She’d just zipped the jeans when something bumped against the door and the click of a lock sounded.
Avery’s knees bent, her muscles tensed. She spied the gun on the nightstand on her side of the bed and dove for it.
Gun in hand, she faced the door, the weapon pointed.
“Avery?” Grant’s voice sounded as the door eased open. “Don’t shoot. It’s just me.”
The tension eased out of Avery as the door opened wider.
Grant eased through the doorway backward. He glanced over his shoulder at her and grinned. “Oh, good. You found it. Glad to see your reflexes weren’t affected by your accident.”
Shaking her head, she lowered the pistol, surprised at how badly her hands trembled. “Where the hell were you?”
Once through the door, Grant turned with a tray loaded with two plates of food and two steaming paper cups.
The rich aroma of coffee filled the air. Avery drew in a thankful, steadying breath. “If that’s coffee, I forgive you for giving me a heart attack.”
“Then I’m forgiven. And it’s just the way you like it—black with one packet of sugar. No caramel or cream.”
Her lips curved, and her heart warmed, the beats returning to normal.
He’d remembered.
On the tail of that thought was the memory of Dan delivering coffee at the station.
Avery took the cup Grant indicated and held it in her hands, letting the heat warm her fingers. “I thought twins had similar tastes and preferences.” She took a sip of coffee and glanced up. “I still can’t wrap my head around the fact I have a twin.”
“I remember once you told me you wished you’d had siblings. That you felt like something was missing in your life as an only child.”
“It would’ve been nice to grow up with a sister.” Especially since her parents had been so much older than most. She would have had someone to share the grief with when her mother had been murdered. Shaking off the sadness, she dug into the food he’d brought up from the hotel’s dining room.
Avery had just finished eating when Grant’s phone pinged with an incoming text.
He glanced down at the screen. “Melissa is headed to the sheriff’s station. She’s following Bree’s SUV.”
Avery set aside her fork and downed the last of her coffee. “I’ll be ready as soon as I brush my teeth.”
“Same,” Grant said.
He beat her to the bathroom. After squirting toothpaste onto his brush, he held out the tube to her and filled her toothbrush with a line of paste.
As they brushed their teeth in silence, Avery couldn’t get over how natural it felt to do something so mundane and yet intimate with the man she’d divorced two years before.
She had to remind herself not to get used to it. He was on his own path in life, having left the FBI and returned to his home state of Montana. Once this case was resolved, he’d go back to Montana and she’d return to the San Antonio field office, ready to take on her next case.
They made the drive to the station in silence, Avery working through what little information they had so far, trying to find any piece of the puzzle they’d missed. Sadly, her mental refresher did nothing to get her closer to finding the killer.
Grant parked next to the SUV with the Nebraska license plates.
“Good to know she didn’t leave town,” Avery commented.
Grant turned off the engine and pushed his door open. “I had the distinct impression she was as determined to find the killer as any one of us.”
Avery got out of the car and met Grant at the entrance. “If the killer is after me, she’s in as much danger as I am. Like Melissa and Sheriff Taylor, he could easily have mistaken Bree for me.”
Grant held the door for Avery. She entered to find Melissa, Bree and the sheriff standing near the front desk with Dan handing out coffee cups.
“Agent Hart, Mr. Hayes, you’re here,” he said. “I brought coffee as a thank you for last night.”
