I pointed behind my shoulder. “Who’s the suit? The guy who brought me here.”
A piece of hair had fallen over her face, and she stuck her lower lip out and blew it to the side. “Oh, that’s my assistant, Derek. Didn’t you meet him when we came for Maddox’s case?”
“No.”
“Oh. Okay.” She went back to her search.
“I told him to call me Tommy, but he refused.”
“Yeah, he thinks it’s a ridiculous name for a grown man. I told him he could call you Tom, but I wasn’t sure if you’d answer.” She pulled out a stack of papers paper-clipped together. “Yes. I found it.”
I walked further into her office. “You don’t think my name is ridiculous for a grown man, do you?”
She was flipping through her pile, licking her fingers every few pages for a better grip, yet she still managed to hear me. “Kind of. It makes me think of a kid. But I suppose I know you now, so it kind of fits who you are.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She stopped and looked up at me. “I’m sorry. When I’m working, I either don’t hear when people talk to me or I answer really honestly.”
I laughed. “Good to know. And I happen to like Tommy. Thomas is too formal, and Tom was my grandfather.”
She smiled. “Tommy it is then. Like I said, it suits you.”
I looked at my watch. “So, are you about ready to go? I’ve given you almost two hours. Addison is going to be mad.”
She winced. “I’m almost done, I swear. I think I found what I needed. I’m going to have Derek and Anita start working on things while I’m gone, so I can jump right in when I get back.”
“Who’s Anita?” I didn’t know why I’d asked. It wasn’t like it mattered.
“She’s one of our investigators,” Derek said as he walked in behind me. “And don’t listen to her. She’s never ‘almost done.’” He used air quotes. “She’ll stay here all night if you let her.”
“That’s not true,” Olivia said to me. She looked at Derek. “What do you have there?”
“With everything going on, I forgot to tell you that I’d picked up your mail from home yesterday. I didn’t know if you wanted to look at it or for me to save it until you came back from your vacation.”
“Save it,” I said at the same time she said, “I’ll look at it now.”
“Olivia,” I said.
“It’ll only be a minute,” she said to me, and her assistant handed her the mail and walked out.
She started flipping through it. “Junk, junk, junk, bill that is auto paid, junk, junk—oh…what’s this?” She set down all her mail, minus one piece. It looked like it had fancy writing on it.
She was smiling as she cut open the envelope, but as soon as she opened the letter inside, her smile vanished. She dropped the piece of paper and stepped back until she hit the wall. And her face was pale.
I immediately marched over to her desk and picked up the letter.
“No, don’t—” she started but stopped when I gave her a hard look.
No way was I going to stand there while something had obviously upset her.
Dear Ms. Mayer,
I have asked you several times to stop helping Tate Garrett, but you just don’t seem to listen. And now, he’s free, you stupid bitch.
You just couldn’t keep your dumb cunt nose out of this case. For that, you will PAY.
Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but I will get you when you least expect it.
There was no name at the end.
“Who sent this to you?” I asked.
She shook her head. I didn’t know if it was because she didn’t want to tell me or because she didn’t know, and I didn’t want to press her when she looked so scared.
“Derek,” I yelled.
Olivia’s assistant showed up in the doorway. “Shh. This is a place of busi—oh crap, what’s wrong?” he said as he came into the room and shut the door.
I handed him the letter. “Do you know who this is from?”
Derek quickly read it and shook his head. “No, but this isn’t the first time she’s gotten one. It’s been going on since the case started.”
I looked over my shoulder at her, and she muttered the words, “Here. Always here.”
“Shit, was this in the pile of mail I brought you?” Derek asked, his eyes wide.
“Yes,” I answered for her.
Derek grimaced. “He’s never sent anything to her home. It’s always come to the office.”
So, now, this piece of shit knew where Olivia lived.
“Who is he?” I demanded.
Derek shrugged. “We don’t know. We don’t even know if it’s a he. We’ve just been assuming it’s a man.” He lowered his voice. “She won’t say it in the exact words, but we both think it’s Tate’s girlfriend’s father.”
I walked over to Olivia and pulled her into my arms. Even with the letter, I thought she would maybe push me away, but instead, she fisted my shirt in her hands and buried her face in my chest.
I noticed that Derek looked surprised, but I quickly put it out of my mind. We had bigger things to worry about than me comforting his boss.
I rubbed my hands over her arms and back. “We need to call the police.”
16
Olivia
I wanted to stay in Tommy’s arms and forget about the stupid letter that had been sent to my home. I wanted it to be last night—when we had been alone and in his bed, when the worst thing I’d had to worry about was how I was going to sneak out in the morning.
Not how someone had gotten my home address and sent me another threatening letter.
I should have listened to Addison and not come to the firm today.
“Olivia, did you hear me?” Tommy’s chest vibrated against my ear. “We need to call the police.”
I took a deep breath and stepped back. “No.”
He looked at me like I had grown an extra limb. “You can’t let this
