They hung up, and Torie took time to jot everything down. With a weary sound, she turned to Paul. “You know, I’m a detail person, but this level of note-taking is going to drive me bats.”
“Where to?”
“Oh, sorry, two blocks over, the dry cleaner on Washington Street.”
He helped her haul in the bags, and waited as she haggled with the clerk about when things would be ready and what to do if they decided something couldn’t be returned to smoke-free usefulness.
“I’m going to need to do some more of this kind of thing,” she said as they walked back to the car. “Do you want me to take you back to the office after we go to the hotel? Oh,” she said, remembering suddenly, “the rental car is at the hotel. I should—”
Paul interrupted. “No, it’s been impounded. It was damaged, too. Martha took care of notifying the rental car place. She said you took out the extra insurance, right?”
Torie sat for a moment, just staring. The rental car, too. “How bad was it, in the hotel room at the Extended Suites?” she asked, knowing she’d been hiding her head in the sand about that since it happened. She hadn’t asked, hadn’t wanted to know. Until this moment, she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
Paul looked at the road, and without facing her said, “It was bad, Torie. The damage and the destruction are escalating. And Tibbet is worried because this person’s getting bolder.” He glanced at her, as if to gauge her reaction. “The fire alarm, the shooting, everything. Before he was just taking his anger out on you and Todd in random ways, malicious mischief if you want the technical term.”
“I think running someone over with a car and killing them is more than malicious mischief,” she said, gripping her hands together so tightly the knuckles cracked.
“Yeah, Tibbet thinks so, too. He’s worried about you.” Paul took a hand off the steering wheel and covered her clenched fingers. “I’m worried, too.”
Taking a deep breath, Torie asked the question that was looming in her mind, and had been hovering all day. “Is that what this morning was? Between us? Worry? Stress?”
With a quick twist of the wheel and a squeal of tires behind him, Paul pulled to the curb and slapped on the four-way flashers. “Oh, no, Torie. That wasn’t worry.”
His eyes were boring into hers, and his strong palm closed more snugly over her folded hands.
“That was…” He hesitated, stopped.
Torie waited for him to continue, unsure of what she would hear, what she wanted to hear. When the silence dragged out, she had to fill it.
“What? Right? Wrong? Good? Bad?”
He laughed, but it wasn’t like a belly laugh, or filled with humor. “Bad? Oh, no. Never bad, not with you. Bad for us, maybe. The worst thing we could do, since you’re a suspect and I’m your lawyer.” He looked at her, and she saw desire shimmer in his eyes. It was as reassuring as it was exciting. “But never, never bad. It couldn’t be.”
When she couldn’t speak, couldn’t respond, he smiled. It was a little smug, which irritated her, but when he unlatched the seat belt and swooped in to kiss her, all thought of irritation fled.
In fact, she stopped thinking all together.
The world narrowed to the sensation of his mouth on hers, of his hand on her face, drawing her closer. Nothing seemed real except those two things.
When he broke it off, sat back and relatched his seat belt, she felt bereft.
“Never bad, Torie,” he reiterated. “Not with you.”
Pulling away from the curb amidst honking horns, he took her hand, lacing their fingers together. It was an intimate gesture. Lover like.
Into the deepening silence he asked, “And what did you think about it?”
How did she put it into words? She had asked for it, initiated it. The result, the chance to finally touch him, be with him, had been mind-blowing in so many ways. The fact that she’d been able to trust him enough to find her own release, not just kind of moan and fake it, was actually scary.
“Torie?” He pulled into the parking deck at his office, and parked. “Talk to me.”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” she said, struggling to keep her voice level. “It was—”
“What?” he interrupted, sounding anxious.
Looking at him, facing him, she told the truth. “Beyond my wildest expectation. Incredible. What do you want me to say?”
He smiled. A true smile that twinkled in his eyes. “That works.”
People were coming and going in the garage, and he glanced at them. His newly upgraded parking space was second row center, close to the elevator. Way too visible to do what he was obviously thinking about.
“It works for you? I’m so glad,” her reply was half-pleased, half-sarcastic.
His smile stayed in place, but he sighed. “It’s not going to be a picnic, Torie. It’s already so complicated with all you have going on, just with the fire. That alone is terrible. When you add in everything else, it’s so complex, it’s mind-boggling.”
“Todd,” she whispered. “The shootings.”
“Everything from Todd to the vandalism. It’s all directed at you now. It’s the worst time for any kind of additional complication, especially for something between the two of us.”
“You say that like everything is my fault.”
“No,” he said sharply. “It’s not about fault. This isn’t your fault. Someone has fixated on you, Torie, and that’s dangerous.” He frowned, looking away. “There are so many things we need to get out. Clear the air.”
“Secrets,” she began.
Before they could continue, both their phones rang.
“Yes. We need to talk. When we can be alone. You’ll stay at my house again tonight. We’ll talk then.” He whipped out his phone and answered it. “It’s what?” He flicked a glance her way. “I’m in the garage. I’ll be right up.”
Torie listened to her insurance agent detail the next steps she needed to take, taking in as much of it as she could manage. Part of her mind was still thinking about Paul, about what he’d said. She heard his surprise and looked over. He looked like a storm cloud, angry and fierce.
“Um, Barbara, may I call you back? Thanks.” To Paul, she said, “What? What is it?”
“Somebody hacked into the firm’s files. Everything in every file which mentions you or Todd has been deleted or corrupted. I have to get up there and see how much I have in the paper files, be sure none of them were tampered with in the break-in the other day.”
“Oh, my gosh. How?”
“We don’t know. Now I’ve got more police to talk to. Cybercrimes, this time.”
Torie sighed, leaning back into the seat for a moment. “I want to say ‘what next?’ but I don’t dare.”
“No, please. Nothing more.” Paul laughed ruefully. He hesitated. “Take the car, do what you need to do. Call me, let me know where you are, okay?”
“Okay.” She tried to disentangle her hands from his, but they were firmly planted on hers. “What?”
“Be careful. Really careful. Whoever this is, whoever wants to hurt you, isn’t sane.”
A shudder ran up her spine. “I know.”
“I need to…”
“I know. Go. I’ll manage. It’s what I’ve learned to do.”
Paul was about to say something, but his phone rang again and he shook his head. “We’ll talk. Just be careful. Don’t drive too fast, either. Let Marco keep up.”
“Will do.”
She came around the front of the car as Paul moved toward the stairs. He stopped again, phone to his ear as if to come back to her. Was he going to kiss her? In public?
Evidently he thought better of whatever he’d been about to do, pressing the phone more firmly to his ear and raising a hand in a good-bye wave.
She returned the salute as she got in, looking for him in the rearview mirror as she pulled away.
“I’m insane. I slept with Paul Jameson. Holy crap.”