He didn’t.
His head came up, he pul ed the phone out of his pocket and I leaned back to look at him.
It was over.
The guard had slid down over his eyes.
I lost him.
Shitsofuckit.
Even so, he wrapped an arm loosely about my waist as he flipped open his phone with his thumb, put it to his ear and muttered, “Yeah?”
I turned to face his chest and put my forehead there so I felt his body give a smal jerk as his fingers flexed into my hip with such strength, it caused a little bit of pain.
My head snapped back. I saw his jaw was clenched and I felt a coldness start seeping through my veins.
“I’l be there in ten,” he clipped into the phone, flipped it shut and without hesitation let me go, on the move to something urgent.
I turned to watch him nab his belt and boots, the oxygen burning in my lungs.
“What’s going on?” I asked, scared shitless whatever it was was about the Rock Chicks.
He dumped his boots on the edge of the platform and started to slide his belt through the loops.
Then his eyes came to me.
“Carter branched out,” Mace’s voice was hard. “With the Rock Chicks protected, this morning he went after Shirleen.”
I took a step back as if he’d dealt me a physical blow.
Effing hel .
Chapter Eighteen
La La La
Stella
Mace took off after he put a gentle fist under my chin, tilted my face to his and brushed his mouth on mine, muttering a promise that he’d let me know as soon as he knew anything.
He cal ed twenty minutes later (a long twenty minutes) to tel me a squad car with two uniformed officers would be at my house to pick me up “in five”. He also told me I was not to let the cops in unless they said the code words. As he was talking, I heard angry, male shouting in the background but Mace disconnected without giving me an update.
When my buzzer went, I saw a uniform on the video display who showed his badge and said, “Hunky dory.” At that, Juno and I headed out.
The officers balked at Juno taking a ride in the squad car but I held my ground and since that ground was outside and exposed, Juno went with me to Nightingale Investigations.
No way in hel I was leaving my dog behind.
If Sidney Carter was branching out, how soon would it be before he went after pets?
Even if my luck had started to turn, I was taking no chances.
The not-very-informative officers didn’t update me about Shirleen either except to say they were stil sorting things out “at the scene”.
The only scenes that involved my friends that I liked were the ones we created ourselves (and, for your information, I didn’t like those much either).
The officers escorted me to the outer office door of Nightingale Investigations. We were greeted by a silent, tight-faced, angry-looking Jack (and an angry Jack scared me enough to stay silent too), who took over, walking Juno and me to the down room.