Storm Surge. Celia Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ she launched the light at it, which hit with a noise like rock on stone.

      “Shit, Paige, what the hell are you doing?”

      Paige reeled in shock relief. “Who is that?”

      “Dan. It’s Dan Stauffer.”

      Paige brushed sand from her pants and arms, retrieving her flashlight once more from the ground. “Sorry,” she said. “I hope that didn’t hurt too much.”

      “I’d be charging you with assault if it wasn’t so damned funny.”

      Mouth twisting, she shone the light on his face, checking for bleeding. “Could be a bruise cropping up. What are you doing here?”

      “I saw a light and came to investigate.”

      “So you saw him, too? Good. I need to—”

      “Him? I saw you. Was there somebody else here?”

      His gaze darted back to her from the direction of the jetty as he held up a hand to block the light.

      “Yeah,” Paige said. “There was a guy with a lantern. You didn’t see him?”

      Dan’s hand dropped. A fleeting confusion passed across his features. “I didn’t see anyone but you, staggering like a drunk. Have you been drinking?”

      Lowering the flashlight to her side, Paige raised her other hand to her hip. “I had half a beer. Not even. I lost my balance for a second, but I’m fine. Just where were you that you ‘saw’ me?”

      He jerked his thumb toward the ridge. “Up there by the cottage. I came to talk to you—”

      “I didn’t give you the address.”

      “I’m a cop, remember?”

      For the first time she noticed he wore street clothes, his size diminished by the missing bulletproof vest beneath his dark T-shirt. She needed no reminder of his occupation, but she found the fact that he’d been able to locate her unsettling. “How’d you do it? Find me, I mean?”

      “I’ll be honest. It wasn’t such a feat. The woman who rented you the place happened to mention it to me in passing about a half an hour ago. And I figured I’d stop by for a chat.”

      Paige shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “It’s after nine o’clock at night, Dan. Bit late for a chat.”

      “Your lights were on, so—”

      “No, they weren’t.”

      He stepped aside, affording her a full view of the rental cottage. Sure enough, every window in the bungalow glowed with the distinct cast of incandescent lighting. The door stood wide, illumination seeping into the night like yellow dye.

      “Did you go in?” Paige asked.

      “I did not.”

      Paige lurched into a run up the hill.

      Chapter 6

      “Stay where you are. I’ll check it out,” Stauffer ordered as he passed her, keys on a ring jangling from his belt loop. Paige ignored him. She’d never been one for listening. That behavioral trait had earned her a reputation as an intractable student in school despite her straight-A status. She pursued Dan doggedly up to the cottage and arrived on the walkway only a few seconds behind him.

      An elongated shadow undulated across the lit squares of stone. “Wait here,” Dan commanded again, and vanished over the threshold.

      Paige followed.

      “Paige?”

      She skidded to a halt. Liam stood in the room’s center. Beside her, Dan, who had been extending an arm to stop her, dropped his open palm to his denim-covered thigh with a slap.

      “Do you know this man?”

      Paige circled around Dan. “Liam, what are you doing here?”

      Liam moved to the left, as if trying to keep both of them in his line of sight. His gaze kept straying to Stauffer. Dan glanced frequently at him, too. Something odd inhabited the exchange.

      “Do you two know each other?” Paige asked.

      Neither man spoke.

      “Do you?”

      The two men employed another silent exchange, as if gauging each other’s size and capabilities.

      “No,” said Liam.

      “I’ve seen him once or twice,” said Dan. “Don’t know him, though.”

      “Oh, for crying out loud,” muttered Paige, swinging the door closed. “Liam, this is Dan Stauffer, an officer with the local PD. Dan, this is Liam Gray.”

      Both men grunted in greeting. Paige sat down in the room’s only chair and pulled off her left shoe to shake out a pebble. Sand stuck to her jeans and hands like glitter from a grade school project.

      “What happened to your head?” Liam asked. From the corner of her eye, Paige saw Dan touch his bruised forehead.

      “She threw her flashlight at me.”

      Liam laughed. To Paige’s surprise, Dan chuckled, too. Paige lifted her brows. “Well, ha-ha. But I need you both to tell me what you’re doing here. Which one of you is going first?”

      Both men maintained a stoic silence.

      “Okay, I’ll pick. Liam?”

      Crossing the floor, he stopped at the small section of kitchen counter and leaned his hips against it. He folded his arms across his chest. “I came looking for the cat. Your door was open. Again.”

      “I shut it,” Paige said, more to herself than to either of them. Still, they exchanged a look. “What?”

      Liam shook his head.

      “So,” Paige went on, “you found the door open and the lights on and walked in.”

      “Lights were off. I turned them on when I realized you weren’t here. If Shadow was inside, he’s gone now.”

      “Do you think Shadow nudged the door open?”

      “Doubtful,” interrupted Dan. “Not if you closed the door properly.”

      Paige shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t.”

      Dan shook his head. “Then you should take better care. Is anything missing?”

      “Missing? A cat’s not likely to—”

      “You don’t know it was the damn cat,” Dan said.

      Paige looked from Dan to Liam, whose expression had gone stony. “I don’t have much worth СКАЧАТЬ