Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (Finlay Donovan, #3)(73)

His footsteps retreated down the hall. The closet door opened abruptly, and I fell through the opening into Nick’s chest. He looked down at me, one eyebrow raised. “Did you get all that?”

I nodded, mustering a sympathetic grin. “Kind of hard not to.”

He held the door open for me, turning off the light and closing the closet behind us. The hall had emptied with the exception of a few stragglers. Vero stood off to the side with Roddy, their heads bent close, their faces sober.

“Where do you think Feliks will go?” I asked Nick.

“Not far. Zhirov’s too cocky to tuck tail and run. He’ll want to stay near his business.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. This was exactly what I feared he’d say. Not only was Feliks free, but he was probably close. And Feliks was far too proud to let EasyClean get away with playing these games with him. He would want this resolved quickly. The citizen’s police academy was over in less than two days, and if I didn’t deliver EasyClean soon, I was certain Feliks would come looking for me.

“Hey,” Nick said, dipping his head to look me in the eyes, “I don’t want you to worry about Feliks. You and the kids are safe here. I promise.”

“Detective Anthony?” Nick and I turned as a uniformed officer rounded the corner, his face ruddy from the cold. “Sorry to interrupt, sir, but there’s a problem at the front gate. Some guy showed up, claiming he’s registered for the citizen’s academy and demanding to come in. I checked his ID but he’s not on the roster. The guy gave me a bogus license and he’s driving a rental car from New Jersey.” Vero and I locked eyes across the hall. “A couple of officers attempted to escort him off the grounds, but he got belligerent. When we searched him, he was carrying.”

Nick rubbed his eyes. “Where is he now?”

“Detained at the front gate.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“I should go find the kids,” I said. Nick took my hand as I tried to slip away.

“Hey,” he said in a low voice, “are we going to talk about what just happened in there?”

“Later,” I assured him, backing out of his reach. Someday, maybe we would talk about everything that had happened today—all the small truths I spilled and the big ones I probably should have but didn’t. For now, all I wanted was to find my kids. Nick was wrong. None of us were safe here.



* * *



When I left Nick by the maintenance closet, Vero and Roddy were nowhere in sight. I rushed across campus toward the gym. Police lights swirled by the security gate. Beyond the fence, a group of uniformed officers was gathered beside a patrol car. A large man was detained in the back seat. His eyes found mine through the window, trailing me as I pulled my hood over my face and hurried to find my kids.

I threw open the gymnasium doors, nearly dizzy with relief when I heard the unmistakable sound of my son’s peeling laughter echoing down the hall. I followed the sound to the basketball court. Zach’s diaper strained the fabric of his overalls, a trail of empty snack wrappers in his wake as he chased a bouncing ball down the court. Roddy and Vero stood at the sideline, staring up into the bleachers. Ty was stretched across a bench. One of his arms dangled over the side, his fingernails stained a garish shade of red. Delia sat on her knees beside him, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she colored his cheeks with a magic marker. A smear of blue blanketed the closed lids of his eyes, and black lines radiated from them like exaggerated sunrays. He snored softly.

Vero’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. I clapped a hand over my mouth, terrified to wake him.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Roddy.

“Don’t be.” Roddy shook his head as he watched his partner sleep. “I had to call him three times just to get him out of bed this morning. He’ll learn a valuable lesson from this.”

“The correct application of lip liner is an important lesson for all of us.” The laughter Vero had been holding back burst out in a loud snort.

Delia looked up, blinked at us, and smiled. “Look, Roddy! Isn’t Ty pretty?”

Roddy flashed her a proud thumbs-up as Ty began to stir. Vero hid the last of her giggles behind her hand as he opened his eyes.

Delia patted his chest. “You’re all done,” she said, putting the cap on her marker. Ty sat up fast, the spider legs drawn around his eyes stretching wide as he put a hand to his face. “Remember to ethfoliate and moithturize. Vero says it’s very important.”

“It’s water soluble,” I called up to him as Vero laughed silently into her fist.

Roddy gave a startling clap of his hands. Ty looked up from his nails. “Nap time’s over, Rookie. We’ve got a class to cover. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

Ty sprinted down the bleachers.

“Thanks, Roddy,” I said as he followed Ty to the door.

Roddy tipped his hat. “No thanks necessary. It’s a pleasure to serve.”

“You’re right,” I said to Vero as I watched them go. “There’s no way that man is EasyClean.” It was the only thing I felt certain of. And that after spending the afternoon with my children, Ty would probably never want kids of his own.

I turned back to the mess my son had made of the basketball court. His ball sat abandoned by the back wall.