Cassandra nodded faintly, the motion in no way reflecting the intensity of the feelings that crashed through her. This woman was clearly ill and clearly attached, and Cassandra did not want to find out how deep that attachment went, or what Tammy would do to protect it.
Tammy smiled, the expression brightening her face. “I’m glad you agree. I’ve been making plans, Cassandra,” she said.
“Tell me about your plans,” she said, not having to feign interest in this topic. Tammy’s plans were something Cassandra had to pay attention to.
“Everything’s so complicated. The world’s so complicated. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It would be so wonderful with just you and me together. So I’ve been building a place. It was a surprise.”
Cassandra lifted the cup she still held to her face, needing to do something so that she didn’t give away her emotions. She could scarcely believe this was happening, and while she had been afraid before, that fear took on a new dimension now. This woman was serious, very, and in that moment Cassandra couldn’t help but think of how many times she’d been watched, how vulnerable she’d been without even knowing.
How vulnerable she was still.
“I do love surprises,” Cassandra said.
The woman tilted her head, looked at her with a frown. “Really? I thought you hated them. Thought you’d be much more upset,” she said.
Cassandra frowned herself. “Why do you think I hate surprises?”
“Well, when that woman you worked with threw you a surprise thirty-first birthday party, you didn’t seem happy,” Tammy said.
Cassandra’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head, but she quickly recovered and thought back to that time.
A couple of years ago, right after she had started at Silver Industries, Sloan had gotten the entire team together for a birthday party in Cassandra’s honor, one she hadn’t bothered to mention until after Cassandra had arrived.
Cassandra had been shocked, and not entirely pleased, but mostly because Sloan had invited Lucian, who had shown up and then gone out of his way to make it clear how unhappy he was to have her at his company and had come close to making the entire evening an utter failure and probably would have if Sloan hadn’t kept him in line.
But all of that was nothing in the face of the realization that this woman, who Cassandra still thought of as a stranger, knew so many details of what Cassandra thought was a private part of her life.
“Oh,” Cassandra said, waving a hand dismissively, deciding to go with the truth, “that was nothing. My boss was there. And he can be…unpleasant.”
“Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you?” the woman asked, her voice taking on an intensity that hadn’t been there before.
Cassandra shook her head. “Oh, no. Nothing like that. He’s just difficult, a little annoying, you know?”
The woman nodded, but Cassandra didn’t think the woman was really here with her and actively suppressed the thoughts of what was making her react so intensely.
The woman met her eyes again, her face tight with rage, rage Cassandra worked to smooth.
“It’s fine. Really,” she said.
The woman’s frown deepened, but she nodded. “Good. Because I won’t let anyone hurt you, Cassandra. Not now, not ever again.”
Cassandra felt Tammy’s intensity, knew that she spoke of something that wasn’t necessarily about Cassandra, and Cassandra’s heart went out to her. But that didn’t change the fact that she needed to get out of here.
“Thank you,” Cassandra said emphatically. “It’s rare to have a friend like you.”
The woman practically beamed, all the more heartbreaking for the joy on her expression.
“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and I’d do anything for you,” she said, her voice as strong now as it had been during their entire time together.
Cassandra believed her. And found that truth positively terrifying.
“Thank you. So where…” Cassandra trailed off and then snapped her fingers.
“What is it?” the woman asked.
“I’m so rude! I didn’t offer you anything to drink,” Cassandra said.
“I’m fine,” Tammy said.
Cassandra shook her head. “No. I’ll get you something. Honey green tea latte, just like me,” Cassandra said.
The woman smiled indulgently and then shook her head. “No. I’m fine, and we should get going. I have everything you need, all of your favorites just waiting for you,” she said.
“That’s so sweet,” Cassandra said as she stood and took a single step away from the table.
“That’s what friends do for each other,” the woman said, smiling shyly.
Cassandra tsked. “It is sweet,” she said, “and you shouldn’t discount yourself. You’re a really nice person who does really nice things. You should get credit for it and have people do nice things for you,” she said.
That wasn’t entirely a lie. Tammy had obviously been missing the care she needed, but as sad as that was, Cassandra needed to get away from her.
The woman looked away, seeming to blush. “No one’s ever told me anything like that before,” she said.
“Shame on them, then,” Cassandra said.
“I knew it would be like this,” the woman uttered, brightening. “I just knew it. I’m sorry I waited this long,” she said.
“It will be like this, and let’s start now. I’ll be back with your drink,” Cassandra said, risking another step as she spoke.
Tammy looked ready to protest, but Cassandra quickly moved to mitigate the damage. “It’ll only take a moment. I’ll be back before you know it and then we can go.”
The woman looked skeptical, then glanced away confused, staring down over the edge of the deck and then looking at Cassandra, who stood still. Then she began to gnaw at one of her cuticles furiously, and Cassandra was surprised that she didn’t draw blood.
She could see the debate raging in her eyes and wanted very desperately to run, but also didn’t want to do anything to scare the woman.
If she played this right, she could disappear, and have the authorities intervene without anyone getting hurt. So she didn’t push it and instead just waited.
The woman finally dropped her hand and then looked at Cassandra and nodded.
“I’ll wait right here,” she said.
“Good. I’ll be back in just a few minutes,” Cassandra replied.
She began to walk away slowly, not daring to put her back to the woman for long. When she finally reached the stairs, she turned and went down them, fast but not so fast as to alarm the woman.
“No!” she whispered urgently when someone moved toward the stairs. “You can’t go up there.”
The man looked at her with shock in his eyes but must have seen something that convinced him, for he backed away and then began shooing others away as well.
Cassandra dug her cell phone out of her pocket as she moved toward the register and locked eyes with the barista from earlier. “We need to calmly and quickly get everyone out of here,” she said.
Then she dialed 911. The operator asked her to stay on the line, but she didn’t, couldn’t, because she had to make another call. As the phone rang, she prayed there was an answer.
“Silver.”
Tears burned the back of her eyes at the sound of his voice. “Lucian, I need you,” she choked out, not recognizing the frayed, stressed voice that came out of her throat as her own.
“How did you—”
“Cassie, what—”
Lucian’s voice had lowered, his concern apparent, but an eerie, skin-crawling feeling at the back of her neck made Cassandra drop the phone and turn to meet eyes that were as crazy as ever but now lit with rage.
“What’s this?” Tammy asked, her voice going high, frantic.
“Tammy…I just had a work call. Your drink will be ready in a minute and then we can go,” Cassandra said, trying her best to be convincing, but knowing that she was failing.
; Tammy looked around the café and Cassandra followed her gaze, saw how it had been emptied, not even a barista behind the counter. When she looked through the picture window and saw the crowd gathered around outside, Cassandra knew this situation had turned messy, but she still hoped to salvage it.
“Tammy, I can get you help,” she said calmly, what she hoped was firmly but still friendly.
“Help?” Tammy practically screeched. “I don’t need help. I need you!”
“And I’ll come see you. I promise, but—”
Cassandra’s words were drowned in a sea of sirens that seemed extraordinarily loud. Tammy looked at her and then back through the windows toward the sound, and Cassandra could see the understanding beginning to coalesce behind Tammy’s eyes.
“You didn’t—you wouldn’t,” the woman said.
“They can help you. Make sure you go someplace where you get better,” Cassandra said.
She spoke louder than she ordinarily would to be heard over the sirens, but she hoped her voice was tender, held something that the woman would find comforting.
“Help?” she said. “I don’t need help! I need you! We were going to be together. I had it all planned out. After all these years, we were finally going to have a place where it would be just us. Just like we both wanted,” she screeched.
She looked at Cassandra again, staring darkly, her features twisting with heartbreak. “You don’t care about me. You don’t want to be with me. I thought—”
She narrowed her eyes, and lifted the gun for a moment, aiming it at Cassandra. Everything in her told her to run, but she stood strong, waiting, praying harder than she ever had before. A moment later, Tammy’s entire body seemed to deflate, and she lowered her arm. Cassandra thought she might faint with relief.
“I was wrong. All this time you were just like everyone else. You didn’t care. You never cared,” she said.
Then suddenly she turned, moving with preternatural speed. Cassandra watched as she rushed back up the stairs, her mind not moving fast enough to process what was happening. A moment later, she caught a flash of something out of the corner of her eye. A scrap of fabric fluttered to the ground, and Cassandra could see it was the gray sweater Tammy had worn. Seeing that sweater lazily float through the air got Cassandra moving, and she rushed out of the café and looked up.
Instantly, her eyes locked with Tammy’s, and even from the two-story distance that separated them, she could see the other woman’s eyes. The disappointment, the anger, the bone-deep hurt that flashed through those eyes were something Cassandra would remember forever, even if they were something she’d never understand.
She’d also remember the horror of watching Tammy press the gun to her temple, remember the screams, remember the loud bang of the gunshot, remember the way Tammy’s brains momentarily turned the blue sky red.
And especially remember the wet thud of Tammy’s body as it hit the asphalt.
Chapter Thirteen
“You done with your questions?”
Lucian didn’t bother to hide the impatience in his voice. Not even making an attempt wouldn’t earn him any new friends on the Seattle PD, but that was the least of his concerns right now. In fact, he only had a single concern and that was Cassandra.
She’d been talking to the detectives for over two hours, and that didn’t include the time on the scene where they’d asked their preliminary questions as the crime scene techs had scraped the dead woman off the pavement.
Or the half hour when, after he’d finally figured out where she was, Lucian had held Cassandra so tight, he thought he might break her. He hadn’t had any other choice, though. When the phone had rung and he’d heard her voice, his heart had soared, and then had come crashing down when he realized something was terribly wrong.
The twenty minutes between Cassandra’s call and him figuring out where she was had been the longest of his life.
Though Lucian knew it was a long shot, he’d hoped the questions on the scene would be sufficient, but the detectives in charge had decided to take them down to the station. Cassandra had been completely collected, not something that surprised him, and he knew she would be honest, if not entirely forthcoming.
The nature of their work made it difficult to communicate with outsiders, and this circumstance, one that Lucian and Cassandra still hadn’t completely wrapped their arms around wouldn’t change that. He and the guys would figure out what the hell had happened on their own. Not exactly cooperative, but Lucian couldn’t have cared less. And all that aside, it was past time for her to be out of this place, and he was ready to make that happen.
“She’ll be done shortly,” Jonathan Brandt, lead homicide detective for the Seattle PD, said. “Head of the Seattle field office wanted to chat with her.”
Lucian didn’t say anything, but Brandt’s cooperative nod told him the detective understood his frustration. Still, going along was the only way this would end soon, so Lucian kept his protests about jurisdiction and the FBI poking around to himself. It would only exacerbate the situation, especially given Silver Industries’ status in certain parts of the United States government.
So Lucian paced the police station, watching the minutes tick by, feeling completely useless and frustrated.
Seth was busy trying to find out everything there was to know about the woman, and Adam was providing backup just in case the threat hadn’t been entirely neutralized, but that didn’t calm the prowling restlessness that had Lucian unable to stand still.
The only thing that would do that would be seeing Cassandra, touching her, a fact that presented a whole new can of worms itself. They had been physically close these last few days, and for some reason Lucian had believed it was simply that.
Today had proven his belief false.
He was worried for her in a way that went beyond what he felt for his team, far beyond what he’d ever felt for any woman he was sleeping with. He’d thought it was mere fondness, but it was becoming clear to him that whatever he felt for Cassandra was far beyond that.
Something for him to deal with later, or not, if he had his preference, but for now he needed to take care of her, make sure she was all right. Which he would if they ever let her out of this fucking station.
An hour later, she finally emerged from one of the interrogation rooms, looking slightly wilted but no worse for the wear.
“We’ll be in touch if we need you,” Brandt said.
“Anytime,” Cassandra replied.
And she looked up at him, her eyes darkening with relief before she looked away and then strode toward him.
Her muted reaction was a surprise. He had expected her to run to him, throw herself into his arms, which seemed ridiculous given what he knew of the woman. He’d like to think her relief at seeing him would have been enough to break through, but Lucian wouldn’t take it personally.
She’d been through a lot today.
When she reached him, he grabbed her hand, uncaring of who saw and more than relieved when she let him lead her out of the police station without protest. He’d been prepared for one, but was grateful that she didn’t. She remained silent as he settled her in the passenger seat of the SUV, and Lucian kept his eyes on her as he rounded the car and got in.
This was so eerily like the scene that had unfolded so recently, but different in one major way. He’d known Cassandra then, cared for her, even though she drove him crazy. But that fondness was nothing compared to what he felt now. Cassandra meant more to him than he could express, more than he could understand. And he’d come close to losing her.
Lucian still hadn’t decided how he was going to grapple with that, and when he looked at Cassandra, he saw that she was in a world of her own. So the ride passed in silence, the cabin tense with both of their thoughts. He took her directly to his condo and they made the forty-floor elevator ride still in complete silence.
When they entered his condo, she exhaled a little, much to Lucian’s relief, and then he led her to the dining room t
able.
“Sloan brought food,” he said as he retrieved the Cobb salad she had dropped off from the refrigerator. “Eat.”
He set the salad, one of her favorites, Sloan had claimed, in front of her with a knife and fork.
She shook her head. “I couldn’t—”
“Eat, Cassandra,” he said.
She looked at him sharply, but then looked down. She reached for her fork and began to pick at the salad, tentatively at first and then with increasing enthusiasm. By the time she was halfway finished, she looked a little bit better, some of the restless, tight energy having left her and some of the wilted exhaustion having been renewed.
A few minutes later she spoke. “Did they find out more about her? I know I didn’t give you a lot to work with…” Cassandra said around a bite of lettuce.
He shook his head, kept his eyes squared on her, watching her for any signs of discomfort. “You gave us plenty. A first name, that she was your lab partner in a college science class. We’ll know all there is to know within twenty-four hours. Did you recognize her immediately?”
After he spoke, she dropped her fork and looked at him, her eyes now moistening, and pushed the rest of the salad away.
She shook her head. “No. Not at all. It only came back to me after we’d been together for a while. That poor woman.”
“Finish your salad and then you should take a shower,” he said, keeping his voice calm, though the tremor in hers brought back the fear and anger that had choked him earlier.
But he set aside his feelings and focused on her. It would be easy for her to begin to wallow in what had happened, and incredibly detrimental. Once he had more information, they’d talk about it. As for now, he just needed to take care of her.
She paused a moment, her expression darkening before she brightened and then gave him a smile.
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t work for you, Silver?” she said.
“Actually, you kind of do. But without getting into specific job titles, I was hoping you’d indulge me,” he said, his voice rougher than he’d intended, revealing more emotion than he’d intended.
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