Page 79 of Guilty as Sin
Paige wanted to think about that, but it was hard right now. Jace said, “No taxi. We could have some ammunition here if we can switch the two of you off. Surprise is your best asset. We’ll have to think about that. I’ll come collect you, Lily.”
“She shouldn’t…” Paige said. “It’s not a… good idea.”
“It’s not your choice,” Lily said. “It’s mine. See you at midnight, Jace. Thank you for taking care of my sister.”
The screen changed, because the call was over. Jace took the plate off Paige’s lap and said, “Right. Rethinking all my impressions of Lily here. But you need to rest some more, and UPS delivered my shipment. I’m going over to your place and getting those alarms and cameras installed. We’ll leave Tobias here to guard the cabin until I can wire things up here, and we’ll put you in your own bed.”
“I have a weapon,” she said. “I have two. Uh… one. In my purse. I definitely have one.”
“I know you do. I believe you’re a good shot, too. But right now? You’d miss. I don’t want you where I’m not.”
Everybody was taking care of her. That wasn’t how it worked. That was never how it worked.
She’d go home, she decided. She’d take another little nap. And then she’d think about it some more.
She did. In her bed, with the distant sound of an electric drill providing comforting background noise as she drifted off. Which was Jace installing a camera on the barn. Keeping the goats safe. Being next to the bees so she could stay away from them.
Two hours later, though, there was no choice but to get going on this thing. She called Hailey and endured a whole lot of concern. And then she called Lieutenant Iverson.
“I told you,” he said before she’d had a chance to say anything. “I haven’t heard anything yet. When I do, I’ll call you. You’re on leave.”
“It’s not that. It’s that I got injured. I’m reporting it.”
“Say again?”
“Somebody attacked me last night. At my sister’s, where I’ve been staying. I have a little concussion. And my arm’s in a sling, but it’s just bruising. Couple days on that.”
“A… little… concussion. Hollander, you’re off duty.Stayoff duty. Stay out of trouble. And watch yourself better. There’s something called self-defense. You learned it, remember that?”
“I know. It was in the dark. Never mind. Minor. I’m thinking a week, and I’ll be fine. Or light duty. I can do light duty.”
He sighed. “Get me a doctor’s report. Consider continuing your leave somewhere more peaceful. I’d like to get you back without further damage.”
Good luck with that. Sinful wasn’t going to get more peaceful unless she made it that way. She hung up, got out of bed, managed to get herself, with only a little bit of swearing, into a dress, since that was the easiest, put the sling on again, and followed the sound of the electric drill, closer now.
Jace was attaching something to the sill of the kitchen window. A motion sensor. She leaned against the doorway, waited for the drilling to stop, and asked, “How’s it going?”
He turned and set the drill down on the counter. “All good. No worries.” He frowned at her, every bit of his dark intensity showing. “The cops are coming out later. Are you sure you should be out of bed?”
She sat down at the kitchen counter. “I’m sure.”
Today, Paige found, she rated higher than Patrolman Wilson of the red hair and freckles. When the black-and-white pulled up to the cabin, Sergeant Worthington was at the wheel.
Jace let him in, since Paige was on the couch. She’d swung around to sit up straight, though, and she’d put down the ice pack she’d had pressed to her face. She wanted to look professional. Serious. As serious as a woman in a blue lace dress and a fat lip could look, anyway. She’d thought about changing again. Way too hard, though.
“How’re you doing?” Worthington asked, taking a seat on the recliner while Jace sat beside Paige.
“Oh, you know,” she said. “Could be worse. What did you find out?” She and Jace had discussed telling him about the Lily-switch, and had dismissed the idea. It was what Jace had said. The power of surprise. Not to mention drawing enemy fire. Whatever Lily said, Paige was trained to handle that, and Lily wasn’t.
Worthington scratched the back of his head. “I’m guessing the power was shut off to the gym using the master breaker, since it wasn’t just the lights. Equipment, climate control, everything. It wouldn’t have been hard to find the right switch. The master’s red. When the power got turned back on, that switch had been tripped. Of course, it doesn’t mean it was switched off at the box, but it’s likely.”
“If it had been a short,” Jace said, “they wouldn’t have been able to turn it back on and have it stay on.”
Worthington gazed at him in a not entirely friendly fashion. “Can I ask, sir, how you’re involved in this?”
“Oh, I think you know. Call it male protective impulse. Goes pretty far in some of us.” Jace’s blue eyes shone hard as blue stone, and the testosterone was running so high, you could practically take hold of it.
“I understand you have some military background,” Worthington said.
