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Chapter Fifteen
“What do you mean,I’m notgoing?”
Alexa’s words were delivered in a decidedly dangerous tone, one Ethan had never heard from her. He decided the best way to meet her temper—which, admittedly, he’d expected—was with logic. “We have a stand-in for you. Dara Lavoie, an officer from the Halifax PD vice unit. It’s one of the steps I’ve taken to mitigate therisk.”
“Oh, they didn’t have an officer to stand in for you?” Alexa looked around the table in the conference room. “Or Nyle?” A few of the other RCMP officers in the room shuffled their feet. A couple looked amused. “I didn’t realize I’d been removed from the taskforce.”
“I’m going with police presence only,” he said evenly. “We know if the UNSUB does show up, it will be because of you. He’s never shown interest in these types of events before. Our efforts have to be focused on sighting him, and then chasing him down if he is spotted. We’re better equipped to do that if we don’t have to worry about guarding you, aswell.”
She gave a nod as if in agreement. Ethan knew better than to buy it. “And you think this offender, who is showing signs of obsession, who even visited my childhood home to get information about me, will be fooled by your stand-in and hang around long enough for you to swoop himup.”
This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to be having in public. His tone clipped, Ethan replied, “All he has to do is appear. I’ve worked with the city to employ barricades and parking areas in such a way as to cut him off as much as possible from his vehicle. The officers will be equipped with body cameras. As soon as he gets close enough to realize Lavoie isn’t you, hopefully, one of us will have spottedhim.”
She subsided, but he didn’t fool himself into believing that she was in agreement. The temper was all but radiating off her. Ethan couldn’t allow himself to be moved by it. His decision was a no-brainer. Lavoie bore a passing resemblance to Alexa, more in coloring and height than appearance. But he’d have officers crowding her, as if in protection, so her face would be difficult to see. The offender would have to draw close to realize it wasn’tAlexa.
“There will be uniforms there whose only duties are crowd control for the event. They have been advised of our presence and purpose. I’ll also have officers armed with sketches assigned to the Park Lane parking garage.” He turned to a whiteboard mounted on the wall to which he’d affixed a map of Victoria Park, where the vigil would take place. It was a long and narrow area directly across the street from the Public Gardens. A red marker had been used to mark the memorial fountain at the south end. Blue indicated where he’d have officers stationed. “Officer Lavoie and two uniforms will be stationed here.” He pointed to an X he’d made to the side of the fountain. “The park is bordered on all four sides by public streets, which works to our advantage. The UNSUB will have to be somewhere in this arc—” he pointed to yet another line he’d drawn, “—to see Alexa’s stand-in.Questions?”
He answered the few raised by the RCMP officers in the room. Was well aware that Alexa remained silent. “Now for the equipment. We’ve set up a bridge call number which all officers can dial into from their phones. The number is on the bottom of the whiteboard.” The advantage would be the discretion it offered. No one would think twice of seeing someone with a cell to his ear. The downside was often the amount of background noise that resulted. “Everyone will use a body camera. I want images of anyone that looks suspicious.” He gave each of the assembled officers their positions. “Equipment is on the table by the door. Sign it out and bring it back in the same condition. The brass knows where youlive.”
There were a few chuckles. The red tape necessary to request equipment was a well-known nightmare. The ramifications for bringing it back in less-than-pristine working order was even moreso.
“We’ll meet near the fountain and take up our positions. I’ll see you there.” It took another few minutes for the RCMP officers to clear the room. It didn’t escape Ethan that Nyle hurried to join them, leaving Ethan and Alexa alone.Coward.
“I had food brought in before you and Nyle returned.” His words were met with a frosty stare. “I ordered you a salad. It’s in the refrigerator in the staffroom.”
“What,” she enunciated perfectly, “do you think the offender’s reaction is going to be when he realizes he was duped? How is that going to impact the relationship I’ve tried to forge withhim?”
He folded his arms across his chest. It’d been a long day. He had hours left ahead of him. Engaging in a battle of wills with Alexa was not going to be part of it. “I thought of that. Weighed it against the possibility of catching him tonight and decided to take thechance.”
She shook her head. “Catching him could occur with or without me there. You’re allowing personal feelings to get in the way of your decision-making.”
She’d finally goaded him into a response. “You know what?” He took two quick steps toward the table and slapped his palms on it, leaning over them toward her. “I don’t give a damn. This guy is unpredictable. He’s obsessed with you, and there’s no history of him engaging in this type of behavior. Who knows what the hell he’s capable of? He could stage a distraction in the park, something to panic the crowd then use the resulting chaos to make a move on you. So, sue me, I don’t want to put you at risk. And, fortunately formy personal feelings, this is a situation where I don’t haveto.”
He immediately regretted his outburst, even before he noticed the flare of reaction in her eyes. Having Alexa join the task force had been like taking a fastball to the gut. But he was dealing with it. If she only knew just how damn much energy he put into trying not to allow personal feelings to override professional ones, maybe she’d be a bit more cooperative. He’d be concerned about the safety of any civilian consultant on his team, but the fact that it was Alexa in the crosshairs was a major factor in his decision to use a stand-in.
But he wasn’t anywhere close to admitting that outloud.
“What am I supposed to be doing in the meantime?” The ire in her words was an improvement over her earlier show of temper. Whatever other changes Alexa had undergone in the last twenty years, she still couldn’t hang on to a mad, which was a trait he’d alwaysappreciated.
“I’ll leave my computer booted up so you can check the hourly updates I’m getting on the tip line.” He straightened and fetched the laptop, turning it on and opening his email for her. “You can follow up with phone calls to the callers you prioritize. Tomorrow we can interview any you think have usableinformation.”
Alexa didn’t look excited about the task, but at least she was no longerarguing.
“If you hear from the offender again, I want to know immediately.” When she nodded, he glanced at the clock. “I have to go.” He grabbed up the equipment he’d set aside for himself and headed for the door, restraining an urge to look back at her. Knowing she was safe at RCMP headquarters was going to make it a whole lot easier to concentrate on the job ahead. And he wasn’t going to apologize forthat.
* * *
If the saladwas meant as a peace offering, it was a miserable failure. Alexa finally gave up after a few bites and went to Ethan’s computer, scrolling through the most promising leads that had come in since Lawler’s picture had been released that morning. The chore was preferable to watching the clock, trying to figure out what was happening downtown while she was stuckhere.
Dutifully, she returned several phone calls from the tip line and took notes of the conversations. None resulted in any new details. Feeling like she was spinning her wheels, Alexa glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even eight-thirty yet. She set her pen down in disgust. The solitary task gave her too much time to think. About the UNSUB. Thevigil.
AboutEthan.
She tried to push thoughts of him away, but they returned despite her efforts, drawn like metal filings to a magnet. Alexa wished she could summon a fraction of her earlier irritation with him. Annoyance was far easier to deal with than the welter of feeling she experienced every time she recalled theirkiss.
It’d been an aberration on both their parts. A mistake not to be repeated. But knowing that didn’t calm the jitter in her pulse every time she recalled the instant heat that had sparked to life. The inexplicable chemistry between them was still there. Immediate. Combustible. And it would have been far safer for her equilibrium if she’d never learnedthat.
Her cell pinged. She looked at it and saw a forwarded text message from Nyle. Zaila had contacted him with the name of one of the Zoomey’s customers seen with Lawler last night. The one who’d been banned from the premises for a while. BobbyKantor.