Free Deception by Carol Ericson

much action around this old place.” Gladys tapped her chin. “And I heard someone threw a rock at you yesterday.”
    “It’s just a scratch.”
    “And the man last night?”
    “Someone from Dylan’s past, but he showed up in time to take the guy out.”
    “Chief seems to be spending a lot of time here.” She pushed the glasses back up her nose and buried it in the glossy pages of her magazine.
    “See you later.” Mia practically skipped from the office. For running into a string of bad luck, she sure felt good.
    She drove through town and, slowing down, peered out the window at the addresses on the east-Ohside apartment buildings. Last night, Dylan had given her the phone number of the computer whiz, and the guy, Alec Wright, had asked her to bring the laptop to his place.
    Spotting the ceramic numbers on the side of the pink stucco building, she pulled to the curb as a car sped past. She cut the engine and stared after the blue car taking the corner at a high rate of speed. Had that car been following her?
    After last night’s adventure with the motorcycle goon, she really needed to be more aware of her surroundings.
    She slipped from the car and hauled her battered and charred laptop case from the trunk. Her heart skipped at the sound of another car engine behind her, and she twirled around, her fight-or-flight instinct in high gear.
    She let out her breath with a whoosh as the now-familiar Coral Cove P.D. squad car rolled up behind her rental.
    Dylan exited the car and swooped in to take the laptop case from her. “Just wanted to make sure you made it over here okay.”
    “Did you think I’d get lost?” She wedged a hand on her hip. “How’d you know I was heading over here this morning anyway?”
    “Uh, Alec gave me a call.” The color heightened on his face as he shifted the case from one hand to the other.
    “Do you have spies all over town keeping track of my every move, Chief?” She couldn’t tell if the buzz at the base of her spine signaled annoyance or pleasure. She hadn’t had anyone to look after her since her grandfather passed away, and truth be told, she’d been more of the caretaker than the other way around in that relationship.
    “He just wanted to follow up to let me know you called. I asked him when you were coming by and happened to be in the area.”
    “Uh-huh.” She lifted her chin toward the apartment building. “Let’s not keep Mr. Computer Whiz waiting.”
    “Are you okay after last night?”
    Did he mean the kiss or the thug? She glanced over her shoulder, noticing the lines creasing his brow. Must mean the thug.
    “The guy never laid a hand on me, thanks to you.”
    “No thanks to me, he followed you to your motel in the first place.”
    “Working undercover with guys like that must’ve been one heckuva dangerous assignment. How’d your cover get blown?”
    “I slipped up.”
    Then he zipped up. He’d closed the subject before it even got started. Noticing the square set of his shoulders and his compressed lips, Mia let it go.
    He squeezed past her on the stairs. “He’s on the second floor, corner unit.”
    He led the way and she followed, admiring the way his uniform fit his athletic frame. His rap on the door jolted her out of her dreaminess. No wonder people could anonymously leave dolls on her doorstep, chuck rocks at her and follow her home on a Harley without her noticing a thing. Dylan had been distracting her ever since she got to town.
    A tall, wiry man opened the door. His eyebrows jumped when he saw both of them on his porch. “Wasn’t expecting you, Dylan.”
    “I ran into Mia on the street. Do you remember Mia St. Regis? Mia, this is Alec Wright.”
    They shook hands and Alec squinted at her through his glasses. “You were ahead of me in school a few years, but I remember the St. Regis twins. Who didn’t know the St. Regis twins?”
    “I guess nobody.” She nudged the laptop case hitched over Dylan’s shoulder. “I hope you can help me