Page 64 of Operation Protector
“I know,” she said again. “Go. I’ll let you know when they’ve arrived, then try and make contact with her. Say I want to show her the greenhouse I had put up today.”
He wanted to grab her, to kiss her again, but he already knew if he did, time would spin out of control and he’d seriously risk being caught.
He got himself turned around a bit taking the unfamiliar back roads, and had to pull over to check a map on his phone and straighten himself out.
That’s not the only thing you need to straighten out. Just because she makes you feel things you’ve never felt, solid, real, glorious things rather than the ridiculous fantasies your mind has spun about what life with Liz would be like, it doesn’tchange the main priority. Grace. Forever and always, it has to be Grace.
Once he was sure of his route again, he pulled back onto the road. And knew how close they’d cut it when a moment later a text came in from Hayley, saying Liz’s car had just gone past Foxworth headquarters. He saw it was cc’d to Ali, so she’d know they were nearly there.
And just as he was pulling into the Foxworth parking area, another text came in.
They’re here. Grace looks fine, just cranky. The mother looks more smug than usual, so it must have gone well for her.
He couldn’t help it, he smiled at how easily she used Grace’s term for Liz. And that she had already realized smugness was Liz’s normal expression.
Just as he got inside, using Cutter’s door opener, he saw Hayley jump to her feet over at one of the desks.
“Sorry. I should have knocked.”
“No,” she said, with a smile now, “it’s just that when I heard the click of the opener my brain said Cutter. I miss that rascal.”
He’d been so glad the dog was at Ali’s to help he hadn’t really thought about that part. “I’m sorry about that, too.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s his call. He knows where he needs to be. And I’ll tell you, he wouldn’t leave even if we told him to, not if he’s made up his mind.”
“He’s…a different sort of dog.”
Hayley laughed then. “The tales I could tell you…”
At his request, since he seriously needed the distraction, they settled on the couch and she told him a few of those Cutter tales, until he was shaking his head in amazement.
“Are you sure he’s just a dog?”
“Not at all,” Hayley said blithely. “The only thing I’m sure of is that my whole life changed for the better the moment he wandered into it.”
“You sure he just wandered in?”
That made her laugh. “Actually, no, not at all.” Then sounding businesslike now, she gestured him over to the desk she’d been at when he’d come in. “I need you to take a look at some video, see who you might recognize.”
When he realized it was security video from the front doors of the hotel Liz had dragged Grace to today, he blinked and stared at Hayley.
“I’m not surprised anymore that you were able to get it, but this fast? Somebody there must owe you big-time.”
“A life or two, maybe,” she joked. At least, he thought she was joking, but then this was Foxworth, so maybe not.
He settled in to watch, with Hayley pulling over another desk chair to sit and take notes.
“I probably won’t be much help,” he warned her. “It’s been a long time, and I always felt so out of place at the few of these things I went to with her I didn’t pay much attention to anything except where to hide, and when I could get out of there.”
“Not expecting a roll call,” she assured him. “Just a name, first only if that’s all you have, a position, what deals they might be involved in, what she’s said about any of them, anything at all.”
She started the video rolling. He stared at the screen, and actually surprised himself a little, although the memories being stirred up weren’t pleasant.
“That’s Ben Owen. Runs a local ISP. That guy’s named Conway, a local developer, used to be competition, so kind of odd he’s there. I think those two are county officials, but I’m not sure. That’s Chuck Jeffries, her father’s right-hand guy…almost as ruthless. And there’s her father.”
“Is that Liz’s mother?” Hayley asked, indicating the blonde on Hollen’s arm.
“Yeah.” He left it at that and kept watching. Until he realized Hayley was now watching him, not the video. And then she reached out to hit the pause button.
