Lisa Phillips - Security Detail

“I called it in,” Kayla said. “I talked to Miriam.”

The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “And you?” He motioned to Conner with a lift of his chin. “You got a name?”

“Conner Thorne.”

Secret Service. She’d heard him say it a million times, but that was years ago. Kayla caught herself before she called Conner on it. His cover. Of course he had to stick with the story that he was no longer a special agent in order to protect himself and the investigation.

“Former Secret Service.”

But he didn’t mention being undercover. Didn’t he trust the sheriff? If he didn’t want to admit everything to the man, Kayla was going to trust he knew what he was doing. It was his job.

The sheriff opened his mouth to ask another question Conner probably didn’t want to answer, so Kayla cut him off. She grabbed Conner’s elbow and put her head on his shoulder. “He’s with me.”

Sheriff Johnson’s eyes darkened.

“Conner is living in Samson now, and we knew each other at the White House. How many people can say they have that kind of history?” Kayla laughed, and it sounded false even to her ears. She felt Conner’s chest jerk with surprise. It wasn’t a lie, but she left it open enough the sheriff had to draw his own conclusion. Everyone would put it together that they had known each other way back when. He’d told her Andis knew about their connection.

The sheriff cleared his throat. “I see.” He was handsome enough, Kayla supposed. Silver hair. Good at his job, which made sense, as he’d been doing it for thirty years now with no one ever running against him. “You’ll make sure she gets home okay?”

“Sure thing.”

That was it? Some man-to-man “take care of the little woman” thing she didn’t understand at all. Kayla wanted to roll her eyes, but she’d had enough of acting like a high school kid, more than a lawyer could reasonably take for one night. She needed to let go of Conner before she started to believe her own ruse and got used to holding on to him. Though, if they were dating for real, she’d be way cooler about it. Aloof. Mysterious. A puzzle he needed to solve.

Conner’s mouth had curled up. Kayla let go of him, but was stuck beside him until the sheriff walked away.

“I actually didn’t come here for the fire,” Sheriff Johnson said. “Though I’ll need formal statements from both of you after I talk to the fire chief. I have another case for you, Kayla. I wanted to tell you about this one in person, before I got the call about the break-in.” He paused for a second. “I’ll be talking to Miriam, because she didn’t mention you being in danger, or the fire.”

Kayla nodded. He waved her two steps away, and she joined him as he said, “Her name is Jan Barton. Got mixed up with a local guy she calls her boyfriend. I get the impression she needs somewhere to heal...and probably detox.”

“Sure.” Kayla’s shelter was set up for that. The house manager she had hired was a registered nurse. “She’s at your office?”

“Yep.” The sheriff nodded. “I guess you have a ride.”

“She does.” Conner didn’t look up from his phone.

She also had her own car, but neither man felt it necessary to point out that she was perfectly fine on her own. Or she would have been if not for tonight and the fact that she was still jumpy. Maybe it was just residual fear, but something was seriously not right.

The sheriff’s brow had furrowed at Conner’s statement. Why did she feel like the sheriff was not at all happy that Kayla had a “boyfriend”? It wasn’t like he’d ever given her the impression he was interested in her, so it could simply be fatherly concern. She’d have been polite, and flattered, but Sheriff Johnson knew some of her history. Not all of it, the way Conner did. The sheriff only knew she’d been the victim of an attack, and that was why she wanted to help women who needed safety. He’d even helped her set up the hotline.

So why was he bothered about Conner? Reservations would be justified if he knew Conner worked for Andis. If she could tell the sheriff Conner was undercover, it would allay his fears. When she looked up at Conner with the question likely in her eyes—he’d always been able to read her face—he shook his head.

The sheriff said, “Ms. Barton needs to get her things from her house while her boyfriend spends the night in one of my cells, and she needs to be clear of him before he gets out. Probably tomorrow, but it might be the day after.”

Kayla nodded. “Does she want to get free?”

Sheriff Johnson shrugged one shoulder. “That’s not my department. I find them, you help them.” He smiled. “It’s worked well so far.”

“It has.”

Sirens preceded the fire truck turning the corner. The rig drove past their huddle and stopped in the street in front of Kayla’s office.

“I’ll go run point with the chief and start a search for those men you saw. Let me know tomorrow how it went with Ms. Barton and I’ll take your statements about what happened here then. In the meantime, get somewhere safe and I’ll look into this. I’ll also talk to Miriam.”

Kayla watched him walk away.

“Huh.”

She turned to Conner. “What? You don’t like the sheriff?”

“Never met the man before tonight. Not sure he knows who I am, though he’s going to look me up when he gets back to the office. By tomorrow he’ll know my life story—or at least the one the Secret Service doctored for me when Andis looked me up. My identity as a disgraced agent is solid, so I’m not concerned. But the guy I’m pretending to be won’t make him less worried about you. Probably more.”

Kayla’s stomach churned. “I’m not sure I like that you’re getting close to men who would start a fire to try to kill someone. Whether their intended victim was you or me.”

Conner placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not going to lie and tell you it isn’t dangerous, but I’m good at what I do, Kayla. If there’s trouble, I’ll take care of it.” He didn’t add that now that his cover was blown, he was probably in more danger than ever.

Kayla didn’t feel better in the least, but she was willing to cover it so he wouldn’t worry about her when he left. “Let’s go. Can we do that? I don’t want to stay here if they’re still around. Once I help Ms. Barton, I can go home and rest.”

Conner waited for her to move first and then walked beside her. It was an old move she recognized. He’d fallen back into that protector/protectee relationship with her that would always color what was between them. And why was that? Maybe Kayla wanted to be the one to make sure he was safe, instead of him looking out for her all the time.

Why couldn’t that be a thing?

Kayla stopped so fast she almost tripped on her heels.

“What? What is it?”

She pointed. “That’s my car.” At least, it used to be her car. Now it was a body with no wheels, smashed-out windows and spray-painted vulgar swirls all over it. “Someone trashed my car.”

“Made sure you can’t go anywhere and made it look like teenagers did it at the same time.”

Kayla sighed. “We should tell the sheriff.”

Conner turned and looked all around them, at the deserted parking lot to the rear of the street. Dim light. A back entrance. She knew what he saw, and there was no way he’d have let her come anywhere near a place like this back in the day. But she wasn’t the current president’s daughter anymore. No one cared who she was now.

At least, they hadn’t until tonight.

“Let’s get moving. You can report it tomorrow. Right now you need to get somewhere safe.”

Kayla nodded and walked with him to his truck. He drove straight to the sheriff’s office and waited outside while she went in and spoke with Ms. Barton. Kayla told the deputy on the desk about her car and had him relay that information to the sheriff in case it was relevant.