Page 56 of My One and Only

“Do you recognize him, Ma’am?”one of the officers asked.

“No, but I wouldn’t. I’m Jo Hatch. Friend of Cam’s from high school,” she said easily. She wasn’t about to announce that she was his bodyguard. She didn’t want this stooge to report it to whoever hired him to kill Cam.

One of the police officers patted the guy down. Jo said, “He had two guns and two knives. One gun is under the table. The rest are on the counter there.” She pointed to the weapons. “Do you want me to get Cam? See if he knows the guy?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” As he spoke, the officer pulled the perp’s wallet out of his front pocket and opened it up to study his driver’s license.

Jo nodded and hurried out of the kitchen. She opened Cam’s bedroom door and slipped inside. Cam sat on the edge of his bed, Fiona in his lap. Her arms were laced tightly around his neck her face buried in his chest.

“Jo,” Cam said, relief flooding his voice. “He’s secured?”

“He is. The police have his weapons and they’re looking at his driver’s license. They’d like you to take a look at him. See if you know him.”

“I can do that.” He slid out of bed, wearing only pajama pants. He reached for his discarded clothing and pulled on a tee shirt, then looked at Jo. “Will you stay here with Fiona?”

“Of course. We’ll be fine.”

Cam slipped out of the room, and Jo sat down on his bed. Looked at Fiona, whose face was white with terror, and pulled the girl into her arms. Fiona immediately wrapped her arms around Jo’s waist. “Is that man going to hurt my daddy?”she asked.

“No, the police have his weapons. His wrists and ankles are tied up. The only place he’s going is to the police station and a jail cell.”

“Why did he come here, Ms.Jo?”

Jo inhaled a deep breath. “I’m not really sure, Fiona. Maybe he was hoping to steal some money from your daddy. Or maybe your daddy has something in his house that’s worth a lot of money.”

Fiona’s lips quivered. “Daddy always says I’m his treasure,” she managed to say. “Did he want me?”

“Absolutely not,” Jo said. Although maybe the intruderwasafter Fiona. Maybe they wanted to hold her hostage until Cam stopped investigating the accident and the bribes and the faulty fittings in the houses he was building.

Possible but unlikely, she finally concluded.

“No one is going to take you away from your daddy,” she whispered, tightening her arms around the girl. The only way they’d take Fiona was if Jo and Cam were dead. And since she had no intention of dying, there was no way they’d take either Cam or Fiona while she still had breath in her.

“Promise, Ms.Jo?”Fiona asked.

“Absolutely,” Jo said. “I promise I won’t let anyone take you away from your daddy. And I’m very fierce,” she said, making a growly face at Fiona.

Fiona giggled. “You’re silly, Ms.Jo.”

“That I am, Ms.Fiona,” she said, and Fiona buried her face in Jo’s shoulder.

Jo brushed the silky blond hair away from Fiona’s face and saw her eyes drooping. “I think your daddy might be talking to the police for a while.”Jo said. “Would you like to go back to sleep?”

“If you’re sure my daddy is okay?”

“I’m sure he’s okay. The police are here. They won’t let anything happen to him. That’s their job.”

“Okay,” Fiona said with a huge yawn. “I want to go back to bed.”

Jo got the girl settled in her bed, then she lay down beside her. Fiona snuggled into her, and Jo draped an arm over the girl’s back, running her hand over Fiona’s back again and again.

Fiona’s breathing slowed and deepened. Jo was almost certain she was asleep. But she didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to rouse the girl before she was deeply asleep.

She wasn’t sure how long she lay next to Fiona, but she must have fallen asleep herself, because the next thing she knew, Cam was touching her shoulder and whispering, “Jo? Jo, are you awake?”

Her eyes fluttered open and she turned her head to stare up at Cam. “Yeah, I’m awake,” she said.

“Fiona’s asleep?”

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