Page 93 of Safe With Me

“What time did you leave the beach on Grove Street last night?” Jude asked.

“Maybe after eight,” I said. “I’m not sure. I didn’t see anyone around us when we were there or when we left.”

“He could have been watching from a far enough distance, not necessarily on the street,” Keith said. “It’s worth asking the residents over there if they noticed any strange cars around.”

He stood from his chair and came over to us, leaning against his desk as he turned to Lila.

“He’s not going to be able to pull this here for long. I know you’re spooked and afraid, and that’s normal, but don’t think what happened in Philly is going to happen now.”

Keith shot her a smile, but Lila only met his gaze for a minute and nodded.

“I hope not,” she said in a faint whisper. “I’m just afraid he’s going to make trouble for Mike and Jake.”

“He won’t,” Keith said with a chuckle. “Mike is a good cop, and Jake has his office and home very secure. Ted would be messing with the wrong people and pay the price.”

She gave him a tiny nod as she met his gaze.

“One of the officers will drive you home while we work on this. We’re going to look into what Ted’s been up to lately and see if he’s been tracked close by. Still waiting on the prints, and now we can see if there’s a match.”

He held up the envelope.

“From what you’ve described, he’s sloppy when he’s angry. We’ll get him, Lila. Go home and try to get it out of your head.”

“Thank you, Chief,” she said, her voice so weak with defeat I wanted to pound the fucking walls.

I agreed with Keith that he’d get sloppy enough to be caught eventually, but the time it would take to figure out how to find him while we waited for something else to happen already had me on edge.

But again, I couldn’t show it. My stomach had dropped when I’d seen the letter too, but if I showed anything other than calm confidence to Lila, she’d feel even worse.

Keith had told me when I’d first become a cop that this was what it was all about. Putting on a good show in front of the town that everything was fine and under control, no matter what was going on, while keeping our emotions in check.

I’d already experienced how hard that was, but when it was about the woman I loved, it was damn near impossible.

Still, I knew putting on a brave face was the only way I could protect her now.

“I’ll come by after work,” I told Lila as I walked her out. “I’m sure Terry and Kathy will keep you occupied today, or you can pay Claudia a visit if you feel up to it.”

“I don’t think I want to go out anywhere today.” She shook her head without meeting my gaze.

The exhaustion etched in her beautiful face killed me.

“I’m not saying I’m going to go into hiding, but for today?—”

“I know, sweetheart,” I said, pressing a quick but hard kiss to her lips. “Keith has never lied to me, and he’s kept all of us safe for as long as I can remember. We’ll get this jackass, and you will never have to worry about this again.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice still hollow, and kissed my cheek. “Be careful.”

I waved as she got into a cruiser with one of our rookies and drove off. I’d wanted to take her home, but I knew Jude and Keith had questions for me that they didn’t want to ask in front of Lila. And I wanted to be there when they did a search of Ted’s activities over the past few months.

When I came back inside, Keith and Jude were still whispering over the letter in Keith’s office.

“Don’t look so worried, Russo,” Keith said, nodding to the chairs in front of his desk. “Torres will get her home safe.”

So much for keeping my emotions in check.

“I know he will,” I said, sitting back down. “I’m just worried what this is going to do to her until we catch him, and what his next move is going to be. I’d thought since he hadn’t tried to contact her or shown up that maybe he’d moved on.”

“I looked over the messages and emails on the flash drive.” Jude waved the envelope at me. “I’ll be honest, this feels different to me.”

---