“Just finished a run.” Heavy, uneven breathing mingled in with her words. “Nasty habit Aidan taught me.” There was a long pause, wherein Garrick swore he could hear Maddie guzzling water. “I’m thinking of quitting. My heart can’t take it.”
His chest loosening some, Garrick chuckled as he pocketed his keys and traipsed down the narrow flight of stairs. “Only you would say something like that with a straight face, Maddie.”
“How do you know my face is straight?”
“I can picture you as you say it, and believe me, I know it’s poker straight.” Garrick grinned to himself. “But yes, I do know you’re actually joking. I can hear the humor too.”
“So now that you know I have a love and hate relationship with running,” Maddie said, “what else can I do for you this morning?”
“Oh...” Double shit. “Um, right.” Garrick’s heart went right back to Indianapolis 500 level speeding, and his brain spun various scenarios in a fast cycle until one spat out. “I was just wondering if you think I would lose all respect with Mr. Corsini if I ask for a few days off from work? I’ve only been there a month, and he’s such a workhorse, I’m afraid he might let me go after my probation period ends if I start putting in requests for personal days already.”
Maddie didn’t respond for what felt like eons, and Garrick found himself standing with his breath trapped in his throat.
“Did you really call me on a Saturday morning about that?” she finally asked, her voice rising in pitch. “Or are you wondering if my brother is here, and you really want to talk to him?”
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. “Why would you say that?”
“No reason; I just don’t think you really want time off from work already.” Another stretched moment of thick silence fell between them until Maddie said, “He isn’t, in case you were wondering.”
Garrick stalled in place, halfway up the steps to the Fine’s porch. He looked to the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Who isn’t?”
“Devlin. He’s not home right now. I could tell him you called, if you’d like.”
“No!” Through the panic of dealing with the subtle third degree Maddie was giving him, the hackles on Garrick’s spine suddenly shot to attention for an altogether different reason. “Look, I’m sorry I bothered you,” he said quickly. “I have to go. See you Monday.” Garrick hung up without waiting for her goodbye. He then shifted, stepped up the rest of the way to the porch backward, and took inventory of the neighborhood for the third time in as many days.
He assessed the road from one end of the block to the other but recognized everyone outside as a person who belonged in the area. He studied the cars quickly, one at a time, and again, they all had reason to be on the street or in their respective drives.
Everything looked exactly right, but the tentacles of chill kept tickling at Garrick’s back.
Who are you, damn it? And how did you get the skills to blend into the woodwork?
Garrick knew someone was out there watching; he had felt it for a few days now. He just didn’t know why that person hadn’t come for him, since they so clearly knew where he lived. Could it just be Joe discretely checking up on him? Garrick absolutely could not contact the FBI agent to find out for sure.
He heard the door open and close softly behind him, and Grace stepped to his side. “Something feel out of place again?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
Garrick crossed his arms and shifted to an at-ease military stance. “Nothing looks out of the ordinary.”
She glanced at him without turning her head. “That’s not exactly a complete answer.” With a shiver, Grace drew her fitted blazer more completely across her breasts. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave the kids after all.”
“They’ll be fine with me. I promise.”
If the person watching Garrick right now wanted to kill him, they would have attacked him already. He’d certainly acted irrationally enough in the past few days and given this person ample opportunity to take him out.
It’s Devlin. Garrick suddenly stood up straighter. Of course. Except, how is someone like Devlin, without the necessary training, disappearing so completely into the shadows?
“Garrick,” Grace’s voice pulled him back to her, “be honest with me. Do you really think someone is peeping at us right now?”
“I don’t feel it anymore.” He outright lied. All his muscles still sat poised, pulled tauter than a drum. “If anyone was playing Peeping Tom, he or she is gone now. I apologize. I’m feeling antsy and you’re the one who’s getting scared. Go. Wow your client and make your first sale. I’ll take care of Shawnee and Chloe.”
“I don’t know...” Grace’s left cheek sank in, and even though he couldn’t see it, Garrick knew she chewed a hole on the other side.
“Take a look around,” Garrick suggested. “You have a couple of guys mowing lawns, a teenager shooting hoops, and three moms three houses down watching one toddler play in the grass. It’s only going to get busier as it gets later in the morning; more people are going to be in and out of their houses. We’re fine here today, if just due to the safety in numbers.”
“I suppose.”
Damn it. Garrick hated like hell that he’d put fear in Grace and possibly ruined her big break. “How about thinking about this?” He planted his shoulder against the porch post and put his full attention on her. “Sell that rich son-of-a-bitch a house today and you’ll take a good step toward making yours and the kids’ life more financially secure.”
Grace pursed her lips and sort of shook her head. She glanced from the street to her front door--Garrick knew she was thinking of her children beyond it--before finally settling her focus back on him. “Good point. Okay, let me go
