Page 50 of In the Dead of Night

“He passed away in a motor vehicle mishap a few months after retiring,” he said.

“Oh no!” Even though the prospect of gaining helpful information from the former detective had been a long shot, Sara felt the words like a gut punch. “A car accident?”

“Hit and run.” His expression hardened. “Someone ran him off the highway.”

“Did the police find the person responsible?”

“No.”

Suspicion spun through Sara’s mind like shards of glass, cutting through the last remnants of hope. A dozen scenarios rose inside her. One look at Nick and she knew he was thinking the same thing. “Do you think he was murdered?”

“I think it’s a possibility.”

Needing to move, Sara rose and began to pace, her wine forgotten. “My God, Nick, if it wasn’t an accident…” Her words trailed; she could barely bring herself to utter them. “Someone killed him to cover their tracks.”

“Keep him from digging,” Nick added.

The thought sent a shudder through her that went all the way to her bones. “How are we going to prove any of this?”

“We keep digging until we find something concrete.” He tossed her a sage look. “Until we blow this thing open, I don’t want you out of my sight.”

An argument drifted through her mind, but Sara didn’t voice it. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared. If Stocker could kill a trained detective, he could get to anyone….

“All right,” she replied.

“No one knows you’re here with me,” Nick said. “Let’s keep it that way.”

“Okay. I can do that.” She looked at him. “But I’m not going to sit around and do nothing.”

He approached her, his eyes going hard. “You can’t go back to the mansion. I’ve got two officers working for me. The Cape Darkwood budget can’t afford for me to pay one of them to babysit you.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”

A quiver went through her when he set his hands on her shoulders. “Someone is trying to kill you,” he said. “They almost succeeded yesterday. I’m not going to give them another chance.”

She didn’t want to make eye contact. There were too many emotions inside her, too close to the surface. She knew that once she looked into his eyes she would be lost.

“Look at me, damn it.”

The pull to him was too powerful; she wasn’t strong enough to resist. Like a swimmer caught in a current, she would be swept away and drowned. She only continued stare at the floor, he cupped her chin and turned her face to him.

She felt the contact like an electric current running the length of her body. Heat and shock and a dozen other sensations she couldn’t begin to name.

“Why are you shaking?” he whispered.

“Because there are other things going on that scare me, too.”

“You mean between us?” His gaze searched hers.

“Yes.”

“It scares me, too.”

“What are we going to do about it?”

“Take it slow,” he said. “Like this.”

The floor caved in beneath her feet when he lowered his mouth to hers. The electrical pulses she’d felt earlier shot outward and exploded in every nerve ending. Her body went rigid. With shock. With pleasure. With the intellectual knowledge this was going to complicate an already complicated situation.