AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded. “Positive.” She sighed. “Is it evidence? I mean, is it going to be tainted because you don’t have a search warrant?” she worried.
He pulled a paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a search warrant for a brown-and-white thermos known to belong to May Strickland. “Wow,” she said, looking up admiringly as she handed it back.
He chuckled. “I try to cover all my bases. If this pans out the way I expect, I’ll be back with a search warrant covering a lot more territory.”
“You might want to check May’s closet,” she mused. “She never washes anything, and she never brought me any laundry. See, she went out the day Julie disappeared.” Her face set into hard lines. “I loved Julie.”
“I’ll catch her killer,” he told her, and his expression emphasized it. “Thanks.”
“Glad to be of help. Should I tell Mr. Downing and May about the thermos . . . ?”
“Oh, please do,” he replied. “But not until tomorrow. Do something that keeps you busy enough that you won’t think of it.”
“I’ll do that, too.” She smiled at him. “I’ll bet crooks run from you.”
“Some have,” he confessed. “Good night.”
She nodded and went quickly back inside. Tom took the thermos by the sheriff’s office to enter it into evidence, and asked the sheriff to relay it to the lab and then meet him at the county line to take it to the crime lab in Denver. He put as much a rush on it as he could. The culprit, he explained to Jeff Ralston, might decide to take a powder.
It was very late by the time he got through with his duties. He stopped by Annalisa’s house on the off chance that she might still be up, and saw that the porch light was on and the Christmas tree he’d helped decorate was in the picture window facing the road.
He tapped on the door. She came running in her sock feet and opened it at once. “You’re all right,” she said, breathless and relieved and unable to hide it.
He felt his heart jolt in his chest. “You were worried about me,” he said, as if he could barely believe it.
“Of course I was worried,” she said, fighting tears. “You said you’d be right back!”
He pulled her against him and held her tight, rocking her, his face buried in the thick, soft blond hair curling around her shoulders.
“My God,” he whispered reverently, and with feeling. “Nobody ever worried about me. My parents never expressed any emotion at all toward me and my sister. We were just responsibilities and tax deductions. It didn’t matter to Angie if I came home, because she was either away on business or, and I didn’t know it at the time, out with another man.”
“Well, I care,” she muttered against his sweater, and he felt the moisture of tears. “You could have phoned,” she added, hitting his broad chest with a small fist.
He drew back enough to see her face. Her eyes were red and swollen, her lips trembling. He wiped away the tears. He kissed her eyes shut and hugged her close. “I’m sorry. It just never occurred to me.”
“Was it the case you’re working on?”
“It was. Crucial evidence. I had to pick it up and then I had to have it relayed to Denver, to the crime lab. Unusual circumstances, but I don’t want my suspect to go missing.”
She smiled through the tears. “I’m sorry . . .”
“Sorry for caring about me?” he chided. “Shame on you.” He smiled. “I like it. Although I don’t like upsetting you.” He bent and kissed her soft mouth with breathless tenderness. “Am I too late for soup? I’m starving.”
Her heart lifted. She laughed. “No. I’ll heat it up.”
He followed her into the kitchen with its cheerful yellow curtains and red Christmas accents. “The tree looks good.”
“Yes, it does. I love Christmas. It’s how I get through hard times. I think ahead to holly and bows and lanterns and trees lit up like jewels in the night.”
She was like a jewel herself, he thought. Bright and lovely and sparkling. He thought about leaving her as the case wound up, and it was actually painful. He couldn’t get past the obstacles: his age and her distaste for his job. They seemed insurmountable. But they had these few days, he thought with quiet joy. They’d have to last him the rest of his life, so he wasn’t leaving any tarnished ones behind. He wanted her passionately. But he wasn’t going to compromise her. No protection was foolproof. Hell, he didn’t want any protection. He wanted babies, and logs burning in the fireplace, and Annalisa waiting for him when he came in the door at night, running to him because she . . .
He stopped in his tracks, staring at her back as she stirred the soup in its red boiler. She loved him. Why else would she be in tears at the thought that something had happened to him? Then he realized something else. He was feeling the same thing. He was protective of her. How had this happened, in just a space of days, when he’d almost had to be dragged to Raven Springs to work the case? And now he didn’t want to leave, because of Annalisa. Because she loved him, and he wanted to be loved.
“It’s ready,” she said, smiling over one shoulder as she poured the soup into a bowl, produced crackers on a saucer, and put it on the table. “Coffee, or something stronger?” she asked.
He chuckled. “I don’t drink very often. Mostly a glass of white wine, if I have to go to some social venue. I like coffee, even this late.”
“I made some, just in case,” she said.
