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“Me too. We’ve got too much ahead of us to cut it short now.”

A thrill ran through her at his words. “We do. We need to figure out who this is and stop him.”

Burke nodded. “I agree with the pronoun. The actions are more likely male, as are our two prime suspects. The security video supports that, although that person could have been hired to deliver the present. He might not have known it was a bomb. Marcus is looking into local delivery services to see if one of them had scheduled a delivery here.”

Rissa nodded. “That’s a good idea. If someone was only hired to deliver it, their personality doesn’t matter. It’s the person behind it all who does. Dan would be more likely to wait and attack someone face-to-face when he had a clear advantage.”

Burke frowned. “A coward under all that bravado.”

She nodded. “Even if I was expecting an attack, I didn’t have the strength or skills needed to get away.”

Burke shifted again, lifting her while he moved to sit in the couch’s corner with her on his lap and Frizzle in hers. “Have you taken any self-defense classes?”

She leaned on his shoulder. “The police recommended a local gym with female instructors after Dan hurt me. I’ve taken a couple of classes, but I’m not an expert.”

“That’s a good start. We can keep up your practice. All the guys learned self-defense as part of our military training, so that’s a start, but coming at it from a female perspective is smart. We’ll see if any of the women here or in town can do group lessons. Now, tell me why Curt’s personality isn’t that of a bomber.”

She smiled, knowing he wanted to take her mind off Dan. “As you know, Curt’s crimes weren’t physical. He used his brain and his mathematical skills to steal, but didn’t hurt anyone physically. Is that right?”

Burke nodded. “It is. As far as I know, he doesn’t work out at all. It’s difficult to imagine him in a physical confrontation. He wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone with even a little training.”

“But he has the connections to hire someone.”

Burke sighed. “Maybe. He worked with the Clancy organization and probably met a few of their thugs up close when he couldn’t make a payment. The big problem with that theory is that the entire Clancy organization is pissed at him. They mostly flew under the radar before he got involved. None of them would do him any favors after he’s exposed their involvement.”

“Did you have to talk about how you found connections between Curt and the Clancy organization in court?”

Burke shook his head. “I wasn’t put on the stand. The FBI kept my name out of it.”

Relief shot through her. “Good. It doesn’t make sense for them to be behind this, but I was worried that might not be true if you’d had to testify.” She didn’t want to say it out loud, but if there were a criminal gang involved, the first attempt would have likely finished the job.

“You think Curt hired someone, but not someone from inside the Clancy organization.”

She nodded. “Maybe. Or talked someone into doing it for him. Does he have family or friends who would do this?”

Burke leaned his head back against the couch. “I don’t know. Joel never mentioned anyone out this way. Joel and I talked a lot about the apple farm when we inherited it. If he had family nearby, I’m sure he would have mentioned it.”

That was a relief. She didn’t want Burke’s boss to have any more sadness piled on him. Joel sounded like a decent man.

Burke’s voice was thoughtful. “Boston and Vermont aren’t that far apart. If it wasn’t a delivery service, someone could have driven here, dropped it off, and returned home before dark.”

They sat for a while, snuggled together on the couch in silence, while they thought through the possibilities.

When Burke straightened, he smiled at her. “I’ll send another email to my FBI contact. Ichiro is pissed that someone attacked me and agrees it’s probably about this. He’d appreciate your analysis. I’ll send him a text and give him your thoughts.”

He typed away on his phone for a few minutes, then he grinned. “Ichiro thinks you’d be an excellent addition to the FBI’s analysis team. He figures your profiles are dead on for the people involved. He’ll let us know.”

Her cheeks flushed at the praise.

Both their phones beeped with a message from Mara to the Apple Gang chat “An Italian feast awaits. Bring your appetites in ten.”

Burke grinned at her. “Ten minutes. What could we possibly do to entertain ourselves for ten minutes?”

Then his lips crashed onto hers.

Best ten minutes ever.

Chapter 17