Page 79 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

Therese perked up.“Stay with him?”

“Stay with you?” Noah said.

“Sure.” Rodrigo picked up his coffee again. “I need someone to bounce ideas off, and if Therese comes up with anything, she can tell you later. Plus”—he shrugged—”I’m lonely. It would be nice to have a woman to talk to.”

“Only if you could hear her talk back,” Noah pointed out.

“We can work on that.” Rodrigo was unfazed.

“I take it back,”Therese said.“I like him. I can stay here and talk to him.”

“You’re sure?” Noah asked. “No pretending to stay here then sneaking after me?”

“No,”Therese said.“You heard him. He’s lonely, and he wants to talk about his problems. I’m good at fixing problems. I always helped our friends.”

“Fine.” Noah stood. “She’s all yours,” he said to Rodrigo.

“My pleasure,” Rodrigo said, a glint in his eye. “Us crazy people have to stick together.”

With a shake of his head, Noah left the room, closing the door quietly behind him as Rodrigo updated the figment of Noah’s imagination on the state of the Demon case.

Whether it was the power of suggestion or Therese’s ghost really was in that room, listening to his teammate, Noah didn’t know. All he knew for sure was that he was all alone when he climbed back up the stairs to the loft.

After nodding goodnight to Violet, who was monitoring the streets around the building, Noah made his way to the guest room and closed the door behind him. The connecting door to the panic room still stood ajar, and he eased it open.

“Annabelle?” he whispered into the darkness.

The only reply was an adorable little snore. She was sound asleep, in exactly the same position he’d left her in.

Of course she was asleep.

His luck wouldn’t have it any other way. Just when he’d finally managed to get his head out of his ass, his dead wife cockblocked him, and the woman he cared about was out for the count. Life was cruel.

Noah walked back across the guest room and climbed into his cold, empty bed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“What the hell were you thinking?” District Attorney Dwight Carpenter had dropped his good-old-boy persona and was just plain furious.

Noah didn’t blame him, but he was tired of being chewed out for his mistakes. A man could apologize only so many times before he realized nobody was listening. He glanced at his partners in crime, Rodrigo and Abasi. Rodrigo looked resigned, while Abasi looked like he was eyeing the DA up for a casket.

“Well?” the DA demanded, singling Noah out. “You were a cop. You know this isn’t how we do things. Do you understand the damage you’ve done here? Your actions last night have cast a shadow of doubt over the evidence we’ve gathered on the case going to trial next week. The defense has already filed a motion to dismiss. Not that they’ll get it, but they’re making it look like the DA’s office obtains evidence illegally.” He threw up his hands in disgust. “But it isn’t my office that’s at fault here, is it? And it sure as hell isn’t the local cops. No, it’s you.” He pointed at all of them. “Benson Security. I rue the day I ever heard your name.” He glared at the assistant DA, who lowered her eyes.

Dwight returned his attention to the rest of them. “You were supposed to be the answer to our prayers. A professionalsecurity company with no ties to the Houston gang community. A group that couldn’t possibly be in the pocket of Eddie Hanson. A team that could protect our witness, and our case. But no. It was too good to be true. Because this isn’t a professional team of anything. You’re a bunch of cowboys who think you have the right to take matters into your own hands.” He glared at them. “You’ve been in this country five minutes, and you think you know better than the rest of us. Fucking amateurs!”

Standing beside her desk, Rochelle shifted slightly, drawing his attention. She looked him straight in the eye. “You have every right to be upset, but we aren’t amateurs, and some of us were born here. In fact, some of us have worked in law enforcement in this country for a very long time. Let’s stick to the facts, Mr. DA.”

“The facts?” His eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Fine. We can stick to the facts. Fact one”—he counted them off on his fingers—“despite having no authority, you took it upon yourselves to cuff and detain members of a local gang. Fact two, you performed an illegal search of their vehicle. Fact three, you broke into a house and tied up more gang members before running from law enforcement. And fact four, you fucking shot someone while they were cuffed!”

He put his hands on his hips and hung his head, breathing deeply. Nobody moved. The silence was oppressive as they waited for the district attorney to continue.

Noah glanced around the room. Everyone sat stoically, aware that the local authorities had every right to blast them for their actions. The only people missing were Katrina and Annabelle, who were upstairs while Bella gave his sons an online art lesson. It was a small blessing she wasn’t there to hear exactly how bad things were.

The DA looked up at them. “I should bring charges against each and every one of you. God knows you’ve broken enough laws. I should lock you up and throw away the damn key. But Ican’t.” He let out a stream of curses under his breath. “Because if I let it be known that you were working independently, that you weren’t under my authority, then I can’t use anything you’ve uncovered. Worse, I’d have to justify every piece of evidence you’ve touched since you became involved in our case against the Demons—including any influence you’ve had over our star witness.

“So, I have to suck it up. I have to tell the defense that you were working as investigators for my department. I have to back your behavior or make myself look like an even bigger idiot than I already do.” He glared at Rochelle, vibrating fury. “I don’t like being backed into a corner.”

She folded her arms over her black suit jacket. “I’ve already apologized for my office regarding this matter. As I explained, Benson Security was hasty in assembling a new team. We went into the field before we were able to function as a cohesive unit. It won’t happen again.” She hesitated and then lifted her chin. “The team is being disbanded. This is the last case for the Houston office of Benson Security.”