by Becca Maxton
When she stood, Jim sized Sofia up – or rather, down. She was a tiny thing, shorter than the pictures revealed. She might be all of five feet two and very pretty. Her deep brown hair settled in loose curls around the sides of ample breasts. He allowed his eyes to linger there longer than he should. No matter, her attention was focused solely on the D.A.
“I see no reason to believe I’m in any sort of danger. I can’t identify the other suspects. They wore masks.”
If this were a cheesy cop movie, Sharon Nader would win an Oscar. She stood, putting her hands forward on the table, and leaned in. “We need to work toward some kind of understanding here. This is about a robbery, and yes, there is still danger.”
Jim’s limited experience with Nader showed she damn sure didn’t react well if she felt challenged, which was often. Including now with Sofia Russo, who appeared up for a fight.
“I think what the D.A. is concerned about is the media harassment –” Lieutenant Kincaid began only to be interrupted when Sofia put her hand on the table too.
“There is one reason I came here today and that’s to say thank you to the person who saved my life. That was our agreement. Then I’m going back to my life.”
Jim bowed his head, stifling a smile.
“Frank, do something,” said Mrs. Russo.
Nader sighed and sat again in her chair, which creaked in protest.
“Everyone needs to calm down,” Frank Russo said. “Jack, I’m not sure your idea is a good one. We just lost Anthony six weeks ago. Sofia could have been killed in front of that bank. Having her leave right now doesn’t seem right, even if there are –”
“There are what?” Sofia asked. “What idea? Who said anything about me leaving New York?”
Jim shifted his stance, biting back an oath. Shit. There must be threats. Any high publicity event brings out the crazies.
“Perhaps Officer Mannis could join in and explain the details for Miss Russo.” Nader’s sarcastic suggestion brought everyone’s attention in his direction.
For the first time, Sofia Russo’s big brown eyes met his. “So you’re in on this too?” she said acknowledging his presence. “Whatever this is.”
“Actually, I haven’t had a chance to brief Officer Mannis yet,” Lieutenant Kincaid said.
Jim pushed off the wall to stand at full height; her gaze followed him up. Stepping forward he offered his hand. “Hi, Sofia. We haven’t been introduced. I’m Jim Mannis. I was at the scene yesterday.”
“Officer Mannis is the one who shot the gunman,” Lieutenant Kincaid said.
His heart gave a funny skip when tears welled in her eyes. “Like you, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here at the moment. But there must be a legitimate concern if your parents, the D.A., and Lieutenant Kincaid want to discuss your safety.” He leaned closer. “Even if it feels a little like an ambush.”
“It was you?”
He stepped back, gaining distance only to find himself suddenly engulfed in her mother’s embrace.
“We can never thank you enough. You saved our daughter.”
“Thank you, Officer Mannis.” Frank Russo stood and shook his hand. “We’re very grateful to you. If Sofia has to leave, we can’t think of anyone else she’d be safer with than you.”
What the hell? “Sir?”
Despite all the blood draining from his head, Jim kept his tone respectful. “Lieutenant, should we step outside and…”
He stopped speaking when Sofia grabbed his arm.
“Oh no.” She shook her head. “You’re not going anywhere, and neither is anyone else.” She held onto him as if she could keep a man his size from leaving the room if she tried.
“Really, Dad?” she continued. “This is your plan? And, Mr. Kincaid, you’ve known me practically my whole life. Do you think I’m going to sit here doing nothing while you manhandle me right out of New York?”
After a squeeze, she let go of his bicep and walked around the table. Her wrist cast landed on the table with a tiny thud. “What is going on that I don’t know?”
Damn. Way to command the room.
Going for an appearance of calm, Jim leaned against the wall as the others took their seats again. He’d already decided to quit the force and go home to take care of his dad and renovate the family lodge. He didn’t want to be signed up for babysitting a stranger, even if she was beautiful.
“I agree. Let’s get everything in the open and then hammer out details,” Nader said. “We need to defuse media attention as quickly as possible. Sofia, there are threats against your life and that’s why a plan for you to leave New York was discussed earlier.”
“Death threats? Against me? But, why? What did I do?”
“It happens. All sorts of nuts, and normal people too, for that matter, have seen the videos of you at the robbery scene all covered in blood. They know you tied a tourniquet on the guard, and he’s going to make a full recovery. But there’s a particular part of one of the videos posted online that is sparking controversy. We believe the intense attention on this has led to the threats.”
It impressed him that her first question was to ask if her parents or the bank guard were in any danger.
“We don’t believe so,” Lieutenant Kincaid said, carrying the story forward. “But to be safe we have an officer at the hospital and surveillance on your folks’ house. The good news is there have been no specific threats directed toward any of them.”
“I want to see the video.” Sofia emphasized the request with a determined nod. “You said there is something about it. I should watch it.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Frank Russo responded. “It’s…people are interpreting things incorrectly, honey…there’s been a misunderstanding."
Mrs. Russo let out a puff of air. “Frank, you’re doing it again. Someone tell Sofia the whole story so she can understand why this is so important. And for God’s sake, Officer Mannis needs to be brought up to speed too.”
Jim pushed off the wall when Nader got up and offered her seat to him before she spoke.
“About thirty minutes ago, we assigned two officers to your apartment building.”
“Why?”
“Your window facing the street was smashed with a brick that had a note attached that said, ‘We’ll get you, bitch.’ We’ve secured the area and you’ll be safe. I don’t know if you are aware, Sofia, that the gunman lived through the night. He died two hours ago. His name is Lewis Nabb. He was nineteen years old and a popular athlete at a local university. We’ve learned his older brother belonged to a gang involved in a string of robberies. We believe, unfortunately, that’s why he participated. The part of the video everyone is cryptically referring to is when you crawled by Nabb’s body on your way to help the bank guard.
“I crawled?” Sofia stared at the assistant D.A. “I don’t remember.”
“The controversy is about you seeming to choose one man’s life over another. This has sparked a backlash on social media and the public is eating it up.”
“You’re saying I crawled by a dying man? People think I let him die?”
“Yes.” Nader took a deep breath in through her nose, out through her mouth, as if she practiced this move regularly. “Officer Mannis, we’re proposing you leave soon, tomorrow in fact, and that you take Miss Russo with you. Temporarily. It’s not necessary at a formal witness protection level. But these threats are no joke. There’s no need to take chances.”
“Oh, honey,” Mrs. Russo said when Sofia put her head on the table, her shoulders shaking.
“I had to stop the bleeding. I don’t remember crawling. I don’t remember everything.”
“You reacted in the moment.” Her mother rested her hand on the middle of Sofia’s back. “What you did was save a man’s life. There is absolutely nothing for you to feel bad about.”
“I wouldn’t suggest time away if I didn’t think it was the best option,” Lieutenant Kincaid said. “Jim, I apologize for springing this on you. I wasn’t able t
o reach you before the meeting and everything escalated when Nabb died. Sofia, I’ve known Jim for three years and your family since you and my daughter were nine years old. You’re just as much a daughter to me as Delia. If this were happening to her, I’d want her to go.”
How many military missions had Jim been on where orders came less than twenty-four hours before departure? This situation was unorthodox maybe, but not new territory.
“I understand the situation, sir,” he said.
“It’s settled then,” Frank Russo responded.
Sofia lifted her head, brushing the back of her hand to a tear-stained cheek. “I haven’t agreed to this, Dad.”
“She’s right, this is ultimately her decision.” Jim got up and walked to the door then turned back. “If I can help, I’m willing. How about I step out for a moment.”
“Wait.”
He maintained steady eye contact as Sofia studied his face. When she rewarded him with a tiny smile, he responded with a brusque nod.
“Could everyone excuse us, please. I’d like to speak to Officer Mannis for a moment.” She tilted her chin, gesturing toward the door. “Alone.”
He avoided any appearance of surprise at the request, instead holding the door open while her parents and the lieutenant left the room. Downright testy, Sharon Nader gave a huff and marched by him into the hallway. “I have another meeting. Give me a report when you’re done, Mannis.”
“Will do.” He quietly closed the conference room door.
“She’s pissed, huh?”
Jim nodded. “I’ll deny I told you this, but some people refer to her as Vader. Not me.” He added, his hand over his heart. “She can be prickly, but she’s a good D.A.”
“I want to see the video.”
“Are you sure?”
She tilted her head, her expression scolding. “I’m sure.”
“Okay.” He sat down next to her and scrolled through his phone to bring up news stories of the robbery. When he found the part after he’d shot the gunman, he held the phone between them and pressed play.
“Oh my God. I did. I crawled right past him as if he wasn’t even there. Oh my God.”
Jim turned off his phone and set it on the table. She sat with her eyes closed, her hand on her forehead. He didn’t try to fill the silence until after several minutes passed. “A couple things your mother mentioned earlier are right on the mark.”
She opened her eyes. “Like what?”
“First, you were reacting under extraordinary circumstances. In a survival situation, some people run. Some people freeze. You didn’t hesitate to help and as a result, your actions saved a man’s life. Second, your mom told you there is nothing to be ashamed of, and she’s correct. There isn’t.”
Her watery eyes pleaded with his. “I still chose. I chose who I helped, didn’t I?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Your mind focused your attention on the guard. The person who wasn’t a threat.”
She sniffled, her laugh soft. “You speak as if my brain has a mind of its own.”
He took advantage of the small lift in mood and smiled. “It’s sort of like that. Our hereditary brain—sometimes people call it our reptilian brain—is all instinct and not about conscious thought. When you’re in a pressure situation, like a violent crime or war, survival takes over. Also, the reality is not everyone makes it.”
“You made a choice though. I’m alive because of it.”
He glanced her way. “That’s my job and my training.”
“Is that why you’re agreeing with this plan for me to go with you?”
“You could say that. Plus, I have a lot of respect for Lieutenant Kincaid. I already made
the decision to leave New York and gave my notice before the robbery. I have family obligations.” He paused. It wasn’t necessary to go into detail. “What do you think? It’s four-thirty and if we’re leaving tomorrow, there’s a lot to do.” He pushed his chair from the table, stood, and put his phone in his back pocket.
“I guess it seems a good idea to let things settle down. Okay, we can tell everyone I’ll go.”
“Good. I’ll put things in motion.” He offered his hand to help her stand. She shifted from one foot to the other as he towered over her. “Is there something else?”
“I feel like we should hug…or something.”
He chuckled, caught off guard. “You do?”
“Is that okay? You saved my life.”
Tough one minute, tender the next. The contradiction drew him in like a magnet and he opened his arms. “I’ll take a hug.”
Nodding, she stepped forward and he wrapped her in his embrace. She rested against him, her head on his chest, and he felt an all over sigh leave her body. He shifted, adjusting his stance when she leaned back, looking up.
“Thank you.”
Chapter 3
“I’ll arrange a ride for tomorrow night and pick you up at your apartment,” Jim said. “We’ll take a red-eye to Denver.”
Her former self, before Anthony’s death, would have spent the day shopping and packing for a trip. But this was no ordinary occasion like a vacation to the beach or going on a cruise. She wasn’t sure what she was in for. Or for how long. As if she’d been granted a wish from above, her mother offered to ship more clothing and items after Sofia arrived and knew what she’d need most.
The next morning, escorted by a police officer, Sofia arrived at the offices for Stage magazine intent on finishing one last project at work. She arranged photos of the cast in the typical format of the theater’s program book for an upcoming play staring her best friend, Delia Kincaid. The PR staff had avoided giving her any grief for how late the marketing materials were. She ignored her phone vibrating as long as possible, then eventually scrolled through texts from her boss, Robert, and headed upstairs to his office.
In the stairwell, her phone vibrated again, then rang a moment later and she answered. To say Robert seemed unhappy as he fired off questions proved an understatement. She stopped mid-way up the steps.
Did she know he’d been trying to reach her?
Did she understand the program book was too late?
Did she realize this forced him to hire someone else to finish it?
She gripped the railing listening to Robert sigh before he continued. “The fact is, your work has been suffering, since…well…”
Since my brother’s death, he means. His statement rang true. “I can do better.” She squeezed back tears, listening to the desperation in her own voice. An absence now would not go over well. “I’m on my way up to your office. I have to leave New York for a short time, so I wanted to speak with you about that.”
“Sofia,” Robert said, his voice taking on a dangerously gentle tone, “I like you. You know that.”
But.
“This is a difficult time for you. I’ve tried to be comforting, even outside of work. Truth is, we didn’t exactly light the world on fire, did we?”
Unbelievable.
In the middle of lecturing her, he critiqued their one and only night together. She cringed, shaking off the memory as if a spider crawled up her neck. A poor decision made out of loneliness.
He’s probably been searching for an excuse to get rid of me.
“This job is important to me. I need to keep some sort of stability. This is short notice, I know. It would only be a couple weeks. It’s related to the robbery…and social media…there are threats against me and people are upset —”
“It’s business, Sofia.”
She leaned her head against the wall when he interrupted her rambling.
“Look at it this way. Maybe this is a good thing. You can relax and heal that broken wrist. Here’s what I’ll do. I’m going to pay you for the current project. Technically, we don’t owe you the entire amount since you didn’t finish the work, but there’s no need to part on bad terms. As soon as we hang up, I’ll ask Nancy to prepare a check for you. You can pick it up on your way out.”
“R
obert, please.”
“Call me when you get back in town. Maybe we can work something out then.”
The phone went dead as she slumped down on a step. Tapping her cast on her forehead, she imagined the game she and Anthony used to play when they were little. Grabbing his arm, she’d use his hand to playfully slap the top of his head and tease, “Why are you hitting yourself?” The memory of his little boy giggles ghosted through her ears.
“Have Nancy mail the check instead,” she one-finger texted to Robert. Asshole. Marching down the steps, she slammed her good hand on the red release lever to the emergency door, smiling when it set off the building alarm.
“You tell me what you want out of here,” Delia called from inside the closet, “and I’ll pack it for you.”
Sofia stepped around the corner and shrugged at her best friend. Moving to the bed, she kneeled and pulled a suitcase from underneath.
“Sof, come on.” Delia leaned a shoulder on the closet doorframe. “You have one bag half-packed and it’s less than two hours before the car is coming to take you to the airport. So far, you’re bringing makeup and a hair dryer. You do realize they have drugstores where you’re going.”
“You’re right. I need to get my camera equipment together.”
“You need to bring some clothes.” Delia moved to the bed, sat, and patted the mattress beside her. “Sit for a second. Talk to me.”
Sofia sunk down on the bed. “I got fired.”
“What! That dick, Robert. You’re the best photographer the theater has ever had.” Delia put an arm around her shoulders. “You know, the latest program book was done by some schmuck he hired. Let me tell you. It sucks. Seriously. The whole cast is angry because we look like crap.” Delia jumped up and struck a pose – her hip jutting out, her face scrunched like a crabby cat. “In one of the photos I appear completely constipated.”
Sofia snort-laughed and fell back on the bed.
“I’m not exaggerating. If they use that photo for the giant banner in front of the theater, I will bust Robert’s nuts. God, I cannot believe he fired you. I’m so sorry.”