“Smile, everyone! Smile!” Lawrence encouraged the kids from the front row.
To Elena’s relief, Tina’s smile was the biggest one as the cameras flashed.
Twenty-Three
At the end of the night, Camden followed Elena’s car back to her apartment, his mind turning over a million things. The event had gone well in some ways, and completely sideways in others. Camden had stuck closely to Roger, keeping his ears open for anything amiss. But the newly-christened political hopeful stuck to the typical script of ‘thank you for your support’ and Camden didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary from the guests who approached him. Gina reported that Cici was pretty much a carbon copy of her husband, thanking guests and accepting compliments for the party.
Jake reported the same about Lawrence Franklin. The man was keeping back, letting Roger take the spotlight. He directed his campaign staff members and talked to Senator Higley who was actually offering pointers, Jake said, which appeared to ruffle Franklin’s feathers. Good on Higley.
Then Jake lost them briefly as Higley pulled Franklin away from the crowd to talk privately. They wondered what that was about, until Senator Higley took the stage at his appointed time—the man needed an escort up the stairs and Camden wondered if the rumors of his illness were true—and instead of giving his support for Roger Bennett’s bid for the House of Representatives, he dropped jaws by announcing that he would be stepping down from his Senate seat and was endorsing Bennett as his replacement.
So, that’s what these meetings have been aboutCamden thought as the crowd broke into surprised cheers. He asked Roger about it as soon as he had the chance, irritated that the man hadn’t let him in on the change in plans. Roger shrugged and told him that Higley had sprung it on him as well, but Roger would’ve been a fool if he didn’t accept the senator’s offer. Camden couldn’t argue. The man had just been handed twice the power he’d been gunning for.
Still, Camden hated surprises on the job, and this was a big one. Jake agreed.
The rest of the night went pretty quickly after the big announcement. Camden sneaked into the kitchen in time to see his badass woman put her former boss in her place, then accept her dream job. That made everything worth it.
Then, his hackles went back up the second he saw Franklin talking to Elena. The skeevy guy at least had the sense to back off the second he saw Camden. Apparently, he was kissing Higley’s ass, introducing him to Elena. Camden’s guard wasn’t about to drop though, and he stuck by her in the crowd, until Franklin got the hint and moved away from them to the front of the crowd.
Kyle spoke to him through his earbud right before the photos. “Camden. We need to do a quick headcount of all the kids.”
Fuck. His stomach turned sour as he scanned the faces on the stage. Tina was right there in front with the rest of the younger kids, and the Bennett twins stood right behind her in a row of taller kids.
“What’s up?” He stepped away from Elena and walked toward one of the women who had herded the kids in, hoping she had a list of names.
“Just making sure. We did a headcount as they left the room and came up with the correct count, but when Mac and I went in, someone had opened one of the windows, so I’m double-checking.”
“Fuck. I was told the windows were locked, and the babysitters were under orders not to open them anyway.” He cursed Cici for insisting that his guards stay outside the room in order not to disturb the kids. “Jake, you hear that?”
“Copy. I’m already counting, brother.”
Nash and Costello confirmed they were counting as well.
“Excuse me,” Camden said to the lady who had been at the head of the line. “I need to see your attendance list.” Before she could protest, Camden swiped the piece of paper out of her hands. There was a checkmark beside each name, showing they were all accounted for. Camden quickly counted the kids on stage while they smiled for the photographer. Adding in the number of teens who were allowed to mingle with the other guests, the count on stage matched the number of names. He counted again, and then a third time. Same totals.
“Everything go okay in the kids’ room tonight?” he asked the woman.
“Just fine, why?”
“It’s my job to make sure.”
Jake, Costello, and Nash reported their counts. Their numbers matched.Crisis averted. But his gut stayed sour over the close call and nothing felt right about it. Tina had been in that room. He didn’t know what he would have done if something had happened to her.
“Sorry to scare you, boss,” Kyle said. He sounded like a dog about to get kicked for no damn good reason.Poor Pup.
“Not at all. Good work. We got lucky this time is all.”
The guests departed after the photoshoot. Camden’s team made sure the stragglers got to their cars and rides, and that no one lingered behind. He wouldn’t breathe easy though until the Bennetts were safe and sound back in their home and he could follow Elena and Tina back to their apartment in his SUV.
Now that he was doing that very thing, he should’ve been at ease. But the Mermaid had him worried. Ever since he’d shown her the photos of the sundial in the garden and explained all the parts and how it worked, she wouldn’t talk about anything else. He figured they’d have to show it to her as soon as things wound down and then they’d have to drag her away with a promise to come back during the daytime. Sure enough, the minute the photoshoot was over, she practically leaped off the stage to get to Elena.
“Can we go now?” Camden heard the little girl ask as he walked back over to them. She tugged Elena’s hand.
“Hang on, Pepita. Camden’s still working. We’ll see it when he’s done.”
“No. I want to gonow.”
Time to shut this down. “Hey, Mermaid, I’m gonna give you two choices. Either you wait for me to finish, or you let your mama show you now, and then I’ll either catch up or we’ll go home if you’re done looking at it.”
