Once Upon a Friendship

He told her he’d be home in twenty and hung up. While Gabrielle stood at the window, worried by her earlier jealousy at the thought of him being out with someone else.

This had to stop.

CHAPTER TEN

“THE GATE OUT in front of your father’s house was splattered with eggs this morning,” Gabrielle told him as soon as he opened his door to her that evening. He’d just set the table with plates and silverware. The cartons of Chinese weren’t even opened yet.

“I’m assuming he called the police.” He’d shed his suit coat, and now loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt.

Setting her briefcase on the chair that Marie had used the night before, she started dishing up their dinner. “He’s hired a security firm to watch the place twenty-four-seven and a member of that firm called it in.”

“He’s got security cameras. It shouldn’t take them long to find the culprit.” Liam came from the kitchen with iced tea.

“They’ve already got the guy.”

“Any chance he confessed to spray painting my car? I got it back today, by the way, had it delivered to the courthouse, and it looks good as new.” He waited for her to sit and then joined her.

“No, he says he didn’t spray paint your car. His beef is clearly with your father. He’s twelve and lives down the street and says that his dad gave your dad a lot of money and now they have to move. And I’m glad you got your car back.”

She was eating only little nibbles from the end of her fork. She’d said she had stuff to bring him. He assumed that whatever it was was in the briefcase. And based on her seeming inability to look him in the eye, it wasn’t good.

He didn’t call her on it, though. Dinner was good. Eating it alone with her was...nice. Just having her there made the day better. He’d feel guilty for being glad that Marie wasn’t with them when he allowed himself to think at all. Right then, he didn’t want to spoil the moment.

* * *

GABI WASN’T SURE how to tell him. After dinner, for sure. No reason to spoil his appetite as well as her own. And then, before the table was even cleared, Marie called.

Sam, one of her full-time employees, had called her just as she and Burton had been sitting down to a preshow dinner.

Sometime in the past hour, someone had left an envelope for Liam on the counter at the coffee shop. Sam had found it in the far corner, with a napkin holder half on top of it. Marie was on her way back to the shop.

Liam called the police, who told him not to open the envelope or even touch it again until they arrived. As he and Gabrielle waited for the elevator, he dialed Elliott Tanner. And by the time the two of them were in the shop, Tanner was there. He asked the remaining two customers to leave and locked the front door. Gabi was getting ready to send Sam home when Marie arrived and by then the police were inside the shop. They spoke with Sam first, and then he left. Marie spoke with Tanner while Gabrielle and Liam talked with the police, a different pair than the ones who’d answered the spray-painted-car call. And then everyone spoke in one group. The officers didn’t think there was anything dangerous about opening the envelope, but in light of recent events, suggested that they take it with them and have it opened in the lab. Liam readily agreed.

A report was made. Liam signed it. And they were gone. Again.

“Elliott didn’t get here until Liam did tonight, but he said he’s been outside since Liam got home and didn’t see anything suspicious,” Marie told Liam and Gabi.

Elliott. Gabrielle noticed her friend’s reference to the bodyguard—who was still Tanner to the rest of them. Marie, who’d had bad luck with the men in her life—starting with a deceitful, unfaithful father—had a tendency to size them up before she felt entirely comfortable.

“The shop was open,” Tanner said, looking like a businessman in black pants and a dress shirt, as he stood behind Marie. “Customers came and went.”

“Sam said he didn’t notice the letter until he was wiping up after a rush.”

“The police didn’t seem all that concerned,” Liam piped up, his voice light. “And it’s not like we’re looking at death by letter here.”

“I’ll feel better when we know what it says,” Tanner said. But he didn’t sound all that alarmed, either. Liam suggested that the other man go home. Most particularly if he was going to insist on hanging out at the courthouse again the next day.

Gabrielle had to give the bodyguard credit. He appeared to be taking his job of protecting Liam seriously. For whatever reason.

He might be looking for dirt on him. She was confident he wasn’t going to find any. And if he kept Liam safe in the meantime...just in case there was someone out there looking to harm him...

“The police said they’ll be doing extra patrols tonight,” Liam reminded the other man. “And there’s been no indication that I’m in any physical danger.”

He was right on both counts. Gabrielle was the one who was afraid. For him. Beyond what was called for.

But then, she wasn’t just worried about his physical safety. There were a lot of ways to hurt a man. She seemed to be feeling any pain that might hit Liam, and there was a hit he didn’t yet know about.

It took another five minutes of rehashing, but the bodyguard finally left. Burton, who’d apparently been waiting outside and had seen the man leave, popped in to tell Marie that they still had time to make it to the showing of Phantom of the Opera that they’d paid an exorbitant amount of money to see.