“According to Deputy Chief Prowler, you had a photograph on the wall in the entrance hallway where the frame had been smashed and the picture stolen.”
Charli’s hands fisted, and she shook her head. “Dammit, dammit…Goddammit!How could I have been so sloppy – so stupid? Of course, he’d see that. It was last year’s Christmas masquerade party. Gramps went as Santa Claus.”
When his eyebrow lifted, she added, “I went as an FBI agent. They had the lodge’s banner above where we’d posed. And… they had our names listed.”
“That explains why he didn’t realize he had the wrong man when he saw Mark.”
Her head dropped to the table. He couldn’t help himself. Seeing her suffering, her pain, and sensing she’d hate his arms or lips; he just let his hand gently ruffle the curls on top of her head. “Please, Charli. Don’t be sad. Mark Crawly was a good cop. He would have protected your grandfather in any situation, you know that.”
“I do. That’s what makes it so bad. Don’t you see that?” Her eyes were teary and pools of sadness lurked under the anger. “I screwed up.”
“Hold it. You’d just come off a brutal assignment, stressed out to the max and got thrown into a murder case. No time to even breathe. You’re not a super hero, just a woman doing the best you can. And in my opinion, and that’s a professional one if it matters, you’ve done an amazing job. So, quit disparaging the woman I happen to ad… mire.” He stopped the word adore from breaking loose, but just. That term was on the tip of his tongue because it boomeranged in his head, flooded his heart and wouldn’t be shut off.He absolutely, forever and ever, adored her.
“All I know is this. Crawly wouldn’t have talked. So, Dylan Ross, the murdering bastard, had to have found out about my trip to Fort Lauderdale from seeing the material Gramps had scattered all over the living room. The old dear had been so excited about our vacation, that he’d gotten all kinds of printouts of the rental house and Fort Lauderdale tourist photos for bragging material to show off to his friends.”
Charli lay with her head sideways on her arms, her voice rough as if she had trouble breathing. “There’s one thing I don’t get.”
“What’s that?”
“How did he know for sure that Alicia Shoal, the witness, would be with me? How did he know that she’d been taken into witness protection?”
“See, I knew you’d eventually get to this question. And that was the other piece of news Bill shared. Seems like your supervisor, Deputy Assistant Jake Crompton, was found tortured and killed in his home also – before the break-in to your place. And this time, we believe the murdering bastard threatened Crompton’s family.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus. Jake’s little girl, is she okay?”
“Yes. Her nanny had taken her to a friend’s birthday party but they were due home about the time he took the bullet. Jake must have been frantic that she’d be Dylan’s next victim. He put up a fight, but in the end, he talked. Thank goodness he didn’t know where you were going.”
“He knew we were together.”
Blake nodded; glad she didn’t insist he share everything. The horrific details, he kept to himself. “Right. He did.”
“And he told Dylan.”
“That’s what they’ve determined.”
Charli’s direct stare gave him no leeway for making up a story. “So far, the lunatic’s killed three people to find us. He’s coming for me and Kayla.”
“Oh, yeah. But he only knows you’re in the city. He has no idea where.”
Charli’s stare caught him and drilled through the bullshit. “He’s a genius for finding these things out though, isn’t he, Major Sebastian? It didn’t take him long to find Agent Dale, did it?”
Blake’s nerves tightened from the sarcastic conviction in her voice. How could he argue the truth? He finally reached across and slid his hand over hers. “We’re making arrangements to move you all as soon as possible. But in the meantime, if that prick finds this place, we’ll be waiting for him.”
***
Blake hadn’t taken it personally when Charli flicked his hand off hers and left him at the island. She’d said goodnight first, checked each of the four security monitors on the one big screen, and disappeared down the hall.
Seeing the early beginnings of the sunrise through the patio window, he kicked off his shoes and laid down on the sofa, his pillow bunched up under his head.
Life had become insane ever since he met Charli. At first, she’d intrigued him, which seemed like such a watered-down, completely frivolous version of his attraction to her at the moment.
He remembered how it had been between them earlier, the explosive combustion as soon as their lips had touched… Good God! His true feelings now were like a pure gold bar compared to a tiny speck of sand.
He flipped over and put the pillow over his head, foolishly trying to block out images that were floating around inside and couldn’t be extinguished.
Rankled, disturbed, he swore he heard a noise and yet no one could have entered the house. Rising to his feet, he took the flashlight he kept in the coffee table drawer in case of a blackout and slowly tiptoed up the hallway.
He glanced in the girls’ bedroom and saw them tangled in their individual blankets, together on the same bed with only their hands touching, linked.
Then he went to his office, intending to check on John Madison, a man who he needed to talk with, to pry secrets from… to understand why Charli behaved like a man-hater.
The door slid soundlessly and the sight he saw broke that last piece of resistance he had to loving a woman more than himself.
Charli was huddled in the uncomfortable office chair, slumped over, asleep beside the sofa bed where her grandpa lay snoring. He had no doubt she guarded the one precious person who she loved more thanherself.