“Hi again. Um… I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“What?”
“I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and the food here isn’t the best. I was wondering if you’d mind stopping at a deli on Elm and picking me up a sandwich. I’ll call it in.”
“Sure. No problem. Where is it?”
He gave her the name and location of the delicatessen.
“I know that place. They make the best sandwiches in town.”
He chuckled. “You want anything? It’s on me.”
“No. I’m good.”
“Thanks, Michelle. I’ll see you soon.” He ended the call.
Michelle tossed her cell on the seat. Her heart was beating with anxiety, but not just because she was going to see him. She wondered if she would meet Bridget, the ‘friend’ who interrupted them the other night. She was a colleague, a social match, and no doubt as couth as they came. The woman he’d told he was never too busy for, even though at the precise moment Bridget called, Erik had been asking her about her past life.
Maybe she should be glad Bridget had interrupted them since she had no idea how she would have answered Erik’s question about the person who’d hurt her. She couldn’t very well spill her guts about how her father had stolen her money then bailed. Instead of feeling jealousy toward Bridget, she should be thanking the woman for saving her hide, even if she was the woman Erik turned to for sexual gratification. Bridget was probably the ‘something’ he had to do late tonight.
Just as he’d promised, Erik hadn’t touched her since that first night. He was probably just curious about her. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t invited it. She’d made the first move by holding his hand, and he had responded.
It was never good to mix business and pleasure, anyway. Getting involved with her boss would only complicate both their lives. Things usually turned sour after a hot affair, and she was sure that’s all it would be between them. The likes of Erik LaCrosse didn’t get serious with women like her. And when the affair ended, she would have no choice but to leave her post, contract or not.
She was falling in love with Precious and really enjoyed taking care of her. She didn’t want anything to mess up their relationship. And since sleeping with her father could definitely ruin that, it was out of the question.
***
“I really appreciate all you’re doing to help solve this case once and for all, Garret,” Erik said to the detective on the other end of the line. “It’s been on ice for too long. The fingerprints in that car belong to somebody and if I have to tear Manchester apart to find the man who owns them, then so be it.”
“I understand your frustration, Erik, but you need to step back and let the experts handle it,” the detective admonished. “I’ll be briefing some of my best men later, and when we meet tonight you can give them a first hand account of the accident. Until, then, stay away from inner city back alleys. They’re the most dangerous places at nights. The people who frequent those spots are seriously unstable and they look out for each other. Your daughter has already lost one parent. Don’t cause her to mourn for another.”
“I won’t do anything stupid. I just want this nightmare over once and for all. “I have to go, Garret,” he said when he heard a knock on the door.#p#分页标题#e#
“Alright. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Come in,” Erik said as he hung up the phone.
The door opened and Bridget walked in, flipping her long blonde stresses behind her shoulders. She threw him an easy smile. “My last appointment canceled,” she said. “Since we’re both free, I thought we could run down to the café and grab a bite. We still have to finish that conversation we started the other night.”
Just what he needed—Bridget’s unwarranted attention. Erik walked to a window overlooking an open field at the back of the hospital. It was a beautiful day and some employees were seated around picnic tables having lunch. A couple children played in the sandbox while others climbed a monkey bar. The sights took him back to the times when Cassie would bring Precious in to have lunch with him. He missed those days.
“I’m waiting for Precious, Bridget. Her nanny is bringing her in so I can spend some time with her. I didn’t see her this morning and I have somewhere to be tonight. She’ll be asleep by the time I get home.”
“What, you have a date?”
Catching the anxiety in her voice, Erik pushed his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. Maybe if she thought he was dating someone else, she’d stop coming on to him. It was getting old and tiresome. A woman as intelligent, successful, and attractive as she shouldn’t be wasting her time trying to seduce him—a man who was clearly not interested. “I’m reopening Cassie’s case, Bridge.”