Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4)(49)

Careful not to touch the walls, I run down the stairs, bending over to slide my Beretta back into my boot when I reach the bottom.

When I stand, I find Ivy in the living room, aluminum baseball bat gripped in her small, talented hands, ready to take a swing. Watching me.

“The house is empty, but they were upstairs.”

She twists her mouth, glancing down at my boot—wondering, I’m sure, why I’m carrying a gun when I’m “off duty”—but she doesn’t ask about that. “I called the cops.”

“I can hear that. You also didn’t take my car, like I asked you to.” I should have known she wouldn’t listen.

She relaxes her arms, tossing the bat to the floor. “I’ll need their report to file any insurance claims,” she says, ignoring my chastising. She gazes around the main floor, her attention not really grabbing onto anything for more than a second. “Why would someone do this? There’s nothing of value to steal in here.”

I know exactly why, but I can’t tell her.

I shouldn’t be here. I should leave right now.

I close the distance and rope an arm around her as the screams of sirens approach.

Ivy flips through her sketchbook, the sheets half torn from the spiral spine and dangling. “Seriously? Even my sketchbook?” She whips it across the dash of my car in a fit of rage, blinking repeatedly to stave off the tears that coat her eyes.

I pull up to the curb in front of a simple green California bungalow in the Haight, an artsy neighborhood that my mom used to like to drive through on hot summer days, to look at the brightly painted Victorian houses. My parents actually aren’t far from this quiet side street, no more than a ten-minute drive.

Reaching over, I silently retrieve the book from my dashboard and shift the pages as best I can to fit within the cardboard cover. A man’s profile fills the page in front of me.

“The police sketch artist did a shitty job. I’ve been trying to get it right,” she mumbles. “Haven’t, yet.”

Probably a good thing. I don’t want to give Bentley’s guys any more reason to consider her a risk.

I say nothing, continuing to tidy the pages. The last one before a stack of blanks is a sketch of me. A highly accurate depiction, which I can’t say I’d want ever handed to law enforcement.

When she sees me studying it, she reaches over and yanks the book out of my hand. “I like to draw people I meet,” she explains simply, holding her ruined sketches close to her chest, her arms roped around the book. If she’s blushing, it’s too dark to tell.

But I know she’s shaken up by the entire experience tonight, whether she’ll admit it or not.

The cops let her collect a few overnight things before sending us out so they can finish their evidence collection. I lean over to grab the handles of her duffel bag in my backseat, taking in the scent of her as I get close. She doesn’t make a move, and I’m not about to try anything on her now. “Whose place did you say this is?” I ask.

She glances toward the house, where a porch light is now on. “My friend Dakota, from Oregon.”

“Okay, well, you’ll be safe here. I’m sure of it.” I know because I watched my mirrors for a tail the entire drive over.

Silence hangs inside my car for a few long breaths. “How’s your side?”

“Don’t even feel it,” I lie. It’s not too bad, but it’s definitely noticeable.

“You’ll need to take the wrap off soon.” She pauses. “If you come inside, I could do that for you.”

I glance at the shadow watching from the window. “You’ve already woken your friend up in the middle of the night. You don’t think she’ll mind you bringing a stranger in with you?”

“Dakota?” She snorts. “She’ll love it. She invites strangers over all the time.”

“That doesn’t sound safe,” I joke. It’d be so easy to say yes, but I have things I need to deal with. “I’ll be fine. But thanks.”

She chews the inside of her mouth, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s probably wondering why I didn’t offer to bring her back to my place for the rest of the night. I considered it, because I’d rather not let her out of my sight after what happened, but I don’t think even someone as open-minded as Ivy can look past the motel with hourly rates and hookers hanging off the streets outside. “Thanks for sticking around and helping me deal with the cops,” she finally says. “And driving me here.”

As far as the police know, Gregory White accompanied Ivy home from the club. Luckily she wasn’t around when I was giving them that information. They’ll run it through, I’m sure, and they’ll find the dummy profile that Bentley had set up—a thirty-one-year-old truck driver—as a precaution. And hopefully, that’s where that’ll end.

“When you want to go and get your car, give me a call and I’ll take you.”

She slips her duffel bag out of my grasp. “That’s not necessary.” The cool, I-don’t-need-help-from-anyone Ivy is slipping back.

“Yeah, it is. You heard the cops. These people ransacked your place. Given your uncle was killed two weeks ago, it’s suspicious. I don’t want you going to that shop again without me, either.”

Rare amusement dancing in her eyes. “Is this you going all badass bodyguard on me?”