“If you think of anything else, you’ll call me?” The tall dark brown-haired detective asked as he loomed in front of me while I sat at the small table in the bakery.
This space was warm and inviting, the smell of fresh cookies baking thick in the air as sunlight streamed through the large window, but I didn’t notice any of it. My brain was processing at a hundred times slower than normal. Meaning I was barely processing anything. It was a struggle to remember to breathe in and out just so I didn’t die.
Detective Anderson placed a small notebook he’d been taking notes on in the pocket of his trench coat. I nodded, agreeing to call him if I remembered anything but knowing I lied.
My coffee had grown cold, but I sipped it, needing something to occupy my hands and brain so I didn’t stand up and scream.
The detective, who under other circumstances I might’ve found attractive, laid a hand on my shoulder, gave it a little squeeze, and then he was gone. I was alone for only fifteen seconds before Corbin kicked out the chair on the other side of my small round table and sat.
We spent another fifteen seconds staring at one another, and then as if I just remembered we survived a drive-by shooting my eyes widened impeccably large.
I scanned the bakery, ensuring the detective left before I asked Corbin my next question. All the police stood across the road canvassing the area around the bed-and-breakfast so we were safe.
I leaned across the table so only Corbin heard me. “Why did you tell me to lie to the police?”
The gunfire had barely stopped, and I hovered on the verge of a panic attack when a second set of sirens blasted down the road. Corbin pulled me to him even tighter and whispered in my ear to tell the police I did not know what happened.
Was a random drive-by shooting so commonplace in Pelican Bay that the police didn’t ask questions? I tried to argue, but he placed his finger over my lips and shook his head.
I also didn’t miss the way he gave the pawn chess piece to Drake and how he hadn’t shown it to the detective or any of the officers.
The strangest thing I had trouble comprehending was why I listened to him. I barely knew Corbin, and he had only agreed to look at the thumb drive. Yet when he told me to lie to an officer… I did. Why wouldn’t I tell the police?
Corbin placed his elbows on the table and met me halfway so our lips were an inch apart. Either of us could’ve easily stretched, and we’d be kissing. If I wasn’t still so close to a panic attack, I may have been more concerned with it. Right then, I had too much focus on controlling my breathing.
“I told you, the Grandmaster’s ties run deep. We have no idea who to trust right now.”
Clearly, I knew who to trust. “They are the police.”
You trusted the police.
Of all the people in all the world, you trusted them. Police saved people. I should’ve run right to the local police in Bangor after Sean dropped off the thumb drive. Then everything would be different.
Police were the good guys, but from the way Corbin laughed—a loud throaty sound, which made him throw his head back as if I’d uttered the most ridiculous comment he’d heard in his entire life—he didn’t agree. I wanted to be irritated because I’m sure those laughs were at me, but from my angle I made out a small dimple in one of his cheeks.
It distracted me.
He was too cute, and I shouldn’t have even noticed. My life was in a downward spiral. I had no business looking at the man and admiring his cheekbones. Besides, he was a jerk. Here I was, a woman on the run and scared for my life, and he’d sent me away. Didn’t he have any scruples? Did he only care about money?
It definitely wasn’t the right time to find myself turned on.
Once Corbin finally settled, I crossed my hands over the table and laid my head on top of them. “How did this become my life?” I asked nobody in particular.
Exhaustion hit me. Even though I’d only been up a few hours, I wanted to curl into bed and have a good cry. For like the next week. A month. You can’t tell how long these things needed until you got started.
With my distraction, Corbin reached out and stole the second cookie off my small saucer. I whipped my head up and went to steal it back from him, but he shoved the entire thing in his mouth and ate it in two chews. He didn’t even smile. He had no time to enjoy it. He ate the cookie almost like he was in pain. His frown had grown by the time he finished.
I needed that cookie and from the looks of it, I would’ve enjoyed it a hell of a lot more.
After he swallowed, he stole my coffee and took a drink, sticking his tongue out and sputtering when he realized how cold I’d let it get.
“What I can’t figure out is how they knew you had the thumb drive on you or where you were.”
Shit.
I studied the display case full of cookies and pastries.
I rubbed my eye.