Page 79 of Protected

Bradley promised to do the same, and she handed the phone back to the guard.

An hour later the police told her she could leave. Michael broke away from the scene to talk to her. As he was walking her way, she noticed a car pull up.

“Don’t be mad at me Darci,” Michael said when he reached her.

“What shouldn’t I be mad at you for?”

“We’re doubling your security detail. Bradley insisted.”

Darci tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. She was clearly in danger but that didn’t stop her from being annoyed. “It’s OK, Michael. I’ll live with it for now. Just catch this guy before he really puts twelve guards on me please.”

“I’m doing my best kid. You should let these guys take you home. And from now on if they try to keep you away from somewhere fucking listen to them.” His arms were crossed, and he frowned as he spoke.

“Yes, Sir.” She accompanied her response with a sarcastic salute which only made him glare at her.

“I’m going to tell Bradley to spank you when he gets home.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’ll do it myself if you keep putting yourself at risk,” he said with a growl.

“That won’t be necessary because she isn’t going to put herself at risk. Isn’t that right, Kitten?”

Darci whirled around at the sound of Peter’s voice. “What are you doing here?”

Michael stepped away to speak with another officer.

“I’m part of your security detail now. I’m in charge as a matter of fact.” Darci’s eyes grew wide as Peter spoke. His arms were crossed, and he scowled down at her.

Darci nodded. Still numb from the events of the evening. “OK. It will be good to have you around. I’m worried about Carrie.”

He pulled her into a hug. “I am too. So I told her to find an out of state assignment and sent her with security of her own. There’s no signs she’s being followed like there was with you and Marlie.”

Once home, Peter and the other three security guards walked her through new protocols. Bradley had called her just to tell her she was to follow their instructions to the letter. There was a threat in his voice, and she knew better than to argue with him.

One guard would be stationed downstairs, one outside the apartment door. A driver, and one more guard, would do surveillance outside the building, and the fourth, Peter, would be inside the apartment. Bradley’s office would act as a base for the guards to work out of.

Peter called in a private investigator to do an invasive investigation on Darci to ferret out more names for the police to investigate. The security detail couldn’t officially investigate the murder, but since the police were certain that the killer was someone Darci had met, Michael agreed it was a good idea for the background research to be done. When she tried to argue, Bradley, Peter, and Michael, shut her down with no room for argument. The three men were all in overprotective dominant mode. Any other time she might find it cute. Tonight, it just annoyed her.

Now she sat in the office answering extremely personal questions about herself and anyone she had ever encountered. That was an extensive list considering the number of organizations Darci worked with in D.C.

“Walk us through your entire life for the last couple of weeks. Starting with a few days before Marlie Dixon died.”

She closed her eyes and tried to go through all the details. Every time she thought she was done with a day, the investigator would ask more probing questions and squeeze a few details out of her.

“So you took an Uber home from the commuter lot. What was the driver’s name?”

She pulled out her phone and pulled up the information. “Kyle. I won’t forget it because a few nights later he was our waiter at a pub me and some girlfriends went to.” She shuddered. “Come to think of it, Elise told me she thought she’d been followed onto the metro that night.”

The investigator stopped writing and looked up at her. “Back up. Your Uber driver was the same guy who waited on you a few nights later? There any chance that isn’t a coincidence?”

Darci shook her head. “I wouldn’t think so. I mentioned it to him and he just laughed and said he has a lot of jobs. I believed him.”

“Think of every interaction you had with him. It may seem innocent but let us determine that,” Peter said.

She glanced over at him. She’d almost forgotten he was there, leaned against the wall watching over her.

“Carrie was there. She has a better eye for these things.”

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