Page 22 of Justice for the SEAL
He moved so quickly, she barely registered the movement before he’d lunged and taken the scissors from her hand. “You don’t need these. I would neverhurtyou.”
She pushed past him. “I’m going home.” She gathered her clothes from the floor, holding them tightly against herchest.
“You’re not safe there anymore,remember?”
“Call me crazy, but I don’t feel so safe here, either.” She went in the bathroom and slammed the door behind her before twisting the lock and leaning upagainstit.
All she wanted to dowashide.
She should have known better than to get involved with a totalstranger.
Walk the straight andnarrow.
Don’t do anythingreprehensible.
Nocasualsex.
Expect everything to come out in the open, and when it does, know that you will be able to hold yourheadhigh.
13
Hawk hada funny feeling about this that had nothing to do with invading someone’s privacy. He sat behind Royce’s desk in his home office and began openingdrawers.
“This place is off the hook,” said Austin. “Can you imagine how much money this guymusthave?”
The house was easily five thousand square feet, and every room looked like it had been professionally decorated. Hawk had just started looking at houses online, imagining buying one with Olivia, so he had some idea of what a place like thismightcost.
Millions.
State judges must get paid prettydamnwell.
Or else theydidn’t.
“The house doesn’t bother me as much as the family,” he said. “Those girls didn’t want us here, permissionornot.”
“You got that too, huh? Though I think the older one kind of liked me.” Austin looked up from the filing cabinet he was flipping through and winkedatHawk.
“I’m pretty sure she had something stuck in her eye.” He closed one drawer and opened another. “Well hello, Ruger.” He pulled the revolver out of the desk drawer. “Loaded.”
“What kind of dumb shit leaves a loaded gun in a deskdrawer?”
“The state justice kind of dumb shit,apparently.”
“Hold the phone, here’s something interesting.” Austin pulled a file out of the cabinet. “A bank account in Switzerland. People actually havethose?”
“Sure. You don’t have to put your name on it. It just has a number. Good place to hide money. What’s thebalance?”
“Just over threemillion.”
“Maybe our judge is asaver.”
“Yeah, right. That’s probably it. I’ll bet he started when he had a paper route asakid.”
Hawk dug through paperclips, perfectly sharpened pencils and sticky notes. A cigar box was tucked into the back of one drawer, and he pulled it out, opening it on the desk. Inside was a photograph of a beautiful young woman, toplessinbed.
She was looking at the camera, a sly smile onherface.
“Something tells me this isn’t Barbara Royce.” Hawk held up the picture for Austintosee.
