“Yep. Come on, I’ll show you!”
Maddie grabbed Sloane’s hand and began to pull, but the patient woman held her ground with ease.
“I will absolutely let you show me once I’m done with your mom and Liam, but I know Nancy will be super impressed that you still remember so much about the playroom. Look! Here she comes, now.”
They all turned to see a twenty-something brunette making her way toward them.
“Nancy!” Maddie took off down the tiled hallway, practically jumping into the other woman’s opened arms.
“Hey, girlie.” Nancy laughed. “I heard someone special was coming to play with me today.”
“I still remember where the building blocks are.”
“No way. I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. Come on…I’ll show you.”
Nancy shared a look with both Sloane and Allison before taking Maddie’s hand and walking away. As soon as they vanished around the corner, Sloane turned her serious expression their way.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Maddie, but now that it’s just us, I wanted to give you a heads up. Detective Knox is here.”
Knox is at Liberty House?
Liam frowned. “Allison and I were supposed to meet with him after we left here.”
“I know.” Sloane’s blue gaze held steady with his. “He told me as much when I called him this morning.”
“Wait.” Allison chimed in. “You called Knox? Why?”
“Because I know how deeply your distrust for the SPD goes, and I needed you to see that Travis is one of the good ones. I figured it was better if the four of us had this particular conversation together. Plus, this prevents the two of you from having to traipse across town, which significantly reduces the risk of someone spotting you and reporting back to Tommy.”
Damn. She’s good.
“You act like you’ve done this sort of thing before,” Liam commented with a sideways grin.
“Not my first rodeo, Mr. Cutler.” Sloane winked, motioning toward the opposite end of the hallway. “Shall we?”
Liam and Allison fell in line behind Sloane. As they walked, he rested a hand to his client’s lower back. It was an unconscious move he hadn’t planned on making, but one she thankfully didn’t seem to mind.
When the three of them reached the other woman’s office door, she twisted the knob and pushed it open. Stepping to the side, she made room for him and Allison to pass. Liam entered the private space behind her, his eyes immediately falling on the man who was standing casually in front of one of the room’s three floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
“Meet Detective Knox,” she announced while shutting the door behind her. To Knox, Sloane said, “Travis, this is Allison Gallo and Liam Cutler.”
The other man pushed himself off the bookshelf to walk over and offer his hand. “Travis Knox.”
“Nice to meet you.” She gave him a firm shake. “And please, call me Allison. With any luck, I won’t be Mrs. Gallo much longer.”
“That’s a real good goal to have.”
I couldn’t agree more.
As Liam stood to the side, watching the pair’s friendly introduction, he took a few seconds to
The detective was tall, standing a couple inches over six feet. The sides and back of his dark blond hair were shorter than the thick, slightly unruly strands on top.
Dressed in black jeans and a plain black, V-neck tee, it was obvious the man kept himself in tip-top shape. A shiny gold badge hung loosely from a long chain around his neck, and Knox’s pistol was holstered securely at his right hip.
From the research he’d previously conducted, Liam knew the other man was a thirty-eight-year-old former Master Sergeant who’d been forced into a medical separation from the Army. After he was out, Knox entered the police academy, quickly climbing the criminal justice ladder to become the most decorated detective in Seattle.
