Assumed Identity - By Julie Miller Page 0,64
the phone on the coffee table. He pulled out his go-bag and armed himself. Knife. Gun. Spare magazine in his pocket.
“Jake? Did I hear the phone?” Robin appeared at the end of the hallway, wrapped up in a fuzzy white robe and towel drying her hair. “Has something happened?”
“Are you sure you have to work that wedding today?”
She draped the towel over her shoulder and went straight to Emma to pick her up. She hugged the baby protectively against her chest. “It’s my job. The Vanderhams are good customers. You didn’t answer my question. Did the person who’s been harassing me find my home number?”
Thus far, the sicko calling Robin and sending her those threats had acted anonymously. Even the night she’d been assaulted, and when she’d been locked inside that refrigerator, the coward had waited until she was alone to attack. Surely, he wouldn’t change his MO now and try something with all the people who would be around her at a wedding.
“No.” He threaded the knife sheath onto his belt while she waited for an explanation. He’d promised to answer her questions, but wasn’t sure if telling her the DEA was now looking for him would inspire the kind of trust he needed from her if the threat escalated and he needed to take action to keep her and Emma safe. He opted for a half truth. “Detective Montgomery called while you were in the shower.”
“Did he find the man who attacked me?”
“Not yet. But he did stress that you were important to his case. He wanted to make sure you had sufficient protection.”
“I have you. Right?”
Damn straight. He tucked the Beretta into the back of his belt, wanting quicker access to it than what the ankle holster allowed. “Can you take care of Emma now?”
“Of course.”
“Good.” He dropped a hard, far-too-brief kiss on her mouth and headed for front door. “Then I’m going to walk the grounds and check the car, make sure everything’s as secure as it needs to be while you get dressed.”
She and Emma followed him right to the door. “You’re doing it again. What did Detective Montgomery say? Why are you arming yourself like this?”
“You can’t change a man overnight, Robin.” As soon as the harsh tone left his mouth, Jake regretted it. He pulled his hand from the doorknob and touched her damp hair, apologizing. “You can’t...fix me. I got a feeling something bad is coming. You have to let me do what I know how to do.”
* * *
“OVER HERE, LEON.” Robin waved the man carrying the second part of the Vanderhams’ altar arrangement up to the front of the church. The younger man tilted his head to peek through the stand of red and white roses to find the step, and Robin hurried down to help him. She grabbed one end of the arrangement’s brass base and helped him steer around the pulpit. “This goes inside the ring I’ve already set up. Careful.”
He heaved it onto the center of the altar. “Don’t let those cascading ones get caught underneath.”
“Got it.” It took several more minutes to make sure all the flowers were set properly. Robin pulled out a couple of broken red stems. “We’ll need to replace these. Run out to the van and bring in the box of spares.”
“Um...” Leon nervously ran his fingers inside the collar of his uniform. “There’s nothing else in the van. I must have forgotten that box.”
“You forgot? I specifically wrote that down on the manifest. How many things have to disappear before—?” A muted rumble of thunder rattled the stained-glass windows and Robin shivered. Lordy, she was jumpy today. And she was already running behind schedule setting up for the ceremony.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Do you want me to drive back to the shop and get some?”
Robin eased a calming breath through her nose. “No, I’m sorry. There isn’t time for that.” She glanced over at Emma in her carrier on the first pew, sleeping peacefully through the hubbub. Oh, to be stress-free like that right now. She turned to Leon and apologized again for snapping at him. “We’ll make do.”
True, setting up for the Vanderhams’ renewal ceremony required a lot of work in a short time frame, but that wasn’t why she was so short-tempered this afternoon. She glanced to the back of the church where Jake stood outside in the lobby by the front doors, keeping an eye on both the interior and exterior of the building. Beyond the church’s open front