Page 18 of Mistletoe and Malice
She cocked her head. “No. Why?”
“Because we don’t know how many others are aware you’re expected at the Statesman for breakfast, the country club forlunch, or when you’ll be going into the office. I didn’t even know you had an office.”
Her chin came up in defense. “I’m an attorney specializing in overturning sentences for the wrongfully imprisoned.”
“Regardless.” But impressive, nonetheless. How had he made such a rookie mistake? “We haven’t checked out the building or anybody who might have access to you there. And we don’t know if your lunch date told anybody he was meeting you.”
“Graham.”
“And what about this Graham? We’ll have to do a full background on him.”
She laughed out loud. “Graham Harding?” Her eyes danced with unconcealed mirth, increasing his irritation. “Of the Fort Worth Hardings?”
“I don’t care.” His ire rose by the second, although he was more angry with himself than at her. This was her life, the way she lived it. She quite obviously did it well, and he’d drastically underestimated her. “He gets close to you only after we’ve vetted him. We’ll also need to check out the home where the party’s being held—entrances, security measures, attendees, everything.”
He swung his gaze to Trevor, still seated in his chair, snapping photos of each page of the schedule with his encrypted cell phone. “You sending those over to Mack?”
“Mack and Tech Ops.” Trevor’s thumbs moved frantically over the phone’s screen.
They needed to get people working yesterday on reconnaissance and background checks. Pulling building blueprints and checking for unsecured entrances or other ingress points someone might exploit if they were determined. Contacting the Cantrells’ security team, mapping out routes. A good two or three days of work that they now had mere hours to complete.
Granted, he was handed this detail less than twenty-four hours ago, but he’d still dropped the ball by not getting Tech Ops on it last night. He might’ve been exhausted, but there was no excuse for such a gross oversight on his part.
“The coffee shop and gym are too public. Let’s move the Bible study and workout here. Can you arrange that with your friends?”
She stared at him for a second, and he prepared himself for an argument. Instead, she sighed and crossed her arms. “I think that’ll work. Fran’s office is about thirty minutes from here, and Barb’s about twenty. Avery telecommutes, so she should be fine with it.”
Paul held up his phone. “I’ll call Transportation. Get them working on routes.”
“Thanks, Jamison. Start with various routes from the estate to the office so we can change it up every day.”
“On it.” He turned toward the door with his phone to his ear. “Dillon, hey, man, I need you to pull everybody in right now.” His voice trailed off as he moved down the hall.
She plopped back down in the chair behind the desk. “Mr. Blankenship, really. This is all so unnecessary. You’ll be with me in the morning for breakfast. We can even go in a back entrance if it makes you feel better. The office where I’m meeting the defense team has a metal detector at the door, so security is tight there. As for lunch, you practically need security clearance from the Pentagon to get into the club. I’ll even let you taste my food if you want. To make sure it’s not poisoned.”
He glared at her. “Not necessary.”
“As for the dinner party, the Cantrells have an entire security staff, the drive is gated, it’s invitation-only so if you have no invite, you don’t get in. And as for who was invited, I can assure you it’s the cream of Houston society. Where do you think we expect to get all that money? They’ll probably have their entiredetail on duty. Please. Call their head guy. I’m sure he’ll put you at ease. In fact, I’ll probably be so safe under their roof, you guys can have the night off.”
“Not going to happen, Miss Hudson. We go with you. We stay with you.”
She shrugged and sat up to fold her arms on top of the desk. “Suit yourself. Got a tux?”
Chapter Nine
Riley threw her jacket, bag, and briefcase into one of the chairs in front of her desk, walked around, and fell into hers on the other side.
Lunch had been a disaster. As soon as she walked into the club dining room with her new brawny entourage, Graham’s expression morphed from happy to see her to a thunderous scowl in two seconds flat. After Mr. Blankenship took up his post at the entrance and Mr. Paxton at the other end of the dining room, Graham leaned across the table and glared at her.
“Seriously, Riley? All of this because of that little incident on Saturday? You’re fine. Why all the fuss?”
It hurt a little that he considered almost being thrown into a trunk and disappearing without a trace alittle incident. “Daddy’s worried since the guy got away. It’s only for a couple of weeks.”
“Hopefully, by Saturday, your dad will see it’s all for nothing and they’ll be gone. Or we should postpone any other dates until after you don’t have your chaperones. It’s embarrassing.”
Embarrassing? To him? The other diners paid the two men who’d come in with her no mind.“Bodyguards aren’t exactly a novelty around the club. Nobody even cares they’re here.”
“Icare they’re here.”
