In Her Sights (6 page)

“Windshield. Do you have cameras on your parking lot?”

“Every last angle and corner.”

Chapter Five

Clayton tapped the note on his hand and looked at her. Odd
timing, with her walking back in. He hadn’t been on the phone with Senator Samuel
Dearing for more than a couple minutes, discussing Lexie’s new security that he
was about to install. When she walked through the door, he put his phone on
mute as soon as possible before she spoke. If she decided to admit to having
the dagger, the last thing he wanted was for the Senator to overhear it.
Everyone knew how protective Senator Dearing was of Lexie, and if he found out
about the stolen dagger, all hell would rain down because the Senator would be
in the middle of it, looking to straighten it out.

Clayton stood and grabbed the note. He turned and started to
step, but she blocked his path. This was the woman he knew from the papers.
Perfectly dressed and covered in diamonds. Before last night, he’d never been
close enough to see flecks of blue-gray swirls in her eyes and it knocked him
back a step. She just had a presence about her. Commanding and attentive. Up
close he was starting to see how people seemed to bend over backwards to do
whatever she wanted.

He couldn’t get the woman out of his head. Not since last
night. Since he was stretched out on her floor and she hovered over in a simple
t-shirt and shorts. Wore house shoes with lambs on them for god sakes. This
morning, he’d spent hours reading about charity donations, fundraisers,
projects, and what seemed like endless things she touched. All these things, he
knew.

Looking at them again, after last night, it was different. The
pictures of her smiling while cutting a ribbon weren’t simple society pieces
anymore. He used to see the figurehead. The corporation. Her
name
.

Now, when he looked at those pictures, he saw her eyes. The
way they had focused on him last night. Heard that tone of voice that didn’t
offer room to argue. He quit seeing the heiress and instead saw the woman who
trapped a burglar in the middle of the night in her pajamas.

She blinked, dropped his gaze, and stepped back. “Your
cameras?”

“Upstairs.” He didn’t take a step yet, and he wasn’t sure
how well this would go over. He was very clearly getting the vibe she didn’t
trust him. Not that he blamed her, but she was going to find out eventually,
and he’d rather not have her be overheard when they walked through the lobby. “That
was Senator Dearing on the phone when you came in.”

Her eyes closed and head lowered. “He works fast. He just
told me the news that he was calling someone when I got outside.”

“I’m telling you now because he’s on hold for my secretary when
we go through the lobby. Unless you want him to wonder why you’re here—”

“I won’t say anything.” She moved around his desk and waited
at the door. “Lead the way.”

He stepped out of his office and found a handful of his men
standing around and staring. When Clayton met their gaze, they shifted and
headed out the front door. Why Lexie was here hadn’t gotten out, but her name
had been whispered about all morning since they had started getting here at six
a.m. Lexie Olympia just wasn’t a woman known for handling details like security
work.

Not that she was viewed as a brainless twit, but fact of the
matter was, this sort of thing was background work. She had people to do this
for her. Lexie was in front of the cameras. Donating money to children’s
hospitals. Opening playgrounds and clubs for, again, kids. Kids were her soft
spot.

His thoughts drifted to his daughter, Audrey, and his heart bled a little more. He
wished he could do what Lexie was able to. He would put it all in his daughter’s
name, but he couldn’t. Nobody could get things done for a charity like Lexie
could. Somehow, she could walk into a town meeting strictly opposed to a
renovation and convince everyone there to change their minds.

If it wasn’t children, it was the community. Every local and
state politician knew Lexie Olympia was the go-to woman if they wanted to be
viewed favorably by the people. Rumor claimed it wasn’t easy to win her over.

He stopped at Mary’s desk. “Senator Dearing is on my line.
He’s going to give you details for upgrading Ms. Olympia’s home security.” He
leaned a little closer and whispered, “Don’t mention she was here. You know how
men are. Let him believe he’s taking care of her.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. I won’t say a thing.”

He walked away and punched the elevator button and the doors
opened. Lexie smiled as she stepped in. That grin of hers was her secret to
getting what she wanted. He’d seen it in action. Would swear up and down it was
created for the sole purpose of encouraging people to agree to donate to
whatever she wanted, allow her to build whatever she wanted, or to sucker any
person into doing whatever it was she wanted.

The doors swished closed, leaving them alone in the small
space. A scent from her filled the room. Something sweet and expensive. He’d
never thought of calling something expensive by the smell, but there it was.
Fresh and powdered. Lightly sweetened.

Her cheeks reddened. She pushed her hair away and looked
toward the floor. “Thanks for not telling him I was here.”

“I know Senator Dearing well. We’ve worked with him for
years. He’s one of the few homes out of the city that we secure. And knowing
him, I know how he’d react to finding out about this dagger. I meant what I
said: I’ll keep this all quiet.” He turned away. When she had walked out of his
office before, he had immediately started sorting everything he knew about this
case through his head. There was just one conclusion—Lexie Olympia had that
dagger. Whether she wanted to admit it or not. Or maybe she didn’t know she had
it at all. Now that he was going to be in her home, thoroughly going through
it, he would find that dagger. “You’re not what I expected.”

“I can say the same for you. From last night compared to
today, that is.”

He laughed and rubbed his neck. “The papers have you made
out to be….” How did he say it?

“Helpless?” she offered with that smile.

“Yeah.”

She leaned a little closer to him. “Do you want to know a
secret?”

He couldn’t resist as his skin prickled while he looked at her. “Lay it on me.”

“It’s not true,” she whispered.

He chuckled. “Trust me. I already know that.”

Not just from personal experience last night. In part of
digging a little deeper on her, he found it wasn’t just a self-defense class or
two that she took. It was years of at-home martial arts lessons she’d had after
her parents were murdered. With the killer still on the loose, the lessons were
no doubt focused and intense in case someone ever came after her. It helped explain
a lot about her calmness when she captured him. He was damn lucky she hadn’t
just shot him and called it a day.

The elevator opened, and he moved in front of the row of
monitors that were linked to the many cameras installed in businesses and homes
all over Melville. He gestured to the empty seat at the keyboard and his man,
Johnson, immediately filled it.

“Bring up the parking lot out front. Start it about eight-thirty
and fast forward until I tell you to stop.”

The monitors blinked and Lexie pulled in the lot. On
fast-forward, she was nothing more than a flash going in the building. But just
after that, a black figure appeared beside her car and lifted her windshield
wiper.

“Stop. Rewind and play that.”

According to the camera time, it was nine-thirteen. The
person dressed in a black shirt, black sweatpants, and a black ball cap pulled
low approached her car. In the loose clothes, it was impossible to get a body
type, let alone physical description. The person lifted her windshield wiper,
planted the note, and ran back in the direction they came from.

Clayton sighed. “That’s not much to go on. Check the other
cameras. See if we can get a vehicle. Also zoom on the face to see if we can
get a gender.”

Lexie studied the screens. The corners of her eyes narrowed as
she watched.

“Does he look familiar?”

She blinked and turned that blinding smile on him. “No.”

“Play it again real quick.”

The clip replayed. He watched the screen again, trying to
figure out what had her so focused. The figure went to the windshield. The note
was planted, and he ran off.

“Bring up the cameras from the side of the building now.”

Her eyes never left the screens as they flicked, views
changed until they were looking at the alley and the time set to the figure
rounding the corner and coming right at the cameras.

Clayton glanced to her and noticed the slight tightening of
her jawline. “Still nothing recognizable?”

She shook her head. “I meet a lot of kids at some of the
poor area county schools. I’m out there doing different things because of
various charities. They do stuff like this for easy money and work their way
into the real trouble.”

“You’re passionate about kids.”

“I think everyone comes to this T in the road at some point
in their life. One specific moment.” She looked at him. Her eyes were serious,
much like last night, and that tone in her voice was back. “Their choice sends
them down the right path.” She pointed at the screen. “The other is a future of
nothing but that and it does no one any good. I wonder if this was his choice
to make a little money. Or if he’s already down this path and he can’t get out.”

Easy for her to say. She had been born with the silver spoon
in her mouth. “Unless they were born into it and know nothing else.”

Her eyes flashed to his. “You can be born into a lot, Mr.
Addison. You can still learn something different.”

The screen stopped. Another segment played of the figure
leaping in the passenger seat of a black pickup in the next parking lot over
and driving off. The truck turned out of the parking lot and, of course, had no
tags. “Analyze it. See what you can find. Use what surveillance we have on
other buildings down the street and see if you can dig out more. Get someone to
help you.”

A “Yeah, boss” was called out, and he led her to the
elevator. Once inside, he leaned against the opposite wall and stared.

She straightened and for the first time, appeared as the
woman he saw at parties. Tall, chin lifted. Untouchable. Unreachable. The
action didn’t suit her. Now that he’d seen her in other ways, heard the passion
in her voice as she spoke, she looked awkward standing there, trying to stare
down at him.

Her head cocked to the side. “Something the matter, Clayton?”

“Just trying to figure out your story.”

“Save some time and just read the papers. They keep
up-to-date on everything I do.”

He shook his head. “I know where you come from, what you’ve
lived through, but there’s a lot to you under the surface. I break into your
home, and you’re cool as a cucumber. You find a note on your windshield and
there isn’t a shake to your hand. You care about kids who threaten you. I’m
just trying to figure out what drives you. What made you who you are.”

“I’m in probably the safest building in town so finding a
note in the parking lot isn’t that terrifying. Besides, this isn’t my first
dirty note.”

“No?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Creepy letters come every now and
then. I’m in the papers a lot. It happens.”

“I can see that.” Or not really, but it explained why she
wasn’t hysterical and shaking. “What made you who you are?”

She smiled wide and again portrayed that high-handedness. “It’s
going to sound silly.”

He had a hard time picturing silly on her. Fun at times,
happy, sad, and angry. But never silly. “Try me.”

And then like that, the air about her loosened as the grin
on her face reached her eyes. Her shoulders softened. Stance relaxed as she
leaned back against the elevator wall. “There’s a lady who works in my home. I
was close to her growing up. She’s a mom to me. She was originally from a bad
side of town. Had nothing and she walked up to my house one day, knocked on the
door, and asked for a job. I was an infant and was crying. Mom was stressed.
The lady offered advice. Mom said if she could get me to stop crying, she would
have a job as a full-time, live-in nanny with full benefits. And whatever the
lady did worked.” Her gaze was distracted, no doubt remembering something. “The
woman was my housemaid, Julia. The day before, her mother had sent her out to
start making money on her back because Julia hadn’t been able to get a job
anywhere else. Julia taught me about things I would have never learned,
considering the family I was born into. Not just how most people live, but she made
sure I knew how to take care of myself in case some dangerous man ever broke into
my home in the middle of the night.”

Not like he could argue with that, but there was still
something off. He just couldn’t get his finger on it. He pushed his hands in
his pockets and rolled his keys around. Maybe it came with the territory of who
she was and how she’d grown up. Not afraid of anyone and ready to tackle the
world. Then having to scramble her life back together after it fell apart at
such a young age.

He grew up on Suburban Avenue with a tree house in the backyard,
complete with tire swing and rope ladder while dad grilled hot dogs. He and
Kate had planned the same childhood for Audrey. Not that he wouldn’t have been
proud to have a daughter who could accomplish what Lexie had, but at what
price?

He moved toward the doors as the elevator stopped. “If you
change your mind at all about the dagger, all you have to do is say something.”

She stopped short and shook her head. “Wish I could help.”

“We could just return it. Right now and not worry about
this.”