15

Wednesday morning was not off to a fabulous start.

Sabrina had spent the night at Leigh’s. She’d been so tired when she and Adam had returned to Leigh’s last night that she hadn’t had the energy to do more than take a few bites of the yummy dessert Leigh had made before she had to tell everyone good night. She’d expected to see them all at breakfast, but when she got up this morning Leigh was the only one home.

There was some sort of investigator meeting at seven this morning they all had to attend, so she hadn’t seen or spoken to Adam since last night.

She’d been a bit forward last night. Kissing him like that. She didn’t know why she’d done it.

Well, okay. Maybe she knew why. Kissing Adam Campbell had the potential to become a favorite pastime. But . . .

“Dr. Fleming, are you okay?”

Sabrina looked up from the monitor. Her favorite grad student, Chance Lawrence, stood in the door of her office.

“I’m fine, Chance. What can I help you with?”

“There’s a cop in the hall. He wouldn’t even let me scan myself in until he’d compared my ID to some list. And then there was another cop inside who asked me what my business was and how long I intended to stay.”

“Oh, yes. I gave them a list of approved students who could enter. Nothing to worry about.”

“With all due respect, it doesn’t seem like nothing to worry about.”

Officer Dave had moved closer to her office door and now stood only a few feet away from Chance. “Dr. Fleming.”

Chance jumped.

Dave stared Chance down but spoke to Sabrina. “Everything okay?”

“Completely fine,” she said.

Dave’s response to her assurance was to step back. Two feet.

Chance turned back to her, eyes wide. “What on earth are you working on, Dr. Fleming? No one will tell us anything. You look like someone beat you up, and you’re moving like you’re eighty. No offense.”

“None taken. And I’m sorry, but I can’t talk about it,” she said. “I can assure you my injuries are healing nicely, and Dave is harmless to anyone who doesn’t try to harm me.”

Chance nodded, but the worry didn’t leave his face. “Okay. If you won’t tell me why we’re under lockdown, will you tell me what’s up with the flowers? We’ve got red roses by the door. Purple roses in here. Did you start dating a florist and not tell anyone?”

“I’d forgotten about the red roses. Would you mind getting rid of them?”

“Seriously?”

“Very seriously.”

“Okay.” Uncertainty dripped from each syllable. “Do you want me to get rid of the purple ones too?”

“No!”

Chance backed up a step and threw both hands in the air. “Sorry.”

Dave came all the way to her door this time. “Dr. Fleming?”

Sabrina couldn’t stop the frustrated groan that slipped through her lips. “I’m fine.” She blew out a long breath. “Dave, I’ve asked Chance to dispose of the red roses by the door. But if anyone touches the flowers in here, you have my permission to chop off their fingers.”

“Very good, Dr. Fleming.” Dave stepped away from her office.

“It was a joke,” she called out after him. He turned back to her, his face a stone. Then winked.

Whew. At least Dave wouldn’t be lopping off phalanges anytime soon.

“Chance, I apologize. I’m a bit tense and I’m working on some critical files right now. But I’m fine. I hope your holidays are lovely and I’m looking forward to your project for the spring.”

How many times had she told people she was fine in the last five minutes? Why wouldn’t anyone listen?

“Thank you, Dr. Fleming. I’ll check back in on you later, okay?”

“Not necessary.”

“I want to.”

“Fine.”

Chance left the room and she checked her watch.

Again.

For the fiftieth time in the past hour.

Get it together, girl. It was one kiss. Well, two. And he’s working.

Maybe some caffeine and one of the muffins Leigh had sent with her this morning would help her focus.

She pulled herself out of her chair—her abdomen and rib cage were still tender to the touch, making it difficult for her to maneuver—and popped a salted caramel coffee pod into her single-cup brewer.

The water hissed and a hint of sweetness wafted toward her. She left her coffee to finish and went in search of the muffins.

“Excuse me, Dr. Fleming?”

Oh, for the love. All she wanted was a muffin. And her lab back. This was usually her favorite time of year. She loved her students. Well, most of them. But she relished the few weeks of the year when most of them were gone and the lab was quiet.

Having protective cops dogging her every move was not working for her.

“Yes, Dave?”

“I’m very sorry to bother you, ma’am, but Investigator Campbell is on his way up.”

Adam arrived two minutes later. She saw him on the monitors as he spoke to the officer in the hall. He moved with purpose. Intensity. Almost with . . . ferocity?

He was worried. Very worried.

The realization startled her. The emotions of most people were a total mystery to her. But not Adam’s. At least not this time.

He walked into the lab and barely spoke to Dave. He came straight to her office and closed the blinds on the windows facing the main part of the lab before he reached for her and she settled into his arms. He buried his face in her hair and for a long moment, all she could hear was the sound of his heart beating.

“I need you to do something.” The words were so quiet, they were barely more than breath.

She nodded.

“I need you to do one of your deep dives—like what you did on Leigh’s case.”

She had the skill set, but it wasn’t strictly her area of expertise. More of a hobby she’d picked up over the years as she worked with FreedomForAll. Not everyone with computer forensics skills also had good—for lack of a better term—hacking skills. But she did. “Who?”

She heard him swallow. “Barclay Campbell.”

She knew that name. In fact, he’d been on her personal radar for the past year. She’d been involved on a case where they freed three young women being trafficked from a spa. Barclay Campbell owned that establishment, but there’d been no evidence that he’d been aware of the situation. He’d said all the right things and used the right tears at the right time but hadn’t convinced her. She suspected that, at the very least, he’d chosen to turn a blind eye.

But she’d never looked into it quite the way Adam was asking her to look. And while her abilities weren’t in question, she couldn’t help but wonder why Adam wasn’t asking the techs from the sheriff’s office to do this.

“Why me?”

“Because I know he doesn’t have you in his pocket.”

The implication being he didn’t trust his own forensics team.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.

“Have you told anyone else?”

“Gabe, Ryan, and Anissa. This morning. No one else. And we’ve agreed it goes nowhere else.”

“Wow. I feel like I’ve been invited to sit at the cool kids’ table.”

“You’re the coolest person I know.” The words were heartfelt, but instead of hugging her tighter, he stepped away from her. She missed the closeness now that it was gone.

“Sorry,” he said. “I need to be more professional at work.”

“You aren’t at work,” she said.

He shook his head. “But you are, and technically, I’m here on official business.”

“Fine, if you want to be all rational about things.” It shouldn’t bother her. It was good he was able to do that. She, however, wanted to see what would happen if she—

“You have to stop looking at me that way.” Adam backed farther away.

“What way?”

“Like you might be thinking the same thing I’m thinking. One of us has to hold it together, and if you can’t do it, then we’re in trouble because I’m holding on by a thread over here.”

He was? “You don’t seem particularly distressed.”

“Well, distressed isn’t the word I would use, but don’t let appearances fool you. I’ve been trying to hold it together around you for two years, and now that I . . . that we . . . that . . .”

“To be honest, I’d rather you didn’t hold it together around me.”

“Not helping, Bri.”

“Not sorry.”

That made him laugh. And apparently he was even more distracted by her when he was laughing, because he covered the space between them far faster than she’d been prepared for.

The laughter faded and he held her gaze. “I promise. I’ll do everything in my power to be sure you’re never sorry.”

He caressed her cheek with his thumb but came no closer. “I’ll see you tonight?”

She couldn’t get any words past her throat, so she settled for nodding.

He reopened her blinds and hurried from her office.

She watched him chat with Dave for a few moments before leaving. Dave resumed his perch in the main lab.

She retrieved her coffee and opened a new window on her computer screen.

Time to dig up some dirt.