blinked and Mason almost smiled. Except that it would be a result of seeing his grandmother put in her place. He didn’t want that to happen. He just wanted her rudeness to stop. Mostly because it was so out of character. And maybe, a little, because it was directed at Harper. Unfairly.
“That would be fine,” Gram said.
“One of my officers will deliver her to your bungalow and stay there while she’s with you, in addition to the officer who’ll be on duty assigned to you.” Harper named a time. “If that’s okay, Brianna can stay with you until I’m ready to head home. At that point, her officer will deliver her back to me.”
“That’s okay with me, as long as you aren’t the officer.” Gram wasn’t giving an inch.
Harper had just given miles.
And Mason had no idea where to go with any of it.
* * *
HARPER WAS UNUSUALLY off her mark for the rest of the day. Other than the hysterical crying bout she’d suffered five years before, after discovering that her fiancé had been unfaithful to her shortly before their wedding, she’d never had drama moments in her life. She just wasn’t the sort.
And yet, all day Tuesday, she was...jittery. She’d seen Mason. The sky hadn’t fallen in. She hadn’t died, or melted into a puddle on the floor. She hadn’t even been filled with rage at the callous way he’d disappeared from her life without so much as a phone call in five years’ time.
Not that she could blame him, she supposed. She hadn’t called him, either.
But now, her not calling seemed...worse, because the only reason he hadn’t contacted her was that he thought it was at her bidding. He’d been honoring a request he’d believed had come from her. Whereas she hadn’t contacted him because she’d simply chosen not to. Most of the day she managed to avoid thinking about that revelation. Lives depended on her ability to focus, and she gave her job every ounce of herself when she was on duty. Tuesday was no different. Cameras provided around-the-clock surveillance at all times. And every single unidentifiable individual who lingered too long on the block that fronted the Stand, or frequented any of the Stand-run shops there on numerous occasions, was quietly and efficiently investigated. Rounds were done on a regular basis. Gates, locks and bungalows were checked at least once an hour, although residents were never disturbed unless necessary. She ran regular background checks on anyone who was employed by, volunteered at or visited the Stand. She also had daily meetings with the Stand executive staff, so she always knew what events were coming up and could ensure they’d be properly guarded. Those meetings also allowed her to know—and to let her officers know—which of their residents might be having a particularly hard day, which ones had recently had contact with family members, and those whose abusers were known to be agitated or on the hunt. At every shift change, she had an update meeting with her own staff of fifteen. That afternoon, she passed around Miriam’s guard schedule and disclosed, to the few who were still unaware, that the woman was her former grandmother-in-law. Without criticizing Miriam, she disclosed that the older woman wasn’t all that fond of her. She gave instructions that Miriam was to see Brianna every day if she chose, but only with an officer assigned to Brianna present at all times.
Maybe that last part was overkill. Until a month ago Brianna had spent the night in Miriam’s home every other weekend without any guard detail at all. But that was before Harper had learned that Miriam was being abused and lying about it. Whether Bruce was her abuser, or she’d had someone else in their home without his knowledge, the fact remained that Miriam was protecting someone who’d hurt her.
After her last meeting she could’ve packed it in, called for Brianna, gone home. Instead she cleaned up the small pile of paperwork from the in-box at the corner of her desk. Watered her plants. And then texted Alissa, the guard she’d assigned to her daughter for the afternoon, asking her to bring Brianna up to the main building.
The rest of the evening, until Brianna’s bedtime, would be consumed by her chattering, her constant questions and observations. It was the lifeblood that kept Harper going. The source of her true happiness.
Maybe they’d go out for French fries. Not healthy, not something they did often, but a treat they both loved. She was thinking about Uncle Bob’s, a beachfront restaurant not far from their town house. There were sandboxes for kids to play in while waiting for their food; that would distract Brianna, giving Harper a few minutes to think her own thoughts. Or at least a few minutes during which Brianna wouldn’t notice her mother’s preoccupation.
She’d just received an affirmative response from Alissa that they’d be along shortly, when her cell rang. Her stomach lurched as she saw Mason’s newly programmed name flash on her screen. She’d given him her private number but she hadn’t expected him to use it.
“Yeah, Mason, what’s up?” she answered. Straight to the point. All business. Racing right by social niceties like “hello” and “how are you?”
“I’d like to stop by tonight. I have some questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“An official interview of a suspect’s ex-wife.” She heard no emotion in his delivery. Oddly enough, instead of calming her, that seemed to put her more on edge. “I’ve been asked by the Albina police force to pursue this case quietly, to protect my brother, whichever way it goes.”
“I don’t have anything to add to what I told you this morning.”
She was a cop. If she were Mason, she’d be after the interview herself. So why was she prevaricating?
“The interview is official, Harper.”
Heart thumping, she sat behind her desk, watching the door for her daughter to burst through. “Bruce has been charged?”
“No. You remember Clark O’Brien?”
“Captain O’Brien?” As in her boss’s boss’s boss when she worked for the Albina PD. Which had made it awkward for her when he’d shown up for dinner at her former father-in-law’s home. The two had been like brothers.
“Yeah.”
“I called him right after I left you this morning. I knew the department would probably be receiving a doctor’s report from urgent care.”
She nodded and stood up, grabbing her keys, thinking she’d meet Brianna and Alissa outside, intercept them on the way from Miriam’s bungalow.
“You wanted him to intervene.” She understood now. Mason had Bruce’s back.
“I wanted to forewarn him. Who knows how Bruce is going to react when this hits.”
Locking her office door, she headed down the hall. “Don’t you think, if he did this, he’d already be reacting in light of your call to him last night, telling him she was hurt? And that she’d been to the clinic?”
“What would you expect him to do?”
She gave it a second’s thought. And then had to say, “He’d go on as normal.” But in her experience, he also admitted his crimes. He hadn’t tried to hide his infidelity from her. He’d just lied when he’d said it would never happen again.
Also in her experience, he wasn’t a violent man...
The
