Liam watched the deputy drive away with some residual anger still in his chest.
At Mater, at Blake’s father, at the men who had invaded the Bennet home.
When Liam had told the woman that he wasn’t leaving her side, he had meant it. Now, he somehow meant it even more.
Price’s house was furnished but only with the basics. Had it been just the two of them, it probably would have felt cold and empty, but when Liam finally went back inside, he was met with a slew of toys, mats and little knickknacks that came with the territory of children.
Breadcrumbs, he thought while scooping up a little alien stuffed creature by the door. He hadn’t had much time to interact with Bruce and Clem but had noticed the girl clinging to the stuffed creature earlier that day.
Liam was going to bring the toy to her when he spotted someone on the couch in the living room.
Blake looked ready to drop, but when she saw Liam, she gave him a little nod.
“Did Price leave?” she asked.
“Mm-hmm,” he confirmed. Liam spotted the baby monitor on the coffee table next to her. He could see Bruce and Clem on the display, both asleep on the main bed.
“Lola’s on the couch next to them. She’s using nap time to catch up on sleep herself.” Liam was about to suggest Blake do the same, but a change overtook her expression so quickly that it momentarily made him pause. She took advantage of the space. “I want to use this time to ask you a question. One I haven’t actually asked yet.”
Liam felt his eyebrow rise.
“What is it?” he asked.
Blake, obviously tired and in need of sleep herself, had a voice that was suddenly as hard as steel.
Those eyes kept his entire attention as she spoke.
“Whether or not I’m being targeted, or you’re being targeted, I’m going to focus on the one thing we’ve had in common the last week or so.”
“Missy Clearwater’s death?”
She nodded.
“But now I want you to tell me—why do you really think Missy Clearwater was murdered?”
LIAMHADTObe tired, but he didn’t look it. Instead, he somehow managed to exude an energy that sent a surge of steadiness up Blake’s spine. He was calm. He was focused.
He was very good-looking.
It had a cold-water-to-the-face kind of effect on her.
The drag of her cold meds and the aching exhaustion that had been pressing down on her since that morning temporarily disappeared.
“I guess keeping you in the dark isn’t going to keep you safe, like I once thought,” he said, a slight teasing in his words. It was another small break from the normally quiet man. She leaned into it with a snort.
“Keeping me in the dark just leaves me in the dark, and I’d like at least a flashlight beam in here,” she said in return.
Liam nodded to that. He let out a breath and sank onto the couch cushion next to her. Blake angled her body to be able to meet his eye the best she could, given how the man was just as tall sitting as he was standing.
“First off, are you familiar with Doc Ernest?”
“The medical examiner for the county? Yeah, I know her. More from when we were younger though. She’s a good egg.”
He nodded again.
“That was my impression of her too, despite not having many reasons to interact with her through the years,” he said. “So when she called and told me that she thought Missy was already dead before she hit the ground, I had no reason to not believe her.”
“Missy was already dead?”
