"He wasn't armed..." I stopped. Where the hell was my gun? Fear flooded me, followed by a wave of dizziness.

"You should have waited for backup."

"Maddox was my backup."

The two men nodded to each other. "You know I have the house under surveillance," said Solomon.

"They didn't see anyone break in, did they?" I didn't need to wait for an answer. I knew they hadn't, otherwise they would have protected Juliet faster than Maddox and I could have gotten there. "I called you first, but no one picked up; and Juliet needed help. I couldn't wait."

"What were you doing in the alley?" Solomon asked, his attention turning to Penelope. Another man joined us, dropping to the ground, with an emergency medical kit in his hand. Fletcher. I wondered if he were the one working surveillance.

"I was taking a shortcut and thought I'd save time by walking through the alley and going in through the side access to the house. I thought I'd drop by since I knew Rob was going out. I planned to keep Juliet company. Plus, Robbie is at my mom's and I had free time. I thought it was safe. Bedford Hills isn't exactly Frederickstown! Ow! Ow!" she whimpered as Fletcher applied a gauze pad to her leg with one hand while dialing 911 with his other.

I slowly got to my feet, feeling like I just ran a half-marathon without any training. The world spun around me and I blinked through the dizziness, relaxing into a pair of hard arms and a warm chest.

"You're hurt," Solomon said, his hands slipping down my torso. "And bleeding."

"It must be Penelope's blood," I muttered, glancing down at the oozing crimson on my side. Did other people's blood ooze?

Solomon unzipped my jacket and gently pulled it off. "No, sweetheart, you've been shot."

"Aw, crap. Again?"

"I think the assailant stole your top," he said as we both took in my pale skin and pink bra. He tucked my jacket around my shoulders and said something to Maddox. Maddox jogged over to Solomon's SUV, popped the trunk, and returned a moment later with a clean t-shirt for Solomon to slide over one arm. I drew the line at lifting the other after my skin burned with the stretching of my wound. Solomon tightened his arms around me. "You'll be okay," he whispered into my ear. "It's only a flesh wound. You were damn lucky, Lexi. Damn lucky he was a bad shot."

The ambulance was there in minutes. They loaded Penelope onto the bed inside, slipped an oxygen mask over her face, and herded us away. The EMT looked me over, and confirmed I wasn't ready to bleed out imminently, but advised me to get looked over anyway. He made no comment on my strange attire. But just as he was climbing into the cab of the ambulance, he told me I looked familiar and asked if he’d treated me before. I was afraid to reply honestly that he probably had.

"You know, if I'd known you were topless, I would have gotten here much faster," said Solomon softly. We were walking back to the house, his arm around me, carefully avoiding my padded side. The garden gate stood open. Maddox and Fletcher walked behind us as we headed for it while someone, I wasn’t sure who, kept a watch on the crime scene.

"Remind me to text you that in future. Anyway, I was getting a shower when Juliet called. I forgot to put my top on," I explained.

"And Maddox?"

"He's definitely wearing a top."

Solomon raised his eyebrow.

"I tried everyone; and I had no one else to call, so I called him and he met me here," I explained.

"Why didn't you alert my men?"

"I would have if I’d known who was running surveillance."

Solomon sighed. "It was Flaherty. I'll give you a copy of the rota."

"Thank you."

"They saw you at the porch when Maddox drew his weapon so they called me and followed you two. I got here as fast as I could."

"Where were you?"

"Meeting with Lancaster Friedland."

"And you didn't tell me?" I asked a little too loudly, but probably not nearly indignantly enough.

"It was a last minute thing."

"Did you learn anything?"

"Lucas is working with their IT department. He wants to narrow down all the trades made and match those timings to Juliet's location, which should have been at her computer. We've also added in the emails Juliet was purported to have sent to her assistant and a few other people. The list is long, so it's going to take a little time. Fortunately, the firm has good security; I'm hopeful we can definitely prove Juliet's whereabouts conflicts with the times and dates the rogue trades were made."

"So it no longer falls entirely on Juliet's passwords."

"We have to be realistic. Passwords are easy to guess, or hack. Getting Juliet's location is better. Lucas is also triangulating her phone records to determine more location data."

"So all he has to do is confirm Juliet was in another place to prove she didn't do it?"

"Yes. If we get a ping off a cell tower in one place, and she's supposed to be making a trade in her office building, we've got evidence in her defense."

"Surely whomever is doing this already knows those traces can be made."

"I'm not sure he or she thought it through. I think they were so intent on setting Juliet up, and possibly lacked enough technical nous to fully cover their tracks, that it didn't matter. I think they made a mistake somewhere. We just have to find it."

"You seem to believe Juliet."

Solomon made a non-committal noise. I figured someone breaking into Juliet's house had to be a pretty big clue she wasn't making it all up. My wound should’ve also indicated that, and I winced as I stumbled in the low light of the garden, glad for Solomon's arm when it tightened around me.

"Then why attack Juliet tonight?" I stopped, realizing exactly why. I could answer that and I did. "Because their plan isn't working. Juliet isn't abandoning all hope. She has plenty of support and they know it's only a matter of time until she's proved innocent and they're caught."

"I don't know about that, but we do know now that there is definitely a stalker." Solomon stopped and turned to me, gripping both my arms as he looked down at me. "And they could go down for attempted murder."

"Of Juliet?"

Solomon shook his head. "No, of you."

"My mother is going to be so mad at me."

"Let's go into the kitchen so I can take another look at that wound."

"I don't think Juliet will be happy about me bleeding all over her kitchen."

"I think she's grateful she didn't get murdered with an ax. That's thanks to you."

"And Maddox. He went in the front."

"As he should. He's better equipped for that kind of thing."

"Hey! I had a gun too."

"I meant, he's had years of training with MPD, and then with the FBI."

"Where exactly did you train?" I inquired as Solomon helped me through the French windows. He positioned me on a stool at the kitchen island as we heard a siren outside, along with the slamming of doors and running footsteps. I couldn't help wincing as he rolled up my t-shirt.

"Hold still," he said, stooping to peer at the wound. He prodded the skin gently as he peeled back the bandage someone pressed against my side. "Maybe a few stitches," he said.

I coughed lightly, waiting for my answer. "About that training?"

"Where do you want us, boss" asked Fletcher, stepping through the doors.