she was sitting on her porch. Everpark was massive and provided all levels of care. His mom, at almost seventy, required no nursing care and maintained her own small stand-alone condo. But there were neighbors close by who kept an eye on one another. They also played cards frequently, and on nice days could be found on the Everpark golf course. She had access to a dining room, where she could have a meal once in a while when she wanted company.
It gave Seth peace of mind. “Hi, there,” he said. “It’s pretty hot to be out here.”
“Yesterday’s rain cooled it off a bit, I think,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you. I just had lunch.”
“No worries. Trey and I had pizza at the office. Hey, I got an assignment yesterday that’s going to take me out of town for a while so I wanted to see you before I left.”
“Is it taking you somewhere fun?”
“Sedona, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also Colorado Springs. I’m providing security services for an executive who is opening a line of women’s boutiques.”
“Are you looking forward to it?”
Oddly enough, he was. Megan was sort of fun to spar with. Of course, he didn’t want to get shot at again. But now he’d be more vigilant. He wouldn’t be caught off guard again. “It will be fine. But you know you can always call me if you need anything.”
“You. Any of your partners. I’ve got the whole list. But I’ll be fine.”
She likely would be. After her fall, she’d remained fiercely independent. But she was alone. “You need anything done around here before I go?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I also know how to call maintenance,” she said gently.
“Well, you let me know if they don’t respond and I’ll break some arms for you.”
She kissed his cheek. “I can always count on that.”
He stayed another hour, had some tea and some really great chocolate chip cookies, and finally, stood to go. “I’ll call you,” he said. “I’ll be on the road for about ten days and then back in Vegas for a couple to finish up the assignment.”
“Don’t worry about me. Go. Be safe. I’ll be anxious to hear about your trip when you get back.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
He drove back to Wingman Security and parked his Jeep. Before he got out, he called Trey. “I’m back,” he said.
“Okay. The two guys left about a half hour ago. Then Abigail’s husband came and picked her up. No sign of Megan.”
“Okay. I’m on my way.” He hung up, made sure his vehicle was locked and walked across the street. He tried the door of the building. It was locked. Good girl.
He knocked and cupped his hands around his eyes so that he could see inside. A wide corridor ran down the middle of the building. The boutique was off to the left and there was a furniture...no, that wasn’t right...an antiques store to the right. It looked like there might be other storefronts toward the back but the corridor was too dark to see much.
He pounded on the door. Hard.
And