Slade's Secret Son by Elizabeth August Read Free Book Online Page B

was wearing his gun housed in its leather shoulder holster and his badge was pinned on his shirt. “Where’d those come from?”
    “Force of habit. I’m so used to traveling on business, I just shoved them in my satchel without thinking about it. Good thing I did.”
    Lisa couldn’t argue with that. Finishing her packing, she went to her closet, took down a locked box, opened it, took out her gun and shoved it into her purse. “All right, let’s go.”
    Picking up her suitcase, Slade carried it downstairs along with his. At the front door he stopped. “You wait here. After I’ve loaded the luggage into your mother’s car and gotten the engine started, I’ll come back for you.”
    She frowned. “I’m not letting you act as a human shield. You get the engine started and I’ll come out.”
    “I don’t like it.”
    “I’ll move fast.” Seeing the resistance on his face, she added, “Otherwise, I’m going out that door right now and help you load everything into the car.”
    “Stubborn as a mule,” Slade mumbled under his breath. Then with a final scowl of disapproval, he strode outside.
    Lisa watched from the door. When he started the engine,she came out of the house and, moving swiftly, climbed into the car.
    “Slide down in your seat,” he ordered.
    Obeying, Lisa had to admit she was glad he was along for the ride. In the next instant she was angry with herself for feeling that way. She would never forgive herself if he was hurt because of her. When she’d gone to him seeking security for her son, she’d never planned on any of this. Studying his taut profile, she wondered how much he was regretting ever inviting her into his life. A whole lot , she surmised.
    From her house, they drove to her office. Slade parked in the back and insisted on her staying in the car until he unlocked the office door.
    Not wanting to give him an opportunity to come back to escort her inside, as soon as she saw it was open, she left the car and hurried inside. Once in the office, they kept the blinds closed so that anyone on the outside would not have a view of them and began reviewing her cases for suspects.
    “Since the first attack was only three weeks ago, my guess is that whoever is doing this is involved in one of my more recent investigations. But just to be on the safe side, I think I should consider anything in the past six months,” she said, opening a file drawer and sorting through it.
    Recalling the other possibility he’d thought of, Slade picked up the phone and punched in a number. “I’ll have Boyd check your record back in Texas to see if any felon who might hold a grudge against you has been recently released.”
    Lisa nodded and continued to pull files and toss them onto her desk in stacks according to the type of investigation.
    “Looks like you’ve been busy,” Slade noted as he hung up.
    “My aunt knows a lot of people and she was very vocal about promoting me as honest and reliable. The sons of a couple of her friends are members of law firms here and they gave me a chance to prove myself. When I did, they also began to recommend me.” She frowned at the stacks of cases. “Mostly, I’ve worked on simple stuff, nonviolent situations.”
    She opened two file drawers, each labeled with the name of a law firm. “This is the work I’ve done this year for them.” Her gaze scanned the tabs. “It mostly involved serving subpoenas, divorce papers, et cetera. Nearly everyone in here was a one-time contact.”
    “Yes, but it was a contact that could change a life,” Slade noted.
    “True,” she conceded. “But you’d think they’d go after the lawyer before they’d go after me. Most of them wouldn’t even know who I was. I didn’t identify myself. I simply made certain I had the right person and handed them the paper.”
    “I’d say we could discount those, then. At least for now.”
    Lisa started to agree, then stopped herself. “Except for two. In those cases I was more involved