Murray Hill || A Superhuman Tale - 1

Chapter Ten

When Camille reached the Irish Pig sandwich shop almost exactly 40 minutes later, Tommy already had been busy. The wrappers of two sandwiches and several bags of chips were strewn about the table. He'd just finished firing off a text message as she approached.

"My girl," he said, placing down the phone. "I just wanted to make sure she had everything she needed for work."

"You two seem close."

"You have no idea," he said. "So, I meant to ask, did you and Mueller flip a coin this morning?"

The young detective's hand went to her mouth. "It was not like that," she said as she tried to suppress a smile.

"You really flipped a coin, didn't you?"

Camille made a few stuttering sounds. "We both wanted to come. But one of us needed to stay back and provide top cover. And I really did want to thank you for the night at the warehouse. We are both very, very happy I came to find you today. Thank you so much for everything you did for this kid."

Tommy sat smiling and said nothing in response to her kind words, but it had been a long and busy day. "You really should eat something," he said. "We worked right through lunch."

The line at the counter had more than a dozen people in it, and she hesitated.

"I've got a can of whoop-ass waiting for me when I get back, in the form of Lieutenant Ted Silva. I'm not sure how much he believes Mueller's story. Going off-radar briefly during an important investigation to follow up on a tip is one thing. Popping up after six hours in New Jersey, without reasonable explanation, is another."

"Popping up with a missing kid in New Jersey," he corrected.

"That might save one ass cheek, but the Louie's a 25-year detective who sees every single hole in a story. And the case against Madison for abducting her hasn't gotten any better. The local PD is going over the barn as we speak. Either way, if I come dragging in too late, he's going to have an apoplexy."

"Let's go, then." He held up a bag. "I grabbed a couple for the road."

At that point, they both heard Camille's stomach growl.

"Just in the nick of time, too."

The two got up and moved to the door. Outside, Tommy expressed surprise at the sudden chill in the air. "Looks like we have some rain blowing in." He began fishing through the bag and, once in the car, pulled out a club sandwich and gave half to Camille. The rest returned to the bag.

She growled, took a huge bite, and lay the sandwich in its paper on the seat divider. "That is so good," she said, rolling her eyes until nothing was visible but the whites. "Thank you so much."

The day had been hectic, and she'd been incredibly focused in recent days, forgetting about food and sleep, disregarding everything other than finding that young girl. Now, with the crises past, the exhaustion from the last three days' search weighed upon her. Certainly, the specter of the reaming to come hadn't escaped her. Who could forget that?

But at that moment, exhausted or not, she was most conscious of the man sitting in the car seat next to her. While on the trail, it was a thing she'd been able to set aside, a thought she'd been able to forego. But now, seated mere inches from him in the close environment of the car, she was mindful of how shamelessly gorgeous he was.

The first time she'd met Mr. Haas, more than two weeks earlier, she'd had to fight the urge not to stare. He was, she'd realized, the most strikingly beautiful man upon whom she'd ever laid eyes: black hair, perfect cheekbones, a chin and jawline any male model would shiv a beloved family member to possess. His eyes were that shade of deep brown that was almost black.