Page 7 of Donovan's Men

“And he now owes you his life.” Mariah leaned back. “Pretty brave thing you did. Rushing a person holding a gun.”

“I didn’t…” He swallowed hard. “I did what I had to do. We had a full crew this morning—we had three big scenes to shoot. The plan was to knock them off as quickly as we could—given the cold temperature.”

“And you had a scene?”

“A kid was supposed to run into Cole. Ostensibly an accident, but the kid’s up to something. I was there to ensure no one got hurt in the collision. Definitely the easier part of my job. Later, Cole and I were scheduled to do some work in the studio. He’s only just fully recovered from his injury.” He winced.

Mariah waved him off. “We saw him on crutches in December. Although he wouldn’t specify the injury.”

“IT band.” Donovan shrugged.

“I’m sorry.” I made a note but wasn’t certain why.

“Cole injured his IT band. Usually, runners have that kind of injury, but he got knocked the wrong way and…yeah. So he’s just coming off that injury, and we planned to do some physical work today.”

“And Meggibeth would’ve known he was back today.” Likely a dumb question, but I needed to keep us focused.

“Yeah. He would’ve been on the call sheet. And everyone’s been talking. I mean, he came back two weeks ago, but most of his scenes have been at a desk or lounging in bed or anything else that’d keep him off the leg. He was pretty healed up, but we weren’t willing to risk reinjury. Today was the first day we were on the street.”

“And the first time you all had seen each other since the gala.”

He nodded.

“Is there anything else you can tell us? Did she say anything? Before you tackled her? Or after?”What am I missing?

He shook his head. “I can’t give you anything. She didn’t say why she decided to bring a gun to set today. We have security, but they don’t check the bags of the crew, and she’d have been one of the first people on set this morning. No…” Again with the forehead rubbing. “I’m clueless.”

“You’ve done great.” I had to reassure him.

Mariah shot me a sharp glance, but I ignored her.

I pulled out a card from my wallet and pushed it across the desk. “If you think of anything else…”

Donovan took it, leaned forward, and used his left hand to shove it into his back jeans pocket. “I don’t think I can. I never saw this coming.”

“And yet you’re not entirely surprised.” A guess on my part, but I was pretty good at reading people.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He shook his head, then clearly winced because of the movement.

Is he getting a headache? We better wrap this up.

He continued, “Meggibeth…always looked at Cole a certain way. You know, like puppy-dog eyes. Most of the cast and crew don’t anymore. I mean, the guy’s sexy as fuck—” Another wince. “Sorry.”

I waved him off. Neither Mariah nor I was going to argue that point.

“Sometimes new people on the set—extras or crew or cast—might take a second look, but he never encourages them. He’s just…Cole. And he never encouraged Meggibeth. Was he aware of her looking at him? Probably. But he never said anything to me. But this…” He shook his head. “If I’d thought anything likethis was even a possibility, I would’ve said something. After I steered her away from Cole on Saturday night, she said she had a headache and wanted to go home. I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Okay, well, thank you.”

Donovan met my gaze. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You did,” I assured him. “You gave us a strong timeline of this morning’s events as well as talking about Saturday night—that’s all incredibly helpful.” I rose.

“If you say so.” He rose as well.

“I do.”

Our gazes met once more.