Remy let go of Cooper abruptly. Cooper staggered back a couple of steps and turned, nearly sprinting from the café. Remy watched him go, following his progress out on the street, ready for anything. Cooper was a mean bouncer. He provided drugs for the patrons and sometimes allowed underage boys into the bar, getting them hooked early on the after-hours sex and drugs. Remy made a mental note to talk with Robert about Cooper and Underwood.

Thereze set the food on the table.

“I’m so sorry,” Bijou said. “Sometimes it happens and disrupts everythin’.”

“I suggest exitin’ through the kitchen when you’re ready to leave,” the waitress said. “Those people are crazy.”

Remy sank down into his seat, grateful he could keep a straight face. Thereze had been the first person asking for both an autograph and picture.

“If you were my official bodyguard, Remy, I’d be sued every ten minutes or so,” Bijou said, and then flashed a genuine smile, one that lit her eyes. “Just sayin’.”

“He had it comin’,” Remy all but snarled. “He can keep his opinions to himself.”

“The problem is this, my friend”—Bijou leaned across the table and put her hand over his—“people were probably recordin’ your every move, just because you were with me. You’re a policeman. You can’t do people that way. You’ll be very lucky if you don’ end up on YouTube.”

“Tell me again your harebrained reasoning for not havin’ a bodyguard.” His leopard wasn’t settling fast enough. He had the urge to throw her over his shoulder and carry her out of the café. What would happen after that he didn’t dare admit, even to himself.

“You haven’t changed much,” Bijou said, and pushed the food on her plate around.

“Don’ kid yourself, Blue.” He pinned her with his eyes. Leopard’s eyes, staring straight and completely focused on prey. “I’ve changed. If I took you home to your daddy, I’d beat the shit out of him and have him thrown in jail for child endangerment. I’d call the feds and have them clean up the department like I should have done all those years ago. So don’ you for one minute believe I’m that same idiot that let you down. It was the act of a coward to leave you with him.”

Her lips, so full and tempting, frowned. “Is that what you think, Remy? That you were a coward? First, you didn’t leave me with him, you took me to Pauline that night. You saved my life. That’s what you did. You saved me. Never for one minute believe that I’d be here without you, because I wouldn’t.”

She didn’t flinch when he bunched her shirt in his fist, fury rising all over again at the thought that a child would want to take her own life.