Page 77 of Crash Course
In an instant, Cruz was in motion, grabbing her briefcase and reaching for her purse on the front seat.
"Whoa," she said. "What . . . what are you doing?"
"Put that bullet in the envelope."
Yes. Good idea. Dammit. She, of all people, should have known better than to touch it. They might have gotten fingerprints or DNA from it. She eased the casing into the envelope being careful to only touch the edges, before placing the envelope in the outer zipper pocket of the briefcase. Her prints would be on it, but hopefully they’d find others too.
Cruz grabbed her hand, tugging her behind him.
"Get away from the car," he said. "You’re coming with me."
Wait. What?"I am?"
"Yes. We’re calling Ash. I want someone to check this car. Make sure nobody fucked with it."
Cilla nearly laughed. "Cruz, there are security cameras. No one is that dumb."
"They were dumb enough to leave this envelope in full view of those cameras. In fact, whereisthe security office?"
This, she wasn’t sure of. For a woman who walked to her car alone, sometimes late at night, it was something she should know. "I have an office number to call."
"You do that while I track down Ash. Tell them we need to see footage of this area. We’re gonna find this fucker."
"Hey, you’re moving way too fast here."
"Okay," he said. "Without looking at security video, how sure are you that someone hasn’t messed with your car?"
Huh. Had her there. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to at least look. She dug out her phone, checked her contact list for the office that charged her credit card every month.
Could someone have seriously sabotaged her car? In broad daylight? No. That’d be ridiculous. Completely.
They were being paranoid.Thanks, Cruz.
"It’s me," Cruz said into his phone. "Call me. ASAP."
Cilla, too, wound up in voice mail. She left a message, then disconnected.
"Holding pattern," she said.
"Me too. Ash is good, though. He’ll call back fast. We’ll get the car checked out, have him run prints on the bullet, and then you’ll come home with me."
"Pardon?"
"Until we figure this out, you shouldn’t be alone."
Now, she full-on laughed. "One second, here. When did I put you in charge of my life?"
He gave her a bored, are-you-nuts? look. "You didn’t. I’m suggesting you not be alone. In fact, you have court in Asheville tomorrow. Steele Ridge is much closer." He rolled his hand. "Follow my logic. We get the feds over here to check your car, we drive to Steele Ridge, and you stay in one of our guest suites. Much shorter drive to court in the morning. By then, you should hopefully have security video and we find this fucker. Solid plan right there."
Bastard.
He’d totally cornered her. She hated him for that. Hated that she couldn’t come up with one argument.
Shoot.
"Tell me," he said, "it doesn’t make sense. I dare you."
At that, she bared her teeth. And growled. "You’re a pain in the ass sometimes."
