5:40 PM

      "Yeah, so that's pretty much where things stand right now," Briar explained. "All of my utility bills and credit cards are on auto-pay, so that's not a thing. I just need somebody to go to my place every couple of days and take in the mail, and go check in on Ellie for me. Do you think you might be able to do that? I'll owe you big time."

      "No, you fucking don't owe me a goddamn thing, and you know it!" Wiley Frazier's deep, gravelly voice exploded from the phone. "If anything, this just gets me caught up a little. And you know as well as I do that Cody will jump on the chance to spend time with Ellie, so you're kinda doing him a favor, too. Do you have any idea at all how long you'll be gone?"

      "Not even a little bit," Briar replied, slumping in her seat. "I wish I did, because I hate having to just chuck my whole damn life and go hide like a scared rabbit. Instead of this worthless fucker being in prison, it's almost like we are!"

      "Better a scared rabbit than a dead one, doll," he retorted. "And look on the bright side..."

      "You mean there is one?" she interrupted.

      "At least if you have to hole up somewhere, you've got your new boyfriend with you." he continued.

      Thankful that Lieutenant Sanger had allowed her some privacy in his office for her calls, Briar snorted and said, "Wiley, seriously! I am totally not dating Ash!"

      "Why not, I know you think he's attractive, I heard Cody razzing you about it at the concert. What's wrong, is he the stereotype celebrity asshole or something?"

      "No, he's actually a very nice, intelligent guy, and I guess we're friends now. And I don't lie well enough to try to convince you that I don't think he's hot as hell, but that term also applies to his criteria for women. I've seen pictures of some of his exes, he goes for lingerie models and porn stars, not 'overgrown pixies' with teacups for tits."

      "Well, if big hair and a bigger rack are his only qualifications for dating somebody, he's gonna get a serious reality check one day, if he hasn't already," Wiley pronounced. "And how do you know he might not be up for a change, anyway. Just because Craig was Head Douche of the International Society of Douchebags doesn't mean that everybody else is the same, y'know."

      "Yeah, I know that," she agreed. "But I also know that people very seldom stray that far from their normal preferences. And I doubt that worrying about whether or not Ash thinks I'm attractive should be at the top of my to-do list at this exact moment."

      "No, probably not," he acknowledged. "Your number one priority is staying safe until the cops can catch this piece of garbage, and hopefully get him a hot date with a needle full of poison. Too bad they can't just hand him over to the families, I think he'd get something a lot closer to what he deserves that way."

      At that moment, the door opened, and Sanger said, "We need to wrap this up and get going, Briar. El and LaMarr are bringing Ashley down from the conference room in just a couple of minutes."

      "I heard that, doll," Wiley informed her. "Don't worry about anything here, we've got your six. And I know it's not likely, but if you do get the chance, give us a buzz, and let us know you're okay, or if you need anything."

      "I doubt that they'll let me do that, but you know I will if I can. Thanks, Wiley, I'll talk to you soon, hopefully. Bye."

      After Wiley ended the call, Briar turned off her phone, handed it to the detective, and rose from her seat. As she stepped toward the door, Sanger said, "Your bags are already in the van, so we'll just head down to the garage and get you two on your way. The sooner we get you out of sight, the better I'll feel about it."

      As they approached the elevator, she inquired, "Since you guys already have this place set up, I'm sure it's not the first time you've had to deal with a similar situation, so be honest with me, Lieutenant. How long do you normally have to keep people in this place?"

      When the door slid open, they saw that Ashley was already inside with the other detectives, who, Briar noticed, had discarded their previous professional attire and changed into nondescript khaki uniforms. Sanger waited until the doors closed to reply to the question, and as they started to descend, he explained, "To answer your question, yes, we've dealt with similar circumstances several times before. More often than not, it's used for witnesses who are testifying in trials against gang members, or sometimes organized crime figures, so the time periods vary. We've had people here for as little as a week, and I believe the longest stay, as near as I can remember, was four months. But," he hastily elaborated as he noted the startled looks that crossed both of their faces, "that one was because the trial got delayed when a juror got sick, so it was something of an anomaly. Most of the time, if things carried on that long, the individual would have been placed into Witness Protection, but as you already pointed out, that's not exactly feasible in this case. So I can't give you an exact timeline, unfortunately, but I promise you that we're doing everything in our power to get this bastard off the streets. Because one thing that you and I have in common, Briar, is that he's taken someone important from both of us. You lost your cousin, and my wife and I lost a very dear friend."

      "We all did, actually," Eloise Han added, and LaMarr Pike nodded in agreement.

      "So you see, it's personal, as well as professional for us," Sanger continued. "Nobody deserves what he's done to these people, or what the families are going through, so we want him locked up as badly as you do."

      "We know that, Lieutenant," Ashley stated. "But I do agree that having to hand your entire life off to other people to run, while you're basically in cold storage, truly fucking sucks."

      "Agreed," LaMarr Pike chimed in. "But at least this way, you'll actually have a life to go back to."

      The elevator doors finally opened, and they found themselves in an enclosed parking area, where two patrol cars sat in front of a small white panel van, of the type used by utility companies or delivery drivers. As Sanger motioned for them to go to the van, Ashley remarked, "So we get a police escort? I think that might actually defeat your whole purpose, don't you?"

      "It would, but that's not precisely what we have in mind," Eloise Han informed him, with a faint smile. Detective Pike opened the rear door of the van, allowing Briar and Ashley to step inside and sit down. As they strapped themselves in, the open doors allowed them to observe a pair of individuals, who had been made to somewhat resemble them, climb into the back of one of the squad cars. The uniformed officers then entered the vehicles themselves, and they quickly drove out of the garage and onto the street, disappearing from sight.

      Han and Pike took their places in the front of the van, and after waiting for several minutes, Pike pulled out of the garage into the flow of traffic, going in a completely different direction from the police cars. Since there were no windows in the back of the vehicle, Ashley and Briar weren't able to see landmarks or street signs to determine exactly where they were going, so they were rather curious when Pike finally said, "Okay, we're here, folks!"

      Rising a bit from their seats, they were able to look through the windshield and see that they were approaching a rather nondescript corrugated-metal building, of the type which would normally house a manufacturing shop, or perhaps a small restaurant. Detective Han reached out and tapped something on the dashboard, and the garage door began to rise. They drove inside, and once the door had closed, she announced, "You can get out now, and we'll show you around."

      Unfastening their seat belts, Briar and Ashley stood and gathered their bags as Detective Pike opened up the van, allowing them to step out into the garage. The detectives led the way through a doorway, and they were surprised to see that the interior of the small industrial building had been renovated into a somewhat utilitarian, yet fully functional, living space. There was a living-room, with a pair of couches,several chairs, a television, and a rack of movies in one corner. This room flowed into a fully-equipped kitchen, and there was a hallway on the opposite side of the living area, with several doors opening off from it.

      "Welcome to 'Green's Plumbing Supply', folks," Pike said with a grin. "We'll be here with you until the next 'security guards' show up for shift change."

      "Bedrooms are on either side of the hall, if you want to put your stuff away," Han added. "And the bathroom is at the end. The kitchen is stocked with the basics, but if there's anything you particularly want at some point, or if something runs out, let whoever's on duty know, and they can pass it on for their relief to bring it when they come in." 

      "But, there are some rules that you need to remember," Pike informed them. "You're not to go outside, or answer the phone, and if anyone shows up who isn't Lieutenant Sanger, Chief MacDevitt, or wearing one of these uniforms, the two of you get out of sight and let us deal with it. Even if it's just someone who thinks this is an actual business, or they're lost or whatever, we don't want them to see you, and maybe let something slip."

      "Yeah, I suppose that makes sense," Ashley replied. "It'd be just my luck to have an obsessive fangirl show up and see me, and post it for the fucking universe to see."

      "Guess that means we stay away from the windows, too," Briar muttered, as she shifted her grip on her bags and headed for the hallway.

      "The windows are fine, actually," Eloise Han responded. "They've had a reflective coating put on the outside, so we can see out, but nobody can see in."

      Ashley once again picked up his things and trailed Briar down the hall. She reached out and opened one of the doors, and he followed suit with the other. Glancing between the rooms, they quickly noted that they were identical, so they each simply claimed the room that they had opened, with Ashley on the left side of the hall, and Briar on the right.

      The rooms were rather small, and furnished with a full-size bed covered in a pale-gray comforter, a small chair, and a dresser, with a boxlike closet built into one corner. Briar placed her duffle bag on the bed, stood her rolling bag next to the closet, and walked back into the hall. She stopped in the doorway of Ashley's room, and said, "Whenever you finish what you're doing, maybe we should go scope out the kitchen. That way, we can have them get ahold of the next shift if we're missing something we can't live without. Like tea. And bacon, of course."

      "You're welcome to the bacon, Tink," Ashley answered, earning himself an eye-roll and a sigh. "I don't eat the stuff. Or any red meat, for that matter, but I guess I'd better make sure we have some veggies and maybe some chicken. And coffee, if you want me to be functional."

      "Coffee, bleah," Briar responded. "Can't stand the stuff, so you can definitely have that all to yourself."

      They proceeded back through the living area, and LaMarr Pike glanced up from where he had seated himself on one of the couches, saying, "Go ahead get familiar with the place, you two. Make yourselves at home."

      As they continued into the kitchen, Briar glanced at Ashley and, in a low tone only he could hear, murmured, "Yeah, easier said than done."

      He patted her shoulder, and replied, "Yeah, I know, but I guess he does kind of have a point. There's not really anything we can do about the situation now, so I guess we should try to make the best of it."

      "I suppose you're right, this is 'home sweet home' for now. So I guess after we put together the grocery list, we should start working on a schedule for the 'household chores', like dishes and laundry."

      She went ahead of him into the kitchen, and her laughter trailed back to him as he muttered, "That was not what I meant by 'making the best of it', y'know."