Before he could answer (not that he was going to answer), the door opened.
I turned and saw Lee and Marcus come in.
“Oh shit,” I muttered before I could stop myself.
Luke got close, I could feel his heat against my back.
I stood stock-stil .
Marcus’s eyes settled on me.
“Roxie,” Lee said, walked to me and bent to kiss my cheek.
Wow.
A cheek kiss from Lee.
It was a multiple “holy cow” day for sure.
“Hi Lee,” I whispered.
Lee’s eyes moved to Luke, crinkled at the corners to show his amusement, just like his Dad’s, and he stepped aside.
“Did you meet Marcus yesterday?” Lee asked, his eyes moving to me.
I shook my head.
“Marcus, this is Roxanne Logan,” Lee introduced us.
Marcus put out his hand and I took it.
Before he could say anything, I said quickly, “I’m so sorry I got Daisy shot at. I like Daisy. She’s been real y nice to me. She’s wise and she’s funny and she has interesting taste in clothes.” Marcus looked at me and didn’t say anything so, of course, I carried on like the idiot I was. “And I’m sorry about her Mercedes getting bul et holes in it. It wasn’t her fault. She’s a good driver. I mean, she kept her cool, kind of, except when we were playing chicken and…
um… other times.”
Oh my God, someone had to stop me from talking.
I went on. “And if she ever gets shot at again, I’m sure she’l probably get away.”
Luke’s hand settled at the back of my neck.
I shut up.
The hand stayed there.
“Daisy tel s me you’ve had it rough,” Marcus said.
I nodded. Luke’s hand tightened.
Marcus stared at me and a shiver slid across my skin.
He was handsome, that was certain, but there was a hardness behind his eyes that was chil ing.
“Your troubles are over,” he said with a finality that caused the shiver to go into a ful body tremble.
I blinked at him.
“Let’s go to my office,” Lee cut in, his eyes were now serious and they were on Luke.
Marcus stil had hold of my hand. He gave it a firm squeeze that felt like a promise. Then he let go. Lee touched my shoulder and they walked out of the room.
Luke’s hand came away from my neck and I turned to him.
“What just happened?” I asked him.
“Marcus entered the picture,” Luke answered.
“What?”
“Three things,” Luke said immediately, surprising me. I wasn’t sure he could enumerate three things in Luke Speak. He went on, proving he could. “One, the police can track down your trouble, that trouble is put away and it’s over. Two, we can do it, your trouble is taken to the holding room, taught a lesson, then handed to the police and it’s over. Three, Marcus can do it, that trouble is dead. I’m hopin’ for number two.”
I focused on number three.
“Dead as in, not-breathing-anymore dead?” I asked.
“That’s the only kind of dead there is,” he replied.
“Holy cow,” I said.
He stared at me.
“Why?” I asked.
Luke didn’t answer but I knew why. Marcus didn’t blame me for what happened to Daisy. He blamed Bil y and whoever else was involved in this mess. I’d seen Marcus holding Daisy the day before. Whatever he was, criminal kingpin, gun dealer, pimp, he loved Daisy. Someone put her life in danger and that someone was going to pay.
“Maybe I should talk to him,” I suggested to Luke.
The half-grin came back.
“Although that would be entertaining, it’s not gonna happen.”
“Why not? Maybe I can persuade –”
“Roxie,” he interrupted me.
“Yeah?”
“Be quiet.”
I stared at him and then heaved a big sigh.
Being quiet might be a good thing.
He put a hand to the smal of my back, propel ed me toward the hal way door and then took me to the control room and Shamus.
* * * * *
“This is cool! ” I shouted when I entered the control room. Shamus ran to me and jumped up on me, his body aquiver with excitement. I just avoided him cracking three more ribs, gave his head a good rub and then gently pushed him off. He sat on my feet, tongue lol ing.
“Hi, I’m Monty,” a man with a blond military cut stood and smiled at me, offering his hand. I took it, we did a shake and I tried not to wince when nearly al my bones were crushed.
Monty was slightly older than most of Lee’s boys but no less fit. He was also slightly more in tune with social nuances, like saying hel o.
“What is al this stuff?” I asked, looking at al the monitors on shelves on the wal , DVD recorders under them, knobs, buttons and racks of electronic equipment. It looked like they could strap me in and we could go to Mars.
“This is the surveil ance room. We run security through here and… other things.”
I looked at the monitors.
I gawked at the monitors.
“Hey! That’s Fortnum’s! And so’s that… and that…
and…” I trailed off.
Dear God, they had nearly every corner, the front and back of Fortnum’s monitored. I watched Uncle Tex banging away at the espresso machine at the same time he seemed to be carrying on an argument with Duke.
Monty flipped a switch and Uncle Tex’s voice boomed into the room.
“I don’t want to listen to no f**kin’ Hank Wil iams, Jr.! You got Johnny Cash, I’l listen to Johnny Cash. If not, put Cream back on, Turkey!”
Monty flipped off the switch.
“Holy cow,” I breathed.
“We monitor Fortnum’s twenty four seven,” Monty said.
“Best part of the day surveil ance shift,” Luke put in.
I tried to think of the time I’d spent in Fortnum’s. Almost none of it had gone without some embarrassing incident.
I looked at Monty and Luke. Luke was wearing his half-grin. Monty was smiling flat out.
“Shit,” I said.
“Have a seat,” Monty told me, the smile stil playing about his face. “You can eat your breakfast in here. I’l show you what we do.”
“Where’s Hank?” I asked, sitting next to Monty, looking back to the monitors. Shamus moved to settle at my feet.
“Hank’s indefinitely delayed,” Monty replied, but I wasn’t listening. One of the monitors showed a visual of the room I’d slept in.
I turned in horror to Monty.