“Why not?” he said softly.
And she knew. This was a setup.
“All I’d do is scare them if I told them what’s been happening. I’ll wait until, well, things are resolved.” Like Richard behind bars? Uh-huh, and how long would he stay there? He’d have no problem paying bail, or hiring the sharpest, most amoral attorney in Portland or Seattle to represent him.
If she stayed in hiding, how would Richard ever be caught doing anything to get arrested? Did Seth, a small-town detective, have a chance in hell of finding proof Richard had hired the unknown stranger who had tried to steal Jacob?
Of course not.
Sitting cross-legged, she asked somberly, “What are we doing here, Seth? Jacob and I can’t become the guests who never go away. Your father doesn’t deserve that. It’s not that I’m eager to go home—” would the rental even feel like home? “—but if I don’t become bait, there’s no way to nail Richard. And how’s that going to work, when I refuse to put Jacob at risk?”
“I wouldn’t ask you—” He sounded offended.
“Then what?” Robin jumped to her feet. “You should have let me go.” She left him and hurried toward the house.
The tension was getting to her. That was the only explanation. It was ironic, since she was certain she hadn’t been safer in years. Here she was with a police detective and a retired cop guarding her and her child.
If only Seth didn’t inspire feelings in her she’d believed to be dead. After that last year with Richard, how could she have melted in Seth’s arms the way she had? If they’d really been alone, she doubted she’d have stopped him if he had hauled her off to his bedroom.
So, okay, he was attracted to her, but even assuming there actually was a resolution—whatever that might be—and she stayed in Lookout instead of returning to Seattle, why would he go for a woman with such a turbulent background, a woman who was also an emotional disaster? Tall, athletic, sexy and with those startlingly blue eyes, he surely had women coming onto him wherever he went.
And all that was assuming she didn’t end up back in Seattle not by choice, but because she had to fight a murder charge.
Face it, she shouldn’t be thinking about a man at all, when she ought to be praying she could go home to Seattle so that she could give Allie one of her kidneys.
Looking through the window over the sink, she saw Seth walking slowly toward the house, lines of perturbation showing on his forehead, his gaze somehow turned inward.
Sure, she thought desperately. Just put him out of her head. Nothing to it.
If only he wasn’t so ever-present...and so sexy.
Chapter Ten
Seth was already getting to know Sergeant Gordon Hammond of the Seattle PD well enough to be comfortable talking out possible strategies. Robin was right; they’d never catch this SOB red-handed unless they opened an apparent window to tempt him into making a move.
With her permission, this morning Seth had forwarded her medical records to Hammond, who’d sounded as grim as Seth felt when they talked this morning.
Hammond had been finding it harder than he’d expected to keep an eye on Richard Winstead’s whereabouts.
“He has a private plane, I’ve learned. If we had a warrant, I could be informed when or if he flies in and out of Boeing Field, but as it is, I don’t have a good contact there. Some of his activities are well-publicized, but there are enough gaps, I’d have to have someone on him twenty-four seven to keep track of his whereabouts.”
“What about this week?”
“Well, in theory the man works full-time. He’s a partner in a major law firm, after all. In practice, he attends every city council meeting, and he’s on at least two subcommittees. In the next couple of weeks, all those meetings are during the day.”
“Committees?”
“Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights is one, and isn’t that a mishmash, and then there’s Governance, Equity and Technology.” Hammond was clearly reading off a website or his notes. “Both committees can meet up to a couple of times a week.”
“A man of dependable judgment,” Seth said drily.