“Nothing good.”
“That’s not a surprise.”
“Something about you threatens him. Is it…?” Scott shook his head. “Forget it.”
Scott obviously wanted to be begged into talking. She let him have his way. “What? Go ahead and say it.”
“It’s almost as if Rod has a crush on Judge Walker.”
Her drink sloshed around in her stomach. “A sexual crush?”
Her mind rebelled at the idea. The thought made sense on some levels, but she hadn’t gotten an attraction vibe from Rod about Ben. It was much more of a parasitic follower vibe.
Scott waved the thoughts away. “It’s strange. Forget I said anything.”
Like that was going to happen. “Tell me how you came to that conclusion.”
“First, Rod said negative things about Judge Blanton. As her clerk, I cautioned him about it. Warned him about the talk getting him in trouble. Then when you arrived Rod switched his anger from my boss to you.” Scott’s hands kept moving as he talked. “I joked with Rod about wanting to get rid of the competition and he got furious.”
“What did he do?”
“Made some threats about shutting me up.”
“What?”
“It was dumb-guy stuff, then he stomped around.”
Sounded like her typical day with Rod. “How could you tell the difference from his usual demeanor?”
Scott gave her a sad smile. “Rod’s actually a pretty decent guy. I know he can act jerky, but he means well.”
“Uh-huh.”
“There’s just something about Judge Walker that makes Rod jumpy. Being moved out of the courtroom and replaced by you brought out the worst in him. He started spending all of his time at the computer.”
The more Scott talked, the less sure she felt about…Scott. He struck her as awful eager to spill the goods on Rod. Either Rod was unraveling in some kind of sick spiral, or Scott was invested in making her think so. Either way, she didn’t trust the law clerks in the building. Made her think law schools needed a better screening process.
She decided to poke around. “Do you remember telling me about Ben’s time in the family law rotation?”
Scott’s lazy camaraderie disappeared. “Sure.”
“Did Rod tell you about that?”
Scott hesitated. “It’s pretty well known.”
“What is the ‘it’s’ you’re referring to?”
“A lady who appeared before him was murdered and people tied it back to the judge’s handling of the case. There were some complaints about how the judge handled cases. He got pulled off the rotation right after.” Scott smacked his lips together. “Doesn’t matter.”
A good explanation since it connected to a traceable reality. Whether she bought it was a different question. She’d think about that later.
Scott made a show of looking around. “Where is he?”
“Ben?”
“Rod.”
She scanned the room looking for the little shit. She didn’t spot him anywhere. But she did see Mark heading for the elevator bank with one of the undercover lawyers right behind. Ben stepped right into her line of view.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Ben wrapped his hand around her elbow and smiled down at Scott. “Can I steal her for a second?”
Scott toasted Ben with his glass. “Of course.”
Ben pulled Callie over to the side. The move probably came off as a bit of romantic flair to anyone watching, and everyone seemed to be watching every move. She knew he was in superprotector mode.
She waited until another random clerk said hello and then scurried away when Ben didn’t respond. “Growling at people is not the best plan for getting them close enough to find out information.”
“We have movement with Rod.”
Seeing the way Ben’s eyebrows drew together, she ignored the stupid spy speak. “I’m guessing this has something to do with Rod being missing.”
“He’s in my office. Mark’s people are following him on the security cameras.” Ben motioned for Emma to come over and join them.
The move by Rod, the tracking, it all felt wrong to Callie. “But we don’t know what he’s doing inside the office. It could be innocent. He does work up there, after all.”
“Mark added cameras to the inside after the first note. We kept that quiet.”
She remembered the day Ben made a play from his desk chair. How he wanted to break the separation of work and bed rule. “Wait, didn’t we—”
He shook his head. “Nothing happened, so there isn’t video.”
“As if that’s a good enough answer.” She shot him her best you’re-an-idiot look. “You should tell a woman about such things before you start offering your sexual services, if you know what I mean.”
“Got it, but the point is about Rod. He’s being watched every second.” With each word, Ben’s cheeks hollowed out further.
She dropped the relationship lecture because she knew something really bad was coming. “And?”
“He’s at my desk. They’re concerned he’s planting something.”
Her stomach dropped down to her spiky heels. “Another bomb.”
“We’ll find out in a second when they arrest him.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“I don’t care what she said.” Rod looked around Emma’s conference room, his eyes wide and wild. “I didn’t do anything.”
Ben stood by the door and listened to Rod’s fifth denial. He looked at Sheriff Danbury, then at Mark. The kid even had the nerve to look at Ben for support.
No fucking way that was going to happen.
“Ben, why don’t you step outside for a few minutes and let us talk with Rod here,” Mark said as he slid into the seat across from the kid.
Nice try, but that wasn’t going to happen, either. “I’m good where I am.”
Sheriff Danbury gave Ben a solid man-to-man look. “This is a law enforcement matter now.”
“It’s personal.”
“Ben.” Mark’s voice carried a warning.
Ben ignored it. “I’m not moving.”
He wanted to beat the kid to death. This time Rod went after Callie. This note was written to her. Left for her to find. An invasion of her space and it didn’t mince words—“You’re next.”
When the sheriff and Mark’s men converged on Rod a half hour earlier, he had his hands in Callie’s desk drawer. The white envelope sat on the blotter. Rod had been blaming Callie for framing him and whining about fairness ever since. Ben thought it was interesting how guilty people always cried about how unfair and biased the process was.
“I didn’t do anything. I know my rights, and you can’t keep me here.” When Rod tried to get up, Sheriff Danbury shoved him back in his seat.
“Sit down, son. And stay there.”
“You’re on the hook for threatening a judge, for assault. Attempted murder.” Mark ticked off the list of offenses.
Shock raced across Rod’s face. He lifted out of his seat again despite the firm hand on his shoulder. “No. Never.”
“You hate Callie.” Realizing he never supported her on that claim brought guilt crashing down on Ben.
“Not enough to hurt her.”
“What about Judge Blanton?” Mark seethed with rage. “You could have killed her with that bomb. And why go after her bodyguard? Was that just to prove your toughness?”
All of the color leached out of Rod’s face. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of those things. You can’t put them on me.”
“You have no idea what I’ve collected on you,” Mark said in what Ben assumed was a wild embellishment or the kid would have been locked up long before now.
With his training, Rod should recognize the tactic. Ben hoped in the advanced state of panic he didn’t.
“There can’t be any evidence because I didn’t do anything.”
Mark tapped his pen against the table. “Nothing, Rod?”
The kid’s mouth mov
ed, but no sound came out. Finally he sputtered out a few words. “I talked about her. It wasn’t anything big. Everyone’s talking about her. That’s not proof of anything but gossip. Last I checked, that’s not illegal.”
Ben feared Rod might be right about that. Getting caught running his mouth and hating Callie was one thing. Finding evidence for the bombing was another. Ben hoped the police would search Rod’s apartment and find something to link him to the bigger plot.
From the sour look on Mark’s face, he didn’t buy into the kid’s story at all. “You’re going to get cocky now?”
“I’m just stating a fact.”
“You want to talk facts? Sounds good to me. What about this?” Mark waved the bagged new note in front of Rod’s face.
“I don’t know where that came from.”
Mark kept right on grinding. “Tell me something. What exactly was your plan for Callie?”
Ben tensed as he waited for the answer that was sure to break his tenuous hold on his control.
“Nothing. Look, she’s setting me up. Don’t you understand?” Rod scanned the office looking for support from anyone who would listen. When no one jumped in to help him beat up on Callie, he rubbed his hands hard enough to turn them bright red. “She told me to come up here and meet her.”
Mark shook his head. “Not true.”
“Yes!”
“Try again.”
“She did. I’m telling you. It just happened downstairs.”
It took all of Ben’s control to keep his body still. He wanted to launch across the table and shake the kid until he stopped lying. But once he started he might not stop, so Ben rooted his feet to the ground.
Mark slammed his fist against the table. “She’s one of us, you idiot.”
All the bluster left Rod. “What?”
“She works for me. Following your stunt with the bomb, I planted here her to protect Ben. She’s his bodyguard and has been shadowing him to make sure he stays alive. At the same time, she’s been conducting a bit of surveillance. Can you guess her target? Let me fill you in. It wasn’t Elaine.”
Rod’s face turned green around his mouth. “No, that can’t be true.”
“Is it sinking in now, Rod?” Mark tapped the side of his head. “Is that legal brain of yours kicking into gear? Do you get how much trouble you’re in?”
“But, I…” Rod turned his pleading eyes to Ben. “Judge Walker, you know I respect you. I would never do anything to hurt you or Judge Blanton.”
Conveniently left out Callie. Ben felt his brain explode. He came off the wall, ready to strangle the kid. Ben wanted Rod on the floor and barely breathing. “You little shit.”
Mark stood up and threw a last-minute body block. “Ben!” Mark grabbed Ben by the forearms and pushed back.
Rod dug his fingernails into the arms of his chair and slid in his seat as if trying to get as far as possible away from Ben’s attack. “Sir, I didn’t—”
“You could have killed us with that sick stunt,” Ben shouted around Mark’s shoulders.
“That’s enough.” Mark nodded to Danbury. “Watch the suspect.”
Over Rod’s yelling excuses and the sheriff’s threats to keep quiet, Mark pulled Ben outside. Ben fought every step. He tried to move around Mark, but his brother was too big, too pissed off.
Mark got them into the hallway and shoved Ben against the far wall. “Calm the fuck down.”
The brain knew he deserved to be removed from the action, but Ben depended on other parts of his body right now. He wanted to use his fists and unleash the energy pumping through him. “Let me back in there.”
“You had one chance and you blew it when you lost your cool.”
“I need to hear this.”
“You need to get out of here. Go home.” Mark pointed over Ben’s head. “You.”
“You better not think you can throw me around like that.” Callie’s heels clicked against the floor as she came to stand next to Ben.
“Take him home.” Mark shot an angrier frown at Emma. “And there is no reason at all for you to stick around. One of my men will take you to your house. I want you to stay there until I know Rod’s our man. That goes for all of you.”
They all started talking at once. Ben didn’t care what anyone else had to say. He sure as hell wasn’t leaving. “Callie can take Emma. I’m sticking around here until I know what set Rod off.”
Callie sighed. “I am not in the mood to be ordered around like the hired help.”
“Me, either,” Emma said.
“Enough.” Mark’s scream bounced down the hall. Ben bet it could be heard above the music and celebrating of the clueless folks downstairs. “I can’t do my job with an audience.”
“This affects us, Mark,” Emma said.
He exhaled. “As soon as I know something I’ll call.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Ben paced fast and furious across Callie’s living room rug. She waited for him to wear a path right through to the cement underneath. She understood. When the adrenaline pumped that hard and every cell in the body got that keyed up, coming down took something extra. Good thing her body volunteered for the duty of helping Ben relax.
“Ben?”
He spun around and snapped. “What?”
Well, not until he knocked that shit off. “Okay, I know you’re upset, but yelling at me is only going to get my shoe in your shin.”
“Sorry.”
“Speaking of which.” She kicked off her high heels, and her arches sighed in relief. “Much better.”
Ben’s hands went to his hips. “Why are you so calm about this?”
“The dress looked bad with flats.”
“What?”
“Aren’t we talking about my shoes?” She knew they weren’t, but Ben needed idle conversation to help him deal with the emotions surging through him.
“Rod threatened you. Twice.”
So much for subterfuge. “I’m aware of that.”
“Most people would be pissed off about something like this.”
Callie was…sort of. The whole Rod-as-stalker spiel wouldn’t compute in her head. Until she saw the compelling evidence, she refused to jump on the conviction bandwagon. The kid made hating him easy and believing in him hard. But nothing about him said killer to her.
“Would you like me to get all huffy and puffy like you are?” she asked.
“Actually, yeah.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Maybe you’re used to people treating you like shit, but I don’t like it.”
Since she had zero idea what that meant, she ignored it. “I see you’re not ready to stop fuming.”
“No.”
The man made it hard to seduce him. Right now she toyed with the idea of smacking him. “How about being an ass? You almost done with that part?”
“Don’t you want to figure out what’s going on?” Ben asked, his judge voice clicking into place. “You are the one who pegged him as the stalker.”
“I offered his name as a possible suspect.”
“Oh, please. You all but dragged him down to the jail. Shouldn’t you be celebrating? Maybe bombarding me with a round or two of ‘I told you so’ or something?”
“Would that really make you feel better?”
“I just want to see some kind of reaction. Hell, I almost twisted that kid’s head off in that room. And why? Because of you. Because he threatened to hurt you.”
The simple honesty gave her hope. She’d never heard anyone say something so lovely in such a hard voice before, but she got the underlying meaning. He gave a shit about her. She mattered to him.
Yeah, she wanted a piece of Rod, too. She burned with the need to punch the crap out of him but not until after she understood the story. In her mind, none of this made sense. Rod as the overwrought kid with an outsized ego problem? Oh, yeah. She noticed that about ten seconds after she met him. But running around blowing things up to get Ben’s attention? She didn’t see that at
all. The kid idolized Ben in a butt-kissing way, not a psychopath way.
Peeking in on Mark’s interrogation would give her a chance to dig into all of her theories and concerns, but she knew Ben couldn’t be there. So, she slipped from work mode into girlfriend mode. Earlier Ben tried to lecture her on how the species acted. Even though the girlie gene missed her, Callie didn’t need a lesson in partner behavior. She knew exactly how someone who loved Ben would act, because she did.
Quiet and without warning, the falling thing fell. This wasn’t just a matter of being attracted and wanting to spend time with him. Their relationship had progressed far past that for her. She wanted him, loved him, ached for him.
The quick trust was so foreign to her. She waited and dissected in relationships. She didn’t give up her dreams for a roll in the sack nor did she back off from what she believed in to satisfy any man’s tender ego. With Ben she wanted to dive in, body and mind. To share her hopes and unload her burdens.
In such a short time, he’d taken her messed-up world and offered her a purpose again. She loved him, his life, his decency, and even his jackassery.
For now, though, she’d soothe him the best way she knew how. Until she knew he returned her feelings, she’d use her body to take away the edge of his temper. “Sit.”
His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”
She smiled at his natural fall back into hoity-toity land and pointed to the couch. “You. There. Now.”
“I don’t want to sit, Callie. I want to—” His voice cut off when she hiked her dress up right to the edge of her panty line. Or what would have been her panty line if she were wearing any, which she wasn’t.
“Yes, Ben?”
He swallowed hard enough for her to see it. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting ready to climb on your lap, but you’re going to have to sit down and make a lap for my plan to work.”
“My lap?”
The poor man lost the power of speech. Now that was pretty damn flattering. “Right on your legs. Yes.”
“Now?” He tried to play it cool, but the anger in his voice morphed into pure heat. The tight fists uncurled, and his hands slid down his sides.
Leave Me Breathless Page 19
