He glanced at her. “Checking for bugs.”
Bugs? Like listening devices? That’s something that never would’ve occurred to her. “You worried we can’t trust Marti?”
Todd shrugged. “We probably can. I mean, Scott must have thought so to recommend her to Kurt, and I trust him with my life. Plus, Kurt would have done his due diligence before contacting her, but you never know what people will do given the right circumstances. Or whether she was compromised without knowing it.” He stepped down and washed his hands at the sink.
“Are you satisfied that the place is secure now?” Lindsey fought the urge to pull back the blinds to look out the front window.
He strode into the living room and tugged her into his arms. “As much as I can be without a scanner.”
When he held her like this, all of her doubts disappeared. Their future was far too precarious to waste the time they had right now, possibly their final moments together. “I suppose if we don’t talk, we don’t have to worry about giving away anything incriminating, right?” She raked her fingers through his thick hair.
A broad grin spread across his face and he leaned closer. “I like the way you think.” He planted a soft kiss on her lips. “But, first I want to check in with Kurt. Let him know we arrived without incident.”
Oh. Right. “I thought we weren’t supposed to contact any of our ‘known associates.’”
Todd shook his head. “I’m not gonna call him. We have a special mailbox that destroys the messages so they can’t be traced. I’ll get through to him on that.”
“Ah.” Of course they did. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head.
“Then I’m going to take a shower.”Join me.“I haven’t felt truly clean in days.” Hot water and a bar of soap had never sounded so good. How had Marti stood the stench of them?
He winked. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”
She gave him an affronted laugh and punched him lightly on his good shoulder. “I don’t think you’re in any position to talk.”
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in for another quick kiss and gave her a gentle push toward the hallway. “Go, before I forget what I was doing.”
Still smiling, she entered the bathroom and undressed, wincing at the sight of the bruises on her ribs in the large mirror that hung above the sink. The space was modest, with a single vanity, toilet, and tub/shower combo, but appeared to have been recently updated.
Someone had left them fresh bottles of hotel-sized shampoos and soaps, disposable razors, clean towels, and even new clothes.
She stepped into the hot water and sighed. Taking a shower after days without was pure heaven.
Todd didn’t join her, so she finished up and got dressed. Whoever had guessed at her sizes hadn’t done a bad job. The bra was the stretchy wireless kind that would fit a range of women, and the underwear was a similar fabric, both in white. The black sweater came up a little short in the arms but the jeans were almost long enough.
Mostly it felt great to be clean. Sometimes it was the little things, like not being covered in dirt and sweat, that made all the difference in the world. As if half of the stress and worry of the last few days had also disappeared down the drain.
When she emerged from the bathroom, Todd sat on the loveseat, thumbs flying across the screen of the phone. He looked up and smiled. “Feel better?”
“So much.” She sat next to him in the couch and he shifted away.
“I don’t want to contaminate you.”
“Too late,” she said. “I think I already got your cooties.”
He looked like he wanted to say more about that, but he gave a little shake of his head and gestured to his phone. “I got in touch with Kurt. He sent a picture of Marti, and it matches the woman we met.”
“That’s something, I guess.” She rubbed her hands along the stiff fabric of her jeans. “Do you think the FBI will be able to find enough evidence to exonerate us?”
“I don’t know. I hope so.” He placed his hand on her own, stopping her nervous gesture. “The timeline and some of the events will support our story.” He sighed. “But the deck is stacked against us.”
“That’s pretty much what I was thinking. I appreciate you not sugarcoating it for me.” The last thing she wanted was false hope.
“Do you really?” He looked at her, so close she could discern the many shades of blue in his irises, and the navy band that encircled them.
She scrunched her eyebrows at him. “Yes.” Why did he doubt her sincerity? “I’ve told you that.”
