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Hennings?”
    “They’re on their way over. Should be there anytime.”
    At his hip, the door lever moved. Someone trying to use the john. “One second,” he said to the person on the other side. He went back to Hawkins. “Good. Thanks. Put me through to Everly.” Russ looked back at Penny, who stared at him with dead eyes. The reporter thing rattled her. Rightly so. “Trying to reach my ASAC. Voice mail.”
    Not a break to be had. He left a message. Only thing to do.
    “Okay,” he said. “We’ve got to get out of this bathroom. I’m not taking you out the front door. Who the hell knows where Heath is, but he had a view of the entrance. We know that.”
    “And what? We’re going out the back?”
    “I’ll have one of the marshals pick us up in the alley. Wherever Heath is, he won’t see you leave.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “To find Elizabeth. We’ll stash her away somewhere. This guy is soiling himself over whatever she knows. And if he orchestrated that shooting, she knows enough to put him away.”
    The person in the hallway knocked. “Only one bathroom, chief,” a man said.
    Russ turned, yanked open the door and flipped his badge up. The young guy, the one he’d spotted reading a Sports Illustrated when he’d walked in, stared at the giant letters that read F-B-I and his eyes widened. “Oh, wow.”
    “Yeah,” Russ said. “Give us a second.”
    The kid nodded and Russ shut the door again. Sometimes his love of flashing his badge was borderline perverse.
    “I totally need an FBI badge,” Penny cracked.
    “It’s handy. You ready?”
    She nodded and Russ opened the door. Sports Illustrated guy looked at Penny, then to Russ and back to Penny again. His mouth curved into a sarcastic grin that Russ would have liked to pound away at, but hell, two people spending extended time in a single bathroom conjured all sorts of thoughts. Nothing he could do about that.
    Penny stepped into the hallway and jerked her head at the young guy. “All yours. Chief. ”
    Nice. Why he was surprised at her sarcasm, he’d never know. Despite being followed, threatened and shot at, Penny Hennings still had fight in her.
    If he could get over the fact that she put criminals back on the street, she might be the love of his life.
    Penny stopped in the hallway and turned to him. She bit her top lip, then blew out a breath, and that was so not good.
    Ushering her out of the path, he leaned one shoulder against the wall. “You’re thinking. What about?”
    “My family. He could go after them.” Her voice squeaked like the last neglected wheel.
    No, no, no. She was not turning tail on him. Not Killer Cupcake, who never shied away from conflict. At least, not that he knew of. He’d worked too long and hard to nail this guy. Between the fraud charges and conspiracy to commit murder, this guy was toast. All they had to do was prove it. The widow’s testimony would help them win this. And he wasn’t about to let Penny—the defense attorney—wreck it.
    “You’re not backing down on me, Penny. This case is too important. We’ll get all of you protection.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “You think I’m backing down? That’s what you think? I happen to be tired. Doesn’t mean I’m letting that nutcase dictate how I should live, but I need my family safe. That’s what I’m thinking.”
    Could be he blew that call. Could be? With the cremating stare she gave him? Yeah, he’d definitely blown it.
    Sports Illustrated guy came out of the john, spotted them and averted his gaze. At least he’d learned his lesson about the beautiful blonde and her sharp tongue. He didn’t want any piece of her now.
    Neither did Russ. By his estimation, he needed damage control here. He nodded toward the guy. “I think you scared the hell out of him.”
    Penny rolled her eyes and boosted off the wall. “Don’t even try it, Russell. Admit you screwed up. Feeding my ego won’t replace that.”
    Sick bastard that he was, this could