“No.We met, but no.”Damien focused on the screen again.
“What do you mean you met?”
“I bought her breakfast last week.I go to the same coffee shop and saw her there the week after the break-in.The baristas won’t let her pay for anything, but I paid for her coffee and bought her breakfast.”
“So you do know her.”
“No.Not like that.Jesus.”Damien leaned back and looked at his partner.He and Jude had an almost sixth sense of each other after working together so long.Damien didn’t like answering to Jude.“We were in the same place, and I wanted to say thank you for what she did.”
“You and the billionaire.I think he has a better gift.”
Damien turned back to the screen as Grant Pickens presented Harmony with a comically large check for a million dollars.“What the fuck?”
“She looks like she doesn’t want it,” Jude said, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the computer.“Does she look afraid of him?”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing.She keeps moving away from him.”
“Do you think he threatened her?”
“About what?She saved his life.”
“Maybe he thinks she was involved.Maybe she was involved.She could have sold out her crew.”
Damien shook his head.That wasn’t the Harmony he knew.Except he didn’t really know her.She was a woman he spoke to for thirty minutes, not someone he had a history with.She was a stranger.He didn’t know what she was capable of.
“Whatever is going on, she doesn’t like it.”
“Yeah,” Damien said, watching as the press conference wrapped up.The camera was focused on the reporter, but Grant Pickens and Harmony were still visible in the background.
And judging by the look on her face, it was not a pleasant conversation.
“What the hell is going on?”Damien wondered aloud.
Three
Harmony wasready to get the hell away from Grant Pickens.The check was nice, but everything about the entire thing was wrong.She felt like she’d stepped into something she wasn’t supposed to be involved in, and accepting the money was agreeing to something she wasn’t agreeing to.
“I think this was a mistake,” Harmony said as soon as the cameras were off.“I never should have accepted this.”She gripped the edges of the check that was printed on a massive piece of foam board.
“But you agreed.It’s yours.The entire city just witnessed you say you were taking this.Why would you turn it down?”Grant Pickens wasn’t asking as much as snarling at her.
Harmony tried to hand the check to him.“I didn’t really do anything, Mr.Pickens.I made a phone call.I didn’t know what those men wanted, but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.It’s not right that you give me this much money for something that really wasn’t a big deal.”
“But it was, Ms.Gibbs.It was a very big deal.”
His tone was definitely not pleasant and friendly.“Mr.Pickens?”
“I don’t know what the man who came into my building wanted.I don’t know why he was here.But I do know if you hadn’t called the police, I might not be standing here.”
“I’m sure?—”
“We have an audience, Ms.Gibbs.I highly recommend you take that check and stop arguing with me about it or people are going to start to wonder what is holding you back from such wealth.Most people would be thrilled to be indebted to me.To know I am not only giving them a substantial sum but also declared live on air that I would do anything to help you if you ever needed it.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“We all need something, Ms.Gibbs.”
Again, she shivered.
