Chapter Eighteen

Beowolf lay at Olivia's feet as she stood by her car.

She had given her name, but Nutsbe had cleared his throat before she said anything else. She was the witness to a crime. From her prosecutorial work, Olivia knew well that it was best to be quiet. She needed two solid nights of sleep and time to process before she should open her mouth. And she said as much to the officers, then she turned away.

Nutsbe said, "Beowolf follow." It was his turn to give his name, and it was sweet that he was sending Beowolf along as her guardian angel. "You are, aren't you? An angel?" she asked, and Beowolf raised both eyebrows. "You knew what was happening. I wonder how. Nutsbe knew you'd locked onto something. You were pulling, and he was tackling. And I'm alive." She put her forearms on her hood. "I might not be alive," she whispered.

Because her car was part of the crime scene, the police wouldn't allow Olivia to drive away until after the CSI had collected their forensic evidence.

That would take at least a few hours.

A television crew pressed against the yellow crime tape that the police had strung. They had their cameras rolling, and Olivia noticed that Nutsbe had produced a baseball cap from his magic bag and pulled the bill low over his eyes. He also kept his face averted.

Olivia thought back to Jaylen trying to look Nutsbe up on social media under the name Tad Crushed and talking about how Iniquus kept a zero profile.

Jaylen!Olivia lifted her phone, swiped, tapped, and was instantly greeted with an "Olivia?"

"I'm alive and, for the most part, unhurt," she said in a rush. "Are you listening to the news?"

The phone was silent longer than expected, and Olivia had to look at the ticking timer to ensure the line was connected.

When Jaylen spoke, fear painted her words. "You were there for that? I told myself that you were in some safe room inside the courthouse. What the heck was happening?"

"Shit, Jaylen, can I just start off with what a freak I was?"

"How's that?" Tilly screamed into the phone, and Jaylen raised her voice to talk past it.

"What's wrong with Tilly?"

"She's mad that she asked me for an egg, and I made her an egg, but she didn't like how I took the shell off. Ignore her. She just needs to let go of some stress. I've got her in my lap now, and we're rocking. I'm wearing my earbuds, so I can hear you if you can hear me."

"Did you see that Judge Greenway was hit?"

"They're speculating on the news that it might be about this big case he has running with Chinese Mafia ties."

"That was fast. I mean." Olivia looked over at the press, then looked up at the faces pushed into the windows watching from above. Law offices. Anyone with a smartphone could have focused in and seen his face anywhere along the timeline.

"Go back. How are you a freak? Did you pee on yourself? I would have."

Olivia glanced around her and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Okay, imagine this: The judge is unconscious, leg in a tourniquet sprawled out between the cars. Nutsbe and I are hiding with him, waiting for the police and the ambulance. And Nutsbe was doing first aid on me."

"Wait," the fear was back in Jaylen's voice, "you're hurt? Were you shot?"

"Me? No, I scraped my knees like when we were kids and tripped on the playground." Olivia planted her elbow on the car and leaned her head onto her palm; the other hand held her phone to her ear, and Beowolf sat with his back to her like a protective sentinel. "It was no biggy, except that it was such a biggy."

"All right, not even I can follow that."

"It was –and I would only admit this to you—erotic." Olivia scraped her teeth over her upper lip. "Jaylen, I was so damned turned on while he hovered over me, sliding my hose off." She looked around again to make sure that no one else could hear.

"He slid your pantyhose off in the middle of a parking lot? He did it?"

"He did it, but it was a whole thing. He kept me modest, but that didn't help. He had these shears, and he cut the— Whew. He was lifting my leg, bandaging my damned knees. He was so focused and tender. I can't remember a time in my life when I wanted to grab a guy and just act like a spring rabbit in the wild."

"That's quite the picture—Tilly, please don't pinch me. That hurts Mommy. And I don't like it—Yeah, Olivia, you remember we learned about that in psychology."

"Did we?"

Beowolf budged back a bit, and his body supported Olivia's legs. She was grateful; it made her feel less wobbly.

"I don't remember particulars," Jaylen said, "the take away is something about fear of dying makes a human want to quickly procreate. I could look it up."

"Please don't. It felt so wrong. I'm so embarrassed that I was putting out weird vibes."

"Was Nutsbe responding to them?" Jaylen asked.

"Hard to tell." She could now feel the tiny stones under her bare feet. Olivia needed to find her shoes. "He was smiling at me. And he kept me distracted from the event and focused on him by telling me ... some things. I just hope he thinks I was terrified, and that was the weird sizzle coming off my skin."

"But that was factual, wasn't it?" Jaylen asked. "I mean, I'd be terrified."

"He's walking over here." Olivia changed her tone from whispering secrets to passing basic information. "I knew this would be on the news, and you'd be freaked out. I wanted to let you know I was okay. Nutsbe's heading over here. He asked me to go to Iniquus to talk to his commander about this. I'm not allowed to drive out of here yet. But when we can, he's going to drive my car home so he can listen to that noise from this morning. Can you call my mom and tell her all that and that I'm fine?"

"Will do," Jaylen said. "Call me later. Love you. I'm so glad you're alive."

Olivia swiped off and then stared at the phone. Yeah, she was glad she was alive, too.

"Olivia?" Nutsbe was beside her, and she looked up into rich hazel eyes warmed with concern.

"Yes?" She slid her phone back into her purse. "All done with the police?"

"You're shaking." He observed. "That's adrenaline coming out of your system."

She looked down to see her hands trembling violently. Olivia blushed. Was she not living up to expectations? He wasn't trembling.

"Human nature." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, and more than anything, in that moment, Olivia wanted to step closer to him, have him wrap his arms around her, and hold her tight. But she was still very aware that she was vomit-spattered, and who in their right mind would want to snuggle with that?

When the wind kicked up, he brushed the hair from her eyes. "Do you have everything you need from your car? I'll drive to Iniquus, then if you're up to it, you can drive my car home."

"But—" She looked around. Yeah, when they made the plan earlier, a leg of the journey was unaccounted for.

"I'll get someone from my team to drive me back to pick up your car, and we'll just move along with the plan we were making when all this started."

She turned back to him. "Like nothing happened."

"Not like nothing happened. Something awful happened. This is just a route to get us from Point A to Point B because we can't stand here in the parking lot forever."

Olivia blinked at him, trying to get her brain in gear.

"Honestly, I'd appreciate you letting me handle the cars. When things are spinning out of control, it's good to have a smaller issue, something easily fixed with a little effort and attention."

"Yeah," Olivia said. "I get that. Like the new door in your fence?"

Nutsbe put his hands on his hips and looked down at Beowolf. There was an endearing bashfulness about the move.

"You're not great around crying, I've observed," Olivia said.

"Women crying?" He brought his head up to catch her gaze. "Can't stand it."

"Is there a story there?"

"Not that I know of."

Beowolf turned around to face the judge. Stabilized and packaged for transport, he lay under the reflective blanket on the gurney.

"I've been that way from as far back as I can remember," Nutsbe said as the paramedics wheeled Judge Greenway toward the ambulance staged on the road. "You ready? Iniquus left a car for me up the block away from this mess."

"So efficient. It reminds me of house elves. And a hotwash, huh? I've had people on the stand mention them. I've never been through one before."

Nutsbe was wiping the drool from Beowolf's chin. "This isn't exactly a hotwash. A hotwash is when you come in from a mission. And then you review what went right, what went wrong."

"Which we're doing." Olivia bent to get her shoes. "Mission Beowolf. Right?" Nutsbe held her elbow as she slid her foot into one shoe, then the other.

"Then we decide what needs further training, decide if new protocols need to be developed for next time."

Without hose, Olivia's skin pinched, and she had to run a finger along the inside of her shoe to settle her foot in properly. "Please, god, let there never be a next time. I get it. Not really hotwash. Okay. I'm a little disappointed." She stood on both feet. The walk to the new car was going to give her blisters, such a petty grievance. "What do we need to talk about at Iniquus?" She stepped forward and stared at the wide pool of blood that the police were photographing.

"The trajectory of the bullet, for one."

"Coming right at the judge." She frowned.

"Coming right at us," Nutsbe corrected.

She twisted to look up at him. "How's that? The judge was yards away."

Nutsbe turned Olivia and wordlessly used his finger to draw an arc from where the sniper had been down to the blood where the judge had stood.

"Right." Olivia gave an emphatic nod. "The judge. It hit him in the leg." That last part trailed off. Olivia recognized that something was wrong with her thought process.

Nutsbe moved around behind her, stretching his arm forward so she was lined up with his finger. "Would you agree that's where we were standing when Beowolf pulled you down?"

"Yes." Her lungs lost their elasticity. Air couldn't go in, and air couldn't go out. A shiver traced her spine, jolting her body.

Nutsbe put his free hand on her arm to steady her. "Watch the arc again." He traced his finger through the air.

Olivia turned and grabbed Nutsbe's arm with both hands, staring up into his eyes. "If we had been standing there, the bullet wouldn't have hit the judge in the leg. It would have hit one of us instead."

That was a kill shot.