Page 29 of Serve ’N’ Protect

“Bottom drawer,” she called out.

Bending over slowly, he pulled open the drawer. He’d asked if she had a gel pack, but half the space was taken up by the frozen blue packages, leaving him with a bad feeling that her injuries were worse than he thought, and his assessment hadn’t been all that great to begin with.

He returned to the living room and handed her two gel packs. “How often do you lose your balance and fall?”

“It happens from time to time.” She eased one of the packs beneath her right hip and the other on top of her leg.

“I’ll cut you some slack today,” he said, “but we’re hitting the gym first thing in the morning.”

“No can do, officer.” She picked up a document from one of the many piles of paper on the table. “Tomorrow’s Monday. In between helping you, I need to keep going on this audit I’m working on, and I’m missing some information.”

Markus sat beside her. “What’s all this, then?” There had to be hundreds of pieces of paper sitting on the table. How could she be missing anything?

“Mostly, a whole lot of nothing,” she said, frustration evident in her tone as she tossed the document back onto the pile. “Aside from a few pages, they’re not relevant.”

“Then why did they send them?” He knew nothing about accounting. He didn’t even bother balancing his checkbook anymore.

“I don’t know. For the moment, I’ll keep formatting the report on my laptop, but there’ll be blank line items. What I still need are the unpaid invoices for the last five years and specific receipts for various things this company sold off.”

“Can you finish the audit without them?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I can’t really talk about the particulars of a client’s financial affairs. Suffice to say, the numbers just aren’t adding up. I’m sure the missing documents will fill in the blanks.”

“Can’t you ask them for what you need?”

“Already did. I left a message with the client’s administrative assistant. I hope she gets back to me soon. The faster I finish this job, the more I can impress the client and the sooner I get paid and hopefully get a referral.”

“Okay, then,” he said, shoving aside a small red velvet box sitting on top of what looked like a shopping list. “We’ll work out in the afternoon, as soon as you’re done for the day.”

She shook her head and pointed to the list in his hand. “I have to go shopping after work tomorrow.”

Markus took a harder look at the list. “You’ve got enough here to feed a marine barracks. Not even the White House uses this much food.”

“Mostly, it’s cookie ingredients. I like to stock up early on the things that disappear quickly from the store right before Christmas.”

“Ah.” Now he understood. “Christmas Cookie Week.”

“Exactly.” She smiled. “It’s a long list and, as you know, I’m not exactly getting around like Speed Racer. This could take a while.”

Markus pondered the extensive list. What he should do was let Cassidy take care of the shopping then help her unload it into the house when she got home. Exposing himself unnecessarily was against Captain McMurray’s orders and common sense but… “I want to go with you.”

She shook her head. “What part of someone is trying to kill you did you forget? Among the many things I’m doing to earn my thousand bucks a week is making sure you keep a low profile.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. For now. Less than three days at John’s house and he was going stir-crazy. “How’d it go with your family? They were here a long time.”

Ghost snuggled tighter against her, urging her to pet him. Her slim fingers sifted through his coat, calling Markus’s attention to her manicured nails. Not painted, just neat and clean. Like her house. Unlike the exterior, the inside was clean and well kept. The part of it he could see beneath the hundred pounds of decorations, that was.

“Too long,” she said, a look of exasperation on her face. “I love them to death, and I know they’re only doing it because they love me. But today is Sunday—the one day they finally agreed to leave me alone—and they showed up anyway.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“No. Yesterday, I missed all their check-in calls while helping you. Then this morning I ignored their texts.”

“Sorry. Guess their being here is my fault. Why didn’t you tell them to get lost?”

She barked out a laugh, as if his suggestion was the most preposterous thing she’d ever heard. “I could never do that. Family should be there when you need them most, and they were there for me when I did. That was my mother, my youngest sister, Kaitlyn, and my older brother, Jimmy. Having them pop over unexpectedly is a small price to pay for having a family that loves me. It can be frustrating at times, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As much as he tried to understand, all this family love stuff was foreign to him. Having never experienced it, he wouldn’t know a close-knit family if he slammed into one.