Secrets Rising. Suzanne Mcminn

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СКАЧАТЬ about whether she could trust him or not.

      It appeared she wasn’t so naive, after all.

      “You walked up to my door with a gun,” she said. “And I want to know why.” Her voice strengthened.

      She was pulling herself together. That hadn’t taken long, and it occurred to him that she had a tough spine inside that very sweet, hot, bombshell-quality body of hers.

      He did like her, he realized with a shock, even though she had annoyed him quite a bit, from the first time he’d spoken with her on the phone about the rental, with questions he didn’t want to answer. He liked her in spite of himself because she was nice. Even when he was rude to her, she was nice. In fact, she was too nice. Too nice for him. His instinct to get away from her as quickly as possible had been a good one.

      Now he couldn’t get away from her and she was going to take her opportunity to ask questions again, and he was going to have to give her answers whether he liked it or not. And he didn’t like it at all.

      “I’m a cop.”

      The house lay so still around them, he could hear the very low intake of her breath, sense the tension emanating from her body as his words sunk in. His gut tightened, waiting for her to respond.

      “A cop?” She didn’t sound like she really believed him.

      He figured she’d thought he operated on the opposite side of the law, based on his appearance. He’d worked undercover most of the past few years and his wardrobe had suffered in keeping with his cases. Not that he cared or that it mattered. He was supposed to be resting and relaxing, not dressing for success.

      In truth, he was just biding his time. He didn’t need rest and relaxation. He needed to get back to work. The damn thing was, the chief wouldn’t let him. The department shrink had said he wasn’t dealing with his grief. Go to the country, the chief had ordered. Get some perspective. Unwind. One month. Then he’d let him come back to work. He’d suggested Haven. The chief had grown up here.

      Jake had thought he was dealing with his grief just fine. How the hell was someone supposed to take it when they were responsible for their partner getting blown up right in front of them? And people had called him a hero. He’d just wanted to get back to work. He still wanted to get back to work. He wanted to bury himself in work. No thinking. No feeling. And certainly no consorting with the locals. He didn’t want any entanglements.

      But here he was in Haven, trapped in a cellar with a beautiful woman. How had that happened?

      “Charleston Police Department,” he told her.

      “And I’m supposed to know that’s the truth how…?” she asked.

      “Because I’m telling you it’s the truth….” he said. “I’m one of the good guys, Keely. I promise.” He waited a beat. “If you don’t mind, I don’t really like it when people point guns at me,” he said. “It makes me worry about whether I’m going to get to keep breathing. You stop pointing the gun at me and we find a candle, then I’ll show you my badge and ID. Deal?”

      He heard the soft click of the chamber pushing open.

      “I’m going to take the bullets out. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.

      “Not at all.”

      She hadn’t lied about knowing how to operate a weapon. And she might believe him—or might not—but she wasn’t going to leave the gun loaded. Again, not so naive, after all.

      It wouldn’t do her a whole lot of good if he wanted to wrestle the empty gun away from her and find the bullets, but it would buy her time. Better, he supposed she was figuring, than letting him wrestle the gun away from her loaded.

      She’d probably just put the bullets in her back pocket. There weren’t a whole lot of other options available.

      He heard the gun drop on the debris behind her.

      “I know you can pick it up,” she said then. “I know you can get the bullets away from me. But,” she added dryly, “I suppose you’re right. You’re pretty stuck if help comes and I’m laying here in a pool of blood. Wouldn’t be too smart on your part. I just don’t like loaded guns, so let’s not keep it that way. Okay?” She still wasn’t completely trusting him.

      “Okay.”

      Tentative truce. Fragile, very fragile, he’d guess.

      He’d take it.

      “They’d know you did it,” she added.

      “Yes.”

      “You’d go to prison.”

      “Definitely.”

      “For the rest of your life.”

      “Probably.”

      “Or get the death sentence.”

      “There’s no death sentence in West Virginia.”

      She was silent for a long beat. Disappointed, probably.

      “You know what they do to guys like you in prison,” she said finally.

      In spite of himself, he felt a slow lift to his mouth. He actually almost laughed.

      “Are you saying I’m cute?” What the hell was he doing now? Flirting with her?

      He heard her blow out an irritated breath. Yeah, she thought he was cute. She probably hadn’t meant to give that away.

      “I’m not saying you’re cute,” she said tensely. “I’m not saying you’re anything but on your way to the slammer if you try to hurt me.”

      He reminded himself that it wasn’t important what she thought of him as long as she stopped holding a gun on him.

      Sobering, he said, “I’m not going to shoot you, Keely. I don’t want to hurt you in any way.”

      She was silent for another long stretch.

      “I’d probably never find the candles and matches without you,” he tacked on. “Plus, I’d be lonely down here waiting for help.”

      “Oh, yeah.”

      He heard her move, slowly, carefully, toward one wall of the cellar. Good. Back to business.

      “There’s a trunk over here, somewhere,” she said.

      He followed the sound of her voice and her footsteps. She’d knelt, was clearing debris from something. He went to work with her, removing boards and bits of plaster and who knew what else.

      “This is it,” she said, and her voice rose, confident, hopeful. The trunk lid creaked open and she fumbled around inside. “Here they are.”

      The box opened with a soft sound then she struck a long match, held it up.

      She wasn’t just a voice in the dark anymore. Her eyes glowed in the light from the flame, СКАЧАТЬ