Page 56 of Spotted at Lighthouse Bay
“Unfortunately not.” If only his eardrums still didn’t ring with gunfire. “Is everything okay with you?”
“I don’t know. I guess so. I can’t stop thinking about my mom getting back in the house.”
“Because you’re so grateful?” he suggested, a half smile tugging at his mouth.
“No, because it doesn’t make any sense. Clearly they’re giving in to her, which means whatever we’re doing is working.”
He shut his laptop. “Not necessarily. You’re letting yourself be influenced by what you want to be true.”
Addy crossed her arms. “It’s not that simple and you know it, Rick.”
“I didn’t say it was simple, I –”
“Let me finish,” she said, holding up a finger.
He sat back. He was not winning this one.
She went on. “Flex Knock had already gotten them out of the house. Why would they let them move back in, unless they felt threatened in some way? It’s no benefit to them.”
He sighed. “It could be any of a number of reasons.”
“Yeah, but you know it isn’t. You have to trust me sometimes, you know. Just because you’re the bodyguard and I’m the client doesn’t mean I don’t know anything.”
The client.He hadn’t thought of her as “the client” in ages. “I’m sorry. I don’t think of you as not knowing anything. I never meant to treat you that way, and I’m really sorry.”
Her lips twisted into a frown. “You don’t have to apologize, I just – I want you to take me seriously.”
Rick was taking her seriously. He knew she wouldn’t give this up, and he desperately needed her to. “My first priority is to protect you, always.” He paused. There was no need to reiterate that he didn’t want to lose her; no reason for her to know she was becoming less “the client” and more the focus of his every thought. “You have a different first priority, which puts us at odds.”
“True.” She dropped her arms. “There has to be more to it, though. How do we know they won’t throw them out of the house again in six months? Then we’re back where we started.”
“You’re right. I’m still working on getting the guys to talk, and my contacts are looking for ways in,” he said. “I haven’t given up.”
A smile curled her lips and she took a step toward him. “Oh. I didn’t know that.”
His heart danced against his ribs, distinct from the feeling of a panic attack. Far more pleasant, like the fluttering of a dove’s wings.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way to figure this out. It’s too personal. They can come after you, but they can’t come after a nameless, faceless investigator. Or the cops.”
“Specifically Chief Hank.”
He smiled. “Yeah. He’s on it.”
“All right. Well, I’m glad we talked it through.”
“Me too.”
The lighting softly lit her eyes, her nose, her lips…
Addy nodded, then turned on her heel. “Sleep tight, Rick!”
He watched her disappear behind her door. “Thanks. You too.”
If only she knew how well he slept when she was near.
There was nothing from Marilyn for the next week, and Addy was distracted by the chaos in the house. Lottie the orca was finally coming home.
Rick had never seen Sheila in such a state.
