Bachelor Sheriff. Пола Грейвс

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СКАЧАТЬ there was a twig or something like that wedged into the front door lock from the outside.”

      “We don’t know if it’s actually connected to the fire,” Blake said. “We got a few calls last night about wedges being put into locks. One of the complainants said she saw some kids running away just before she discovered the vandalism.”

      “Maybe they graduated to something more destructive.”

      “Pretty big step, from petty mischief to attempted murder,” Blake pointed out.

      “I’m not a shrink. I don’t have to know what motivated the jerks. I just have to prove they did it,” Aaron said.

      “Maybe they cut the electricity as a prank,” Melissa suggested. “Maybe it accidentally made a spark, igniting leftover gasoline in the generator?”

      “How much gas was in the generator?” Perry asked.

      She looked at him, wondering when the class clown she remembered had grown up to be this serious-faced firefighter looking at her with hard skepticism. “I don’t think it could be much,” she admitted. “Less than a cup. It emptied the last time I used it, and I don’t add gasoline until I need it.”

      “You don’t store the gas back here by the house, do you?” Perry asked.

      “No. I keep it in the shed.” Melissa pointed to the small work shed about twenty yards behind the house, near the edge of the woods that formed the border of her property.

      Perry looked at Aaron. “There are signs of an accelerant, probably gasoline, in the burn patterns here. The state’s arson investigation team could tell us more. Should we call them in?”

      Aaron looked from Perry to Melissa. “Yeah,” he said finally. “Let’s call them in.”

      Melissa’s heart sank. “I don’t want you to investigate it. Nobody was hurt. I won’t even make an insurance claim. Let’s just leave this alone, okay?”

      What was left of the compassion in Aaron’s expression disappeared, corroded by undiluted cynicism. “You’re a lawyer, right? You know we can’t do that.”

      She was afraid he was going to say that. “Okay, fine. Investigate.” She tightened her grip on Jasper, who’d started to whine. “Tell your mother I appreciate the offer but it’s best I just find a hotel—”

      Aaron caught her arm as she turned away, his strong grip just shy of painful. “The offer of the guest house stands.”

      She pulled her arm away, glaring at him. What, now that he saw her as a suspect, he thought he could manhandle her any way he pleased? Maybe the whole reason he wanted her at his mom’s place was to make it easier to keep an eye on her.

      But at this point, she was so tired and stressed she wouldn’t have protested if he’d suggested an ankle monitor to track her whereabouts. She just wanted to bathe off the soot in a scalding shower, crawl into a warm bed and sleep for a week.

      “Can we go now?” she asked impatiently.

      “Yeah, we can go.” None of the earlier gentleness remained in his deep voice. He was angry with her, clearly, and in no mood to pretend civility. Or gentleness.

      He nudged her toward the driveway when she started up the cobblestone walk to retrieve her suitcases. “I’ll get them. You go get in the blue truck.” He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and pushed a button. Lights came on at the end of the driveway, slanting light across Aaron’s grim features.

      She felt annoyance flood her system. “I’d rather drive my own car.”

      He gave her a considering look. “You’re tired and you’re shaking. You don’t need to be driving. I’ll get a deputy to bring your car to the marina tomorrow.”

      Picking her battles, Melissa relented, trudging through the frost-limned grass to an enormous blue pickup truck sprawled across the mouth of her driveway. “Feel free to pee on his upholstery,” she muttered to Jasper as she put him on the small bench seat behind the front bucket seats.

      He sniffed the length of the bench as she pulled herself wearily into the passenger seat and shut the door behind her. The truck’s cab was warm compared to the bitter cold outside. It smelled better than she expected, too—spicy, a little masculine.

      Like Aaron Cooper himself, a traitorous teenage voice whispered in her head.

      Melissa tucked her legs up and rested her chin on her knees, gazing through the windshield at Aaron as he lifted her suitcases as if they were lunchboxes. He may have left his football career behind, but he still looked good, she noted grudgingly. He’d been leaner in high school, but the extra flesh seemed to be all muscle.

      Too bad he was such a bully.

      Aaron heaved the suitcases into the truck bed, where they landed with gentle thuds. Circling to the driver’s side, he opened the cab door and looked over the seat at her.

      For a second, the suspicion in his eyes melted, revealing sympathy. He shrugged off his thick brown leather jacket and handed it across the seat to her. “Here, put that on. And buckle up.”

      He belted himself in while Melissa pulled the enormous jacket around her. It swallowed her whole, enveloping her in the same heady scent that filled the cab of his truck. She held her breath, holding that scent inside her for a moment. She felt sixteen all over again, tongue-tied and hopelessly infatuated with the star football player who barely even knew she was alive.

      But a quick glance at Aaron Cooper’s stony profile dragged her back to the present reality. She was temporarily homeless, frozen half-solid and apparently the prime suspect in a case of arson. And Aaron was a big, pushy guy who probably wouldn’t think twice about twisting arms to get his way.

      Lovely. Just lovely.

      “Do you honestly think I set my own house on fire with my dog and myself inside?” she asked.

      Aaron shot her a sidelong look. “I think you’re keeping something from me.”

      “That’s not what I asked.”

      He shrugged. “Lies make me antsy.”

      “I haven’t lied.”

      He looked her way again. “Why did you want us to drop the case, Ms. Draper?”

      The cool formality of his tone stung her, even though she knew it shouldn’t. They were strangers, really. Passing in the halls and a few classes together didn’t constitute a friendship.

      Not that she wanted Aaron Cooper as a friend anyway. She’d known entirely too many men in her life who didn’t know how to keep their hands—or their fists—to themselves.

      She turned her face away from him and gazed out the passenger window, remaining quiet.

      “I rest my case,” Aaron said.

      She bit back a protest. Anything she said in her defense would only pique Aaron’s interest more. He was probably going to find out about her pro bono work sooner or later, but the longer it took, the more time she’d have to warn the women she worked with that СКАЧАТЬ