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An unnecessary stab of jealousy speared him. Millerwashappily married and no threat whatsoever as a rival for Aggie’s affections. Besides, he knew she was already in love with him. He was counting on that to work in his favor when he gave her his confession. “You're too old for her,” he said, knowing he’d get a rise out of his partner. Miller had turned forty a couple of months ago and was now obsessed with his age and keeping his body and mind as youthful as he could manage.
“As if,” Miller muttered. “And you're six years older than her, and that didn’t seem to be an issue.”
Nick laughed. A genuine laugh. It seemed Aggie had had such an influence on him that she had opened him up enough to even laugh with other people now and not just her.
“I don’t think I've ever heard you laugh before.” His partner smiled. “Aggie is a good influence on you, you're really loosening up. I’ll do whatever I can to help you fix things with her.”
“Thank you.” He honestly appreciated the offer. Perhaps opening up his heart a little to let people in wasn't so bad. The risk of getting hurt was still there, but maybe the benefits outweighed the potential losses. It had been a long time since he had let anyone get close to him, since he was eleven to be exact, but the reasons why having family and friends was a good thing were slowly coming back to him.
“Well, if you're going to admit all to Aggie tonight, then we better take advantage of our last opportunity to do some unofficial snooping before we’re outed as cops and Sebastian Candella knows we’re looking into him.,” Miller was back to all business.
“You want to check out Sebastian’s house?”
“Did you swipe her keys?”
“Yes.” He’d grabbed them on the way out this morning. After her nightmare, Aggie had slept soundly, lulled to sleep by his presence and the comfort that gave her. Despite his protestations that she spend the day at home in bed, she had stubbornly insisted that work was what was helping her right now, not lying around with nothing to do but think and dwell. So, they’d both taken showers, separately, although at his suggestion that they save water and time and share Aggie’s eyes had heated and all but screamed her internal debate. Then they’d split at her front door, her off to work, and him around the corner to catch up with Miller.
“Then why not? We may as well have a look around, see if we find anything useful.”
“How long were you listening in last night?”
“Until you guys went off to bed.”
“So, you heard …”
“Aggie mention someone being in her home the night before? Sure.”
“Did you …”
“Of course. There was some sort of interference with the surveillance system. Everything went down from around midnight, it was out for a couple of hours. I didn’t know until I checked last night. There was no reason to go over footage of her home alone and asleep in bed.”
The fear that he felt knowing someone had broken into Aggie’s home while she was vulnerable was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Fear and some sort of deep, protective rage at the thought of anyone harming her, or even causing her to be frightened. Neither he nor Miller were in her house that night, which meant that someone else was. When he found out who he would destroy them. “Was the system shut down on purpose?”
Miller gave a one shouldered shrug. “No way to tell.”
“So, someone could know that we’re watching her.”
“Aggie?”
“No, if she knew that I was really a cop looking for evidence her father is a murderer then I'd know about it, she’d be furious.” And heartbroken.
“Her father?”
“I don’t think so. If he knew I don’t think he would have agreed to dinner at her house. Besides, if he knew why I first got involved with his daughter, and that I engineered an attack on her, then I think he’d be shouting it from the rooftops. I think he genuinely loves and cares about her.”
“Then who?”
“You said there was no way to know if the system was shut down on purpose, maybe it was just an accident. Something completely unrelated. Once I tell her about the case, I'm going to suggest we get a crime scene unit to go over her house. Someone was in there, and I don’t like that.”
“They didn’t hurt her though,” Miller reminded him.
That did nothing to allay his concerns. “Doesn’t mean they won't come back, and next time she might not be so lucky. Maybe they backed out when they realized she was awake. Did you look into the cabin Sebastian mentioned owning?” he asked, needing to change the topic before he completely lost it and let his terror overwhelm him.
“Tracked it down, sent officers to check it out, no signs of Emily Hadden. I also looked into the second lakeside property he mentioned, and any other properties owned by either him or his parents. Nothing significant turned up. But the guy has a lot of money, he could easily own property under an alias. Or perhaps he doesn’t own wherever he’s stashed her. So, after spending the evening with him you still think he’s a killer?”
“Yes. A smooth-talking one. He’s a good-looking guy, and he has money, plus he knows how to turn on the charm. But he didn’t like any talk of his exes. And he’s completely egocentric. Every topic we talked about he brought back around to himself. His wives’ rejection would have come as a major blow to his ego. I think it was an if he couldn’t have them then nobody could situation.”
“We’re here,” Miller announced as he pulled to a stop outside Sebastian’s home. The house where Aggie had grown up. She had sounded so vulnerable last night when she confessed how her desire to take her mom’s place and take care of the family had left her feeling useless and unwanted when her father continually sought replacements wives.
