“Another delivery?”
Rick’s arm was too thick to mistake for anyone else’s.
She stood and peeked around the corner to see him grinning in the silly way only he did. Boy, man, and mischief all rolled in one.
“You didn’t have to.”
He waved the flower and handed it to her, but didn’t say anything.
The single stem smelled lovely. The small envelope held more than a piece of paper, but she looked at the card first. Me.
“Awww, Rick.” It might be all for show, but she couldn’t help but love it.
She took a step toward him and he lifted her hand with the envelope. “There’s more.”
Judy tilted the envelope and poured out a wedding ring. The single round stone caught the light and made her smile. A completely girlie part of her giggled. “Oh, babe.”
Rick took it from her hand and placed it on her finger. The fit was perfect, the ring lovely. It was large enough to be hard to miss. She really hoped he’d taken her up on the zirconia option. Buying diamonds for a temporary ruse seemed a bit much for the pocketbook.
She held her hand out and admired the ring. “I love it.”
“C’mere.” He beckoned her with one finger.
His lips met hers and lingered.
“You’ll have everyone in the office talking,” she told him.
He shrugged. “They were already doing that anyway.”
José walked by, pushed his hand into Rick’s. “Damn glad my wife won’t be stopping by anytime soon. You put the rest of us to shame.”
The two of them spoke for a minute before Mr. Archer walked by on his way out. Handshakes and congratulations were passed around.
Judy purposely left a drawing on her desk and ignored it until after nearly everyone had left the office. Nancy was one of the last to leave. “You sure you don’t have a brother?”
“Sorry, darlin’.”
“Damn shame,” Nancy mumbled as she left.
“I’ll just finish this up,” Judy said for anyone left listening. Acting as if she were on a mission, she walked around the office checking for lingering employees.
Even Debra Miller had left on time, leaving the office bare for them.
“We’re clear,” she told Rick.
Out of his inside jacket pockets, he removed a couple of small devices. One looked like a thick black ring. Rick removed his cell phone and clicked a few things. “Here. Hold this.”
She glanced at the screen, noticed her own image standing there.
“That’s a camera?”
“Yeah.” He tied the small camera into the ribbons of the sunflowers and angled it toward the desk. Happy with that, and without a smile, he took the second device. This one had a wire on the end of the camera. He feathered the wire on the stems of the roses and pointed the device toward the entry to her cubicle. “This one has sound.”
“Why two?” she asked.
“If housekeeping moves one, the other will pick up something.”
She hadn’t thought of that.
“Now, show me what you found.”
Judy tucked into her chair, removed her purse from the drawer, and opened the top to show Rick where she’d found her license. “It was just lying there. No way I could miss it.”
He removed the license from her fingertips, looked at it through the plastic bag. “You placed it in the bag?”
“I did.”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Nice thinking, Utah.”
“Figured all the crime shows couldn’t be wrong.”
He looked beyond her inside the drawer. “Did you find anything else?”
She pushed her chair back. “I didn’t look.”
Rick grabbed a pencil from her desk and shuffled things back and forth in the drawer, though she didn’t see anything out of place. “Right after I showed up, a boatload of reporters marched into the office. Some walked right by my desk.”
“How many of them would know this is your space?”
“None, I guess.” She shivered.
He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll get this to Neil. Maybe we’ll find a clear print, see if Dean can come up with something.”
He pressed the red raid button, knew he beat her once again. He ran the tip of the knife in his hand down the length of her picture. The red dress smacked of insubordination. She mocked him with the color, made him want to help her bleed all over it.
The fake blood splattered on the screen wasn’t enough . . . not since he’d smashed his fist into her that first time. That was so much more rewarding than this one-dimensional screen with beeps and whistles. His talents went well beyond this game. The badge-wearing police were arresting the wrong guy, sniffing around the wrong places. So stupid.
The only thing he hadn’t anticipated was the security surrounding Judy now. Toying with her before he took her out was proving much more difficult than he first thought.
The raid button flashed along with a sign reading Bring the Pain. The edge of the blade pushed against his finger, bringing blood to the surface. He watched in utter fascination as a drop of blood splashed on the magazine picture. His fascination with the image made him remember another one. She hadn’t put up much of a fight, however. He hadn’t meant to kill her. The thickness of her skull must have been a defect. No, he only wanted to remind Judy that he was out there. She shouldn’t be smiling in any of the pictures . . . she shouldn’t be in front of a camera at all. Even today, she laughed at the media and shooed them away as if they were her minions.
His finger pressed into the photograph.
She shouldn’t have made what should have been the most painful time in her life memorable by getting married. What sane person got married when a killer was after them? Who did that?
A cocky bitch.
Three-star general my ass.
He no longer could identify the image under his finger.
But he knew who it was . . .
After leaving his present for her today, she wouldn’t be back at her day job. She’d be the coward she was . . . hiding behind her game, behind the walls of her brother’s house.
Then he’d just have to wait. Her fortress wasn’t as secure as those around her believed.
Meg ran out of the house before Rick put the Ferrari in park.
Rick reached over and held Judy’s knee, keeping her in the car while Meg ran toward them.
“I’m sorry. Let me just say that now and get it off my chest.”
If there was a look that Meg perfected and Judy saw through better than anyone, it was the guilty innocence that came with the half smile and squinting eyes. Must have come from her mixed-up religious beliefs growing up. It was like her Jewish grandmother and her Catholic mother each took hold of one side of her body and went to confession. You’re guilty, but you don’t really believe in hell so what does it matter?