Page 59 of On the Chase
Lexi agreed. She checked where he indicated, but she didn’t signal that she’d picked up on traces of any narcotics. She didn’t even hesitate anywhere. As they rounded the front of the SUV and finished the search along the driver’s side of the vehicle, the woman sucked in a sharp breath.
“Why do you have a dog here?” she demanded, her voice going shrill. “Is it going to smell my car? Do you think I have drugs? Oh my goodness.”
Hugh dredged up a grin. “Morning, ma’am. Don’t mind us. I have a dog we’re training, and I saw that these officers had you stopped, so I thought Lexi here could get some experience. Don’t worry. We didn’t find a thing.”
It wasn’t his best work, since a lack of sleep didn’t do much for his charm, but the woman seemed to soften a little. “Oh. Well, you could’veaskedfirst before you gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry about that, ma’am.” With a final, forced smile, he retreated to Theo’s squad car.
After a few more minutes, the woman was on her way to work again, and Theo and Otto joined him.
“Is this pointless? Are we wasting time here?” Hugh asked, rolling his sore shoulders. “Bad information, maybe? Or Truman was giving himself a few days of cushion, and the shipment won’t be coming until next week?”
Otto shrugged. “Could be. Theo and I still have four hours of our shift. Might as well stay on this.”
“Yep,” Theo agreed.
Leaning on the roof of Theo’s squad car, Hugh bit back a torrent of frustrated curses. He took a few deep breaths, trying to think rationally. Exhaustion made everything seem impossible, especially when his entire body was aching. “Okay,” he finally said, shoving every jab of pain into a box in his head. Just four more hours. He could do this. “I’ll be by the trees.”
* * *
Grace tapped her fingers on the side of her leg and fought the need to pace. Looking around the interview room, she sighed. It’d been only a few weeks since she’d barely escaped from one police station with her life, and now she was back in another one.
She clenched her hands and then relaxed them, shaking out the tension in her fingers. This wasn’t the same. She had allies with the police now, and even, thanks to those cop friends, with the FBI. This time, she wouldn’t have to run from one of Martin Jovanovic’s henchmen.
It would’ve been nice to have someone there with her. Her brain screamedHugh, but she resolutely ignored it. She needed to get used to doing things by herself. After all, if this worked, she’d get to go home to California.
Grace waited for the usual flare of excitement at the thought of returning to her life, but it fizzled. She’d be thrilled to see Penny, but other than that… To her surprise, she’d miss parts of Monroe. Jules, Hugh, the kids, Hugh, Theo and Otto, Hugh, Lexi, Hugh, even that old mess of a house, and Hugh.
With a groan, she let her forehead rest on the table. It was time to stop pretending she could just wave goodbye and leave Monroe—and Hugh—without any heartbreak. A part of her wanted to stay, wanted to see what would happen if they did go on a real date, even if that was just to the viner. Hopefully, that date would not include Hugh picking a bathroom lock. Grace couldn’t help but smile at the thought, but then she gave herself a mental smack. She had a life—an incredibly wonderful, hard-won life—in California. Was she seriously considering giving up all she’d worked so hard for? She was probably just caught up in the moment. Once she got back to LA, she’d forget all about a certain gorgeous, clever Colorado cop.
Lifting her head, she sat back in her chair with a sigh. If she couldn’t have Hugh with her for moral support, she wished at least Jules had been there to talk to. The previous night, after Hugh had dropped Grace off at the station, the kindly desk sergeant had shown her where the women’s locker room was and then led her to a storage room where cots had been set up. Jules and the kids had occupied five of the cots, and there had been an empty one for her.
Jules and Sam had sat up when she’d entered. Once they saw it was her, Jules had given a sleepy wave, and both had fallen back asleep quickly. After a quick trip to the bathroom, Grace had collapsed in her cot, her entire body aching with the need for sleep. Unfortunately, her brain hadn’t cooperated, spinning with worries and scenarios that blended into her dreams and jerked her out of a light doze several times.
There hadn’t been any other extra cots, so she wasn’t really expecting Hugh to join them, but a tiny part of her had hoped he would stop in to let them know that the bust had gone well and that he wasn’t hurt. The hours had crawled by, however, and then it was early morning, and still there was no sign of Hugh. Jules and the kids had headed to the viner with a police escort, and Grace, after a quick shower in the locker room, had been shown to the interview room to wait for FBI Special Agent Shankle to arrive.
The door opened abruptly, and Grace jerked back, making the chair scrape against the floor. The memory of Officer Jovanovic escorting her toward the stairway and her possible death ran through her mind, and she stood, ready to flee. As soon as she got a good look at the man in the doorway, however, she calmed, recognizing him as the cop Theo had been talking to at the Rack and Ruin bust. She could tell just by his rigid posture, wiry form, and thinning gray hair.
He was frowning at her. In fact, that was an understatement. He was scowling ferociously at her. Grace stared back with wide eyes, not sure what she’d done to deserve the glare.
“Why is he not answering his goddamned phone?” the man demanded.
Comprehension dawned, and Grace smiled as she figured out who the angry man in front of her was. “You’re the lieutenant?”
“Lieutenant Blessard,” he snapped. “Do you know where he is? Will he answer if you call him? You have a phone on you? Call him right now. No, actually, give me your phone.” He held out a hand, palm up.
She dug her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him even before she realized what she was doing. The man had a commanding presence. “I’m pretty sure his phone is dead.”
“Yeah, that’s what he always says,” the lieutenant muttered, jabbing at the buttons. His heavy eyebrows drew together as he held the phone up to his ear. Almost immediately, he moved it down and stabbed his finger to end the call.
He tossed the phone back to her. She fumbled as she caught it but managed to keep it from hitting the floor.
“When you talk to him, you tell him that he needs to get his ass in here yesterday. Got it?”
“Got it.” As he turned away, she added, “What’s going on? Is he in danger? I mean, more danger than the Truman stuff, which I know is a pretty big danger, but…”
His glare made her words dry up, and she fell silent. “Yes. He’s in danger. What do you know about Truman? That’s an open investigation.”
