* * * * *
5:22 – That Evening
Nick’s phone ringing, he took the call and put it to his ear.
“Sebring.”
“She’s got a tail on her,” Jed, the man he set on Liv that day, said. “Dude followed her from office to home. He’s hangin’ around, watchin’ her house.”
“He make you?” Nick asked.
“No,” he answered. “But he doesn’t look like he’s leaving.”
“Fuck,” Nick muttered, that itch creeping up his neck again, his mind hoping that this was what Liv told him it was, standard procedure. His bugs being pulled, his gut was telling him something else. Then to Jed, louder, “Thanks, man. Stick around, yeah?”
“You got it.”
Nick hung up then reengaged, calling Olivia.
“Hey, honey,” she answered.
“You had a tail. He’s watching your house.”
She didn’t reply for several moments before he heard a low, “Damn,” and he knew she’d gone to a window and tagged her watcher.
“I’m comin’ to you,” he said.
Her tone was sharp when she started, “Sebring—”
“He won’t see me,” he assured.
“Are you positive you can pull that off?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
Again, she didn’t reply for another several moments before, “I’ll unlock the doors to the pool. Do you think they know I’m not around and that’s why I have someone on me?”
“No clue, babe. But we’ll keep better track of shit from here on out.”
And they sure as fuck would.
“Right,” she replied.
“I got some things to do at the office. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way. Also still got my man on you, he’s watchin’ your watcher. That situation changes, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, Nick.”
“Later, Liv.”
“’Bye, sweetheart.”
They hung up. He did the things he had to do, texted her, left the office and parked on the street three blocks from her place. He approached from the alley, went in through her back gate (doing it making a mental note to buy a lock for it) and entered the house through a side French door by her pool.
She was standing at the end of the hall, watching him approach.
He saw her standing there but mostly he was taking in her place as he approached.
He got within four feet—and it took him a while to do that—when he said, “Tell Jeeves I’ll take my whisky now.”