Free Saving Grace (Serve and Protect Series) by Norah Wilson Page A

“Careful.”
    Okay, Grace, focus. One thing at a time . She pulled up at the red light. “Okay, this might work better if I know where we’re going.”
    “The Crowne Plaza.”
    Not four minutes later, she turned into the hotel’s parking lot. Ray directed her to a spot in the center of the lot. She nosed the vehicle into the space and killed the engine. Exhaling, she released the wheel and rolled shoulders gone stiff with tension.
    “Okay, why aren’t we at the station right now?”
    “Because Tommy’s already there.”
    She blinked. “I should hope so. But what’s that got to do with anything?”
    “He thinks I tried to get him killed.”
    “No!”
    “I saw his face, Grace. Those bullets had to be meant for me, the way they came over my shoulder, but Tommy couldn’t tell that from where he sat. He thinks they were meant for him, that I set him up.”
    “But you could explain‌—”
    “I can guarantee he won’t be in a listening mood. At least not right away. Nor will anyone else, not with an internal investigation going on.”
    The damned money again. This was all her fault.... “Why are you so certain the shooter was after you? Maybe he was after Tommy.”
    “I’m the one who just had my vehicle sabotaged. I’m the one who’s been stepping on some nasty guys’ toes.”
    She chewed her lip a moment. “I still think you could explain what happened.”
    “Explain?” He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up. “Hell, I don’t even know what happened. We’ve got all this money we can’t explain. IAD’s breathing down my neck. And now I’ve got somebody trying to shoot me, and a friend who thinks I tried to get him killed.”
    “Wait a minute, how did the shooter know where you’d be? He couldn’t have followed us, or he wouldn’t have had time to get set up.”
    He looked at her. “Hell if I know.”
    Grace held his gaze. “Maybe Tommy set you up.”
    “No way.” He rejected the idea forcefully. “I’m the one picked the meeting spot. Besides, I saw his face. The shock.... No, he really thought I’d betrayed him .”
    “Then how?”
    He swore. “Wiretap.”
    She gasped. “You think your own shop would tap our phones?”
    “The same department that’s apparently been investigating me? Oh, yeah. And I can think of any number of judges would be happy to sign the wiretap order, too. But who’s to say it’s a legal tap? It’s more likely the handiwork of whoever sabotaged my truck, whoever just shot at me. Hell, they could have the whole house wired.”
    “You think someone has been listening in on us?”
    “On our telephone conversations, at least. Whoever was on that roof had to have known in advance. Which means they knew where I was going, who I was meeting, even why we were meeting.”
    She sucked in a breath as a thought occurred to her. “What about...?” She held her hands up to indicate the interior of the car.
    “No. It’s clean. The boys swept it this morning.”
    For a few minutes, they were both silent, thinking. Grace took a deep breath. “I think we should go in anyway. You didn’t do anything, so the money can’t hurt you, right? And sooner or later, I’ll remember where it came from, or they’ll figure it out for me. Either way, you’ll be in the clear, and in the meantime, we’ll be safe.”
    “No. These people I’ve pissed off....” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just don’t want to take any chances.”
    “Chances?” She blinked at him incredulously. “How could going in be riskier than sitting out here in the open?”
    “If we go in under the circumstances, they’re gonna want to detain us while they check out our story. Which means we’d be sitting ducks for whoever did try to fill me full of lead.”
    She sat silent a moment, absorbing his words. “You think they could reach us inside the station?”
    “On our way into the station, inside the station, in transit to another location.... Yeah, these guys, I think they