Likely Suspects (6 page)

I turned to Martin.
“Are you okay? I didn’t think to ask. You weren’t hit, were you?”

He
snorted despite the seriousness of the situation. “No. I’m intact.”

“Good.
” I took a breath. We were getting close to the seventeenth floor, so I pushed him to one side of the elevator, and I stood on the other. When it opened, I cautiously peered out. It was like nothing had happened. “Stay behind me,” I instructed, going into my office and retrieving my side arm before continuing to his office. Again, I went in first, checking to make sure no one was there. “Privacy windows,” I instructed as I searched for armed men in the buildings across the street. “Bullet-resistant glass?”

“Yes,” his voic
e was serious.

“Good.
” I did a quick sweep of the washroom and made sure his door was locked. Then I picked up my phone to call Mark again. This time the call went through.

“I heard.
Are you both okay?” Mark responded before I even spoke, the wonders of caller ID. “I’m on my way. Stay put, and don’t let anyone in but me or the police.”

“
We’re okay. Waiting for you.” We hung up.

“You’re bleeding,”
Martin pointed out as he tenderly touched my arm. I looked down.

“It’s nothing. A
lthough, those bastards owe me a new jacket.” I felt trapped, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Come h
ere, and let me see that.” He was trying to be helpful. I never pegged him for calm in a crisis situation.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” he sounded frustrated. “I can’t do anything right now, so let me do this.” I knew that feeling all too well. I sighed, and he gently took my jacket off. “Apparently they owe you a shirt, too.”

“Lucky me.”
He went to the washroom and came back with a wet towel, wiping away the blood from my gash.

“You might
have a piece of glass in there.”

“
Leave it. It’s not that bad.” It was just a small gash, some broken glass from the door, no doubt. He took the towel and tied it around my arm.

“There.”
He felt better having done something, even though it wasn’t much of anything.

“Thanks.”
I was still scanning the room; I was being hyper-vigilant now. I could have kicked myself for not taking more precautions earlier.

“
No, thank you,” his voice sounded exceptionally sincere. I looked at him. His bright green eyes were staring at me. “If it weren’t for you,” he hesitated, “you really do notice a lot. How did you know?”

“I didn’t.
” I shook my head. It was the truth. “I saw a flash, like from a scope, across the way. I thought a sniper was going to shoot you. I never expected the cart to explode.” I fell silent. Those poor people outside. I shut my eyes for a minute, trying to recall how many were out there. Had there been a line? I couldn’t remember.

There
was a knock on the door, and I leveled my gun at the sound. “Who is it?” I asked, jerking my head toward the washroom and indicating Martin should take cover.

“The big bad wolf,” was the reply Mark ye
lled, followed by the much more serious response of “police, open up.”

I went
to Martin’s desk and hit the unlock button. My gun was still in my hand but not pointed at the door since I wasn’t positive everyone entering was on our side, and I just wanted to have the opportunity to return fire if need be.

“Ma’am, drop the weapon,” were
the first words I heard as the door opened.

I laid my gun on the desk and raised
my hands in surrender. The group assembled consisted of Jeffrey, Mark, two uniformed officers, and someone else, likely a detective. One of the uniformed cops took my gun off the table, checking to see if it had been fired recently.

Mark just shook his head.
“She’s one of us.”

Martin e
merged from the washroom slowly. “Thanks fellas for coming down. I hate to put you all out.” He was being ever cordial. What was his default setting – businessman?

The cop unloaded my weapon and handed i
t back to me. I placed it on the desk. There was no need to be armed with an unloaded weapon when you’re in a room full of policemen, I reasoned.

“W
hat’s going on out there?” I couldn’t wait any longer. They were going to want to question us, but I wanted to know if they had found anything out. The uniformed cops kept quiet, letting the detective speak.

“Detective Nick O’Connell.
” He held his hand out, and we shook. “It’s a mess down there. We’ve got crime scene, arson, bomb squad, fire, paramedics. It’s a fucking circus, not sure about the number of casualties yet.” Grim news, just what I expected. He shook hands with Martin, too. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. We might be here for a while.” More good news. He noticed my oddly toweled arm. “We can get a paramedic to take a look.”

“Nah, I’m good.
It’s just a scratch.” O’Connell looked unsure, as did Mark. I swear men probably think they need stitches when they get a paper cut.

“Might as well send some
one up, just in case,” Martin told them, and Jeffrey began to leave the office.

“Jeff
rey,” my tone was serious, “make sure everyone else is taken care of first before you bring anyone up here. You got that?” I gave him a sharp look, and he timidly left.

“S
o.” O’Connell was trying to rein us back in. The two uniforms were standing by, notebooks at the ready, to write down anything we had to say. “Can we interview you separately?” Mark was getting agitated. He thought it was ridiculous, but it was just protocol.

“That’s fine.
” I moved toward the door. “My office is right over there.” One of the uniforms followed me out, and Mark and I exchanged a quick glance. “Stay with Mr. Martin, he’s had a rough afternoon.”

Across the hallway
, I gave my recantation of the events from the time we exited the elevator in the lobby until the police came knocking on the door. I left out the previous threats to Martin since I wasn’t sure if it was my place to say anything, but the police officer realized there was more to the story.

“Why would you
think there was a sniper?” he asked. I informed him of my background, which I was sure Mark had already done, and then told him I was hired to investigate threats and protect Martin. So much for keeping my mouth shut. He took some notes but didn’t ask for any details. “I guess that’s pretty much it. Seems like you might have been some kind of hero today.”

“It’s just the job.
” I shrugged it off.

M
artin was finishing up with the detective, so we went back into his office, and Det. O’Connell questioned the two of us together to cross-check our stories.

“W
hat does the OIO have to do with any of this?” O’Connell asked Mark.

“
Officially, nothing. But I’ve been looking into things for James since he first received the threats.”

O’Connell looked at me.
“Which explains why you work here, why you noticed the sun reflection, and how you got Mr. Martin out of the way?” He was solidifying the facts in his head.

“Guess so,” I said.
“Did you find anything on the other building? I don’t know what I saw, but like I said, I was expecting shots fired, not an explosion.” He hesitated because it wasn’t something he should be able to discuss, but I didn’t know if he was a bend the rules kind of guy or not.

“We’ll let you know wh
at we find,” he finally decided. He looked at Mark. “We can read your office in, but just remember, this is our show. It’s a local crime on local ground. You have no jurisdiction, and I don’t want to start a turf war.”

“I appreciate the favor,” Mark said congenially.

Jeffrey appeared in the doorway with a paramedic.
“Is now a good time?” No one disagreed, so the EMT cleaned my arm, took a shard of glass out, and bandaged it up. He remained silent since he had already seen way too much today to think of this as anything that needed detailed questions or conversation.

“Well
, gentlemen, if that’s it, I have a company to run and employees who have been through hell,” Martin announced. I was reluctant to let him go anywhere without an armed guard. It was because I was still being hyper-vigilant and felt guilty for not taking the situation more seriously sooner, before things started exploding.

“If you remember anything else
or get any more threats, let me know.” O’Connell handed Martin his card. Martin looked at it and put it in his pocket before walking out. I caught Mark’s eye and jerked my head in the direction of Martin’s fleeing back. Mark got up and followed him out.

I looked
at O’Connell. The two uniformed cops had already left. “I know I can’t ask anything about this case, but if you had to guess, would you say it’s related to his threats?”

“I don’t know.
What do you think?” I was pretty sure I knew what he thought because I was thinking the same thing.

“Coinc
idences don’t happen very often. Are you checking in to the employees?” I queried.

“
You say you understand I can’t talk about the case, and yet, you still want to talk about the case. Kinda funny how that works, don’t you think?”

“I’m askin
g about procedure, not the case.” I was splitting hairs, but he let me get away with it.

“We interviewed everyone in the building and everyone outside.
We’re canvassing the area to see if anyone’s seen anything. And don’t worry, we will check into what was going on in the other building. If you had to guess, what floor would you say?”

I was pleased with his response, particularly since he had promised to share his findin
gs. I shut my eyes and tried to count up. “Maybe somewhere near seven. I can’t be sure.”

“It’s a start.”
He handed me his card. “You think of anything else…”

“Let you know,”
I finished for him. He smiled politely and left.

I sat in Martin’s office alone for quite some time.
I didn’t realize how much time had passed; it might have been a few minutes or a few hours. The floor was dead. Bad choice of words, I scolded myself. Griffin was either hiding somewhere, or maybe she left for the day. I wasn’t sure. Eventually, Mark and Martin came back to find me in the same spot.

“You sure you’re all right?” Mark asked
, concerned by my lack of movement.

“Yeah, I’m fine.
I was just letting everything seep in.” I had shut down after the initial adrenaline rush had worn off, but they didn’t need to know that. “Some coffee would be nice, though.”

“I’ll go make some,” Mark offered.
“You’ve got a pot in your office, right?” I nodded. My door was open since I hadn’t bothered to shut it after being questioned.

Martin sat
next to me. “Hell of a day. Are you sure you’re okay?” He absently brushed his fingers across the bandage on my arm.

“
I’m fine, just adrenaline crash. Nothing some caffeine can’t fix. Are you okay?” I was functioning better now that I had some interaction with people.

“Thanks to you, b
ut I’m getting really sick of all this bullshit,” he sighed. I was too. Maybe I had signed on to a job I wasn’t prepared to handle. All leads had been dead ends, and now we probably had some dead bodies to add to the mix.

Mark came back in the room
, balancing three cups of coffee in his two hands. “Here.” He handed out the mugs. “I think you need to up your security here and at home. I can have some of my guys keep an eye on things for you. They are always looking for opportunities to moonlight and make a little extra cash.” Martin was going to protest, but before he could say anything, words starting pouring out of my mouth without my permission.

“I’ll do it,” I announced to everyone’s surprise, including my own.
“If you want, I can stay with you around the clock until we stop the asshole or assholes behind this. You’ll probably want to have more security than just me, but…”

Martin cut me off. “O
kay.” He almost sounded relieved. Stupid, I screamed at myself. What in the world are you thinking?

I looked at him quizzically.
“That was too easy? What’s your endgame?” I was beginning to get a feel for my boss, and if he was relieved, then he must have planned it all along. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Well, isn’t it just the natural next step
for the girlfriend to move in, especially after a life-threatening experience?” he asked innocently. Mark almost choked on the mouthful of coffee he unfortunately was sipping. I continued to stare at Martin. Was he really this good at manipulation? After Mark recovered from his sputtering coughs, he turned to us.

“Anything you want to tell me,
Marty?” he asked.

“You mean besides the fact
the whole undercover security idea we agreed was a very bad idea still got enacted?” I offered, and began to recount how, despite my protestations, Martin still implemented his covert plan with me being the undercover security in spite of my positively overt position at his company, but Martin shushed me.

“Seemed like a good idea at th
e time,” he insisted.

“Too late to back out now,” Mark reluct
antly agreed. “But really, Alex, I thought you had much better taste in men than this.”

“What can I say?
I must be slumming it with millionaire CEOs.” I smiled winningly at Martin. “Darling, if you expect to keep me happy, I could use some diamonds. They are a girl’s best friend.” Mark chuckled, and Martin rolled his eyes.

“Guess we should probably be on a first name basis,” Martin replied coolly.
My diamond comment must have struck a nerve, and I acquiesced begrudgingly but only for use in public. The last time I had referred to him as James, he had staged a fake robbery.

“Ok
ay, so I guess I’ll grab some stuff and settle in at your place,” I suggested. We locked up the offices, and the three of us headed downstairs.

Police officers were stationed in the lobby
, along with MT security personnel. Outside was roped off with crime scene tape, and there were still a lot of investigators working the scene. O’Connell was standing outside, talking to someone from the bomb squad. I glanced at him as we walked around the crime tape to the parking garage.

“I’ll
take Marty home,” Mark said as we got closer to the garage. There was also an obvious police presence here. “Gather your things and meet us there.” I agreed, and we went our separate ways. Roommates are always so much fun, I thought wryly.