Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,4
of setting her straight. There were no sparks between them. He was who he was—a twenty-four-year-old police officer and single dad to a six-year-old daughter.
Not most people’s idea of a stellar beginning to adult life. No parties. An online degree. He knew more about assembling furniture and French braids than he knew about fraternities. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sydney had healed everything inside him that was broken. Aiden didn’t want to know who he would be without her.
She tugged on his hand right then.
He looked down. “Pit stop?”
“Yes.” She held his hand until they separated, and then she went into the ladies’ room while Aiden waited outside. It still made him nervous to trust other people’s goodness, but this was a small town and a lot of people knew their little family unit.
Aiden checked his emails while he waited, most of which were about the police post-holiday bash happening in a few days. No one was free to party during the holidays, so they did it mid-January.
The woman who’d tried to pick him up had chosen a new target, a guy at the bar. Worn jeans and steel toe boots. He wore a faded white sweater and had sunglasses on his head.
As he watched them, she pulled something from the back pocket of her jeans and exchanged it for what the man had. Plastic wrap, bundled up. The contents weren’t something he could see, but experience and instinct indicated crack. Whether it was another illegal substance or that one, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t good.
The man squeezed her hip and she walked off, headed for a door that read, “Employees Only.”
Aiden pulled up a text thread with his sergeant who was at work tonight and laid out what he’d just seen.
“Can we play at the arcade before we go?”
He looked down at Syd. “Probably not. It’s pretty late, and we have church in the morning.” After lunch, he would be on shift until past midnight.
“Donuts for breakfast?”
His phone buzzed. “Absolutely.”
She jumped up and down. “Yes!”
Aiden read the text from Sergeant Basuto. An officer on duty was on the way. He eyed the door the woman had disappeared through while they made their way back to the party in time to sing and for Sydney to watch her friend open the doll they’d bought her.
He moved to Sydney and crouched to whisper. “Stay here with your friends. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?” The birthday girl’s mom seemed to have it all in hand, so he went to the Employees Only door and pulled out his badge. Just in case.
Aiden had a weapon on him but didn’t get it out. All he needed to do was make sure the woman hadn’t left. If she had, he wanted a description of her car. Or a plate number.
If she exited this way, he would talk to the manager about surveillance. Interview customers and staff, find out if the woman was a regular. Methodical actions that would get him in another conversation with that woman—one where he explained the seriousness of her actions. He’d make sure she knew help was available if she needed it, or caution her to get a lawyer if the situation warranted that.
He flashed his badge to the bartender who lifted his chin, then pushed through the door. The hall beyond was empty.
Three doors on both sides. One open. He moved to it, listening for…voices. At the door, he peered in.
“I said I did, didn’t I?” Her tone wavered as a sliver of fear crept in.
The man she faced was taller, muscled. He wore slacks, black shoes, and a buttoned white shirt. Still, despite the professional clothing, there was an air of lethality about him.
Aiden cleared his throat.
The woman spun around while the man turned more slowly to find him there.
He decided to just pretend. “I’m totally lost. Is there a bathroom down this way?”
“Get him out of here.” The man turned to his desk.
That left the woman to cross and jerk her head toward her shoulder. “Let’s go. There’s no bathroom over here. This is employees only.”
“You work here?”
She led him to the door. “Just get out of here.”
He held it open for her. She shook her head at his gentlemanly move and strode off. He spotted the person Basuto had sent and made his way to Officer Frees, at the same time watching where she went off to.
A group of men at the far end of the bar. The woman passed them. She