Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(23)

Figuratively speaking.

Forte chuckled. “Oh, I saw it. She sat bolt upright whenever I came through. Watchful. Alert. Determined to put up a strong front.”

To call it cute would’ve been insulting to Elisa. Rojas was glad his friend hadn’t. If either of them was prone to using their vocabulary, maybe they’d call it endearing. Worth some extra effort to foster it, give her a place to come into her own.

He got a sense from her that there was a lot more under the surface.

“For what it’s worth, I hope she comes back in the morning.” Forte picked up his beer and drained the rest of it.

“Cruz is back tomorrow, right?” Rojas asked, standing as Forte did.

“Yup.”

Rojas held out his hand for the empty beer bottle. “I had her give me her phone, swapped it out with a clean pre-paid. I pulled the sim card and dropped her old phone off across the way at a cell phone shop in Jersey.”

The detour was another reason why the frozen yogurt was mostly melted.

“Yeah?” Forte spent a few seconds considering. “Cruz could probably track down the number sending those texts to her, with her permission. Sim card should have the data.”

“I figure if she comes back tomorrow and gets to know us, maybe it’ll be worth it to take a closer look at who we might be expecting on our doorstep.” Rojas shrugged. “With her permission, of course.”

“’Course.” Forte headed to the front door. “Can see why you didn’t tell her tonight. It’d be creepy for her potential new employer to suggest tracing the phone numbers in her call and text history. Goes beyond the usual background check and way into what-the-fu—”

Forte glanced up the stairs toward Boom’s room and finished lamely, “Fudgery.”

Rojas didn’t respond, embarrassed.

Elisa thought of them as dog trainers. And, yeah, they trained military working dogs. But she didn’t yet have a complete understanding of the backgrounds of her employers or what they were each capable of, what they’d done in the past. If she did, he was willing to lay odds she wouldn’t come back in the morning.

Granted, a lot of normal administrative assistants might prefer not to work for them for similar reasons. Rojas was hoping that having the chance to get to know them all would help.

Or it could chase her away. Either way, it’d at least be on the basis of their personalities and not their background.

Forte studied him. “Well, no harm in easing her into the full introductions slowly. It’s a lot to take in all at once and we already buried her under paperwork, fussy clients, and dogs. Maybe if she does show up for work, we should let her settle into the familiar for the day and give her the rest a little at a time over the course of this week. Give her time to get settled.”

Good idea. Great, actually. Absolutely sensible. Rojas nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

He didn’t know why he was so concerned with whether or not Elisa came back, but if he got right down to it, he wanted to see her again.

No idea why, but there it was.

*



Joseph Corbin Junior sat on a worn sofa, the only decent seat in the living room. Mary Hall, Elisa’s mother, clattered around in the tiny utility kitchen putting together refreshments.

“Really, Mary, there’s no need. I don’t have time to stay long.” Truly, he preferred not to linger even a minute more than necessary.

She came out with a glass of tap water and a plate of haphazardly piled cheese and crackers. “Oh, I know you’re busy, Joseph, but it’s been so long since either you or Elisa has visited. Does she really have to be away for so long?”

Joseph glanced at the jumble of orange and white squares of cheese and made an effort not to wrinkle his nose. Thankfully, he’d educated Elisa to have a more discerning palette. “This is the trip of a lifetime for her. You know that. She’s off checking on my European offices and exploring the sights to see along the way.”

“You’re such a wonderful fiancée to send her on an adventure like that. I can’t believe she’s called and pretended to still be in the States. Her own mother and she won’t tell me where she really is.” Mary sighed. “To be honest, I’m a little bit hurt she didn’t think to take me with her, since you couldn’t take time away from your main office to go. I’d have loved to travel around Europe. It must be nice.”

Oh, of course she would. Mary Hall lived in a modest ranch house on the edge of suburbia in one of the least affluent neighborhoods in this part of California. She’d never been across the country, much less an ocean. A single woman of limited means and from no background worth noting, it’d been amazing she’d managed to raise a flower as exquisite as Elisa.

But Elisa was his now and Mary Hall was only useful as long as there was a chance to tie Elisa to him through her mother.

“Maybe she knows how disappointed you are.” He smiled. “But it is entertaining to hear what different places she’s pretending to be visiting. Please do keep me up to date on the latest locations. She’s got such an imagination.”

“It’s been a while since she last checked in. Couldn’t Elisa at least remember to call me—”

His phone rang, cutting her off. He retrieved it from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “Excuse me, I’m expecting an urgent call.”