Page 58 of Hidden Ties

Slightly embarrassed he had witnessed that, and that she absolutely sucked at making sure no one was following her, she twirled her bat in her hand. “I see. So, he knows I’ve been here this whole time …?”

“Yes.” He nodded at her pityingly. “He asked me to keep an eye on you till you hopefully cooled down and came to your senses.”

If Valerie thought she could get away with using her bat on Officer Daniels, she would. But she was almost positive it wouldn’t go as well as it had on Sal.

“So, if you’ve been watching me this whole time, then how the hell did you almost let me die?”

“Because I got called off scene. The only reason I came back in time was because your boyfriend must’ve been tracking me and forced me to come back.”

Ah …While she wasn’t sure she and Sal were on boyfriend/girlfriend terms yet, having afriendin the mafia who was also conveniently good with computers definitely had its perks. Hence, while she was still extremely pissed at Sal, she was a bit less furious with him now.

“What does he have on you?” she finally asked after not only seeing but hearing the disdain in his voice.

“That’s between me, God, and The Great Salvato—”

“You know I can easily look it up, too, right?” She gave him her own pitying gaze.

“Fine,” Daniels grumbled, giving in. “I fucked Sheriff Calloway’s wife, but that was only because he’s fucked over half the women in the precinct.”

Valerie simply shrugged, finding it completely understandable. “Oh, okay.”

Officer Daniels just laughed.

When he wouldn’t stop throwing his head back in laughter, she looked at him strangely. “What’s so funny?”

“The fact that I’ve been worried sick about you in the hands of the Carusos. But something tells me you fit right in.” He approached the dead body on the ground and gave it a turn. “Actually, I think you might be safer with them.”

Considering her predicament,that was probably true.

“Do you know him?” Daniels asked after removing the ski mask.

“Yeah, some idiot from work.” Valerie hated to speak ill of the dead, but it was the truth. “His name’s Gerard.”

“And who’s that?” he asked, pointing to the dead guy at the door.

“Lyle. An even bigger idiot.” She didn’t even bother to look at her other deceased coworker and instead bent over to go through Gerard’s pockets. Frankly, what was done was done. “There are my car keys.”

“Valerie …” He watched her dumbfoundedly. “Why does he have them in the first place?”

At that point, Valerie held up her hand. She had heard enough from the male species in one day. “Don’t ask.”

“Here you go.”

Sal caught the keys Officer Daniels had thrown his way, looking down at them to see they were Valerie’s.

“I didn’t think you’d want her to get away again. It almost cost me an unmarked car. But, thankfully, Ifeltwhen she lifted the keys off me.”

“Thanks,” Sal said, clearing his throat of embarrassment. As much as it hurt for Sal to do, he held out his hand for the man to properly thank him this time. “Thank you, Officer Daniels.”

Daniels took the strong hand in his, knowing it meant a truce between the two. “No problem.”

“If you needanything, just let me know,” Sal said the words, knowing he understood them perfectly.

“Same to you,” he agreed before he had to clarify, “As long as it doesn’t involve Valerie Monroe.That, you’ll have to get the Caruso soldiers to take care of next time.”

“All right,” he agreed to happily with a laugh.

He’d noticed that Valerie had caught Officer Daniels’ attention; it had been the only explanation as to why he hadn’t wanted to hand over her computer, but he was happy that Valerie had forced that ship to sail. Sal didn’t like beingjealous. After being jealous of everything anyone had for the first thirteen years of his life, he no longer wanted to feel that feeling. And he especially didn’t like being jealous of a jacked cop in a uniform.

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