Watch Your Back by Karen Rose Page A

the lock again. ‘Fuck,’ she whispered.
    Emma took the key from her hand and wordlessly opened her front door.
    JD checked the first floor, then sprinted up the stairs to the second floor, his gun drawn. He was checking for monsters under the bed, true to his nature.
    Emma locked the front door and began closing the blinds and drawing the drapes, plunging the living room into semi-darkness. ‘Sit down,’ she said quietly. ‘You’ve got to hurt.’
    Stevie obeyed, grimacing as she lowered herself to the sofa. Elissa, Angie, I am so sorry .
    But nothing would bring the women back. All she could do to make it right was to catch the shooter and put him away forever. Which she couldn’t do from a goddamn safe house.
    With an eye on Emma, Stevie checked her cell phone for the two hundredth time in the last two hours. And scowled.
    ‘No answer from your sister?’ Emma asked.
    ‘No. Cordy’s ballet class finished hours ago. They should have been home already.’ She took the cordless home phone from its cradle. No incoming calls from Izzy. ‘She should have called me. She knows better. She knows I worry.’
    ‘Stevie, listen. Today was a stressful day for you, even before all the craziness at the restaurant. But it’s a stressful day for Cordelia, too.’
    ‘She lost her father,’ Stevie murmured. ‘She never knew him.’
    ‘Well, that, too. But I suspect her stress comes mostly from knowing how unhappy you are.’
    ‘She doesn’t know about that. I don’t let her see it.’
    Emma’s brows lifted as if Stevie was the most foolish woman she’d ever known. ‘You keep thinking that if it makes you feel better. Look, I bet Izzy’s taken her somewhere to get her mind off things. Maybe they went to a movie. Izzy would have turned her phone off in the theater.’
    Stevie closed her eyes, letting Emma’s words wash over her. But the sense of foreboding was not abated. ‘But what if something did happen to them? I’d never forgive myself.’
    ‘The police have their descriptions, right? If something has happened, you would have heard by now. It’s far more likely they’re just having fun.’
    Stevie drew a sharp, hard breath. ‘You’re right.’ She focused on the next concern on her list – Emma. Who shouldn’t be here either . ‘You missed your plane.’
    ‘It’s okay. I called Christopher, told him what happened and that I’d need to stay with you for a few days.’
    A few days? Under other circumstances Stevie would’ve enjoyed spending a few days with Emma. But not now. And she couldn’t imagine Emma’s husband being crazy about the idea of his wife sitting in the line of fire. ‘And he was fine with that?’
    Emma’s slight hesitation was her answer. ‘He’s not fine, but he’s not un-fine, either.’
    ‘Uh-huh.’
    ‘He was scared, of course. I just let him “what if” until he’d purged all the possible deadly scenarios from his mind. Then I assured him I was fine, that you were fine.’ She sighed. ‘And then I didn’t argue when he insisted on taking the red-eye to Baltimore tonight, as soon as he’s given his speech. I’ll pick him up from the airport in the morning.’
    ‘I have a better idea. Have him fly back to Orlando. You take the next flight to Orlando. Then you can pick him up at the airport and have a wonderful vacation with your boys.’
    Emma looked mildly amused, as if she’d expected as much. ‘Nice try. Not goin’ anywhere.’
    ‘Dammit, Emma, you shouldn’t be here. Not in Baltimore and really not here . In my house. You should be at your hotel. Where you’ll be safe .’
    Emma met her eyes, shrewdly. ‘So you won’t go to a safe house, but you’d put everyone you care about in one. Is that it?’
    ‘Pretty much,’ Stevie said, unapologetically. ‘So when JD goes, he can take you with him.’
    ‘Sorry, not gonna happen. I’m sticking.’ Emma sat in a wingchair in the corner, far away, Stevie noted, from the window. Even with the drapes drawn,