Page 27 of Sackett (Demented Souls #17)

S ackett sat on a bench outside the courtroom Selena and her client had disappeared into more than two hours before.

Despite appearing as though he hadn’t looked up from the e-reader in his hand, he was aware of every person in the corridor as well as every word said in his hearing.

Unless someone had seen them arrive together, there was no reason to think that anyone here would, or could, know he was waiting for her.

Add in that to have seen them together, they would have had to have been in the parking lot across the street.

Selena had said he was being silly and paranoid.

Sackett remained firm in his belief that just because you were paranoid, didn’t mean someone wasn’t out to get you.

And they already knew that Donna’s ex-fuckwad had put a target on Selena’s back.

Sackett was going to do whatever it took to make sure she stayed safe.

He refused to look too closely at his motivation.

The door across from him opened. Sackett looked up without moving his head and saw the man he recognized from yesterday’s meeting as Selena’s client.

The man had a big smile on his face as he stepped out, then held the door as Selena followed him.

Sackett stayed where he was, watching the two of them as they moved out of the doorway and spoke a few words.

From the smiles they both wore, Sackett assumed things had gone well.

She shook her client’s hand then watched as he left.

Selena stood for a moment, scanning the corridor, though her gaze never lingered on him.

Sackett fought the urge to smile because she was doing so well at not letting on that they knew each other or that they were together.

He wondered if she was looking for someone in particular or gauging the crowd as several more people trailed from the courtroom she’d just left.

After a few moments, there were only a few people left in the corridor when she turned for the door.

He waited until she was almost out of sight before standing.

With no hurried movements, he pocketed his reader, stretched then headed for the parking lot.

He didn’t slow or hesitate when he saw her stopped, talking to a man he didn’t recognize only continued outside where he pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped out of the way so he could respond to the text message he pretended to have received.

Sackett made it appear as if he was absorbed in the exchange on his phone, and becoming increasingly frustrated by the exchange until Selena had emerged from the building and passed him as if she’d never seen him before.

Once she was several steps past him, he let out a huff of irritation, shoved his phone back in his pocket and headed for the parking lot.

He managed to time it so they crossed the street at roughly the same time, even if neither acknowledged the other.

They continued to ignore each other until they got into opposite sides of her rental car and closed the doors.

“I take it things went well?” he asked as he turned the key.

“They did, how did you know?”

He backed out of the space, twisting in his seat to check behind him despite the screen on the dash with the display from the rear-view camera. “I could tell by the way you and your client acted when you came out of the courtroom.”

“You saw that? You never looked up.”

“I saw that, and a lot more. There’s a reason I chose that spot to wait. I’ve always been good at surveillance.” He pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. “Back to the hotel or do we want to go somewhere else?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

“I could eat. And in case you haven’t figured out, I’m not picky about what. Tell me where we’re going or pull up directions.” He motioned to the screen in front of them without glancing over at her.

He watched traffic, using his need to keep an eye on traffic to keep an eye on her and her reactions. He watched as she put an address into the GPS screen.

“Anything else you have to do while we’re in Boulder?”

“I have a meeting tomorrow morning at the same office I had my meeting at yesterday. And unless something else comes up, that’s all. We can go home after that if you like.”

“I have no reason to stay, but I didn’t know how long this hearing would go, so I didn’t have plans made for my trip home. I told you that last night when we started to discuss how and when we would get back to Arizona.”

“All right. You said last night that because you didn’t know how long today’s hearing would go, you don’t need to be back until next week.”

“Yes. So, if you want to do something, or see something, while we’re here, we’ve got time.”

“I can’t think of anything around here I am just aching to do. There are a couple of things I would like to do if we weren’t going to fly back, but I still have a lot of time to find a chance to do them.”

“What?”

“I heard about this train ride up into the mountains, somewhere in southern Colorado, but I don’t remember exactly where.”

She frowned for a moment then the expression cleared, and a grin replaced it. “I know which that one is, at least I’m pretty sure I do.” She paused and turned to watch him a moment.

He thought she was going to say something, but she turned back to face the road without speaking. Sackett couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking? What was going through her head and what had changed her mind about whatever it was.

It wasn’t until he parked outside the restaurant, she’d put into the GPS that she spoke again.

“I don’t know if this is something you would be up for, and you don’t have to answer now. But think about it for a little bit, we can talk about it later tonight, or even in the morning.”

“What?” He turned to watch her trying to use everything he’d learned about her in the last couple of days to read her expression and body language.

“I just thought,” she looked out the far window, “please don’t feel like you have to do this just because I suggested it, but I could change the rental to be returned in Tucson, then we can leave after my meeting tomorrow and drive back.

We’d have plenty of time, we could even spend a day in Durango doing the train ride, then continue home. ”

He stared at her for a few seconds, wondering if she’d managed to pick up on his not wanting to fly.

He thought he’d kept anyone from knowing, even his brothers.

But what if she had somehow figured it out?

Who would she tell? Somehow, he couldn’t see her telling either Donna or Savage. He didn’t see how it would come up.

Sackett struggled to keep his face blank as his thoughts raced. “I like the idea. Let’s think about it a while, then we can talk about it more, and possibly work out the details this evening, okay?”

The crease between her brows disappeared, as if she’d been worried how he would react to the idea. “Okay.”