“Last I knew she was working in the scientific research community, same as Theo. That’s what she went to university for—chemistry and science. Laurel loved solving problems and doing things to make the world a better place.” Willow sighed. “My sister had a brilliant mind. That’s why it shocked me when she said she’d quit her job to move way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
A dark look not unlike suspicion crossed Razor’s features. “What about Theo? Do you think it’s possible she was running away from him?”
“No way,” Willow said. “He was the love of her life. I can’t imagine how scared she had to be that she’d run and leave him behind.” She glanced at Razor in the dim light of the dashboard. “This can’t come as news to you, if you and Theo are such good friends that he sent you here to find her. What did he tell you about my sister?”
“We don’t talk often. All I know is he wanted me to keep her safe for him.”
“He trusts you that much?”
“He does, for all that’s worth now.” Razor swiveled his head and met her gaze. “I want you to know that you can trust me too, Willow.”
She stared at him for a long moment, caught in the intensity of his eyes. “I guess I don’t have any other choice, do I?”
“Not if you want to live.”
Willow broke his unsettling stare, lowering her eyes to the charred pendant in her hand. “Razor... There is something I need to tell you. Something Laurel said to me.” She braved a brief look at him. “There was something she wanted me to do for her.”
His keen eyes seared her from across the small quarters of the Jeep. “Go on.”
Reaching into her blouse, Willow took out the necklace that matched Laurel’s. She held it up for Razor to see and his stare locked onto the small silver key dangling next to the half-heart.
“Laurel made me swear that if anything ever happened to her—if she...didn’t make it—that I would use this key to open a storage unit she rented when she first arrived in Colorado.”
He cursed under his breath. “What’s in the storage unit?”
“I don’t know. But I made her a promise and now I need to keep it. I need to unlock the unit and see what she left for me inside.”
“Where is it?”
She gave him the location in Breckenridge, which had to be close to six hours away from where they were on the mountain pass.
Razor nodded grimly, then he hit the accelerator and the Jeep sped faster into the night.
CHAPTER 5
They made good time on the pass. Some five hours later, Razor pulled into the storage rental place in Breckenridge.
The small mom-and-pop business on the outskirts of the city didn’t look like much at 2AM, but he counted that as a positive. No security gate to deal with as he drove the Jeep onto the quiet lot. No cameras trained on the entrance or on the twenty-odd, one-story rows of concrete-block outdoor storage units either. Weak yellow light shone down from ancient-looking lamps mounted on either ends of the buildings, barely illuminating the rusted steel numbers that hung above the units’ garage-style doors.
Not exactly a booming business, and that had probably been the point when Laurel had selected it. This looked like the kind of place to stow something and forget about it for a decade or three. Or hide it where no one would ever think to look.
“Laurel’s unit should be somewhere near the middle section,” Willow said quietly, as she peered out the windshield.
She’d been silent most of the long drive, hunkered down in the open-air passenger seat in an almost catatonic state. Shock, Razor had reasoned. To say nothing of the grief that had to be pulling her under. She was cold, too. Willow had retrieved an old wool blanket from the back of the Jeep and nestled under it during the drive, but even now she shivered with it draped around her.
This errand in Breckenridge was a delay he’d rather not have risked for many reasons, but he had to admit he was curious to know why Laurel would send Willow here. What had been so important that she’d make Willow swear to it?
Whatever it was, as soon as they had the answer, he needed to put as many miles as possible between Willow and her sister’s killers. Every minute they spent in Willow’s Jeep was an opportunity for more murderous bastards to close in on them.
She sat up a little straighter now. “That must be the unit over there,” she said, pointing at one of the squatty buildings. “Based on the numbers, her unit should be the third one down from the end.”
Razor nodded and drove toward the one she indicated. Most of the padlocks on the weather-beaten unit doors looked like relics from a generation ago. The lock on Laurel’s unit was the exception. It gleamed under the thin moonlight as the Jeep rolled up with the headlights doused.
Willow slid out of the passenger seat as soon as Razor put the vehicle in park. He came up behind her as she struggled to move the thick tangle of her hair away from her nape to unfasten her necklace.
“Let me.” His hands closed around hers loosely.
He wasn’t prepared for the arrow of heat and awareness that shot through him as soon as his fingers made contact with hers. His breath stilled in his lungs, while every other part of him lit up with an electric jolt of desire.
