Page 199 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“There’s no reason for you to go there,” he told her. “If you do, we might pick up a tail.”

“You mean you wouldn’t notice a tail?” she asked dryly.

He sighed and shot her another look. “We’re not going.”

“Please,” she said. “Just one small look. I think it would help with the nightmares if I could see what it looks like now. My brain just keeps imagining everything, and I can’t settle. And if that asshole did tail us, wouldn’t it be a good thing? Then we could catch sight of the vehicle he’s driving. I know you’d take in more details than I would.”

She’d had another nightmare last night, which had shaken her and left her trembling. Ammo had held her tight through it, whispering to her. And, as usual, the feel of him holding her had made her feel safe. But this morning, she’d still woken up with an unsettled feeling. So she really did think this might help.

“Flattery doesn’t get you your own way,” he warned her.

“That wasn’t flattery. It was just the truth.” She gave him a smile and fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“No, and that’s the last of it.”

Two hours later, they pulled up in front of her house.

She’d won the argument.

Well, okay, not really.

They were here because the insurance adjuster had called and asked if they could reschedule their appointment to this afternoon at the house.

Ammo had tried to argue that they should meet somewhere else, but apparently, the adjuster had his own team checking the site. They had a few questions for her that they thought would be easier to answer here.

Ammo glanced around the area, but everything looked peaceful to her, and there were no strange vehicles. Ammo got out and came around to her side of the truck and lifted her down. A man approached, holding a tablet. He was dressed in an ill-fitting suit. She guessed this was probably the insurance adjuster.

Two other guys were checking out the remains of the house. God, it looked terrible. It was still standing, but only just, basically a burnt-out frame.

It was terrifying that her life in this house had been reduced to this. Everything was gone. But she had to remind herself that it was just stuff.

Still, coming here was far more confronting than she’d realized it would be. She didn’t realize that she’d had good feelings toward this house. She could still remember when she’d first seen it. Back then, it had been in much better shape. It had looked so cute with its front porch, and she’d imagined decorating it at Halloween, sitting out there on cold nights and looking at the stars, sipping hot chocolate.

She’d seen herself growing old on that porch, sitting in a rocking chair. At the time, of course, she’d thought Charlie would be with her.

But then the house had become a prison of sorts. She’d been stuck there, paying bills she couldn’t afford, trying to keep up with the maintenance. Yeah, it had become a nightmare, so she’d figured she wouldn’t really have many good feelings attached to it.

Yet, she could feel tears welling up as she took in the remains.

“Mrs. Charleston,” the man said, holding out his hand. “Hello, I’m William Smith. Thanks for being able to adjust your schedule and meet with me this afternoon. Our team was able to get here at short notice, and I just thought it would be easy to do everything at once here at the site.”

The site, not a house anymore, but she got it.

He took her through everything, what they were looking at, and what would happen next. She hoped that Ammo was listening, because she was pretty sure only half of it penetrated her brain.

As they finished up, a strange van pulled up, and she tensed as two people got out.

One of them had a large video camera. Ammo immediately stepped in front of her, and Webb seemed to come out of nowhere to intercept the two people.

“Mr. Grayson! Mr. Grayson! Can we have a few words over the video? It will only take a short amount of time.”

They wanted to talk to Ammo? Who were they? And then she noticed the writing on the side of the van.

It was a news station in Lager.

“Have you got any comment about the footage where you are being hailed as a hero?” the woman continued to call out.

“No,” Ammo barked. “I’ve got nothing to say. Come on, Aimee, let’s get out of here.”