Page 62 of Open Season

Todd flashed a quick glance up at Jack “Yeah,” he said flatly. “Like this assignment. Besides, marriage is a big step. I was kind of glad to have the assignment as an excuse. I was crazy about her, but. . . hell, I guess I had cold feet. So that’s why she was at the club.”

Jack nodded, thinking he got the picture. Normal relationships were hard enough; when the woman had been raped, she understandably had a hard time trusting men again, or enjoying sex. “Did she get into therapy?”

“For a while. It didn’t do any good. She killed herself.”

The stark words fell like lead. All expression was gone from Todd’s face, from his eyes.

Howard swore. “Jesus, man—you just said a friend was raped. God, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, so am I,” said Jack. “You’re grieving, you felt guilty, so you set Daisy up for exactly the same thing that happened to the woman you loved. You fucking bastard, I’d enjoy killing you.” His clenched fists were shaking with the need to do just that.

“Don’t go overboard with the sympathy, Russo,” Howard said sarcastically.

Todd managed a faint smile, though there was no humor in it. “That was fast. You’re in love with her; that’s why you’re so hot under the collar.”

“Daisy doesn’t deserve being used that way.” Jack shoved away the comment about loving her. Whether or not he did was something he’d have to work out; he definitely cared about her and would do whatever it took to protect her. And whatever it took meant using whatever means necessary, with whatever weapons he had at hand. Something else was going on, something these two weren’t involved in; alone, Jack would be hard-pressed to cover all the bases, but he figured he now had help.

“There’s something else concerning Daisy, something I don’t understand, but it’s put me on edge.”

A little expression filtered back into Todd’s eyes. “What?”

“This assignment you’re working. . . are you federal, local, or private?”

Todd and Howard exchanged a quick glance. “Federal. It involves interstate fraud.”

“Fine. I don’t need the details. I just need your help and I wanted to know what level I’ll be dealing with.”

“We can’t compromise this setup—”

“You won’t have to. Something peculiar happened this morning. The mayor called me, wanted me to run a license plate number, said he’d seen the car parked in the fire lane at a doctor’s office. He gave me the small-town bullshit, how he didn’t call a patrolman to write a ticket because he didn’t want to upset someone who was sick—”

“Yeah, right, Temple Nolan with a big heart,” Todd muttered.

“So I ran the number, and it was Daisy’s. Not only would Daisy never park in a fire lane, she wasn’t at the doctor’s office. I know. So the mayor lied about where he got the number. If he’d seen the car himself, he’d have known it was Daisy’s. Someone else wanted him to find out who the car belonged to.”

“Maybe someone at the Buffalo Club saw her and was interested, wanted to find out where she lived and how to contact her.”

“Someone who figured she’d never come back to the club and that was the only way he’d have of finding her? Someone who also happens to know the mayor?”

“Okay, so it’s a thin idea. Do you have anything better?”

“No, all I have are the little hairs on the back of my neck, and they’re standing straight up.”

“That’s good enough for me,” said Howard. “From the accent, I know you’re not from around here, but I can’t quite place it. You’re not just a small-town chief, though. What’s your background?”

“SWAT, in Chicago and New York.”

“Guess your little hairs have seen their share of action.”

“They’ve never been wrong.”

“So what do you want us to do?” asked Todd. “There’s nothing to go on, no direction.”

“Not yet. For now, I just want to make sure she’s safe. The good news is, the address on the registration is for her mother’s house. There’s no official record now of her real address, unless someone has the strings to find out from the utilities—which the mayor does, with the city water department, but unless he knows she’s moved, he has no reason to ask.”

“Can you get into the files, take out that information?”

“The water bills are computerized. I’m no hacker, so I can’t get into the system from outside, but maybe I can from the inside. What about the phone and electricity companies?”

“I’ll see what I can do about blocking that information,” Todd said. “And she needs to have her number unlisted, or any bozo can call information and get it.”

“I’ll handle that,” said Jack. “I don’t know what I’m looking for, I don’t know why anyone would want to track her down, and until I do know, I want a shield around her.”

“We’ve been working a situation for a couple of years now. If things come together, Howard and I will be busy and won’t be able to help. You know how it works. But until and if the case breaks, we’ll do what we can to help.” Todd drummed his fingers on the desk. “Off the record, of course.”

“Of course. Just friends helping friends.”

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