The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(33)

Hernandez whistled. “That must be costing her a pretty penny. She’s way more loaded than we thought, Eddie. McKay-Taggart is one of those fancy security companies that handle really rich people.”

Adam was getting annoyed with the cops. “She’s very important to her agent. Now, I would like to know what’s going on.”

Jake walked up behind him, Serena at his side. There were only two chairs. Jake held out the remaining chair, offering it to Serena.

“It’s all right. I can stand,” Serena said.

Jake simply stared at her, and she sat down. They would have to train her to accept their courtesy. It went beyond mere politeness. It was their way of taking care of her.

“I would never sit while you were forced to stand,” Jake explained. “And is this the only food you’ve had? A soda and some chips.” He frowned Adam’s way.

Adam held his hands out. His first instinct was to bark back at his partner, but he had to admit he was happy Jake seemed so invested in her well-being. “I had reservations. You’re the one who called and told me to get my ass here.”

“I saw a sandwich place across the street. Is turkey all right?” Liam asked, giving Serena a little wink. “Don’t tell me no. Jake will Dom you to death. Just give in.”

A little smile curved her lips. “Turkey is fine. With mustard. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll take the same,” Adam said. “Except make it pastrami on rye and make the mustard hot.”

Liam shot him the finger. “You’ll be lucky to get anything at all.”

Liam walked off. Adam might have to hope he got a few of those chips of Serena’s. He turned back to the cops. “Now we’re all here. Explain why you called us in.”

Chitwood flushed slightly. He was very pale. Adam bet he burned all summer long. “It’s my fault.”

“Dude, I would probably have done the same thing,” Hernandez said, slapping his partner on the back sympathetically.

Adam was just about ready to scream when the detective started to speak. “I went by to take the report on Miss Brooks’ car.”

Jake stood behind Serena, looking like some sort of protective bird of prey. “Why would you do that? We had an appointment to meet with Brighton at two o’clock.”

“No one told me,” Chitwood explained.

“He was taking care of his wife this morning. She’s got cancer.” Hernandez’s face went grim. “His kids are off at college. He sometimes stays in when she has a bad morning. I cover for him with brass.”

Adam was sorry to hear that. “If you didn’t come in then how did you know anything had happened at all?”

“Mikey forwarded the report to me. I stopped by on my way in to work. I’ll be honest. I would have done it whether I had known about the meeting with brass or not. I would have stopped by to take some photos. But I knocked on the door, and when I did, an envelope fell. It started to drop, and I did something stupid.”

Adam closed his eyes. It was understandable, but didn’t help their case. “You caught it.”

A long huff blew from the detective’s mouth. “Yep. So we’re running it for prints, but you can bet mine will be on there.”

“It’s not a tragedy,” Hernandez said.

It wasn’t. It also wasn’t optimal. “Do you have a copy?”

He didn’t miss the fact that Hernandez focused in on Serena. While Chitwood grabbed a folder, Hernandez never took his eyes off Serena. She sat forward, obviously anxious about whatever was in that report.

“He knows where I live.” Her tone was flat, fatalistic. “I hoped the car was a coincidence, but it wasn’t. He has my home address.”

Adam reached over and placed his hand over hers. “It’s all right.”

She shook her head. “I’m careful. I have a PO box. I never put my real name out there.”

He knew how this * had found her. He’d checked up on her yesterday, and with one little piece of information, he’d found her real name and home address served up right on the internet. “You have an LLC.”

Chitwood nodded. “I’m sure that’s how he found you. The state requires all businesses to have a physical address. If he knows what LLC you publish under, it would be easy for him to look it up on the web and pull your actual address.”

“God, I feel so dumb. Amber Rose LLC. Why the hell did I do that?” Tears were pooling in her eyes.

“You didn’t know,” Jake said. “It’s fine, Serena. Not a lot of people think about it.”

Adam already had a plan in motion. “I changed the address on her LLC this morning. I talked to a nice lady in the comptroller’s office. We’re going to use the physical address of the post office where her PO box is located.”

She turned to him. “You did that?”

Adam shrugged. Some women might see it as meddling. He merely saw it as taking care of a problem she didn’t even know she’d had. “You were working. I didn’t want to bother you. I explained to the woman that I was your assistant. She believed me since I had your passwords and all your information.”

“You do?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

He waited for her to get upset, but the hand under his turned and clutched at him. “Thank you. Whatever Lara is paying you, it isn’t enough.”