Page 26 of Protecting Peyton

An awkward silence descended as she opened the door to her unit. Frankie came out of the stairwell door at the end of the hall as we entered the condo.

After the door closed behind us, I tried again. “He strikes me as odd is all.”

She ignored me and walked to the kitchen.

“Does he live on this floor?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded as she opened the fridge. “The other unit.”

Ireallydidn’t like that.

Peyton pulled a carton of orange juice from the fridge. After pouring a glass, she spun on me. “It’s sweet that you’re concerned, but you don’t need to be.”

That pretty well shut down the whole line of questioning I had planned. Now was not the time to delve into what she was running from.

I picked up the mug of coffee I’d brewed.

“That’s very expensive coffee,” she noted.

I sniffed it. It certainly was different than what I was used to.

She smiled. “It’s very expensive, but I think it’s an acquired taste.”

I took a sip. It tasted off.

“Personally, I don’t care for beans that they pull out of…”

I tried a second sip.

“Elephant poop.”

I coughed up the dirty liquid, making a mess on the island. “What the hell?”

“They feed the coffee beans to elephants.”

I dumped the mug and refilled it with water from the tap.

“Then after nature runs its course, they pull the fermented beans out of the poop and sell it to fools.”

I rinsed my mouth out with the water and spit into the sink. “That’s disgusting. Why didn’t you warn me?”

“I just did, and I thought you SEALs were made of tougher stuff—you know, surviving on scorpions and swamp water.”

“I can drink swamp water if I have to, but that doesn’t mean I want to. You actually pay money for this shit?”

“Not me. The Hartfords left it.”

“They must have IQs equivalent to their shoe sizes.”

She laughed. “He’s a professor at USC, so I doubt it.”

My phone rang. “I have to take this.” Heading up the stairs, I answered it. “Jordy, just a second.”

“Your instincts were right.”

I waited until I was shut into the bedroom to ask, “What did you find out?”

“There are plenty of legit Peyton Smiths in the country, but she’s not one of them. Her only employment history is SpaceMasters. Before that, zilch. And I can’t find a name change order for that name either.”