Page 15 of Guarding Truth
She shook her head as if she could dislodge the scene from her thoughts. “Why are you here, Ivy?”
Ivy reached into her bag and pulled out an actual ceramic pink piggy bank along with an envelope. She dumped out the contents of each onto the end table. Bills and change littered the glass top. Juliette stared at the preteen girl with the piggy bank.
“I have $127.60. I’ve been saving for robotics parts. I’m in a competition. It’s a big deal. I’m building a sumo robot that has?—”
Juliette waved a hand. Ivy was so much like Caleb, who added a million details in every story he told, whether Juliette understood or not.
“Right,” Ivy said. “I’ll get to the point. Your website didn’t have any prices for hiring a bodyguard. But this is all I have right now.”
“Are you in trouble?”
The girl shifted in her seat. “No. I want to hire you to protect my uncle. He’s all I have. I can’t let anything happen to him.”
Juliette’s heart melted. She’d had no idea that Caleb had moved to Savannah. What were the odds they’d wind up in the same city? She’d heard that he’d been sent stateside but had lost track of him after her discharge from the Army. She stood. “Let’s go into the conference room, where we can talk in private. I’ll take some notes, and we’ll figure out what to do.”
“You’re a bodyguard. You have to help him. I’m hiring you. He won’t say no to you.” The girl stood, hands on hips, with a fierceness Juliette appreciated.
“Let’s talk about it and see if there’s a case. We may need to loop your uncle into the conversation at some point.”
“He’s not going to like that I skipped school and came here on my own. He won’t listen. I need you to convince him not to go to work.”
“But if he’s in danger like you claim, he needs to know. And I assure you, he’s quite capable of taking care of himself. But the fact of the matter is, I can’t be a bodyguard for someone without telling the person. It doesn’t work that way.”
Ivy shot her a sullen look that said she disapproved of the plan to tell Caleb, but she grabbed her backpack and followed Juliette across the lobby, up the stairs, and into a conference room. Juliette grabbed a pen and paper and observed Caleb’s niece. She seemed young but sounded like an adult when she talked. The girl reminded hersomuch of Caleb. Smart and analytical. Juliette could almost see her mind whirring with calculations.
They sat at the oval conference room table. The two square picture windows overlooked Lafayette Square, where water misted from the iconic green fountain. A peaceful scene compared to the fierce concern of the twelve-year-old girl.
“Let’s start at the beginning, Ivy, so I can best see how to protect your uncle.”
“Last night, someone broke into our house. The person was wearing all black like a ninja. My uncle could have been killed, except he pulled out his gun and chased the person away. The police came and everything. I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen at his job. I need you to stop him from going to work.” Words tumbled out with the force of a tornado, and Juliette struggled to keep up with the rambling pace.
Could Ivy be any more cryptic and yet so specific at the same time? “How do you know something will happen?”
The girl shrugged. “Whoever broke in might return.”
Juliette sat back in the chair, the plush leather squeaking. A break-in would be enough to traumatize an adult, let alone a child. “Have you told your uncle your concerns? Maybe if he knew you were worried about the break-in, he might take some precautions. You know your uncle has military training; he can defend himself. I’ve seen him in action.”
Ivy’s head shake had the potential to give her whiplash. “He won’t believe me. I’m just hoping you can convince him. He told me you two were good friends. He needs his Army friends. Isn’t that your motto?”
A sense of loyalty rattled through Juliette, and her fierce desire to protect others pumped that familiar feeling through her veins. If the trouble was real, she wouldn’t hesitate to intervene. “It’s the soldier’s creed.I will never leave a fallen comrade.”
She cleared her throat, shoving her emotions back into the lock box she’d created in her heart years ago. “We need to bring this situation to your uncle. He needs to be aware of the danger.”
Ivy might be the kind of kid that had an active imagination, and it was sweet that she wanted to protect her uncle from an intruder. Then again, peering into Ivy’s tear-filled eyes, Juliette sensed something much deeper was going on. But she couldn’t take a case based on a gut reaction. Let alone drain all the money from a little girl’s piggy bank.
But face Caleb? What would she say?Sorry I left you lying in the hospital to deal with the grief of losing your friend. You may have saved my life, but I wanted you to have a future that didn’t include taking care of me?
Duty called, and Juliette at least needed to get Ivy someplace safe, if not assess the danger. She led Ivy downstairs to the reception area. “I’ll text Noelle,” Juliette said to Raven. “I’m going to make sure Ivy makes her way to school or home.” Raven nodded without taking her eyes off her computer screen.
Juliette turned to Ivy. “What time does your uncle go to work?”
The girl shrugged. “He said he might work from home this morning and then go to the office later.”
Juliette led Ivy down the hallway and through the back door. The house had a courtyard that offered a few parking spaces for the Elite Guardians’ staff and any visitors.
Caleb’s mini-me jumped into Juliette’s car. “Do you like robots?” she asked as she buckled the seat belt.
“What? I have no particular feelings about robots.”