He didn’t see that kind of relationship ever working for him. Hell, if Gabby ever had any impulsive urge that put her in danger, he didn’t know how he would keep himself from finding the nearest tower to lock her in.
When did this start to be about Gabby? Fuck, who was he kidding? Everything was about Gabby. He might not want things to progress any further with them, but every time she was around, he lost all semblance of reason. How was he ever going to expect her to let go of him if he couldn’t let go of her?
The thoughts had to be pushed to the back as he and Melissa entered the courthouse. The main entrance had a security check and metal detectors they had to get through. The earpieces, though they had metal in them, were high-tech enough to get in undetected. The USB drive he needed was in his jacket pocket, so he took the jacket off and kept a close eye on it as he made his way through the detectors. Cell phones weren’t allowed either, but Melissa had a fake lipstick in her purse that was outfitted with a button that would cause interference with the earpiece.
So if someone was approaching, she might not be able to give him any details, but the ear-piercing screech would make sure he got the hell out of Dodge.
Toni had been particularly entertained when she’d tested it out on him that morning. Gage had been nowhere in sight. Hunter wasn’t sure whether something had happened between him and Melissa after she got in, but he knew better than to ask about it. If Toni were worried, she would’ve told Hunter. At least he hoped she would.
He and Melissa got through security easy enough, and she walked toward the elevator while he went for the stairs. If things did go south, he wanted to make sure Melissa was distanced from all of this.
Once he was in the stairwell, he said softly, “Heading to the third floor now.” They’d gone over the floor plan and located Judge Cooke’s office. In terms of jobs, this was easy. It wasn’t like an upscale Manhattan courthouse with security on every corner and suspicious minds all around. This was a small town with small stakes.
Once he reached the door to the third story, he stepped out and took in everyone in his peripheral while appearing to look uninterested in everything. Melissa sat at a bench across from the judge’s office, flipping through a magazine, but looked much less casual than she should’ve. If she knew how little danger she was in she’d probably be fine, but Melissa wasn’t used to working jobs in any capacity, even the low-stake ones.
When she noticed him approaching, she looked over for way too long before realizing she was doing it and physically jumping when she went back to pretending she was looking at her magazine.
“Everything’s all right, Mel,” he said soft enough so no one around him would hear but the mic would pick it up.
“What’s wrong?” asked Gabby immediately.
Was his simple English that hard to understand?
“Let the man work,” said Toni with an exasperated voice.
Melissa smiled at the banter and finally looked natural. Once he reached the office, he wanted to look left and right to make sure that no one was looking, but that would get too much attention. So instead he walked right up to the door and gave the handle a tug. Of course it was locked because if it wasn’t, this easy job would be too easy. He plucked one of his lock picking tools out from his wrist and slid it into the lock. He closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling every nook and cranny of the lock until the tools hit just the right spot and he was able to slip the door open.
Boom.
He entered the office and shut the door behind him. “I’m in,” he said as he immediately walked over to the computer. He flipped open the lid and powered it on, waiting for it to power up. “The computer is starting up,” he said to Toni, Melissa, and Gabby. “Hopefully I’ll be out of here in a few seconds.”
“Thank God,” said Gabby. “Hurry.”
“Wait,” said Melissa. “Someone’s here.”
“What?” said Toni and Gabby at the same time.
“A few cops are coming right this way.”
“Get up and walk calmly away,” ordered Hart.
“What about Hunter?” asked Gabby.
“I’m fine,” he said calmly. “The computer is at the password screen.”
“Great,” said Toni. “Push the lid most of the way down, but not all the way. I’m going to work on getting past the password now. Take care of yourself, Hunter.”
“Get out of there,” said Gabby in a frantic voice. “Can you get out a window?”
It didn’t take long to figure out that the windows didn’t open up in the office. He looked down at the straight drop and figured that was a blessing. He could probably survive the fall considering the third floor wasn’t too high, but it would be a hard enough fall that even if he landed the perfect way, he could still break something. However, he stared at the wood panels of the office and figured that was his best bet. He found the wood panel that opened to a closet and stepped inside, pulling it shut behind almost all the way but leaving it open a crack. Just then, he heard the door to the office creak open and multiple sets of footsteps come inside.
Hunter held his breath as the footsteps grew closer.
“Are you okay?” asked Gabby. “Do we need to send in backup?”
“He can’t talk,” said Melissa. “They’re in the room with him. But I don’t hear fighting so I assume that’s a good sign?”
The questioning note in her voice probably didn’t make Gabby feel better.
“It’s fine,” said Toni. “Hunter’s been in worse situations than this. Since the judge was murdered, it’s not out of the question that the police would want to search the office.”
“But they’re going to find your virus stick,” warned Gabby.
“It’s not crazy that the judge left a USB stick in his computer,” said Toni calmly. “And even if they take it, it won’t trace back to me. It’s okay.”
Even though Hunter believed every word she said, his instinctive adrenaline was kicking in. He balled his hands into fists and closed his eyes and tried to tune out the conversation as he focused on what the newcomers were doing.
“Thanks,” said one man to another. “We shouldn’t be here long.”
“Are you aware of any enemies Judge Cooke had?” asked a second man.
From the number of footsteps, Hunter was guessing there were two police officers looking into the murder and one man from the courthouse who had led them here.
“I mean.... He was a judge. He sent people to prison all the time,” said the court employee.
“We’re looking into that possibility. But no one case stood out to you? He hasn’t mentioned concern about one of those cases?”
“He wasn’t a talker, if you know what I mean. He’d hang up the robe and either stick in his office or go home. I don’t want to sound like a dick, but I haven’t seen anyone crying over this.”
“Thanks for your help. If you can think of anything else, please give me a call. You haven’t seen anyone visiting him who didn’t seem to belong? Maybe family members or girlfriends? The man was single, right?”
“I, now I don’t know this for sure or anything, but these are rumors. But he’s kind of burned out on traditional love since the divorces. From what I hear, he’s more into the kind of love you pay for. But, like I said, I don’t know any of this. Just.... Okay, I’ll stop rambling.”
The guy left and Hunter knew he was in a bad position. If they were looking around for anything that could help find the judge’s murderer, they’d be stupid not to look in the closet. He looked around for anything he might be able to hide behind, but all of the coats that were here were too short to hide his bulk.
“Toni, I might need a distraction here,” he said as softly as possible.
“I’m on it,” said Hart.
Hunter had to assume that Toni was hard at work on getting into the judge’s work computer and that was why she couldn’t do anything. But for Hart to get into the building, he’d have to first go through security, so any help that was
coming would be a few minutes away.
“What’s that?” asked one of the officers.
“What’s what?” asked the other one.
“The thing in the computer. We should bag it and take it with us.”
Fuck. If Toni hadn’t cracked it yet, then that would throw the entire thing out the window. He wasn’t worried about getting arrested, but he was damn worried about not getting closer to whoever tried to kill Gabby.
He took a jacket off the rack and threw it on the ground. The light clattering of the metal hanger on the wooden closet seemed to boom off the walls.
“What the fuck?” asked one of the officers.
“We have maybe ten seconds,” he said as he heard the steps approaching.
“Get ready,” said Hart, his breaths heavy as though he were running.
Just as he heard steps right outside the door, the blaring of an alarm cut through the tense silence and seemed to blow it to pieces. Hunter cringed because the speaker was right behind his head.
“For fuck’s sake,” one of the cops muttered.
A few seconds later, Melissa said into the mic, “They’re gone. Get out of there, Hunter.”
He didn’t waste any time as he rushed out of the closet and down the hall. Even though he wanted to keep his distance from Melissa, her face had gone pale and he couldn’t help but take her arm, lead her down the stairs and out the front door of the courthouse.
Before he even got to the car he’d driven separately in, he saw Gabby running from a nondescript white van and right for him. Before he could even warn her to keep a lower profile, she was throwing herself in his arms and hugging him so tightly he could hardly breathe. “I thought you said that was going to be easy,” she yelled, hurting his ears more than the fire alarm did.
“That was easy,” he grunted past her punishing grip as he pulled her off him with two hands firmly gripping her waist and set her on the ground. But not too far away because he could still feel the heat of her body.
She glared at him with annoyance. “I think you and I need to have a strong conversation about the meaning of that word.”
He didn’t respond to that, but he hooked an arm around her waist and led her back to the van. It was odd to walk with her like this. He knew he should let her go and give her space, but something about walking with her, moderating his steps to match her smaller gait, just felt right. As if this was the way it was supposed to be.
When they reached the van, Hunter did a particular three-step knock to signal they were there and Toni pulled open the door.
“Good job, Hunter.” She stepped out. “I got into his server and I’m transferring all the good stuff on the hard drive now. We should have more answers soon. Do you two want to take the day off and....”
Her implication was obvious, and he was trying to think of a good way to defuse her when Gabby said, “I was actually thinking about going to Kate’s office.”
“What? Why?” asked Toni.
“Because Kate mentioned yesterday that she told people at the office that I had messaged Hunter. So I figure I’d go and see if anyone seems especially guilty.”
“I’m already looking into the real estate office,” said Toni.
“You talked to them?”
“No. I’m going through phone records, credit card history, and email, though.”
Hunter was used to Toni’s casual violation of privacy, but he studied Gabby’s face carefully to see how shocked she might be at the nonchalant confession.
But Gabby didn’t seem to be flustered at all, instead rolling her eyes. “I really trust your research skills, but whoever might’ve given Hunter and me up almost got me killed. So I want to look into their eyes and see what their honest reaction to seeing me is.”
“I can practically see Hunter vibrating with how much he hates that idea,” said Toni.
Both women turned to look at him, and he found himself wishing he was in the middle of a standoff instead of right here. But he could tell the women weren’t going to let this go until he gave an answer. “I don’t want you putting yourself in danger,” he said to Gabby.
She crossed her arms and tilted her head as she glared at him. “Really? After the stunt you just pulled, you’re giving me that?”
“I’m trained and experienced. You can’t just go off confronting people who want you dead.”
“Psh. It’s not like any of them tried to kill me personally. They hired someone. That makes them cowards who aren’t going to do anything themselves.”
Toni’s face told him exactly what she thought about that, but he didn’t say anything.
“Besides,” continued Gabby, “I’m not going alone. Hunter is going to protect me, isn’t he?”
They didn’t need to wait for him to respond to that. “Always,” he said instinctively.
“Problem solved,” said Gabby confidently. “I’ll go do some interrogations and Hunter will make sure I don’t get into trouble.”
She gave him a wide smile, and he had a feeling that he was the trouble she should be worried about.
Gabby walked down the street with Hunter and something seemed so different. It didn’t feel as if they were two old friends who had reconnected after all these years. She felt as though all eyes were on them. As though everyone knew that she’d just helped him break into a courthouse. Well, maybe she didn’t help, but she’d participated.
It was as if she were walking down the street with a big scarlet A emblazoned across her chest. “Look at me! Look at me! I screwed this tall hunk of a man just last night! And it wasn’t even on a bed!”
But as watched as she felt, every time she glanced around her, she couldn’t find anyone even giving them the time of day.
“Are you okay?” asked Hunter from beside her.
No. She really wasn’t. “I don’t know,” she lied. “I feel paranoid. Like people are seeing right through me.”
“It’s not a bad way to live.”
“Feeling on edge all the time?”
“Being prepared all the time.”
“That just makes me feel more guilty.”
“Why?”
“Because this isn’t the life you should be living. You should be enjoying your life. Not feeling like you need to be prepared for an attack at any given moment.” She tried to imagine what his life would’ve been like if he’d never gotten involved with her family. Would he be like Ryan? Working a nine-to-five job? Maybe he would’ve married a nice girl from a normal, nuclear family. With two point five kids and maybe even a dog. Had she really ruined any chance of his happiness?
“I was destined to be fucked up from birth,” he said as though he’d read her mind and answered her question.
“Don’t say that.”
“I grew up with a dad who viewed me as a punching bag and a mom who wanted to help but figured drinking wine was easier than getting in the way of my dad’s fists. Trust me, working for your dad wasn’t the beginning of my corruption. It was the destination. If it wasn’t your father, I would’ve ended up in the city probably. I consider myself lucky.”
“How can you possibly think what happened to you was lucky?”
“Because I have lived my entire life as a pawn and now I can finally live life as a free man thanks to Hart and Toni. What about you? Do you live your life in self-pity?”
“Don’t turn this on me.”
“It’s all about you, though. You had the misfortune of being sired by your worthless dad. Then you married that son of a bitch who isn’t even worthy of breathing the same air as you. Now you don’t even have a job because you had the misfortune of missing me. Seems like if anyone got dealt the short hand here, it was you.”
She was oddly offended at his words. “No. This didn’t just happen to me. My choices led to this. I chose to marry Ryan. I chose to contact you.”
“Then why would it be any different for me? As much as I’ve spent my life blaming others for every terrible thing I’ve ever done, the fact is that I m
ade those choices. Every life I’ve taken was because I made that choice and pulled the trigger. The fact that you were there doesn’t make you responsible. I own my actions. They’re mine and nobody else’s.”
“Does it make you happy to think that way?” she asked.
“No. It makes me think of all the things I should’ve done differently. But I can’t go back and change my decision. I can move forward and try to be a positive. Working with Toni helps me do that. Be a positive change in the world instead of a negative one.”
Gabby chewed that over and let out a deep breath. “And if you’re dating a small-town florist, you’ll probably never get that chance, will you?”
Hunter didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. They both already knew the answer. Gabby’s chest felt tight, but she kept her emotions under control. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to explain to Hunter why she was crying.
How could this have happened? How could she have fallen in love with someone so impossible? There was no way she would ever be able to make him happy. She couldn’t travel around the world with him and watch him risk his life over and over again. And yet she couldn’t force him to stay here and become domesticated. Hunter wasn’t a house cat. He was a panther. She could maybe feed him and get lucky enough to touch him from time to time, but she couldn’t keep him indoors for her own enjoyment.
Without thinking, she reached out for him, taking his hand in hers. He seemed surprised at the contact but didn’t pull back. Good, because she needed this contact right now.
“So do you have a plan?” he asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“I do,” she said, still biting back her sadness as she strove for normal conversation. “I am Kate’s best friend and they know that. So I’ll use that as my angle. I’ll tell everyone that the very idea that the police ever suspected her of any wrongdoing is preposterous and ask each one to pledge that if necessary they’d support her in court.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Gabby snorted. “I might not be a criminal mastermind like Toni, but I have a few good ideas.”
The Deadly Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 7) Page 11