Be With Me(13)

“Make who pay?” Jeremy murmured.

“Reggie could have been a guess,” Carl offered.

“A common enough nickname for Regina.”

“But how did he know my name at al ?” Regina pointed out. “He said he’d been waiting for me. He knew I’d be there. How?”

The chief frowned and sat back in his seat. “Is that al you can remember? Did you get a look at him at al ?”

Regina shook her head regretful y. “It al happened so fast, and it was dark. I know he was big. Real y big. He picked me up like I was nothing. I’d taken multiple blows to the head, and my vision was blurry.

Then Jeremy got there, and the guy took off.”

“I don’t like it,” the chief muttered. “Seems personal. Like it was a setup.”

“Think it could be someone with a grudge against her father?” Jeremy offered. “Politicians attract a lot of crackpots with wack agendas. Beyond the fact that he’s just a smal town mayor, he’s extremely wealthy and has wielded a lot of influence for years.”

“Could be,” Carl said. “It’s certainly a possibility. I can’t imagine why else he would have targeted Regina. And the bit about making him pay. How better to make a father pay than to kil his daughter?” Regina remained silent. She wasn’t going to dive into her father’s motivation for anything. Way too messy.

“I’l have to tel him, Regina,” the chief said apologetical y. “If this nutjob is targeting you, and him indirectly, he’l need to know, as wil his security team.”

She swal owed her snort. Security team. Could her father get more pompous? Smal town mayors didn’t run around with a security team. His wealth had long since gone to his head, though. He, more than anyone, was convinced of his own importance. Hel , he’d probably be secretly smug if there was some sort of vendetta against him.

“I understand,” she said quietly.

“I don’t want you staying by yourself.” She frowned harder.

“Sawyer Pritchard mentioned you were going home with them,” the chief said as he eyed her sternly. “I think that’s a good idea for now. Keep your eyes peeled and stay on your toes. Hopeful y we’l have caught this ass**le before you report back for duty.”

She gritted her teeth as she was summarily dismissed. With a sideways glance at Carl, she rose unsteadily to her feet but shrugged off Jeremy’s arm when he reached out to help her.

“Keep me posted at least?” she said to the chief as she started for the door.

“Of course. And Regina?”

She stopped and turned back to look at him.

“Get some rest. You look like hel .”

The corner of her lip quirked upward. “Thanks.” She stepped into the hal way to see Cam, Hutch and Sawyer lounging against the opposite wal . They straightened when they saw her, and Hutch dug into a smal white paper sack.

“Didn’t I tel you to wait outside?” she asked in exasperation.

Sawyer shrugged. “Yeah, so?”

Hutch thrust his curled up fist to her. “Here. Take this.”

She held her hand out, and he dropped a smal pil into her palm. She pushed it back at him, but he caught her hand, took the pil out and held it up to her mouth. Cam handed her a bottle of water.

“Take it,” Hutch growled.

“You might as wel give in graceful y,” Cam said calmly. “It’s not going to look good for your chief to come out and see you on the floor, us shoving a pil down your throat.”

She glared at him. They wouldn’t.

Sawyer stroked the back of her neck. “We’l do it, Reggie,” he murmured. “And suffer absolutely no guilt over it either.”

Her shoulders thrust up then shot down as she snatched the pil from Hutch’s hand. She took the water from Cam and downed the pil on one swal ow.

“There. Happy?”

Hutch grinned. “That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” She shot him a quel ing look and started to walk toward the front door. Heat rushed to her cheeks when she saw Greta sitting there, headphones off, a big grin on her face. She’d overheard the entire exchange, and Regina wanted to crawl under the nearest piece of furniture.

The guys spil ed out of the police station behind her and they headed for Cam’s SUV. She stood beside the truck, weariness assailing her. She couldn’t muster the energy to open the door and get in.

Sawyer reached by her, his arm brushing against her shoulder as he took the handle and opened the door. His other hand settled at the back of her neck, and he rubbed the slight indention at the base of her head with his thumb.

His lips pressed to her hair, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

“Let’s get you home,” he murmured as he eased her into the truck.

He made sure she was inside then shut the door behind her. Hutch climbed into the front seat with Cam, and Sawyer walked around to the other side and slid in beside her.

As Cam started out of the parking lot, Regina frowned. “I didn’t give you guys my prescription card.

How did you get my stuff fil ed?”

Cam glanced in the rearview mirror, smiled and shook his head. “We paid for them, Reggie. How else would we have gotten them fil ed?”

“But you didn’t have to do that,” she protested. “I have insurance. Did you at least save the receipt so I can file for reimbursement and pay you back? That shit’s expensive.”