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“She might not like it. And I definitely don’t know if she’d like the idea of you looking into his coworker for it. That might hit way too close to home for her. I have three older sisters and trust me, you’re gonna wanna tell her what’s up before you dig any deeper. Take her temperature. She if she wants you to do this, or if it’ll feel like some kind of… I don’t know, space invasion.”
There was a long pause, then both men burst out laughing.
After a second, Jack managed to collect himself enough to speak. “Space invasion? Really?”
“Jack, you woke me up. I’m exhausted. But if you pretend that’s not something that usually has to do with aliens, it still fits. Invading her space. Violating her trust. Something like that. Get her okay before you keep after it.”
“Alright, will do. Thanks, man. Sorry again for waking you up.”
“Anytime. And yeah, watch your back for that other reason too.”
“I will.”
Jack hung up with a weary sigh. He was tired, but now that this idea had taken root and Tommy had validated his suspicions, he was also restless over the idea that his new coworker could be involved in the mysterious death of another officer.
It was too big. Too much. He wanted more than anything to pick it all up, tuck it back into the evidence box along with the physical items, then turn it in and forget any of this ever happened.
But since he couldn’t do that, he got up for a drink of water instead. Maybe that would help his still-pounding headache, and then he could get some sleep. But as he stood at the kitchen window with his glass, his gaze drifted to Robin’s house, and he jumped.
Silhouetted in the window was the perfectly visible form of Robin in a small red tank top, her long blonde hair pulled into one of those mom buns. And even from this distance, even with everything muddling his mind and the waters between them, she still managed to take his breath away.
She seemed to sense his presence, because she looked up expectantly, then her lips pulled into a thin line as she raised her hand.
He waved back, then frowned when she disappeared. Had he imagined all of that? But then she was back, and she held up her phone, pointing at it before looking down for a moment.
He felt his phone buzz in the pocket of his sweatpants, and he sent her a questioning look as he fished it out. He’d given her his number the first Christmas season he’d been in town, but she’d never used it.
Robin: I just finished cleaning up a floor full of glass shards, thanks to a restless munchkin who got up to get a glass of water and dropped it. What’s your excuse for being up so late?
Jack looked up at her with both brows lifted, and she shrugged back at him as if to say, “Kids.”
He chuckled and lifted his own glass, then his phone signaled another text.
Robin: Don’t drop it.
He bit his lip. He shouldn’t … but then his thumbs worked over the screen before he could stop them.
Jack: If I do, will you come over here and help me clean it up?
Her mouth parted in surprise as she read his reply, and he could hear her little gasp in his mind. Her gaze flew to his, and for a long moment, he had to use every ounce of self-control not to raise a hand and crook his finger at her.
But then the events of this evening—and the real reason he was even up at this hour—crashed into him as if the universe were trying to hit him over the head with it. He shook his head and typed out another message, not giving her a chance to reply to the question he’d asked.
Jack: I was working on a case that’s been bugging me.
Tommy’s warning about telling Robin the truth about what he was doing was fresh in his mind, and he figured maybe now was as good a time as any.
Robin: In Snow Hill? I haven’t heard of anything major happening lately.
Jack: It’s a cold case.
After he sent the text, he watched Robin’s face again through the two windows and twenty feet of side yard that separated them.
He wasn’t sure what he expected to see, but thanks to the hand that she’d brought up to her forehead, he couldn’t see anything at all. Her hand flexed as she rubbed her temples on either side of her face with her thumb and fingertips, and it was all he could do to stay rooted in that spot instead of charging next door to get a better look at her.
When she finally dropped her hand, his breath came out in a whoosh at the sight of her small, touched smile.
Then she shook her head and looked down, and two seconds later, his phone buzzed again, and then she was gone.
