Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,94
room. “You okay?”
Aiden ran his hands down his face again. He scrubbed his hands over the growth of stubble on his cheeks and chin.
“He won’t target you. There’s no way Conroy would let that happen, and none of the rest of us are willing to allow a scum bag who thinks he has power to hurt one of ours.”
Aiden nodded. The sergeant knew it was what he needed to hear. “Thanks.”
“Go check on Sydney.” Basuto motioned to the hall. “Then we should talk over everything.”
Aiden wasn’t sure if Basuto thought it was necessary, given the threat, or if he knew that was exactly where Aiden wanted to be right now. He patted the dog’s head as he passed and then headed down the hall to Sydney’s room.
She was asleep. Aiden paused the audiobook before Aslan’s voice could boom through the room and potentially wake her. If she hadn’t woken up when Butch had barked, then she had to be exhausted and he didn’t want her to be disturbed. He closed the door silently and returned to the living area.
He went to the alarm panel beside the front door. The windows were all still armed. No one could get into her room without serious noise erupting.
He usually only set the door alarms when he went to bed, but that might change now that he’d faced down an intruder. The idea his mistake could have cost his life and Sydney her father, or even cost Sydney’s life, made him want to punch a hole in the drywall beside the alarm panel. That, or scream at someone.
He could see now how Bridget might feel that same way. The powerlessness of knowing he’d brought danger right to the home of the person he cared about most in the world made him want to be sick. Or run away.
Even though he wanted her in Sydney’s and his life, he also knew she wanted to never bring intentional threat to them.
He could say now that he thoroughly understood why she’d stayed away.
And why she had left Butch.
“You done fussing yet?”
Aiden didn’t glance over, though he wanted the sergeant to see the look on his face. Instead, he strode through the living room and righted the end table that’d crashed over when he tackled that guy.
“Leave the rest. I need to take pictures for the report.”
Aiden slumped down onto the couch. “So why are we talking instead of working.”
There was a minute or two of silence, then Basuto’s phone buzzed. “Frees ran his driver’s license. His name is Simon Dempsey.”
“Anyone we know?”
Basuto settled onto the opposite end of the couch, one foot up on the lip of the coffee table. “Two outstanding warrants, Washington state and Oregon. Drug trafficking for one, and the other is distribution of narcotics. This guy is big time and the heat was on. I think he’s here to lay low, and then you fingered him as connected. Your instincts about him and the woman in the office were right on, and it paid off.”
“Because he killed the woman and the bowling alley manager, and then came here to kill me?”
“Tell me what happened.”
Aiden ran it all down for him. From the moment he turned and saw the guy to when Frees walked him out. To jail. Where he wouldn’t be able to lash out, or come back at Aiden with deadly intent. Again.
Basuto shrugged one shoulder. “You’re the one who pointed him out. For that reason, no one else was harmed and we got him.”
“Okay.” That was good. Basuto was right, though Aiden wasn’t going to say that aloud. As soon as the adrenaline rush of what happened bled off—after he totally freaked the rest of the way out and probably shed a couple of relieved tears in the shower—he would realize it was a pretty good outcome. Just not yet. He was still stuck on freaked out and angry.
“Take the sergeant’s exam, Officer Donaldson.”
Aiden blinked. After everything that had just happened, Basuto wanted to talk about this? If he took that exam, he would be the same rank as Basuto. “You want me to work you out of a job?”
Basuto’s lips twitched. “Maybe I do. But you know Frees will be an officer forever. He’s content to walk a beat until retirement. Jess is gunning for a detective’s shield. You need to take the exam. Being a sergeant means more steady hours, better pay. You’ll have more time for…family stuff.”
God-willing, Aiden planned on having a whole lot of that “family stuff”