ALREADY SEATED WITH Sean at their usual table at the Coral Bagel, Kelly waved Trice over when she entered.
“Man, what a slow day,” Patrice said as she slid into the booth.
“That’s the way we like it, ladies,” Sean said.
“Speak for yourself,” Kelly muttered.
“I know you like to rock and roll, Kel,” Sean said. “But we can’t be heroes every day.”
“And you know where you can shove it, Sean,” Kelly said.
Sean laughed. Trice opened her mouth to say something, but shook her head and looked down at her menu. As if she didn’t already know what she’d order.
“What?” Kelly demanded.
Trice waved her hand. “You don’t want to know.”
Their server appeared, interrupting the conversation. Kelly scrutinized her friend as she requested her usual lunch. Trice knew something. Something big, no doubt juicy gossip about Trey. Kelly had been careful to avoid even hearing his name, but now she had to know.
When the server moved away, Kelly leaned forward. “What don’t I want to know?”
Patrice smiled knowingly. “That your lover is now in charge of Wentworth Industries.”
“What?”
“Trey staged a coup d’état and threw his dad out,” Trice said, picking up her water.
“Close your mouth, Kelly,” Sean said. “Even I couldn’t miss hearing that news.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly asked, unsure who to glare at now.
“It’s all over the news,” Sean said. “Don’t you watch TV?”
“He’s apparently some big financial wizard,” Trice said. “Who knew your party animal was a business genius?”
“Wentworth Industries stock went through the roof,” Sean said.
“That’s good, right?” Kelly asked.
Sean shrugged. “For the stockholders. The whole stock market is happy. Even my little 401K has gone up. I’ll bet yours has, too. Do you ever check?”
“When did this happen?” Kelly asked.
“The market started reacting to rumors three or four days ago, but the official announcement was made yesterday morning,” Sean said.
“Why the delay?” Kelly asked.
Trice met Kelly’s gaze. “No one knows.”
Kelly nodded and fell silent. So Trey did it. He booted Senior and took over the family business. Good for him. Would he become so immersed in Wentworth Industries he’d ignore Jason? No, Trey wouldn’t do that. He loved his son too much.
She needed to return his SUV. She’d received her insurance check yesterday and planned to rent a car while she searched for a vehicle she could afford. She should drive to the ferry tonight, but knew she wouldn’t. She wasn’t ready to sever that last connection.
What did another day or two matter? Trey had more vehicles than anyone needed. She could wait until her next day off.
“Have you heard from him?” Trice asked quietly.
“Only indirectly,” Kelly said.
“What does that mean?”
“My entire apartment complex has been wired with a new state-of-the-art security system courtesy of Wentworth Industries.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe how quickly it happened.”
“Money talks,” Sean said.
“There are new video cameras at every entrance or exit, and get this. I have four monitors in my apartment so I can view every one of them.”
“No way,” Sean said.
“Yep. I came home from work one night and there they were, along with detailed instructions on how to scroll through each access point.”
“Surely he didn’t put monitors in every unit.”
“No,” Kelly said. “Just mine and the manager’s office. Apparently Trey wanted them to hire guards 24/7 to monitor the cameras, but when management said that would mean raising everyone’s rent, he had the screens placed in my unit.”
“And he paid for the whole deal?” Sean asked.
“Well, I sure as hell didn’t,” Kelly said. “There’s also an alarm on my front door. So far I’ve set the damn thing off twice when I couldn’t disable it quickly enough with my password.”
“He wants to make sure nothing happens to you,” Trice said. “I think that’s sweet.”
“The man is in love,” Sean said with a grin.
“He’s grateful because I rescued his son,” Kelly said, relieved by the arrival of their food.
“Oh, yeah,” Trice said. “I’m sure that’s it.”
Sorry she’d even mentioned Trey’s ridiculous security system, Kelly picked up a fork to signal she was done with the discussion. Too bad her traitorous stomach roiled at the thought of food.
The fact that Trey had been so high-handed rankled, although her fellow residents had been delighted with the extra level of security. She’d actually made a couple of new friends. Turned out most of the building knew who she was and that she’d rescued Jason Wentworth.
Kelly stabbed a French fry. Yeah, but her neighbors didn’t have to enter a security code into a blinking box within sixty seconds every time they came home. She’d been tempted to refuse to set the alarm, but that just made her feel stupid.
She’d like to call Trey and give him a good piece of her mind. But she didn’t dare do that. Hearing his voice would only make her loneliness worse. And she’d want to talk to Jason. Better that she stay away.
Funny how lately every small child she saw reminded her of the little dude, made her wonder how he and his dad were doing. Made her want a child of her own.
She forced herself to take a bite of her tuna sandwich. She was trying to forget Trey, move on. So how was she supposed to do that when his security system was in her face every single day?
* * *
KELLY ENTERED HER APARTMENT, hurried straight to the alarm pad and entered the password. When the blinking light changed from red to green, she released a sigh. At least tonight she wouldn’t have to place an embarrassing call to the alarm company to call them off.
After locking her front door, she went to her bedroom, unbuckled her duty belt and looped it over the chair where she always kept it. No need to lock away her service weapon. No small children in the house to worry about.
She changed into workout clothing and stretched her arms toward the ceiling, feeling lighter now that she was free of her belt and the Kevlar vest she always wore on duty. But she never minded the additional weight. The vest and the belt protected her on the job. They were the only security system she needed.
In the kitchen she grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge and stepped to the four new monitors that took up too much space in her tiny living room.
The first monitor showed a view of her hallway leading from the camera over her door to the elevator and the fire escape stairwell beyond. Every five seconds the view flipped to show the hallway to the second fire escape. She could see anyone who exited the elevator or the stairs on her floor.
She unscrewed the cap on her water. Right now the hallway was empty.
The second monitor revealed the main entrance of the building. Even before the new system, every door was always supposed to remain locked and residents used a fob to enter and exit any egress point. Management provided a phone so guests could notify residents of their arrival, but the phone and camera to view guests seldom worked, so someone had disabled the locks.
Trey’s new electronic door couldn’t be tampered with, and the camera functioned perfectly. Taking a long drink, Kelly watched people enter and exit the doorway on her monitor. It was 8:00 p.m., so the view was fairly active.
She waited while the third monitor rotated between two separate views of the parking lot, the two fire escape exits on the ground floor and the various stair landings on all six floors.
No monsters anywhere. At least not in real time.
The system kept the video for forty-eight hours, and then recorded over the loop. She switched on the fourth monitor and scanned the recordings in triple time, looking for anyone that resembled Adam Chandler. She’d done this for three nights and had come up empty. She pulled up a chair and wondered how long she’d continue this routine. She was already bored. That was the problem with these passive types of security systems.
She yawned, her mind wandering to the workout she’d do later. When Kelly refocused on the screen, she bolted forward to freeze the recording on a figure trying to open the east fire exit door. Hadn’t she seen the same person trying to access the west door at some point? She made note of the time signature, backed up the video and slowed the recording to normal time to watch the man again.
Yeah, maybe this guy was Adam Chandler, but maybe not. Body type was the same, but the face was in shadows. Definitely similar hair. Long sleeves, so no way to make ID through his tats.
Well, whoever he was, he definitely wanted in her building but didn’t have a fob to open the door.
She checked the instructions from the security company, located the time signature for the west door and sure enough the same guy was trying to gain access. He even kicked the door in frustration, and that was likely why she’d remembered him.
He’d made a mistake.
She repeated the process for the main entrance and found the man again. The lighting was better here. Kelly’s heart pounded. He definitely resembled Adam Chandler. The FBI could confirm it with their face recognition program.
The timing, if it was accurate—but then of course it was; Trey paid for it—showed he’d started with the fire escapes and then moved to the front door. Why would a resident do that? Or a guest?
Last night this man had tried to get inside where he didn’t belong. It didn’t mean the man was Chandler, but Trey’s new security was working to keep whoever he was out.
She watched him read the instructions that told guests how to notify residents of their arrival. He picked up the phone and punched in some numbers. He turned his face away from the camera, so she couldn’t tell if he spoke to anyone. Maybe no one answered. Whatever occurred, he dropped the receiver and stomped off the visual field.
She waited. When he didn’t return, she sped up the recording. According to the time stamp, forty-five minutes later a resident she recognized from the gym approached. Shaking his head, he placed the phone back in its cradle and used his fob to enter. This had all happened yesterday evening at midnight when the front door was fairly quiet. And she’d been at her most vulnerable. Sound asleep.
When finished with her review, Kelly switched off the fourth monitor and sat back, her gaze falling to the current view of the building’s main entrance. No one was currently visible, but her gut told her Chandler had been here yesterday.
She took another long drink of her water.
Jason’s kidnapper hadn’t left the area, and he still wanted to eliminate her as a threat.
The FBI needed to know. Kelly grabbed her phone and punched in Ballard’s cell. He answered immediately.
When she told him the reason for the call, he sounded doubtful, but promised to send an agent to retrieve the video for review.
“Wentworth wasted his money,” Ballard said.
“I don’t think so,” Kelly replied.
“If Chandler is still in Miami, he’s gone to ground,” Ballard said. “Somewhere deep that Maria didn’t know about.”
“What about his cousin?” Kelly asked, her gaze still on the monitors. She blinked as a familiar figure at the main entrance caught her attention.
“Caleb has regained consciousness, but he’s not giving us anything useful.”
Only half listening to Ballard, Kelly stared at the monitor. A man had been standing off to the side, out of the visual field. When a female resident she didn’t know moved into the frame carrying grocery bags, he stepped forward to speak to her. He held a bouquet of flowers in his right hand.
He also wore a cast on his wrist.
Ballard said, “Caleb insists they didn’t know we were coming, but I—”
“Hold on,” Kelly interrupted. “Adam Chandler is downstairs right now.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes,” she said, her heart hammering. The cast confirmed it. He’d been wearing long sleeves last night.
“Oh, no,” she moaned.
“What?” Ballard demanded.
Kelly’s breath caught as she watched the resident awkwardly juggle her bags so she could raise her key fob and release the lock. Smiling, Chandler pushed open the door for her and slipped in behind her.
Adam Chandler had found his way inside.