Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 Karen Whiddon (best fiction books to read TXT) 📖

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He pointed at the three plates that were on the tray. “I assume this is for both of us?”

“I ate a little while I was downstairs.” She actually didn’t have much of an appetite, which wasn’t unusual. That was usually the first thing to go when she was worried or stressed about something.

“How’d you sleep?” Trace asked, digging into the hash browns as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“Okay. Kept waking up, but thanks to you, I was able to sleep soundly for a few hours. You must be exhausted. I actually thought you’d still be at least lying down.”

“I’m all right. I took a quick shower and that helped. I knew we needed to start planning our next steps.”

“Does that mean you know who set the fire?”

“Not yet.”

Connie had already contacted the insurance company, but it would take a few days before the insurance adjusters could get to the house and assess the damage.

“Max said the house is unlivable and it doesn’t look like anything is salvageable,” Connie said.

The whole situation felt so surreal. She’d had a couple of moments throughout the morning where she was trying to make sense of everything. It was still hard to believe that the home that she had saved up to buy was gone.

“When did you talk to him?”

She reached for one of the coffee mugs on the tray. “While I was cooking breakfast. I texted him earlier and asked if he could go by and check out the damage.”

Connie had always wanted a big brother, and from the time she and Trinity had become roommates in college, Maxwell treated her like a little sister. He even made it his duty to scare off boyfriends that he didn’t like. As usual, he came through for her by going by the house.

“What else did Max say?”

“He said the garage is fine, but I won’t be able to pull the car out because of the debrief in the driveway. He put caution tape around the property and is supposed to check and see if maybe he can clear out the driveway. Then he’ll move my car to someplace safe.”

Connie had also talked to Trinity and Erica. Both were freaked out, but grateful that she and Trace were safe.

“I heard from Indie this morning,” Trace said. “Our mystery man’s name is Daniel Atkinson. He’s new on the modeling scene. Indie had never seen or heard of him until the night of the fashion show. I guess the designer recently discovered him.”

“Is it possible that he was the guy from the bank?”

Trace gave a slight shrug. “Now, that I don’t know. Langston brought up a good point that just because we didn’t see a tattoo on this guy doesn’t mean he doesn’t have one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he could’ve had makeup or something covering that area on his neck.”

Connie nodded slowly. She hadn’t thought of that. “It would’ve had to be some pretty heavy-duty stuff. You were really close to him and didn’t see signs of a tattoo.”

“True, but right now, we’re not ruling anything out.”

“What did Indie think of the guy? Does she know if he has a tattoo? Did she say he was creepy?”

Trace’s eyebrows were scrunched when he glanced at her. “No, she didn’t say he was creepy. As a matter of fact, she said he was a really nice guy. The event organizer is planning to use him in other shows.”

“So he’s probably not the bank robber,” Connie said with resignation. She couldn’t wait until she could go back to a normal life and not think about robberies or models.

“Maybe not, but he’s the one who stole your wallet.”

Her head jerked around to Trace so fast, it was a wonder she didn’t have whiplash. “What? How do you know?”

He told her how he and Langston had watched the restaurant video again. Connie hadn’t even considered that she might’ve lost her wallet while at the restaurant. The more she learned about this guy, the less she liked.

“Besides credit cards and licenses, what else was in your wallet?”

Connie sipped her coffee and tried to recall what she’d had in the wallet. It wasn’t much. “I had a few dollars in there and maybe a few business cards, including my own.”

“Okay, so he knows where you work. We’ll need to mention that to Trinity so that she can have some extra guys hang out there until this is over.”

“I can take care of that,” Connie said, making a mental note of whom to assign and what all they’d need to do to bump up security. “I also had an emergency contact card in my wallet. It has Erica’s information on it. I’ll see about assigning one of the guys to her and Nakia.”

“Get Hudson. He’s great with kids,” Trace said as he finished off the breakfast.

Connie didn’t know that about Hudson but planned to add that information to his file. Maybe Trinity was right in suggesting they offer Trace a management position. The security team respected and trusted him. He had a different type of relationship with them than she and Trinity did. A relationship that could prove beneficial when matching security specialists to potential clients.

For the next few minutes, they discussed their plans. Trace suggested that they stay the night with Langston and then make a move the next morning. In the meantime, they needed clothes and toiletries before they relocated to one of LEPA’s safe houses.

Connie was used to taking care of logistics for clients. She just never thought that she’d be one of them.

CHAPTER 21

The next day, after Trace cleared the safe house, he let Connie inside. They had a state-of-the-art security system in the home that included cameras on the outside of the house, bulletproof windows and heavy-duty locks. Connie wasn’t sure why he had to clear the house with all of that in place, but she kept her mouth shut. She appreciated how seriously he was taking