Dangerous Surrender(17)

He gave a real smile. “Well, we do. So do patrolmen. It’s how we keep track of everything. So, I already talked to the nurse and she assures me you’ve been shot. We’re going to send your medical records over to Oceanside for documentation.”

A sharp sense of relief invaded Taylor as he continued.

“I’ve already talked to a friend on the force with Oceanside PD about your presence here. After what Roman told me about the shooter at Vadim’s place and about you being in shock and fleeing to Vegas, they know you’re not on the run.”

“What about Vadim’s house?” Roman asked quietly, giving her a comforting squeeze. She was glad he’d left his hand there. It made her feel grounded.

“Got a team there now digging the bullets out of the garage door. Just like you said.” Cody’s expression was grim. “I’ll talk to you about it in a sec.”

There was slight movement next to her and she guessed Roman nodded because Cody turned all his attention back to her. “I’m going to be honest with you. Running makes you look bad, but with these extenuating circumstances, it’s understandable. Roman gave me a rundown of what’s going on, but I want you to go over everything for me. Start to finish. You’re going to have to repeat all of this to the guys in Oceanside, but I’m going to relay everything to them too. The more details they have before you get back, the better.”

She took a deep breath and told Cody everything from the reason she’d shown up early at work all the way until Roman had found her passed out with a bottle of vodka. The only thing she’d left out was that she’d stolen a Pinto. She just said she’d fled. That was all he needed to know right now. And she also didn’t say that she’d broken into Vadim’s place, just that she had the code, which actually wasn’t a lie. She’d guessed the code. The little thing with the garage door wasn’t important.

When she was done, Cody was silent for a long moment as he wrote in his notepad. Finally he said, “Gordon Simpson is the name of the man you saw waiting outside the police department?”

“Yes. And I don’t know that he’s involved with Neal, but he was there at the police station and I was terrified. I’d just been shot. Maybe I panicked for no reason but it was too weird seeing him there. As part of the security team for Powers Group he’s done work with Neal before, but he’s also done work with Hugh too.” She supposed there could have been a reason for his presence at the police station but she hadn’t been in the frame of mind to find out what it was. Not when she’d been fearful for her life.

Cody just nodded and made another note. He started to say something when his phone buzzed on his belt. He pulled it out and looked at it. With a frown, he said, “I’ve gotta take this.”

When the door shut behind him, Roman dropped his hand from her shoulder and moved around so that he was facing her. He sat on the edge of the bed, his expression unreadable. It was a little unnerving. “If Cody doesn’t ask you how you got here, don’t mention the Pinto. Later, if you have to, be honest, but right now keep it quiet.”

“I will.” Because she definitely agreed with him.

The detective stepped back in the room, his phone still in his hand. “I’m going to relay everything you told me to Oceanside and I’ll need you both to come down to the station tomorrow to give official statements about the shooting today.” His head tilted to the side a fraction as he glanced at Roman. “Can I talk to you outside?”

Alarm bells went off in her head, but Taylor reminded herself that not all cops were bad, that this man was going out of his way to help her because Vadim and Roman had asked.

Roman nodded and stood. “Yeah.”

Cody focused on her once again. “It goes without saying, but don’t leave town yet.”

She sighed. “I won’t.”

“Where are you staying?”

“With me,” Roman said as he came to stand next to the detective.

Well that was news to her and she certainly wasn’t going to argue. So she nodded. “With Roman.”

That seemed to be good enough for the detective because he just grunted and held open the door for Roman.

Less than five minutes later Roman returned alone. Okay that was good. It probably meant the detective wasn’t coming back to arrest her. She knew the truth was on her side, but fear was a living thing inside her. “Everything okay?” Her voice was high-pitched and uneven so she cleared her throat.

“Yeah. He just wanted to go over the description of the shooter and other details. They’re going to see if they can catch him on CCTVs close to the area. Though I doubt that’s going to happen since I didn’t get his license plate. Vadim lives too far out from the city.”