I walked into the station with Pee Wee beside me. Suit had disappeared while I was getting the monster out of the back. Pee Wee was crowding me as we walked. I bumped him over with my leg but he kept crowding closer. "Geesh dog, we are safe in here. Give me some space." He responded with a low rumbly growl as Troy led us to his desk.
I sat down on the side of it in the "criminal" chair. Pee Wee laid down with his head over my feet. Apparently I had won him over in such a way he was loyal and protective. Hmmm.
I pulled out my gun and laid it on the desk beside me. "Do you mind if I clean this while we talk?" I asked. You might be wondering why I still had my gun and all my other weapons in the police station. Well 1-I have a permit and B, I am the daughter of the police chief. They all know me here and thirdly, no one here is brave enough to try to take it from me.
"If I didn't know better I would think you are trying to intimidate me." he answered. "Why do you need to clean it in the middle of the day in the middle of a police station in the middle of an interra.., I mean interview? He asked.
"It got wet earlier and I have a feeling I need it to be in pristine condition for the rest of the day."
"Do I want to know?" he asked.
"Dog bath." I replied. He just raised his eyebrow and let it go pulling out a gun cleaning kit.
"Nora. What is going on? I can hardly believe it is a coincidence that you are at the scene of a shooting and then at the same scene you are again a victim of a shooting." He stated. I looked around for Suit, I really should have taken a moment to collaborate with him. Oh well, he is a big boy with big boy toys.
"Let's start with who is the Suit?"
"I don't know." I replied.
"Why is he attached to you."
"I don't really know that either." I replied
"Nor. seriously. You are letting a guy you don't know attach himself to you on a Valentine's day? I thought you had more sense than that."
"I can't shake him alright. I have already head butted his family jewels, throat punched him and kicked him in the gut. He is like the weeble wobbles he won't fall down." I started taking my gun apart as we talked, wanting something to concentrate on so I did not have to look at Troy in case I needed to fudge a little or maybe omit something. He watched me for a moment stretching out the silence.
"What do you know?" Troy finally said exasperated.
"I know he is a coffee snob. I know he has money. I know he has some skills. I know he underestimates me." I ticked off the points on my fingers.
"A coffee snob?"
"Yes. A coffee snob. He did not like the coffee at my place so he brought his own."
"He didn't like the coffee at your place." Troy stated in such a way it did not actually sound like a question but it clearly was a question. Oopsie.I chose to wait for the next actual question and returned my attention to cleaning my gun. Troy drummed his fingers on the desk. If he thought I was going to volunteer anymore information on that without a direct question he was going to be drumming a long time.
"Coffee at your place." he stated again more angrily. Pee Wee's head popped up and he started a low growl. Troy nervously looked at Pee Wee then at me glowering. I just nodded and continued concentrating on cleaning my gun like the state of the world depended on my gun being the shiniest most grit free gun in the world. My world does depend on that so it was a task worthy of my full attention.
"Nora." Troy said.
"Hmm." I replied without looking up. He put his hand over my hands halting my progress and tipped his head down trying to catch my eyes. "Nora." he said again. I rolled my eyes and looked at him. "Do you have a particular question, officer?" I asked with some attitude.
"Come on Nor. Don't be like that. You just told me he basically was at your place for breakfast, what am I supposed to think?"
"I don't know, Troy. Maybe you are supposed to think that I can take care of myself. That I do have some working brain cells and maybe, just maybe I have it under control. Just because you have known me since birth does not mean you get to be judgy over my life choices. I don't believe I even commented on the skank parade you entertained in your college days." I was getting irritated now. Troy's parents lived in the duplex next to my granny. I was over there a lot and we played together since they shared a backyard. We went to the same elementary, middle school and finally high school. Troy chose a different college majoring in criminal justice and then went on to the police academy. He was one of the youngest detectives on the force. Our town was not huge but it was not small. The proximity to the metropolitan and the industrial nature made it prime real estate for criminals needing warehousing.
"But you don't." he pointed out annoyingly completely skipping over the skank parade comment, "you just said you couldn't shake him. Do you want to press stalking charges?" he paused. "Do you need some help, Nor?"
I threw up my hands in exasperation. "No Troy. I am not speaking in code for some help. I am irritated with the dude but so far he has only been a passenger. Occasionally lending a hand."
"Why is he on you like red on a rose?"
"He thinks I am in danger." I mumbled incoherently.
"What?"
"He thinks I am in danger and has appointed himself my bodyguard." I said louder.
"Why does he think that? Does he know about the curse? If he knows then he should know that being near you makes you in danger and the best way to keep you out of dange is to not be near you today, Valentine's day. Hell, I have already spent too much time with you today" Troy ranted and crossed himself in the traditional Catholic way. Does that work if you are not actually Catholic?
"I know this. He knows about the curse because I told him. He doesn't believe it. He thinks I am in danger for an entirely different reason that I am choosing not to disclose at this moment."
"Nora. If it has something to do with why you have mob-like enforcers after you, maybe you should rethink your disclosing options."
Crap! Crappity crap crap crap! That was a very logical line of thinking but he was sniffing around the vault.
I started gnawing on my thumb nail and looked uncertainly at him. He threw up his hands in exasperation.
"But you are still not going to tell me." he stated. I shook my head slowly, exaggerating the movement bugging my eyes as I did.
"How did you meet him?"
"I, uh, kinda ran into him. Well more like fell into him and well, uhm, head butted him in the, you know, man parts." I stammered out that weak explanation. Troy started chuckling.
"I am surprised he is still around." Troy said through his mirth.
"Do you know who he is?" I asked Troy.
"Yep." he popped his p. "I am kind of surprised you don't. He has been in town for about 2 years."
"What line of work is he in?" I asked.
"Well that is not exactly clear. He owns the Westwood Security company."
"The Westwood Security company?" I asked, "don't they do high profile security for celebrities and richy rich people?"
"Yep" he also popped that p. It was a thing we started in grade school. Apparently somethings you just don't outgrow.
"No wonder he found where I lived." I said out loud but mainly to myself.
"He did what?" Troy nearly shouted bringing Pee Wee's head up with another rumbly growl. Troy eyed the dog then brought his glare to my face. I snapped the last piece of my gun back in place. Looked at my clip noticing I had only eight rounds in and decided to top it off while I had a moment. At this rate I was not only going to need a full clip but a backup or two. I checked my secret boot pockets to make sure I had extra clips.
"Nora!" Troy yelled. Pee Wee came to full attention, angling his body in front of mine between Troy and me and let out a warning woof that frankly scared me more than Troy's yelling startled me. I glared at Troy, petting Pee Wee on the head soothing him. He sat back but kept his teeth bared and gave a growly rumble.
"He was, well" I looked around the room at anything other than Troy.
"He was well what? Nor." He prompted.
"Oh alright! He was sitting in my loft last night when I got home." my voice dropped off to barely audible at the end but Troy had no problem deciphering what I said. He threw himself back against his chair and huffed out my full name. Geesh. He sounds like my granny when she found out I ate all the cookies in the cookie jar before any of the cousins got any of them.
Granny's cookies are the best. I wonder if I can fit in a visit today. I bet she has some fresh from the oven. She likes to holiday bake. I was practically smelling and tasting them when I was rudely pulled from my cookie day dream by Troy snapping in my face. I pulled back my head glaring at him.
"What now?" I asked irritated to be interrupted from my cookie fantasy. He sighed obviously running low on patience.
"I asked you how he knew where you lived. Nobody knows where you live. I don't even know where you live. I have looked it up, It is not listed in your name so how in all that is holy did he find out?"
"I don't know." I stated. How did he find out? Troy was right. Because of my occupation and my love of privacy, my own family doesn't know where I live. I bought it using a shell company that I set up that has layers of protection. He had to dig really deep to find it was mine. Who is he really?
"Did he follow you?"
"No. He was there before me."
"What is he?" I asked myself but again said it out loud.
"You want his name?" Troy asked.
"Nope, nope, nopety nope, nope, nope. Not even a little bit. I want him to forget he ran into me and go about his merry way. He is not good for my health. I want nothing to do with those gorgeous blue eyes or that obviously well taken care of body. Nope. Nope. Nope. Do not, under any circumstances, tell me his name. I am happy calling him Suit. Keeps it anonymous and impersonal and completely platonic and not in any way intriguing or attractive. No names." I rambled on til I ran out of protests.
"Gorgeous blue eyes? Well taken care of body? Impersonal? Completely platonic?" Troy parroted back not successfully holding back his laughter. "Somebody has a crush, You want to kiss him. You want to love him." Troy teased in a very good Miss Congeniality voice. I couldn't help but laugh as I retorted. "I want to punch you." in the same Miss Congeniality voice.
When he finally stopped laughing, He said, "Fine. I won't tell you that his name is.." I slapped my hand over his mouth and started singing, "la la la la la la la la." Troy's eyes were dancing.
"If I remove my hand you will not say it? I will NOT hesitate to throat punch you." I said pushing my hand harder over his mouth. Pee Wee growled to help me make my point. "Or," I added spontaneously, "I will sic Pee Wee on you." Troy's eyes stopped smiling and turned to a glare.
"Blink twice if you are not going to blurt out any unwanted information when I move my hand." I instructed. He blinked twice. I slowly removed my hand ready to smack it back in place if he started to make a noise.
"I know there is something you are not telling me, Nor." Troy said in all seriousness.
"Vault." I stated as his eyes narrowed.
"That damn vault of yours. You should have been a spy. Nobody would every get any information out of you no matter the torture unless you chose to release it from the vault."
See? He understands the vault. Troy had experience trying to get me to reveal information to him in high school. He found out someone had a crush on him and tried for weeks to get the information out of me and I did not budge even when he stole my desserts. Those were granny's cobblers top five favorite desserts for sure. If I wasn't giving in for the cobbler, nothing was coming out. He should appreciate the vault though, there were several incriminating things in there on him.
"Who says I am not a spy?" I asked grinning.
"What are you going to do now? He asked.
"Troy, Troy, Troy. Plausible deniability." I started getting up. I put my gun back in the holster at my back, pulled my jacket over it, grabbed Pee Wee's leash and started for the exit. "I am gonna pick up some skips of course. That is my job." I told the room at large.