by Remy Richard
Besides, he had pulled some strings again and checked out a laptop with a mug shot database loaded into it. Apparently, law enforcement used the device when they had victims who were confined to the hospital after attacks or for witnesses under protection. It wasn’t the most up-to-date system, but it would do the job. Especially for such a long shot as Sabrina looking through the thousands of pictures in the database for four random matches.
Holden considered it more of a way to keep Sabrina close and occupied rather than an actual strategy for identifying the men who wanted to harm Lila.
He refused to look too closely at why he wanted to keep Sabrina close. And he damn sure wouldn’t be involved in any more conversations with Sam, Dylan or Conner about his motives.
And just like everything else he was doing these days, he didn’t want to examine why he was quietly opening Sabrina’s door to get her and bring her to the front room. To introduce her to Dylan.
Lila hadn’t yet made an appearance and according to Sam, she was planning on pouting in her room on the second floor all day. Which suited Holden just fine. He would go up and check on her later.
When he eased the door open, he once again hit the glass of water that she had placed there with a small thump. Nonetheless the noise was enough to wake Sabrina. The slowness with which she came awake was a testament to just how tired she was.
He smiled at her from the doorway and pushed the knocked over glass out of his way. Good thing she only filled it with water or his carpet would be taking a beating by now.
As he moved closer, he could see that she was fighting against falling back asleep so he kept his voice at a low pitch. “Hey, there. Awake yet?”
She shook her head no, strands of moonbeam-colored hair snagging on the cotton pillowcase. He forced himself to resist tucking a strand of it behind her ear.
“My friend Dylan is here, and he brought some pictures for you to look at.”
She looked at him quizzically before puzzling it out. “Your friend who helped you get my mug shots.”
“Yes. I’d like to introduce you to him and he can show you how to help find your old accomplices.” He lowered himself until he was perched on the side of the mattress. She rolled toward him as his weight depressed one side and he relished the warm feel of her hip against his. Neither of them tried to move away.
“I guess I could do that,” she said slowly. Holden knew it wasn’t much but he was glad to be able to put to rest some of her worry that he was hiding her away from everyone. He still wouldn’t chance letting her close to Lila, but surely she understood his reasoning.
While he had her soft with sleep and compliant, he couldn’t resist asking one question. “What’s the deal with the water glass in front of the door?”
He could virtually see the wheels turning in her head as she considered whether answering could hurt her. Finally she responded, “You walk really softly for such a big guy. You startled me the first couple of times you came in here and I don’t like to be taken by surprise.”
“I suppose you would call it an occupational hazard.”
She smiled back at him. “Yes. The water in the glass shows the vibrations through the floor from your steps. I can tell you’re coming much sooner than if I were just listening for it.”
“Very interesting.” He tapped her nose until she wrinkled it. “Ingenious actually.”
He stood and gestured toward the door. “Would you like a few minutes to yourself or do you want to come meet Dylan now?”
She rolled off of the bed and into a standing position, running her hands through her hair. “I’ve been wearing these clothes for two days now. Freshening up may be an optimistic goal.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see what we can do to get you something clean. After you.”
She held her back straight as she walked in front of him all the way to the family room. He took it as a point of pride that he only stared at her ass half of the way there.
Brazenly, she entered the room and plopped down in an overstuffed armchair across from where Dylan and Sam were setting up the laptop. No hesitation at the doorway for this girl. Holden smiled.
She added a cheery wave and a “hello” to complete the picture of someone sure of her welcome. He wondered if he was the only one who could tell that it was faked.
True to what he expected, Dylan stood up and offered his hand to Sabrina. “Nice to meet you. I’m Dylan Paulson.”
“Hi, Dylan.” She shook his hand firmly and gave him a charming smile.
“This is where you’re supposed to tell me your name,” Dylan instructed.
“I’m Sabrina Kelly.”
“Want to try again?”
She pretended to think about it. “Hmmm no, I think I’ll stick with that answer.”
Dylan shrugged. “Suit yourself. Come over here and take a look at the setup we have for you.”
Obligingly she followed him to the work table they’d set up for her. Dylan sat her in a chair in front of the computer and pulled up another chair beside her. He began to go over the setup. “So this is a database of mug shots that the state of Oregon has in its files. You use this button to click through them, ten at the time, until you find the ones you want. You can use this search bar to filter by any criteria. Alias, distinguishing features, ethnicity, etc. Sounds simple, right?”
“Sure,” she said. “Simple yet incredibly time consuming.”
Dylan gave her his most charming smile. “It sure is. Why don’t you just tell us who we’re looking for and we’ll be done in a flash.”
She laughed at him outright. “Trust me, if I knew, I would tell you. Then you could let me go and I could get started putting distance between me and what are sure to be some very angry, very dangerous, men.”
Dylan held up his hands in mock surrender. “All right then, get to searching.”
Sabrina turned away from him and began idly clicking through the pages, her eyes scanning quickly before moving on to the next. “Out of curiosity, Dylan, how did you get your hands on such fine equipment?”
Dylan threw a glance at Holden, unsure of how much to say. Holden stepped in to answer. “Dylan works in the justice department. Low level stuff but a very good contact to have.”
Holden laughed as Dylan looked at him again, this time with a glare that promised retribution. As the Assistant District Attorney and a rising star, he wasn’t used to being called a low level employee.
“Just keep clicking there and don’t worry about it,” Sam chimed in.
“Fine, fine. Just trying to make small talk,” she groused.
A noise from the foyer alerted the men that Lila was on her way down the stairs. Without a word, Sam put the papers he had been reading down and strolled out of the room. Lila started in as soon as she saw him but their voices quickly receded down the hallway.
Sabrina rolled her eyes in Holden’s direction and then turned to face Dylan. “Holden has decided that I’m a bad influence on Lila so he’s keeping us separated.”
She peeked over to see his response, but Holden quickly arranged his features into a bored mask.
“It seems like there’s not much to protect her from. I mean, how dangerous can you really be since we caught you and all?” Dylan asked prosaically.
“This again! I can’t believe that you’re all so cavalier about having a known con artist in your midst,”she said with a frustrated laugh.
“Again, if you’re a known con artist, can you really be that good?” Dylan kept a straight face, but Holden knew he was just trying to goad Sabrina. She was fun to goad.
Rather than getting angry she stopped on a picture and let out a gasp.
Holden was up and out of chair in a flash. “What? Did you find one of them?”
“No. No. Just a trick of the light off the screen.” Sabrina waved them away but Dylan and Holden exchanged a look. It was clear that she had seen someone that she knew. Holden was pretty sure she would have said if it was one of her accomplices though.
Holden studied her face in the light from the window and saw that she was pale. “What’s wrong Sabrina?” he asked gently.
She shook her head. “Nothing. I just…I can’t.”
Dylan moved closer and tried to see the page she was viewing. “Did you see someone else you recognized?”
Sabrina closed the lid on the laptop and turned to face him. “Maybe. But I’m only revealing information as pertains to this case, so move along.”
Holden could see the excitement on Dylan’s face. He loved a good negotiation, and he was ready to start up with Sabrina. Holden shook his head and moved back to his desk, ready to start on the algorithm again now that everyone was settled.
Dylan took the seat next to her again. “Yeah, but there are positives to helping close other cases.”
“Oh, yeah. Name one,” she challenged.
“Well, it’s your civic duty,” Dylan began.
The rest of his reasoning was cut off by Sabrina’s hysterical laughter.
“Okay, how’s this for a more mercenary reason. If you help me close some open cases, then I can help you get rid of some of these persons of interest designations.”
Sabrina immediately stopped laughing. “How are you going to do that, low level employee that you are?”
He was sure Dylan was glaring at him but Holden kept his eyes on his own screen and an intent ear on the conversation.
“Holden may have downplayed my status a little.”
“How much?”
“What do you mean how much?”
“Well, are you a janitor with keys and sticky fingers or are you…the district attorney?” Sabrina asked, taking a stab at it.
“Assistant District Attorney,” Dylan admitted proudly.
“Ahhh so you have some major juice,” Sabrina said, her voice infused with awe. Holden had to look up at that. As far as he knew, awe wasn’t really part of her repertoire. What was she up to?
“So what’s the deal here?” she asked innocently.
“You tell me everything you know about the crimes of the people you recognize in the database. Names, aliases, dates, particulars, everything. I’ll give you immunity on everything you took part in and take care of your other problems if they were committed in Portland.”
Sabrina rolled a shoulder. “Yeah, but then I’m a snitch. So great, I’m a snitch with no record but no one will ever work with me again. Not to mention that some of them would want to come after me for revenge.”
“We won’t let them. They’ll be in jail. Plus we’ll move you someplace else. Put you on the straight and narrow.”
Holden’s first instinct was to insist that this was not going to happen, but something in Sabrina’s face stopped him from speaking. Her smile wasn’t happy. It was smug.
She leaned in close to Dylan. “Still think I’m not a good con?”
Dylan pulled away quickly, confusion written all over his face.
Sabrina burst into laughter. “You may just be the easiest mark I’ve ever taken, by the way. The Captain America thing you’ve got going is just too easy to take advantage of.”
Holden let himself smile as Dylan spluttered. “How exactly do you think you conned me? If the information turns out to be false, the deal doesn’t exist.”
Sabrina just smiled at him. “Oh, the information’s true. I would give you just enough that you could verify it and then insist on my records being expunged first as a show of good faith. We cons tell the mark that’s called earnest money. I may have even given you one or two petty guys. Gained your trust.”
“So what’s to stop me from changing the records right back when I’m done getting information? How do you know I wasn’t conning you?” Dylan countered.
“Well, the fact that you’re currently complicit in a felony comes to mind. I’m being held here against my will and you’re colluding in it. That’s what we call mutually assured destruction.” Sabrina gave him a toothy grin. “Check and mate. Tell everyone you know. I’m so sick of hearing this ‘you’re not good because we caught you crap’. I’ve got moves you’ve never even dreamt of.”
***
Sabrina could see Holden grinning at her out of the corner of her eye. Dylan wasn’t as happy, but she could see the beginning of a smile forming on his lips.
Dylan pointed at her. “Just keep your eyes on that screen before I haul you into central booking myself.”
Sabrina made a motion of zipping her lips and turned back to face the computer screen. She slowly flipped through the pictures while the two men conversed and then fell silent as they each worked on their own projects.
After the one hundredth page of pictures, Sabrina sighed and propped her chin up on her hand. She’d only noticed the beautiful gardens in all of her reconnaissance of Holden’s home as good cover. Now she recognized them as the art they were. She loved summer in Portland. Roses bloomed all over the back yard, draping over a pergola, climbing the walls of the shed and bordering every pathway. Sabrina wished that she could walk through the tangle of flowers but she knew that there was no way Holden would let her outside. She thought he was coming to trust her, but even asking the question would make her motives seem suspect.
Her attention was diverted from the garden by Dylan’s words of farewell. He’d begun packing up his stuff and was going into his office for a couple of hours to check in. She gave him a sunny goodbye and a genuine smile. He wasn’t too bad, for a lawyer.
“And then there were two,” Holden intoned in a mock ominous voice. “Finding any friends in those pictures over there?”
Sabrina pushed her chair back from the table and kicked her legs out straight to stretch. “Honestly, at this point my eyes are so glazed over I doubt I could even tell.”
“Why don’t you take a break?” he asked in concern.
“Are you going to send me back to my cell for that break?” she asked with a smile.
“Did you have something else in mind?”
“Just let me stay here with you. I promise to stay quiet and let you do your work. I’ll just stay over here and keep to myself.” She made her eyes wide and as innocent as possible.
He smiled back at her indulgently. “Well, that’s a deal I can’t refuse.”
Sabrina curled up in her chair and reached forward to click the button to scroll more pictures. Ten pictures later her head was lilting forward and she was drowsing. Two minutes after that and she was dead asleep.
What felt like minutes later but was clearly hours based on the fact that the room was completely dark, Sabrina woke up abruptly.
She shook her head to clear the last bit of dreams and looked around to see what had woken her up. All she saw was Holden, staring thoughtfully at the screen in front of him. He must have put a blanket over her at some point because she was warm and curled in her armchair.
She leaned her head back against the cushions and smiled a little. Holden looked so serious and involved with his work. The only sound in the room was the lazy clicking of the ceiling fan as it turned overhead and the pitter patter of his keyboard.
She watched him for several minutes before he glanced up and saw that she was awake. “You back with me?”
“Yeah, sorry I conked out on you.” She smiled and stretched her arms over her head. “Did you work the whole time I was asleep?”
He nodded, closing the lid on his laptop so that he could see her more clearly. “I’m so close I can taste it. I should be finished any day now.”
She shook her head in admiration. “How do you keep working with hardly any sleep? I think you only got three hours last night.”
He shrugged and rolled his head around his shoulders to loosen the muscles. “Finishing the program and getting it to Organotech is the easiest and best way to get these guys off my back. The sooner it’s done, the sooner we’re all safe. Lila, you, me, Sam, everyone.”
Sabrina smiled at him, feeling a warm blush staining her cheeks. “I’m just happy to make the short list.”
“I know you said you aren’t a victim, but I can’t help but feel that while you’re in my house, you’re my responsibility.”
She nodded. “That’s good to know, considering that you won’t exactly let me leave your house.”
Holden sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “It won’t be forever and besides, I don’t think you’ve had a terrible time.” He left his chair and walked around the desk, heading for her. “In fact, I think we’re kind of growing on you.”
He leaned one hand against the back of her chair, and she struggled not to arch closer to him. The warm scent of his soap filled her lungs, and she tried in vain to think of something that would deter him. Something that would get him to move back so that she could resume normal brain function.
But everything she said would be a lie because he was right. He was growing on her.
She opened her mouth, to say what she wasn’t sure, when a crash and the piercing sound of the house alarm filled the previously calm night.
Chapter Eight
Before Sabrina could even really process what was happening, she felt herself being pulled out of the arm chair and onto the floor with Holden. He hovered over her protectively while peering through the darkness to the doorway.
“What’s going on?” she asked over the sound of the alarm.
“I think your friends are getting a little impatient,” he half-yelled back.
Oh hell. Stupid was more like it. The only reasons to break in to a home when people were actually there were reasons she didn’t want to think about. She guessed that they had figured out that Lila had been brought to stay at Holden’s. Or they just decided to skip the subterfuge and take Holden himself.
Sabrina tightened her grip on his hand and sat up so she could peer through the darkness as well, alert for any sound or movement.
With a firm pull, Holden got her up and moving around the desk so that he could use his laptop. He let go of her hand to save the work he had completed and log into the video surveillance feed of the house. Several screenshots came up and they could see the interior of what appeared to be every room in the house. Sabrina watched with wide eyes as two men came in through a window at the back of the house and opened the back door to let in another two men.