Personal: The Extended Edition (Private #3)

Chapter 21

Brynley

Franken No Fun gives my frame a once over before shaking his head. “You waited until Wilcox left to get dressed, didn’t you?”

“ Absolutely. ”

He’s wound up tight enough over the idea of me dumping myself in the institute like chum.

I can’t even imagine how we would’ve taken seeing me in this ocean blue, linen blazer mini dress.

Under normal work circumstances, I would advise myself against this; however, under these?

I think fighting crime in a sexy outfit is necessary.

I mean…Catwoman does.

Another shake of the head is delivered at the same time I shut the penthouse door behind me. Afterward, he puts in a call via his Bluetooth to the man picking us up and ushers us onto the elevator.

The first part of our plan is easy.

The two possible suspects should’ve been properly baited yesterday.

Upon reviewing those that I had had contact with in town the day of the accident that Hurst thankfully survived – but shattered his leg in three places – it turns out none of the individuals were female.

Not.

One.

This discovery is what led him and Finnigan to conclude that the woman attacking is most likely involved with one of the men which is how she’s getting her information.

Men talk too.

When weird or funny or interesting shit happens at work they share it with their partner.

Three of the four people have a significant other and of those three, one is same sex oriented allowing us to narrow it down to just two women.

Michelle Vargas, the woman interning in hospital administration at Highland North Medical Center, who has been dating my favorite barista, Pepper – his stage name – for the past seven months and Jean St. Clair, the woman who works at the public library that’s actually engaged to Silas.

Both women’s whereabouts couldn’t be accounted for the night of the car attack.

Both women were in the vicinity where the wig woman ditched her gear after trying to kidnap Wy from school.

And both women work too close to the original attempt location for it to be a coincidence.

I can’t imagine their men are knowingly in on it, given how much they appear to adore me, which is what prompted Holmes to throw out was that this could be a whole “strangers on a train” thing where they randomly met up and agreed to kill someone for the other person but that felt like a bit of stretch to me.

He was commended for his choice in classic film and then almost had his pay cut by his horrified boss who they were trying to keep calm, not rile up.

Trying to find a direct motive for either woman also failed.

Their quick background checks came up empty.

We’ve never worked at the same place.

Slept with the same people.

We don’t even get waxed in the same counties.

Why one of them has it out for me is the second biggest mystery to solve.

And I want this shit solved.

I wanna hold my son again.

I miss cuddling in bed and reading Penguin Pete .

Exiting the evaluator exposes us to the main lobby where our first encounter could potentially reveal new information to us. “Afternoon, Silas.”

He inspects the two fingers he had been using to check for dust along the frame prior to politely greeting in return, “Afternoon, Bryn.” His head tips to Franken No Fun. “Mr. Holmes.”

“Bhett.”

“What are you doing here?” I casually question at the same time I step away from the closing doors. “I thought you had lunch plans with Jean.”

“I did.” He fights against his tightening expression. “Unfortunately, one of her coworkers called in sick today, so she has to cover. Normally, it wouldn’t be such a crucial matter, but they’re expecting a preschool field trip today; therefore, it’s an all hands in situation.”

“Aw,” innocently leaves me. “I bet that’ll be fun. Wy loves whenever they visit the library at his academy.”

“I can imagine given how excited he is after you go book shopping.” Unmistakable warmth floods his gaze as he asks, “And how is his travel session with his grandparents going?”

“He’s happy. We look forward to joining him soon.”

“Jean loves hearing stories about him. I think she wants us to adopt once we’re wed.”

Is that why she’s been trying to kidnap my kid?!

To raise him as theirs?!

Does she have some sort of delusional baby crazy syndrome where she thinks this child she’s heard about should be with her instead of me?

I mean...that would explain trying to get me out of the way to make him hers!

Holmes clears his throat to indicate we need to be moving along, forcing me to banish the fleet of thoughts.

“I’m sure you’d make a great dad.” My chin tips towards the door. “We need to get going though. Gotta swing by Loca Mocha to grab an afternoon pick me up.”

“Have a lovely day, Bryn.” He prepares to move over to the next elevator. “And good luck with inspecting the new exhibit coming in from K however, I know Wy having similar loves definitely comes from him.

“What are these things?” Holmes thumps his index finger on the glass of an outer wall tank. “Why are they see through?”

“Those are Alabama cave shrimp,” I enthusiastically explain, surprised at the familiarness of the moment. “They’re only found in caves in that state and are on the endangered species list, which is one of the big deals of the institute.” The DeJa’Vu sensation increases. “We primarily focus our efforts on rehabilitation, rereleasing, and reproduction with minor focuses on conservation and behavioral observation.” The tiniest flicker of movement appears around the corner pushing me to get the ball rolling. “Gahhhhh, I wonder what’s taking them so long with the delivery.”

Our code phrase immediately has Franken No Fun do his part. “I wonder if-” He abruptly pauses as if getting a call. “One sec.” The touching of his earpiece occurs but answers no one. “Holmes.” Another beat. “What do you mean you’ve been made Zandt?! By who?” He locks eyes with me, wordlessly announcing he’s about to step into the unseen. “Institute security knows you’re permitted to patrol the interior for-” Faked grumbles precede a deep sigh. “I can’t just leave my post because you don’t know how to do your job.”

Poor kid really doesn’t.

He actually might wanna switch career paths.

Maybe something with less acting?

“I can’t just-”

“ Go ,” I insist in feigned annoyance. “I’ll be fine alone for two minutes.”

“But-”

“I swear I won’t go anywhere.”

“But-”

“I literally can’t go anywhere until they make this delivery.”

“But-”

“The longer it takes you to leave the longer it takes you to get back.”

“ Wes- ”

“Never has to know…”

A playful wink shot in his direction pushes him to transition to his next point in the plan, leaving our suspect to finally unknowingly move into hers.

Very casually, I pace the small space, eyeball the creatures swimming around, check for discrepancies much like I did when I was just a guide, and reminisce on what I do remember from the time.

All of sudden, someone arrives beside me and quietly murmurs, “Keep watching the fishes like nothing’s wrong or I’ll jam this needle I’ve got into your tubby thighs.”

Rude.

“Good girl,” the woman I have yet to make eye contact with condescendingly retorts . “Now, listen carefully, because I know your security detail will be back any second.”

Technically, he hasn’t quite left.

“You’re gonna pretend I’m the delivery from K&T that you’ve been waiting for and that we need to head to your office because there was problem in transport. He doesn’t need to follow us. You’ll be fine. And you’re gonna stay pinned to my side like we’re best fucking friends to keep this little prick hidden. Got it?”

I nod split seconds before Holmes reappears, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I state just like I’ve been told, beverage switching to the opposite hand, “this is Emily from K&T. She was in charge of the delivery I’ve been waiting for.”

The woman nods yet avoids eye contact with him.

“There’s evidently a problem, and we need to head to my office to get it settled.”

“Okay, I’ll-”

“You soooo don’t need to follow me,” I brush off. “I’ll be fine.”

“ Bryn. ”

“I’m sure it’s only gonna take a quick sec.” My gaze motions down to the hand he can’t see, wordlessly informing him she’s armed, which I expected. “You can wait here.”

His eyes widen in worry. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Too bad I don’t pay you to think.”

The glare he twitches borderlines on being real.

“I pay you to follow orders.”

He prepares to reach for his holstered weapon.

“And I order you to stand down, dude.”

“But-”

“I said stand down,” is attached to not only a sharp twist in his direction but the jerking of my cup holding wrist.

The purposely loose lid to the still rather scalding hot beverage flies into the air while the fluid itself pitilessly splashes out onto her needle wielding arm forcing her to drop the object.

“ Sonofawhoreeeeee! ” she screeches as Holmes swiftly places the barrel of his pistol to the back of her wig wearing head.

Collecting the discarded, pointed weapon from its latte-based grave occurs quickly, yet jamming it into the side of her neck is executed even faster. “ This was meant for me. ” I viciously coo and inject the unknown mixture into her veins. “ Let’s see exactly what it was gonna do… ”