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“I’m on my way to the apartment right now. The police commissioner gave very specific instructions that Miss Fiore’s safety is of the utmost importance.”
If Clary heard that, she’d probably be annoyed and insist the detective not treat her any differently. But Seth … well, he was more selfish.
You don’t want to fall into the dark side, Clary’s ridiculous imitation of Darth Vader popped into his head.
He supposed he would have taken the very same path that Anakin did.
And for the first time, he wondered about the strength of everyone who had ever lost someone they loved.
He used to scoff when he saw on the news interviews with people talking about forgiving the perpetrators. He wouldn’t forgive anyone who hurt Clary or his brothers. He …
He didn’t have the strength.
“I’ll keep you in the loop,” Detective Murphy said. “Or Andrea will tell you. How’s my ex-partner doing? Is she regretting her new job already?”
Seth laughed once. “She’s loving her new job and boss.”
“That traitor. All right, Mr. Anderson. You have a good day. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
Seth ended the call and got out of the car.
Breathe, he reminded himself as he strode into the crowded Starbucks.
The loud drone of the blenders was matched with a cacophony of buzzing from the coffee machine, crackling of ice, the pings of mobile phone alerts, and staccato cuts from the grinding of coffee beans.
As he exhaled, he consciously released the tension in his shoulders and the tight gritting of his teeth.
As much as he could, anyway.
Seth scanned the faces in the café. Over in a corner, Ron Woznick waved at him.
Two steps in, a woman bumped into him on her way out. That was despite him slanting his torso aside to make way for her.
He gritted his teeth again as he strode forward.
Instead of heading over to where the detective was sitting, he joined the line and ordered a peppermint mocha. As he brought his phone closer to the scanner, he decided to add a second cup.
Once that was done, he strode toward Ron Woznick.
“Do we have to meet here?” Seth pulled out a chair and sat, then flexed his hands to uncurl them from the tight fists they were in.
Focusing on getting the sweet treat for Clary slightly eased the tension of being around so many people, but he still would have preferred to get out of here if he could.
“Too noisy? I didn’t want to be too far from EB Co.,” Ron said. “I’m sure Ressler’s around here somewhere.”
Seth arched a brow. “So you’re just going to drive around in hopes of running into him?”
“Walk, and yes.” The detective sipped his coffee. “You have a better idea?”
Seth didn’t. “So what do you need from me?” He’d received the text right after he sent Andrea a little additional encouragement to keep Clary safe. “I already got the DNA tested.”
The detective took another sip of his coffee. “I assume you’ve only started seeing Clary lately?”
“What has that got to do with you?”
“Edward Eolenfeld contacted me,” Ron said.
It seemed the old man didn’t trust Seth at all.
