DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(16)

“Might not be a bad idea.”

I glanced back at him. “What is it, anyway? PTSD?”

“Don’t worry about it, Kate. I have it under control.”

“Do you?”

His eyes moved slowly over me. “Go back to bed.”

“Time to get ready for work now,” I said, gesturing at the small travel clock he had on the bedside table. Then I focused on him. “Must be hell for your girl, sleeping with you during nightmares like that.”

“You sure worry an awful lot about someone you’ve never met.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. And I wasn’t sure I could speak with the knife that just sliced through my heart.

So he really does have a girlfriend.





Chapter 8


Donovan

I made us breakfast, but she only picked at the eggs, throwing them down the drain the moment I turned my back. And she was silent on the short drive to her bank, refusing to speak even when I commented on the weather or asked a direct question about her normal route to work.

Everyone in the bank when we walked in stared at us. I wasn’t sure if they were staring at her because of what had happened Monday night, or if they were staring at me because their manager had told them who I was and why I was there. Probably a combination of both.

Kate dropped her bag into the bottom drawer of her desk and settled in her chair, adjusting the nameplate that sat beside a photo of her and her dad.

“What are you going to do all day? Stand there and watch me work?”

“She speaks.”

She started to make a face at me but caught sight of her manager, Mildred Talbot, walking toward us.

“Mrs. Talbot,” she said, climbing to her feet.

“Please, sit, Miss Thompson. I understand you sustained a concussion during whatever happened the other night.”

“I did. But it was mild. I’m fine.”

“I certainly hope so.” Mrs. Talbot turned to me. “You must be Mr. Pritchard. Mr. Grayson called yesterday to explain what was going to happen for the next few days.”

I inclined my head. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion. I’ll try to stay out of the way as much as possible.”

“It’s no problem. We’re happy to have the added security for Miss Thompson.”

She focused on Kate again, her eyes moving slowly over her. “Well, let’s have a good day and hope that there is no more drama.”

Kate watched the woman as she walked away, a clear look of dislike on her face. It reminded me of the many times I’d seen that look on her face after a teacher reprimanded her for some slight in class.

“Drama?” she muttered. “Someone died and she calls it drama.”

I rapped my knuckles on her desk to get her attention. “I’ll be around.”

“You’re leaving?”

“I’m not going far. But you’re safe here.”

“How can you be sure? After all, this is where it all happened.”

I turned, located a security camera on the wall directly across from her desk that was looking right at her. “See that?”

“Yeah?”

“David hacked the bank’s security system and he’s watching you right now.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the app that was connected to David’s program. It had a green, all clear banner prominent across the top. “If anything appears out of the normal, he’ll notify me and I’ll be here in seconds.”

She glanced toward the front of the bank. I could almost read her thoughts. The front was all glass, and she was only ten or fifteen feet from it. What if someone made an attempt on her from out there? She was practically sitting in a fish bowl, vulnerable to just about anything.

I moved behind her and leaned close so that I was speaking directly into her ear where no one else could hear.

“Whoever killed the security guard picked late at night most likely because of the reduced chance of being seen. A perpetrator like that would not make an attempt on you in broad daylight where anyone and his dog might see him.”

She nodded, but I could still feel the tension rolling off of her. I laid my hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

“I wouldn’t leave if I didn’t think you were safe.”

She nodded again, but her eyes flicked to that wall of glass again. I didn’t know what else to do to set her mind at ease, so instead of walking the perimeter as I had planned to do, I took a seat in the lobby for the time being. I watched her for hours, waiting for the scared glances and the tension to stop. And, slowly, as she got into her work and long conversations with the people who came in to ask for loans, they did stop. I chose a moment when she was preoccupied to get up and slip out the front door.

The bank sat on a busy street with businesses on either side of it. There was a narrow alley on one side and the wider alley where employees parked their car on the other. Customers were required to park out back where there was a large lot that supplied all five business on this block. I walked around, noting the placement of the security cameras. There were multiple cameras on the outside of the building that should have caught any activity that took place late Monday night. But, as Ash had said, there were no security cameras outside the closed bakery where the actual shooting appeared to have taken place.