Page 42 of Detective Daddy Next Door

I pull up at a three-story building on Spring Street and stare up at the white shutters on the floor I’m headed to. The office of the chief counsel sits between the first and third floors. I'm a detective, but I'm not going in today as one. If I go in as a detective, it will have more impact, but that would blow my cover to smithereens. But I also want her safe, so this is the best I can do for now. It's a huge firm. The clerk sends me up with a tag that I'll have to submit on my way back. In the elevator, I go through what I'll say to make sure I don't make any mistakes.

When I get to the second floor, I see another clerk. I ask for the attorneys named Barry and Jim. She tells me where to go. I knock on the cream-colored door and await an answer. A rather soft voice answers, telling me to come in. I push the door open. There's a big man behind the desk and a smallish man sitting opposite him. I immediately attach the smallish man to the soft voice, but I realize I'm wrong when the big man asks me what I want. The soft voice is a shock coming from inside him.

I pull out a chair and sit beside the smallish man, who I realize has a deep voice as he says something to the big man. I stretch my hand out and shake his, then stretch my hand to the big man. He doesn't take it. I nod and withdraw my hand.

"Okay, I guess you're good at reading people and have realized I'm not here on a courtesy call. Good. I like how intuitive you are. But let your intuition tell you that if you threaten Bria again, it will not end well for you."

The big man crumples his forehead. "You mean Bria Shaw, who’s defending Costa in court?"

I nod.

"Why would we do that? Why would we threaten her?"

"Because you want to win the case."

The smallish man laughs. "No, we prefer to threaten in the courtroom with our intellect."

I narrow my eyes at the big man. "Anything happens to her, and you'll have yourselves to blame."

"And who are you to her? Her bodyguard?"

"No, her boyfriend."

Chapter 17

Bria

Ireallydon’tknowwhere I stand with Myles right now. I’ve been to the hospital to see Ellie a couple of times, but we haven’t had time to talk about us. Are we still together? Are we taking a break? Has he talked to his wife about us? He only sent a text to say he doesn’t think she’s the one threatening me because he spoke to her. I haven't gotten another threatening note. I haven't seen another person lurking at my window. But the past few days have been crazy, and staying in the house alone is doing my head in. Last night, I jumped at the dark shadow in the living room when I came out to get something to drink. It turned out to be the lamp in the corner, but I'd mistaken it for someone hiding, waiting to attack me. It's a Saturday, and today, I'm going over to Ava's. I can't be in the house alone; it's driving me nuts.

I have a quick breakfast and rush my way through a shower, turning the water off intermittently to listen for footsteps that are probably just my imagination. When I'm out of the house and in my car, I let out a sigh of relief and drive as fast as I can out of the driveway.

Ava gets the door when I arrive. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit. I am shit."

"Jeez. Work is that bad, huh?"

I've been keeping stuff from Ava because I wanted to be sure I wasn't imagining things. I wanted to be sure I wasn't being hysterical. I told her about Myles’s wife coming to the office, but I didn’t tell her about the envelope in the drawer and the person peering through my window. I'd seen that face in the window. I wasn’t imagining things. The envelope was in my drawer before it disappeared. I'm not crazy. The files were on my laptop before they disappeared, too. I saw them all.

I thud onto a sofa and fall back into it, lying straight. "It's not work." I rise up and sit slouching down. "Okay, maybe it's work. But I'm not sure what's going on or where it's coming from.”

"Oh my God. You got sacked?"

"I didn't. I'm being threatened by someone. A while back, I found an envelope in my drawer with a paper in it that read ‘back off or face the consequences.’ But a few days later, the envelope disappeared from my drawer. I got some files deleted from my laptop. You know, the one I told you I was helping Myles with? That one. Then a couple of days ago, someone was lurking around outside my window."

Ava's mouth is slack. "All of this crazy stuff has been happening and you didn't tell me?"

"For a little while, I thought I was crazy, because I really don't have evidence to prove any of these things. But now I'm sure I'm not crazy."

"Someone was creeping around your house? Who could it be?"

"I told you about Myles’s wife, yeah? Myles said it could be her. But he sent me a text to say he talked to her, and she said it wasn't. She said the last time she talked to me was when she came to my office. I don't know what to believe."

Ava sighs then sits on the arm of another sofa, facing me. "Are you sure it's not that weird girl at your office? What's her name again? The one who's trying to make partner, too."

"Fern?"

Ava nods.

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