“We had a lot of traffic, I think Adria might have a sale this week, well except…” her voice trailed off when she remembered the robbery. Had they trashed the house? Was it even sellable at this point? Ethan said they usually didn’t damage anything in the house, but still, it was a crime scene. Would anyone want to buy it now?
“What’s wrong?” Jenny’s face showed concern, but there was something else in her expression too, something Anna couldn’t quite place. Maybe she’d heard the news and was waiting to see if Anna would say anything?
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I think I’m just a little slow today,” Anna said with a laugh.
“Too much weekend. Or maybe I should say, too much Ethan in your weekend?”
“Maybe.” Anna grinned, it wasn’t out of character for her and Jenny to discuss any of this, but after Ethan’s warning, she second guessed everything. “How about you? Did anything come up while I was out?”
“Nope, it was all quiet. I think the weather was just too nice to spend the weekend inside. I hung out with some friends, ate pizza, drank beer, and just chilled. It was good.”
“Sounds like it. Good for you. There’s a lot to be said for relaxing.”
“What kept you at home?” Adria said from the doorway.
“I think that’s my cue, meeting in ten.”
“Thanks.” Was there something off with Jenny today or was it just Anna being “hyper-vigilant” for weirdness? Ethan was going to turn her into a paranoid mess before this was through. “I might have had a house guest,” she said after Jenny closed her office door.
“No way! Ethan stayed over? Hot damn. It’s about time.”
“Actually, he stayed Saturday night too.”
“Holy crap, woman. When you finally give in you really go for it.”
Anna laughed. Yeah, she guessed she did and that part of the weekend was amazing. Then she remembered Ethan and Steele would be trying to get warrants for the phone taps and some of the sunshine of her morning dimmed. “I guess I did or do. Depending on how you look at it,” she said with a forced smile. But Adria was so excited for her Anna didn’t think she noticed. She was going to have to tread carefully today, being extra tired was going to make it more difficult not to slip.
“I want details. I have to live vicariously through you.”
“No, you don’t, you’re just even more stubborn than I am.”
“But Scotty…”
“Don’t use Scotty as an excuse. He’s in junior high now, do you think he wants to have to worry about his mom when he’d rather be hanging with his buds? You’re just scared, and trust me I know all about scared.”
Adria sighed and leaned back in the chair. “Maybe, but…”
“No buts allowed, and I think I found the perfect guy for you.”
“Oh God, no. No blind dates.”
“You’d be missing out if you couldn’t see him. He’s hotter than…”
“Who is?” Ethan said as he opened the door to her office.
“Doesn’t anyone knock anymore? Damn. And none of your business.”
“You must be talking about me then,” he said smugly. Adria laughed.
“I think we need to pick this up later. How about I pick up lunch, and we eat in today?”
Anna glanced at Ethan and saw the slight shake of his head. Damn, he was going to press her to go see the sketch artist. “Umm…”
Ethan cut her off, while she tried to figure out how to respond. “Actually, I called dibs on lunch first thing this morning. But tomorrow she’s all yours.”
“Oh, I see how I rate. Gotcha,” Adria said but couldn’t hold her straight face. “See you at the meeting. Bye, Ethan. Have a nice lunch with my best friend.”
“What’s up? I have a meeting.”
“I wanted to make sure you got in okay.”
“Unless I’m wrong, you have a phone with text messaging that works just fine.” The look on Ethan’s face proved she was right, he had an ulterior motive for being there.
“I was hoping you’d let me talk to your staff at the meeting. Steele and I think that stirring the pot might help trigger a response if one of your employees is involved.”
“That might not be such a bad idea. Does that mean you didn’t get the warrant?”
“We don’t know yet. Oh, and Steele is here too.”
“Is he here for the meeting or to dig up dirt on my employees?”
“Relax, we’re not going to cause trouble—yet. But if something or someone doesn’t seem right all bets are off.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do. We can’t force you to help us, but I’d think you’d want to know as much as we do. Especially if all your people are innocent, then they’re in danger too if it escalates. We’ve been lucky so far that no one’s been hurt or worse.”
She’d been thinking that herself, and he had a point. “Okay. Let’s go, it’s meeting time.”
***
He’d taken a chance showing up, but Ethan hadn’t wanted to give her a chance to say no. After what she’d told him about the guy watching her, he was more convinced than ever that someone in her office was involved. And he wanted to close this case as soon as possible before it got any worse.
When they’d told the LT everything, they’d found out he called the DA himself and asked him to get them a warrant, but he hadn’t lied either. He didn’t know if they’d been successful or not in getting one. Until then, he and Steele were going to work every angle they could. That meant showing up at Anna’s office and hijacking her staff meeting.
They decided Ethan would do the talking and Steele would use his keen sense of observation on everyone in the room, his words not Ethan’s. It was as good a plan as any. When everyone was gathered, he explained about the robberies, and what they needed to do to make sure they stayed safe. They were recommending that no agent go out alone until the culprits were caught.
A low rumbling in the room let him know they didn’t like the idea. He understood they were in competition and worked on commission, but there was money, and there was safety, and most if not all of Anna’s employees were probably innocent. Although, he really liked Hugh Johnson for it, even if he didn’t seem like the brainiac type.
“I’m going to leave our cards at the front desk with Jenny. If any of you see anything suspicious, or you think of anything that can help us try to catch these guys, give either myself or Steele a call. It’s imperative that you all are careful until we catch these guys. So far no one’s been hurt, and we don’t want that to change.”
He leaned against one of the walls as Anna finished her meeting, going over the sales stats and delegating some work. He couldn’t have been happier to hear that either. It meant she was going to ease up, and that was a plus as far as he was concerned.
After the meeting, he and Steele talked to Anna for a bit before they headed back to the station. She’d agreed to come over and work with the sketch artist, he told her she’d be rewarded with another of Dixie’s roast beef sandwiches, and he’d been rewarded with a million-dollar smile. All in all, even though he was worried about her and the case, he couldn’t remember when he’d been happier.
A few hours later she was sitting with the sketch artist at the station. It turned out she remembered more details than he’d expected and the sketch turned out well. Lunch went well until Rob Martin, the assistant DA, showed up with the warrant. Apparently, the judge wanted this cleared up quickly since it was an election year and both he and the DA were up for reelection. Gotta love politics.
Anna wasn’t happy, but she’d accepted that they needed to do anything in their power to solve the case. He reminded her to watch for anything suspicious with any of her employees, not just Hugh or even Adria. They were all suspects until they weren’t at this point. Before she went back to her office, he pulled her into the breakroom.
“I’m really sorry you have to deal with all of this, baby.”
“Me too, but
it’ll work out, right?”
“Of course, we always get our man,” he said with a laugh and false bravado. There wasn’t a lot of high crime in Willow Haven, mostly minor drug busts, stolen cars and shoplifting were the majority of his cases.
She looked tired, and it was his fault, but he wasn’t one bit sorry. Every minute he’d spent loving on her last night had been magic. Which reminded him. “Are we staying at your place again or mine tonight?”
“What?”
“Did you forget what I said last night? I’m not going to leave you alone until we catch this guy or figure out what’s going on.”
“Aren’t you overreacting a bit?”
“Nope, I’m not. Besides, nothing I do to protect you would ever be too much.”
“Damn, you’re tough. Fine. My place is bigger and has a better kitchen, so you come over.”
“You got it. We can go out for dinner, or I can cook.”
“I’ll let you know when I have a better idea how late I’ll have to work tonight.”
“Okay, that works. Text me when you get back to the office.” He slid a finger along her cheek and under her chin, tilting her face up to his to kiss her. He hadn’t intended to do anything but give her a light kiss, but she was a witch, and all it took was one small touch to set him off. Only when Steele came looking for him did he break off the kiss. As he stepped back, he caught the dreamy expression in her molten-chocolate eyes, and he had to hold himself back from going all Tarzan.
“Um, the LT is looking for you,” Steele said after clearing his throat to let them know he was there.
“Okay.”
“I need to get back to the office. I’ll see you later.”
“Don’t forget to let me know you got back.”
“Yes, dad,” Anna replied as she shook her head.
“Bye, Anna.”
“Bye, Steele. Do some real work, will you?”
Chapter Eight
After Anna went back to her office, Ethan and Steele took a ride over to the Eagle Security and Protection Agency. While they were having lunch, Chase sent a text to Steele letting him know they had some information for them.
Ethan had met Chase and some of the other guys from ESP a few times at Steele’s place, but he didn’t know them well, and he’d never been to their offices. But he was impressed when they walked in. It rivaled anything he’d come across at Air Force Command, and the command center was top notch.
The team at ESP were all ex-military, either just retired or disabled. Chase had been trying to get Steele to come on board since he’d come to Florida. Their set up was intriguing, but it didn’t interest Ethan at least not now. He didn’t want to be traveling the globe anymore, he was happy to be stuck in Willow Haven with Anna. Being on assignment who knows where and when was not the life for a married man, and he hoped that would be where his relationship with Anna was headed. Although, unlike the military at least their missions weren’t secret, but they could still be dangerous.
After giving them the tour, they sat down in the command center and Chase’s computer whiz-kid, Rock, went over all the information. Rock was his SEAL name, but he’d kept it unlike most of the others. Steele said Chase’s name was Frost when he was part of the Teams. But Rock, well he looked more like a mountain, tall didn’t sum it up, the man had to be close to seven foot, and looked like he could take down a whole football team by himself. Not a man you wanted to piss off. Looking at him you’d think he was a boxer or something, and to find out that his skills were behind the computer was kind of surprising. Just goes to show you that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
“Apparently, one of her employees—Hugh Johnson—has a gambling problem, one is cheating on his wife, another is mortgaged out the wazoo to put his kids through college, then there’s Adria, I know you were worried about her. She looks pretty clean though, she has her widow pay from the military, but she’s been socking it away for her kid’s education it looks like. She doesn’t have any extra income other than her paycheck. There were a few others with a couple of questionable things in their backgrounds but nothing that would indicate what you’re looking for. I’d say your best bet is the Johnson guy.”
“That’s what we were thinking too. But so far, we don’t have any proof. We finally got a warrant for his phone, but nothing has turned up yet. Did your digging come up with anything else?”
Chase shrugged and nodded to Rock. What had they been holding back? And why?
“It looks like Anna Taggart has been taking out some pretty big withdrawals in cash lately. Not sure what she’s doing with it, but it’s big money. Each time it’s cash and just under the ten grand number that would trigger the feds.”
“What? Who told you to look into Anna?” Ethan looked around the room, and his eyes rested on Steele. Of course. Who else. “Why? You know damn well she’s not a suspect.”
“I know, but while we were looking, I wanted to make sure.”
“What do you mean? I was freakin’ with her during the last breakin.”
“Not really. Remember she got home just after you got the call from LT.”
Shit, Steele was right, but he also knew Anna was clean. He knew it with every fiber of his being. There’s no way she’d be involved in this, there had to be a good explanation for where the money was going. “You still had no right. Or you should have at least told me.”
“I’m sorry. But I knew you’d never go for it, and I had to look out for you.”
“Listen, Ethan, I know you’re not happy about this. But Steele had a point. You can’t just eliminate suspects because your gut tells you to. And no, she doesn’t look good for the robberies, but something is definitely up. What the hell is she doing with all that money? It’s close to one hundred grand, that’s not chump change. Maybe someone’s blackmailing her, or maybe she’s up to something. Either way, I don’t think it hurts to dig a little deeper into her and the rest of the company.”
Pain sliced through Ethan’s head at that thought of invading Anna’s privacy this way, but Chase and Steele had a point. Something was up, and she hadn’t mentioned it at all. No one takes large sums of cash out of the bank the way she has without a good reason. “Go ahead, but keep it quiet. I don’t want her getting wind of this. This is my woman, and I know there’s a good reason for this. We just don’t know what it is yet.”
“I sure hope so.”
So did Ethan. The information on Johnson was good, but Anna? That was a whole other ballgame. No wonder they wanted them to come down to the office to talk about it. He was ever happier that only the four of them knew about the investigation. She’d be mortified if she found out this was going on, and he knew she’d end it. And honestly, could he blame her?
***
It took everything he had not to ask Anna about the money when they got back to her house that evening. He knew there had to be a good explanation, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure it out. But with everything else going on the last thing he wanted to do was confront her about suspicions. She hadn’t even admitted to loving him yet, and for him to accuse her of anything would put an end to it.
It made for strained conversation while they ate the homemade pizza he’d prepared. Working the dough helped drive out some of the tension riding him since they’d left the ESP offices. He’d been so pissed at Steele he couldn’t even look at him. But after listening to his partner justify it on the ride back to the station, he knew he was right. They needed to look under every stone no matter who the individuals were or their relationship. But just because he understood and agreed didn’t mean he had to like it.
Anna didn’t get home until after seven, and he was getting ready to text her when she walked in the door. “Hi, sexy detective, I’m home. Did you miss me?”
“Sure did. How was the rest of your day?”
“Great, okay, not so much. I was worried I would say something I shouldn’t every time I had to talk to someone. I pretty much hid out in my office doing pape
rwork most of the afternoon. I’m sure Adria thinks I’m upset with her by now.”
“Why? You were talking to her this morning when I got there.”
“Yeah but I haven’t called her or sat with her in her office or anything since the meeting. Usually, we have coffee in the afternoon and unwind before she goes home.”
“I’m sorry. You know you don’t have to act differently with her. Right? Why don’t you give her a call after dinner?”
“I would except every word will be overheard. And sorry, even if you’re sitting here listening to the other side of the conversation it’s different than knowing someone is recording every word.”
“I’m sorry, baby. But hopefully this will all be over soon, and you can go back to normal. Then you can tell her whatever you want.”
“I hope so. Did you make any headway today? Figure out who the real suspects are yet?”
“We’re working on it, but so far we still don’t have much to go on. We are working a few leads.”
“But you can’t tell me, right?”
“Right. I would, but then I’d have to kill you. And you know, just don’t think I could find another Anna to love like I love you.” His words had the intended effect, and she smiled. The first smile since they’d sat down to dinner.
“Got it. I don’t really feel like dying yet either. I have a few bucket list items still to cross off.”
“Oh really? Care to share?”
“Nope. You won’t share, I won’t share.”
“That’s not fair. This is work.”
“I know. But I have to keep you guessing about some things, right?” If she only knew just how much he was wondering about he doubted she’d be so flippant. But he had to keep telling himself that he knew this woman, loved this woman, and he knew better than to think she’d be involved in anything illegal.
“So that’s how we’re going to play this huh?”
“Yup. I think so.” She batted her long eyelashes at him and tried to play the innocent card, but he knew better. Her cheeks were already a lovely rosy shade of pink. He loved how she wasn’t afraid to let him see she wanted him. Even with all the other stuff going on.
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