She interlocked her fingers and pressed them palm-down on the table in front of her. “No. I would not like to dance. I would not like a drink. And, I definitely would not like to share my booth with you.”
Share her booth? If he had a mind to, he’d tell her she wasn’t his type, but he had a job to do.
“My mistake.” He raised his hands and eased away. “I’m just going back to my seat at the bar. You have a nice night.”
Chapter Two
Elizabeth Walkert peered around the side of her high-backed booth, watching the tight buns of the man who’d just hit on her. He’d asked her to pick a song. Even asked her to dance. That tall, broad-shouldered, muscled-biceps guy had actually made a pass at her. Her insides tingled. Had been a long time since someone hit on her.
If she hadn’t been so focused on everything wrong in her life, she might have taken him up on the dance. Instead, she turned her attention back to her phone. And her worry.
Four days ago, she’d received a couple of texts from her dad, warning her to be alert to danger. Danger? There’d never been anything even remotely dangerous about her dad’s life. He’d worked for the same firm forever. Drove the same brand of car. Got his hair cut by the same barber, in the same style, every last Thursday of the month.
As she’d grown up, the biggest excitement in their lives had been the occasional movie night, maybe a weekend road trip to see a ballgame. Her mother had never asked for much. She always seemed resigned to their life. Happy, but resigned. On the other hand, her dad had ruled with a look or a word, restrictions, implications. Forever serious and indifferent, yet always blaming their life on his background, which he refused to discuss.
Some months after her mother died, Drake had been the one person her dad told her she could trust if something ever happened to him. That had been part of the message her dad sent four days ago, too. She’d picked up on the fact his words had to do with Florida and the Mariner’s, the island and a vacation, 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Her dad had also instructed her to catch the next available flight to Fort Myers, Florida, that his friend from St. Louis would be in touch. After landing, she’d made her way to the house on Captiva Island, the one they’d stayed at for vacations with Drake when she was in high school.
Sure enough, the place had been leased to her, complete with a live-in maid and a new phone. Good thing, because her phone had gone belly-up when she tried to power it on after landing at the airport.
Drake’s note attached to the new phone had said the housekeeper would dispose of the old phone and place the SIM card in the on-site safe. Consequently, she no longer had access to any of her old numbers or contacts’ information. All of that had struck her as more than strange. However, when she powered on the new phone, there were copies of her dad’s previous texts waiting for her in the notes section along with her calendar. She’d read and reread thelast one.
Be careful, Elizabeth. Very careful. Sometimes things aren’t what they seem. Trust my friend from St. Louis. Trust what he says. Trust anyone he sends to help. I know Drake will bring in his best people to keep you safe. Always remember— Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you. Gotta go. Love you, Punkin’, Dad
So, here she was, following strange directions. Watching for an unknown danger. Waiting for all the pieces to fall into place. Knowing that even though she didn’t agree with her father on much of anything, she still wouldn’t want to see him harmed.
For the past couple nights, she’d been at the Mariner’s Bar and Grill between 8:00 and 10:00. Waiting for a sign. Any sign.
She jumped with the ring of her phone.Please let it be my dad.
Caller ID read “Man from St. Louis.” She held the phone close and shielded the screen as she accepted the call, and, there on FaceTime was Drake Lawrence.
“Where’s my dad? What’s happened to him?” Elizabeth whispered.
“We’re looking for him. Top priority right now is to make sure you’re safe.” Drake’s serious expression alarmed her.
“Safe? Why wouldn’t I be safe?”
“There’s no time to explain. You’ve got to trust me.”
Trust was one thing. Being treated like she had no say in what happened to her was another. No one got to keep her in the dark. “Don’t try to evade the question. I want an answer. Why wouldn’t I be safe?”
“This is serious, Elizabeth, and I don’t have time to go into details.” His tone turned authoritative. “I can only emphasize what your dad told me when we talked a few days ago. You are in danger. That’s why I’ve had some of my security people watching you.”
Someone watching her? For days? What was going on?
As a journalist, she’d learned there were risks with everything from walking down the street, to contacts she interviewed for articles, to eating the wrong food and having a severe reaction.
But this…this sounded different. Ominous. Like being in a dark confine. She didn’t like the dark. She didn’t like being confined. She didn’t like this situation.
“Okay. Let’s say I can accept that for the time being.” She couldn’t believe how fast her life had changed in only five days. Much longer, and she’d be out of money. “What should I do?”
“I’ve sent someone to protect you. He’ll explain everything when he—”
“Hold on.” What had she heard? Felt? She laid her phone on the table.
Might be the conversation with Drake had her on edge, but she could swear someone’s footsteps seemed to be headed in her direction. Not the normal sound, more like a whisper of sound against the floor. The footsteps stopped.
She glanced over her shoulder, and there stood the man who’d hit on her. For all that’s holy, couldn’t the guy take no for an answer? “Back off, Dance Man. I told you before, I don’t care what song you play. And I don’t want to dance.”
