Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,4
She’d told him, half-jokingly, that she’d saved loads of money letting too many men buy her meals and drinks in her previous life. It rankled him, that he was the first one with whom she drew the line. On the other hand, if it made her feel secure and strong, who was he to let his ego get in the way?
Outside the restaurant, he walked her to her car as he always did. When she’d protested the first time, he’d simply pointed out he was making a shortcut back to the precinct on the next block. She’d given him a skeptical-one-brow-raised look but didn’t argue with him.
He waited until she pulled out of the lot before turning to walk briskly the opposite direction, already plugging the address of her friend Paula into his phone. Once back at his desk, he’d do a quick search to discover her last name, then find out if anything was in the system on her, specifically last night or the past few weeks. Brianna might have faith the girl was still sober and therefore something sinister had happened to her. Reality was, she more than likely had relapsed. If she was picked up on a possession charge, he’d find out quickly. If not, he’d also check for any Jane Doe’s fitting her description at the county morgue.
Brianna hurried through the back door of the shelter, pausing just inside to listen for the locks to clink in place securely behind her. Only those with a keycard pass could come in this way. But as she’d learned a few years ago, safety had to be a conscious effort.
It was the reason that she bristled at Aaron’s veiled order that she not go to Paula’s on her own. He, more than anyone in Cleveland, should understand she no longer acted foolishly, without a care to what was happening around her. Yes, from the time she was a child, she’d understood people thought she was a beautiful blue-eyed blonde with nary a brain cell in her head—and she’d used that misconception to her advantage, especially around men. Even the Sisters at the Sacred Heart orphanage believed she’d never amount to more than some man’s arm candy.
“It’s a good thing you’re pretty, Brianna. You’ll make some man a good, obedient wife someday,” Sister Compassionatta said for the hundredth time.
All the sisters had thought the same thing. Only her friend Abby had seen through her act.
“Why do you do just enough work to pass?” she’d asked her the day they’d met while both sat on the punishment bench outside of the Mother Superior’s office. “You’re way smarter than that.”
“If I got all perfect grades like you, none of the boys would like me,” she’d answered with a saccharine smile and bat of her eyelashes, another trick she’d learned to intimidate other girls and even older women.
Abigail simply shook her head and muttered, “What a waste of a brain.”
Despite her worry over Paula, Brianna couldn’t help smiling at the memory of Abby’s reaction to her comment. No one had ever called her out to be more than a cute little girl. Not only had it sealed their friendship, it also motivated her to learn more. Oh, she still made barely passing grades, but even after she’d been adopted, she’d studied secretly for her SAT’s for college. To get into MIT and room with Abby, she’d had to score high in every math and science category.
“Lunch was good then?” Flora, the shelter’s executive manager asked, seated at her desk in the office they shared.
Brianna hung her jacket on the coat rack in the corner and dropped her bag by her desk chair. “It was just Cobb salad with Aaron. My usual Wednesday lunch.”
“Aaron today. You usually call him Detective Jeffers.” The hint of suggestion in her boss’s voice irritated Brianna and zapped the smile right off her face.
“Detective Jeffers and I are simply friends, nothing more,” she said with a bit of a snap, booting up her computer.
Flora knew her background, everyone who worked at the shelter went through a thorough security vetting program. Even if it wasn’t a requirement, anyone who paid attention to the newscasts following the sex trafficking ring involving Senator Klein and his son, along with a number of prominent politicians and businessmen in the state, knew Brianna was one of the state’s main witnesses.
Flora also knew Brianna had sworn off dating, even casual dates. The ordeal of being kidnapped, treated like a sexual slave, tortured and nearly killed