Conceal, Protect - By Carol Ericson Page 0,2
in the passenger seat.
J.D. flipped open his ID. “Official business.”
The patrol officer peered at the ID and tracked back to J.D.’s face. “Does it have to do with this woman and her ransacked apartment?”
“It does, but we didn’t ransack the apartment.”
“Got it.” He gave a mock salute. “So you just finished a painting job?”
“That’s right, Officer.” He stuffed his wallet back in his pocket. “You’re not going to find any fingerprints in that apartment or any other type of evidence.”
“Didn’t think so.”
“But make Ms. Dupree feel like you’re doing your job. Make her feel safe. And we’ll take on that responsibility from here.”
“You got it.” He strolled away and joined Noelle and the other cop still on the sidewalk.
Noelle turned toward the steps of her apartment building to take the officers up to her place. She rested her foot on the first step and turned to look at the white painting van once more.
From his side mirror, J.D. studied the pale oval of her face framed by dark hair and whispered, “Stay safe, Noelle Dupree.”
* * *
JACK COBURN’S DARK gaze bored into J.D. over his steepled fingers. “Did our cameras catch the intruders?”
“A couple of Zendaris lackeys. I was too far away to catch them in the act.” J.D. shrugged and tipped his chair back on two legs. “I knew they wouldn’t find anything in Ms. Dupree’s apartment anyway. We’d already gone through her place—only we left it as we found it.”
“She hasn’t noticed you stalking her?”
“Stalking? Just doing my job, boss.” J.D. fought hard to keep the warm flush spreading across his chest from creeping into his face. Coburn didn’t miss a thing, and J.D. didn’t want to give him any ammunition. Truth was, his surveillance of Noelle, Ms. Dupree, did feel more like a stalking than a tail, especially having those cameras in her apartment.
Not that he’d taken full advantage of that window into her intimate world. He’d allowed her some privacy. Prospero aimed to keep her safe—and to verify she knew nothing of her roommate’s secrets—not play a game of Peeping Tom.
But he felt he’d gotten to know her through his observations. He hadn’t had one conversation with the woman, and yet he knew of her sadness, her courage, her fears.
Oh, boy. He dragged a hand through his hair. If Coburn could read his thoughts right now, he’d yank him off this case faster than a desert roadrunner.
“Are you sure she hasn’t noticed you around?” Coburn leveled a finger at him. “You’re kind of hard to miss.”
J.D.’s thoughts wandered to the day on the street a few weeks ago when Noelle’s gaze had turned toward the van. No way she saw his face that day. He’d had the painter’s cap pulled low over his eyes and had kept her in his rearview and side mirrors.
“She never saw me. I’m better than that, Jack.”
Coburn’s lips twisted into a smile. “Yeah, you’re good, J.D. She’s on the move, you know.”
“Huh?” J.D.’s chair fell forward with a thump. He’d left Noelle for a week and look what happened. “Do you think she knows something about where Abby stashed those plans?”
“She might, but I don’t think this move has anything to do with that. She’s heading out to Colorado tomorrow.”
“To her family’s ranch?”
“You are good. That’s exactly where she’s going.”
J.D. blew out a breath. “She should be safer there than D.C.”
“Are you kidding?” Coburn raised one eyebrow. “You don’t think Zendaris will put someone on her, even in Colorado?”
“I’m sure he will, but the ranch sits outside a small town. Anyone Zendaris sends will stick out like a striped cow in the herd.”
Coburn shook his head. “You need to stop with the weird similes.”
“Similes? We weren’t all English lit majors like you, Jack.”
“Comparisons. This particular Colorado town has a ski resort. It’s winter. It’s snowing. Maybe a couple of strangers won’t stick out like...whatever.”
A chill touched J.D.’s spine. Why had he thought a trip to Colorado would keep Noelle safe? If Zendaris thought she could lead him to those plans he coveted, he’d follow her to the ends of the earth. “They’re going to follow her.”
“That’s right, and so are you.”
“More surveillance? I can fit in there. I can ski.”
Coburn smacked a file on his desk. “More than surveillance this time, J.D. I want you up close and personal with Ms. Noelle Dupree.”
J.D. let a mask of indifference fall over his face as the hard truth smacked him upside the head.
He wanted nothing more than to get up close and personal