1 Motor City Shakedown Read Online Free PDF Page B

Darren’s reaction to the scary -eyed man. She saw Darren nod once as the doctor finished speaking. Whatever face off might have occurred, the doctor’s plea seemed to have been enough to snap Darren out of it.
    “ Alright, Doc,” he said simply. “Sorry for the bother.”
    The next thing she knew, Darren had his hand lightly place d on the small of her back, and he was gently moving her toward the door.
    “Come on, Izzy.”
    It happened quickly enough that she didn’t have time to react. She felt his fingers pressed in the shallow dip of her back where all the nerve endings seemed to be bunched, heard him softly speaking to her, familiar, like they were old friends, and then they were out in the hallway.
    Behind them, she heard the big cop clear his throat and say “We should get going, Lieutenant Phelps. Don’t you think?”
    If there was more to that conversation, she would never know. One turn down the hall and she was alone with Darren in front of the elevators. She stood there beside him, this stranger, and held her briefcase in front of her, feeling like a schoolgirl with her lunch box waiting for the bus.
    “Darren?”
    “Yeah?”
    “My name’s Issabella. Not Izzy.”
    “Yeah. Sorry.”
    The elevator chimed and the doors opened in front of them.
    “Darren?”
    “Yeah?”
    “You can take your hand away now.”
    He did, and they stepped into the elevator. She pushed the button for the ground floor while he leaned back into one corner and fixed her with a playful look.
    “What?” she said.
    “I guess we should go get something to eat. I was thinking Mexican Town. Have you been? There’s a tortilla factory right down there, so all the restaurants have the freshest tortillas you’ll ever find.”
    She looked a question at him.
    “No? Not a fan of Mexican?” he asked. “That’s fine. You can pick.”
    “I’m just wondering why exactly we’d be eating together.”
    “We’re partners on this, now,” he answered. “We should get to know each other, don’t you think?”
    The e levator whisked them down.

 
     
    FOUR
     
    In the parking garage, Issabella decided sanity needed to reassert itself. She stopped walking and fixed Darren with a level, pragmatic expression.
    “We’re not partners on this,” she said.
    “We’re not? Then why did you come out here?”
    “T his is where I parked.”
    Darren shook his head and said “No, I mean to the hospital. You were going to scam your way into Vernon’s room. You got rebuffed once, and you came back a second time and got in. Now you’re out? Just like that? I guess I don’t understand. I offer you exactly what you wanted, and now you’re driving away?”
    Issabella peered over his shoulder and spotted her tired old Buick sedan down the lane.
    “I don’t know that I owe you an explanation,” she said, and walked around him toward her car. She had the trunk open and was stashing her briefcase inside when he appeared at her shoulder again.
    “I think you do.”
    “No, I really don’t. It was nice meeting you. See you in court some time, okay?”
    She pushed the trunk lid down, heard it latch shut, and kept her hands there. She didn’t move for a long moment, and was aware of him staring at her. She wanted him to go away, to stop staring—to stop seeing what was happening.
    “You’re shaking,” he said, his voice suddenly soft, the way it had been when he’d put his hand on her back and guided her away from the hostility of Lieutenant Phelps.
    “I’m alright.”
    But she wasn’t. Issabella’s personal storm, the one that was never farther away from her than the horizon, was roiling through her. It had begun in the elevator, on the way down. Her fingertips had gone numb and her heart began to race.
    In the few minutes it had taken to get out here to her car, the storm of panic had blown itself into a frenzy. Her breathing was shallow and ragged. She felt weak all over, so much so that she was keeping her hands on the trunk because