Wild About The Bodyguard (16 page)

Bringing her
close, he tucked her head under his chin while he gently rubbed her
back. She began to shake like someone in shock after an accident.
He’d give her time for reality to sink in before they tackled the
next hurdle, which was a doozey.

“
It’s true,
isn’t it?” she said. “My sister stole the ring. She took the
insurance money and, two years later, sold it on.” A dry breath
hitched in her throat before her chest gave a sound that reminded
him of an injured animal. “All those years she
lied
to me. She wanted me to drop it
all now because she didn’t want to be caught.”

She stiffened
and then broke away. Her eyes were wide, filled with ghosts and
torment. She would have been better off never knowing.

“
This is
fraud,” she told him as if he didn’t already know. “If anyone found
out, she’d go to jail.”

“
Let’s not
think about that yet. You need to speak to her first. And
Rick.”

She doubled
over, holding her stomach like she’d gotten a sudden cramp. “You
think he put her up to it.” She looked around. “They operated this
shop together. I had no idea.
None
. She had a cafe that sold
low-fat pastries.”

“
So, she had
this on the side.”

He reached out
but she jerked away. Screwing her eyes shut, she tried to
straighten while holding up her hands.

“
I
just...can’t believe…” She crouched down and put her chin to her
chest. Her words were muffled. “Nothing feels real.”

He knelt
beside her. “I’m sorry, Sammy. There’s no way around it. This
sucks. I’ll come with you when you speak to her.”

“
I don’t need
you to do that,” she ground out.

“
I think you
might. You can’t know what criminals are capable of when they’re
cornered.”

He knew, only
too well.

She looked as
if she wanted to laugh. Wanted to cry. “Are you suggesting my own
sister would physically harm me?”

“
She’s
married to a man who, it would appear, has at least some measure of
control over her. Remember they were arguing outside of your old
apartment after the robbery. If this went down the way I think it
did, she didn’t know that he’d lifted it until after she’d told the
authorities.”

A tear trailed
down Sammy’s cheek.

“
Take me
home,” she said, sounding choked. “Tomorrow we’ll get some
answers.”

On the drive
back, Chase suggested she stay the night at his place. Given the
bombshell that had landed in her front yard, he didn’t think she
ought to be alone. People were known to do silly things when bad
things happened and they didn’t have anyone to talk with or hold on
to.

Still, he’d
half expected her to say no. Sammy was a determined woman, which
was one reason he liked her so much. But she was so distracted and
down, she shrugged at his suggestion and then gave a nod. Later, at
his place, he went to pour her a stiff drink. When he turned around
from the bar near the kitchen, she’d disappeared.

He found her
in the living room, studying his stained glass piece. She’d flicked
on a single lamp, which recreated her as a misty silhouette.
Crossing over, he handed her a glass. She sipped, frowned at the
taste and then set the drink down.

“
You’re
almost finished,” she said in a monotone voice.

Studying the
patterns of glass soldered together, he ran a finger over the two
pieces he was yet to fit in. One said
Chase’s
, the other said
Place
.

“
You did a
good job,” she said. “You really did.”

Was she
talking about the glass or discovering the truth about her
ring?

“
I tried,” he
said.
Did my best
.

She glanced
around the naked beams and hanging electrical wiring. “When do you
think you’ll be finished?”

“
Maybe six
months.”

“
Do you think
you’ll find another place to fix up?”

“
No.”

She nodded.
“Sometimes moving on is best.”

“
Sometimes…sure.”

“
Why did you
move on?” She pinned him with a look. “Why did you give up on that
part of your life?”

Private
investigating?

She’d dug
around that subject before: why he’d given up chasing down leads to
find answers for people who needed closure. He’d always clammed up
when she’d asked. Firstly because he hadn’t known her well enough.
And then because it still hurt to remember, let alone talk
about.

And yet now,
as he recalled how much his life had changed this past year–the
club, this house, meeting Sammy and getting the chance to sharpen
those old skills again–he knew it was time to unload.

He doubted
that confession would make a difference to the depth of anger and
guilt he kept bottled up inside. But maybe it would help Sammy give
her own dilemma some perspective.

Her sister had
betrayed her.

No one had
been killed.

“
You and I
share a link in our pasts,” he began. “You were once friends with
David Green. I met his older brother a year ago.”

“
You asked
about David, whether I knew his brother.”

“
Hurly Green.
He’s been in trouble his whole life. By the time he reached
adulthood, he was not only using, he was cooking. Pushing. Ruining
lives. A boy overdosed on a batch of Hurly’s meth. Fourteen years
old. A good kid, his parents had thought, destined for a good
life.”

Setting his
jaw, he picked up the piece of “Place” glass and slotted it into
its spot in the almost completed window while Sammy stood silent
beside him.

“
The boy’s
father came to me. Hurly had slipped through the authorities’ radar
a few times already. They couldn’t establish a direct link between
the dealer and the death. The father wanted me to obtain evidence
that would help put that creep away.”

Chase picked
up the other piece of glass, balancing it on two
fingers.

“
In that line
of business, whether you’re trying to locate a missing cat or this
kind of sick shit, you must always be aware. Be careful. My partner
knew that, too.”

“
I didn’t
know you had a partner.”

“
Will and I…”
A lump swelled in his throat. “We liked the same sports, shared the
same political views. Drank the same beer.”

She held his
arm.

“
Will liked
to work hard, too,” he went on. “We’d put in the hours. Kicked back
when it was done. And he was a mean shot. Hit the bull’s eye at
practice every damn time. The guy was a freak that way.”

“
Where’s Will
now?” Sammy asked, but he could tell by the slight tremor in her
voice that she knew what was coming.

“
This one
night, Will wanted to grab a burger at Woody’s,” he went on. “Same
place me and the boys like to catch up sometimes. Best burgers in
town. Lots of fried onion and homemade sauce. We were both hungry
as hell, but I’d got this lead on Hurly. I said we needed to check
it out before he got wind of it and cleared out. Will said we ought
to wait. I insisted that we move. We had words and I won. I felt
responsible to that boy’s parents in a way I’d never felt toward
any client before. I couldn’t wait to nail that other
son-of-a-bitch.”

He crossed to
a dining chair–the only one in the room.

“
We’d parked
a block away,” he said as he sat and she moved over, too. “We were
careful like always, creeping around the back to see what was what.
Will rounded the corner first. A shot rang out. I pulled Will back
as another shot popped. Then I saw his face...blood leaking from
his mouth...” He swallowed against a familiar sour taste. “Will had
cried out “Green” before he fell. I’m sure of it.”

She gripped
his shoulder. “Oh, Chase. I’m so sorry.”

Chase wiped
the damp from his brow. “I didn’t get a clear visual. I thought
hard about saying in my deposition that I did. They couldn’t link
the bullet to a gun, or Green to the location. He got away with it.
Again. When you mentioned his brother’s name in connection to the
ring, I saw a chance–a legitimate excuse–to find him and–” He
closed his eyes and, groaning, fought against the spike of pure
hate. “And I honestly don’t know what.”

Ten minutes
later, she and Chase were upstairs, lying on his bed. As she
stroked his shoulder and laid soft kisses on his brow, she rehashed
in her mind everything she’d learned. Previously she’d wondered why
he had never opened up about that part of his life. Feeling
responsible for your partner’s death would do it. He was still
haunted by the decisions he’d made that night...to go ahead with a
plan when it would have been better, would have been
safer
, to hold
off.

Sammy
identified a million times over.

No words could
describe how she felt about losing her mom. She’d been haunted over
losing that ring. And now?

She felt as if
she’d lost her sister, too.

That Ann had
most likely been “an accomplice after the fact” didn’t make a
difference in her mind. Ultimately Ann had stolen from her own
flesh and blood and had kept the truth a secret.

Amazingly,
Sammy fell asleep quickly. One minute, she was lying pressed
against the strong, comforting length of Chase’s body, her cheek
resting on a bicep while she imagined Ann’s reaction to being
caught out. The next, she was blinking open her eyes; fingers of
light were reaching in through the blinds.

For a few
blissful seconds, she was only aware of the spectacular heat
surrounding her. She felt safe and protected, like having her own
private bodyguard could. Then her stomach muscles wrenched and that
other awareness seeped back in.

Chase was
already awake. When she rolled over to face him, he smiled softly
and swept a wave of hair off her cheek.

“
You slept
like a rock.”

Before she had
time to reply, he kissed her–a tender, lingering caress that made
the backs of her eyes prickle with emotion. When the kiss slowly
broke, he studied her with those sexy, lidded eyes and asked, “How
are you feeling?”

“
Okay.” She
stroked his scratchy jaw. “How about you?”

A line formed
between his brows. “I’m okay.” He cupped her cheek and the pad of
his thumb drew a line around her chin. “Maybe I should have purged
about that night a long time ago.” His smile changed. “Thanks for
listening.”

Her throat
ached as she smiled. “Thanks for trusting me.”

The light
through the blinds seemed to reach his eyes as his expression
opened up and he drew her closer. “What do you want to do
today?”

Easy.
“Lie here with you.”

His throat
rumbled as his lips circled over hers. “That can be arranged. Maybe
you can help with some renovation work.”

She loved him
for trying to distract her. She pretended to judge the room. “Maybe
we could slap some paint on these walls. Notch it up on the
brightness scale.”

“
If you think
it needs to be brighter,” he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek,
“we’ll be brighter.”

The area
beneath her ribs constricted and a bigger lump formed in her
throat. He was being so sweet. So loving and considerate, she truly
didn’t want to get out from under these sheets. She only wanted to
stay here like this and pretend nothing else existed.

But she
couldn’t.

“
I need to
see Ann.”

“
I know,” he
said, looking resigned. “I’m coming with you.”

“
You don’t
need to do that. Solving the case is enough.”

“
This isn’t
about the case. It’s about
you
.”

She felt
moisture leak to the corners of her eyes. When her vision blurred
and that lump in her throat swelled to the size of a pit, she
buried her face in his chest. She hated being fragile, and yet now
she couldn’t help but lean in.

Sammy gave her
sister fair warning.

After she and
Chase had fortified themselves with coffee and his speciality
breakfast–fluffy eggs with sides of crispy bacon–she phoned to let
Ann know that she was driving up to see her. They were going to
talk.

She wasn’t
certain if Ann knew something was up. Sammy heard the difference in
her own voice, too. Ann in turn was hesitant in her reply. No
invitation for lunch. No offer to stay over for the night. If Ann
didn’t know, she at least suspected.

How must it
feel to be caught out in such a big lie after all this
time?

All the drive
up, she and Chase listened to heavy-metal rock. The volume was on
the loud side, and that kind of music wasn’t usually her thing. But
she liked watching Chase get into it–the way his thumbs played the
drums on the wheel, and his teeth held his lower lip at the same
time his head punched forward whenever a gutsy guitar solo screamed
through the speakers.