The glad-handing was getting old really fast, but Alex knew he had to stay and take it.  Those people were state and local leaders who could create problems for him on an exponential scale if he wasn’t careful.  Matt Scribner, his CFO, was particularly astute at such ceremonies.  He and many of the top leaders were chatty and very friendly.  But that damn governor, the one Alex had to entertain, was more interested in how Alex could line his pockets, rather than what he could do for the state of Florida.

That was why, when Priska, his personal assistant, and Jimmy Hines, his chief investigator, hurried to his side, he felt as if he was being saved by the bell.  Until he found out why the bell was ringing to begin with.

“It’s not about me,” the governor was saying.  “As you know, my job title alone will make me a draw no matter what or where.  But if you and I join forces, and you publicly support my bid to run for the Senate, and financially support that bid, of course, then I think we both can benefit tremendously.  I think--”

“Excuse me, sir,” Priska Rahm said as she interrupted the governor midsentence.

“Excuse me,” said the governor.  He did not like the interruption, especially not when he had a chance to gain millions in political support.  “Don’t you realize we’re having a conversation?”

But Alex ignored the governor.  “What is it, Priss?” he asked his assistant.  His people knew not to interrupt him unless it was absolutely necessary.

“There’s been a situation, sir,” Priska said.  But when she added, “involving Miss Grant,” Alex’s heart dropped.

“Excuse me,” he said to the governor, not caring if he liked it or not, and immediately moved aside with his people.  “What’s happened?” he asked, his suit coat opened, his hands on his hips.

“According to the security detail,” Jimmy Hines said, “a woman had words with Miss Grant outside of Lucinda’s diner, got into her car, and then attempted to run her over.”

Alex couldn’t believe it.  “To run who over?  Kari?”

“Yes, sir.”

Alex’s heart dropped even further, and he began running for his fleet of SUVs.  “Where’s Karena now?” he asked as he ran.  “Is she okay?”

“She’s still at the scene, sir,” Jimmy said, running to keep pace.  “And yes, she’s okay.  The woman didn’t hit Kari, but she drove her car straight through the window of the diner.”

Alex looked back at Jimmy as if he had to be needling him.  “Get the fuck out of here!” he said.

“I know,” said Jimmy.  “And from what they’re telling me, the car is still sitting inside that diner and the woman who was driving it is dead.”

Alex could hardly believe it.  Kari had just left his side! 

“She’s shaken,” Jimmy added, “but they say she’s otherwise okay.”

That was reassuring to Alex, but it wouldn’t stop his heart from pounding until he saw Kari for himself.

He jumped into the SUV, Priska and Jimmy jumped in with him, and the driver sped off.

He held onto the coat hook as the SUV swerved and turned sharp corners and flew through the streets of Apple Valley.  He couldn’t get to Kari fast enough, and the driver demonstrated that fact.

But when his SUV approached Lucinda’s diner, and Alex saw that car half inside the diner and half on the sidewalk, his heart sank.  He realized how fast she had to be going to cause that kind of damage.  He realized just how close Kari had to have come to certain death!

He jumped out of the SUV before it came to a complete stop and ran across the sidewalk.  Sheriff Lindsey had the diner and Kari’s office next door cordoned off with caution tape, but the officers on guard knew who that billionaire casino builder was and lifted the tape for him.  Alex, Priska, and Jimmy hurried into the diner.  Alex, especially, wanted to see the woman responsible before they took her away.

“Look, but don’t touch,” the Forensics people warned, as Alex was allowed to look into the car.  What he saw was a dead brunette, her face seemingly embedded in the steering wheel.  He couldn’t see her good enough to ID her. But what he did see, he didn’t recognize.

“Where’s Miss Grant?” he asked the CSI on duty.

“The victim?” the CSI responded.

A part of Alex cringed when Kari was described as a victim.  Victim meant helplessness.  Victim meant at the mercy of somebody else.  Victim meant he wasn’t there to protect her!  “Yes,” he said.  “Where’s the victim?”

“She’s being questioned next door.  At Maid for Mom.”

Maid for Mom, Kari’s cleaning service company, was next door to Lucinda’s diner, and Alex hurried over there.   Priska and Jimmy hurried behind him.

When they arrived inside, the sheriff was still questioning Kari.  But what struck Alex was that the entire security detail he had in place to protect Kari were packed into the small, two-room building.  Now they had her blanketed, he said to himself.  But where were their asses when her life was in danger?  He couldn’t even look at them, he was so pissed.

He, instead, was staring at Kari.  She was leaned against the front of her desk, with her legs crossed at the ankle, doing more listening than talking.  Sheriff Lindsey was standing beside Kari, talking as if he was the one explaining what happened, and Alex could see him take peeps down Kari’s body as he talked.  Kari once told Alex how Lindsey had asked her out on a date, and she had turned him down.  Alex, with Priska and Jimmy still on his tail, made his way to their side.

When Kari saw that Alex had arrived, a surge of emotion washed over her that she could not conceal.  Alex saw it too, and it broke his heart.  She was more shaken than he was led to believe.  She looked devastated!  He opened his arms, and she ran into them.

Sheriff Lindsey was at first surprised when Kari jumped up while he was in the middle of a conversation with her, but when he turned and saw that big shot Drakos had arrived, he understood why.  Guys like that, with their money and their power and their good looks, always got under the skin of guys like Lindsey.  They always got the girl, too, which didn’t help.  And as far as Lindsey was concerned, Drakos had gotten a good one in Kari.

He looked as Kari fell into Alex’s arms as if her real protector had arrived, not those goons paid to look out for her.  He saw Drakos close his eyes tightly as he held her, as if he truly cared for Kari.  Lindsey was one of the few townspeople who understood why a man would fall hard for a girl like that.  If he had a good woman like Kari, he’d fall hard too!

Alex pulled her back and looked at her.  He knew she was physically okay.  He was concerned about her emotional wellbeing.

“I’m okay,” Kari volunteered.  She saw the concern in his eyes.  “It happened so fast.  It was just so startling, that’s all.”

“Thank God you’re alright,” said Priska.  She and Kari had a very good relationship.

“Thanks, Priss,” Kari said.

“Did you know the woman who pulled this shit?” Alex asked her.

“No!  Never saw her before.  But she said she knew you.”

This surprised Alex.  “She knew me?”

“That’s what she said,” Kari said as the sheriff and Dan Drysdale, the head of Kari’s security detail, both came over to the couple once they began talking.  Both knew to wait until they were asked to respond.

“She said for me to leave you alone,” Kari continued talking to Alex.  “She was warning me to stay away from you.”

Alex was floored.  He looked over at Dan.  “Has the perp been ID’d?” he asked.

But By-the-Book Lindsey, as he was known around town, interjected.  “We aren’t at liberty to give out that information yet,” he said.

“Courtney Tyson,” said Dan Drysdale.  “Her name is Courtney Tyson.  She was in the database, sir.”

Lindsey was surprised.  “What database?” he asked.  “How did you get that information?”

But Alex was ignoring Lindsey.  “Courtney Tyson?” he asked.  He was racking his brain.

“You know her?” Kari asked.

“That name sounds familiar,” Alex admitted.

“Kari says that woman knew you,” said the sheriff.

Dan handed Alex his phone.  “That’s a photo of her,” he said.

Although the sheriff was stunned by the quick intel Alex’s man had obtained, Kari wasn’t surprised at all. Alex ran a world-class organization.  He didn’t tolerate any lapses.

Alex and Jimmy Hines both looked at the photograph.  And Kari could see a change in Alex’s demeanor.

Sheriff Lindsey could too.  “You remember her now?” he asked.

Alex nodded his head.  “Yes.”  She looked so different in that car!

“So, what’s the story on her?” Lindsey asked.  “You dated her before?”

“I fucked her before,” Alex said honestly.  “I wouldn’t call it dating.”

Lindsey looked at Kari with a see what kind of man you’re dealing with look.  But Kari already knew what kind of man she was dealing with: an honest man.

“You may not have viewed it as dating,” Kari said.  “But I think she did.”

“You know what, Boss?” Jimmy asked, still staring at that photograph.

“What?” asked Alex.

“I saw her this morning.”

Everybody, including the sheriff, looked at Jimmy.  “You saw her where?” Alex asked.

“At the groundbreaking ceremony.  She was there.  The reason I remembered her was because she was so beautiful, for one.  But also because, when I looked at her again after you went and got Kari out of the crowd and walked her up on stage with you, she looked pissed.  She didn’t like it at all.  I didn’t think anything of it at the time because there were many people in that arrogant crowd that didn’t like it.  But I remember her.”

“She could have gotten jealous,” Lindsey said, “and decided to take her anger out, not on you because you might have been untouchable at that event, but out on Kari.”

“Maybe,” Alex said.

“Sounds logical to me,” said Lindsey.  “It’s a good working theory.”

“Then work with it,” Alex responded.  He didn’t work with theories, he worked with facts. “Find out everything you can on her,” he ordered Jimmy.

“Will do, sir,” Jimmy said.

Then Alex looked at Kari.  “I’ll take you home,” he said.

“No,” Kari responded firmly, a fixed frown on her face.  “That’s what people like her want.  They want to terrorize you and make you hide behind the curtains.  Not me.  I have work to do and I’m going to do it.  And you have work to do, too, and you need to do it.  I’ll see you tonight, like we planned.”

Alex was so impressed with Kari that his eyes couldn’t conceal his relief.  That was how you handled it.  Don’t let that bitch steal your life!  Get back to normal quickly or you might forget what normal was.   Avoid new normal, was the motto.  “I’ll let you get to it,” he said, and kissed her on the lips.

Then he looked at the security chief.  He was not pleased at all with the level of care they had given to Kari.  “Danny, let me talk to you,” he said as he, and Priska and Jimmy, made their way back outside.