Dangerous Secrets (Tall, Dark & Deadly #2)(48)

Julie tried to smile but failed and Luke tightened his grip on her, as if he sensed how tense she was. She didn’t want him to go tonight, and it was all she could not to turn to him and beg him not to.

Luke motioned to the other man, the blonde. “And this is Kyle. He’s our tech expert and if there is a safe in the house, he can get in.”

“He also removed the snake from Lauren’s apartment when she had that crazy man stalking her a while back,” Blake mentioned, referencing the hell that Lauren had gone through that had led to her leaving the District Attorney’s office.

“That would be me,” Kyle said, and lifted the lid to a small steel case on the counter before flipping it around for her to see what looked like some sort of tiny chip. “This will be your mic. Blake will be on the other end until I take over for him, at which time, you’ll have Luke back with you as well.

“You so much as need an escort to the bathroom you just say the word and I’ll be there.” Blake added.

Julie nodded. “Thank you, Blake.”

“And he was serious about saying a word,” Blake added. ”I need ‘a word’. Something you can say discreetly that lets me know you need me.”

For an attorney known to think on her feet, Julie’s mind was utterly blank. “I don’t know.”

“Apple,” Blake said. “Orange. Oh what a beautiful day it is. A spoon full of sugar.”

Julie actually laughed at that. “A spoonful of sugar?”

“It makes the medicine go down,” he said, with a nod.

Julie shook her head and glanced at Luke. “You have a very strange brother.”

“Yes,” Luke said. “I know.”

“We all know,” Jesse agreed.

“Pride myself on it,” Blake said, “and I still need that word or even a phrase that tells me you’re in trouble. I’ll have limited visual.”

Julie thought a moment about what would be easily used in the mixed company she’d be in. “How about ‘I have a headache’?”

The men all laughed. Julie’s brows furrowed. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Almost every woman given this question comes up with that answer,” Blake supplied. “It’s like all females are born with that excuse in their psyche.”

“That’s your discreet ‘help’ call,” Luke said. “If you feel like the situation merits Kyle and Jesse coming with guns drawn, you say ‘I think I’m getting a migraine.”

Her stomach knotted. He was about to leave. “Okay.”

Luke slapped the cover down on the mic and picked it up, then twined the fingers of his one free hands with hers. “Let’s go get you wired.”

She nodded because suddenly her throat was too tight to form words. A few minutes later they stood in the bedroom by the bed, and Luke used some sort of adhesive to stick the device on the inside of her bra.

His fingers skimmed her neck. “Don’t leave the building and stay in the highly populated areas of the function until I get to you. It’s killing me to leave you.”

“Then don’t,” she said, her hand grasping his wrist. “Please don’t go to the judge’s house. He’ll have moved anything of importance after Elizabeth’s threat.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But we have to try, and tonight when his main collection is on display will make it easier to see what is left behind.”

“Just come to the party with me, Luke, please. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“If I didn’t think my experience was critical to doing this, I’d send someone else, but I know how to get us in and out unnoticed. And Blake would die to protect you or I’d never even consider this.”

“I don’t care about me. I care about you. Just don’t do this at all.”

His expression softened. “I care about you and you said you wanted a means to an end. And as much as I want to lock you away someplace safe, I know it’s not realistic. That means I have to find answers and end this. I have to a look in the judge’s house and his safe.”

“It’s my fault you’re even in this.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “And anywhere you are, I want to be, including at the party. So I’m going to go get this over with so I can join you.”

***

Julie spent the first thirty minutes inside the Manhattan Museum of Art checking on every detail to make sure the event was going well. More than anything, she didn’t want to think about what could be happening to Luke. That meant staying busy, which also allowed her to avoid the judge, and, for that matter, anyone who might want to kill her.

When her excuses to avoid mingling ran out, she stood at the edge of the main event space, large enough to host a wedding of at least five hundred. A band played a soft melody opposite from where Julie stood. White linen-covered tables surrounded a dance floor where only one couple had braved center stage thus far. Away from the tables, people in fancy dresses and suits stood in groups, chatting.

Julie headed for the tables, deciding to make the rounds and thank everyone for coming. She’d just finished chatting with the first table of ten when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“Julie.”