Trusting Danger (Danger, #2)(7)

Fred caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “How’s your case coming along? Do you think you’ll be able to get Chris out of jail?”

“I sure hope so. He’ll be chewed up and spit out in the general population.” Claire sighed. “I get that what he did was wrong, but considering how the foster-care system pushes kids out in the street when they turn eighteen, it’s just . . . it’s just wrong.”

“Sounds that way.” Fred gave her a commiserating look. “There but for the grace of God go I, right?”

Claire reached over the seat back to squeeze his shoulder. “You’re so right. We’re really lucky, aren’t we? And speaking of lucky, how’s that granddaughter of yours doing? Did Katie get the scholarship to Duke?”

Fred beamed as he caught Claire up on his oldest granddaughter’s efforts to pay her own way through college. A hard-working self-starter, Katie knew her parents couldn’t afford the colleges she was interested in attending, so had started applying for scholarships on her own in her junior year. Fred was proud as he could be of her, and Claire loved listening to him brag on the girl.

In fact, Claire sometimes felt like one of his granddaughters herself. Fred was so attentive, so in tune to how often she’d been left to her own devices as an older teen when her parents had been traveling. He’d watched out for her for so many years, he was more like a godfather than her father’s employee.

Once Fred had pulled into a spot at the curb, Claire got out and retrieved her large suitcase and tote from him.

“Thanks! See you Sunday at two,” she called out with a wave as she hurried away, and he waved back with a big grin.

Claire sneaked a look at the time as she checked her bag, praying it would make it on the plane. Snatching her claim check, she hurried toward the screening checkpoint.

At her first glimpse of the line, which snaked well beyond the barriers, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her shoulders slumped as she stepped to the end of the line, wondering if she’d make it to her gate on time.

After switching her tote strap from one shoulder to the other, she swiped at her forehead. This stress was getting to be too much.

How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I get up when I was supposed to?

After rushing through security, Claire hurried to the gate and arrived just before the agents closed the plane’s door.

Thank goodness Gabe booked me a first-class seat. Claire found it and plopped down, exhausted and out of breath.

She fanned a hand over her sweaty face as she checked the time on her phone. The meeting at the jail had to be over by now. Needing to know whether Chris had taken the offer, she tapped Leah’s contact info and pressed the phone to her ear.

The elderly man seated next to her frowned as he pointed at Claire’s phone. “They just made the announcement about turning off cell phones.”

Claire gave him an apologetic smile before quickly disconnecting the call and switching the phone into airplane mode.

Vowing to apologize to Chris, Leah, and Professor Moore as soon as she could, Claire returned her phone to her purse and pulled from her tote the bios Gabe had provided. She hadn’t had a chance to review the background information on his clients yet, and it was time to get started.





Chapter Five





When the eggs were ready, Grayson accepted the tray Mary had prepared and headed upstairs. His mother was awake and sitting up in bed when he entered her room. Her eyes brightened at the sight of him, and she gave him a big smile.

“Gray!”

Dismay overcame him as he settled the bed tray over her legs. He’d only been gone for a couple of weeks, but in that short time, Eleanor’s pallor had increased significantly and she looked much older than her fifty-eight years. Her face now held no color whatsoever, and her skin had lost its normal healthy glow, leaving it waxy.

He did his best to keep his voice cheerful as he leaned down to give her a hug. “How are you feeling?”

“Still weak, but I’m going to have another blood transfusion on Monday. That should help.”

He hoped it would, but the transfusions seemed to help less and less. Lowering himself into the chair by her bed, he asked, “Is it time for your pills?” When she nodded, he asked, “Which do you need to take?”

She gestured toward two plastic bottles set off to the side on the nightstand. “Those. One of each.”

After taking a pill from each bottle, Grayson placed them in his mother’s hand. “What about the others?”

His mother swallowed one of the pills with a sip of juice. “I’ll take those after I eat.”

As Eleanor picked at her breakfast, mostly moving her eggs around her plate, Grayson asked, “Is there anything I can do to help you around the house?”

“Nothing that I can think of.”

“How about I cut the grass for you this morning?”

She shook her head. “No need. The neighbors’ boy does that for me. Stop worrying about me, and tell me how work is going.”

Trying to relax, Grayson sat back in his seat and crossed an ankle over his knee. “Work is fine.”

“And your social life?”

“It’s great.”

Eleanor glanced up at him as she poured her tea, her eyes narrowed. “It’s not great. All you ever do is work. I worry about you, you know.”