Still, she’d be safe there. Surrounded by cops and all those detectives she knew. If he dropped her there, slipped away to handle this…she’d be safe. Beckett could make sure of it. He glanced at her as he drove down the mostly empty highway in the opposite direction of Bent.
She lifted her gaze to meet his. Her eyes were full of trust. And panic, but underneath that panic and worry wastrust. He didn’t deserve it.
But her words from this morning kept coming back to him. How much belief and trust she had in him. No, she didn’t know his past.
But she did know his present. And she was so…smart. So intuitive. Couldn’t he trust her instincts better than his own?
Maybe he didn’t deserve her trust, her belief, her thinking he was good or brave, but maybe… Maybe he could be all those things because shedidthink them of him.
Maybe he had to be.
“It’s not a bad idea to go to the police station,” he said, his voice gruff. “The sheriff won’t be able to ignore the fact someone broke into your place. That’s a crime. You could officially report it, and we could just…stay put until we have more information.”
He glanced in the rearview mirror, ready to make a U-turn on the highway, head back to Bent and trust the establishment he’d bought into when he became a cop. How was he ever supposed to move forward if he was still thinking like a scared teenager who couldn’t trust anyone or any system?
That wasn’t why he’d stayed put near Brooke, his only family. That wasn’t why he’d gotten through the police academy or applied at Bent. He’d taken all those steps as part of an acceptance that he was an adult now. He had the power, and he wanted to use that power to help where he could—in a way that mattered.
Good and brave.
But he caught a flash of another car in that rearview mirror. He might not have thought anything of it, but a car that same color silver had pulled onto the highway as he’d left Hope Town proper. He thought it had turned off back at the exit to Bent County, but it was still there.
Far enough away to be a tail.
Or it’s a different car, or some old lady driving at the speed of molasses. Don’t jump to conclusions. This isn’t the Sons.
Since the coast was clear, he made the U-turn. If that person followed them back the other direction, then he’d know for sure. And if they did—he’d be headed to the police station. If they didn’t, well, he was getting Franny to safety either way.
Franny’s phone pinged. “It’s another text from Copeland. He says, ‘Second thought, don’t come to the police station. Dead body of kidnapper found.’” Franny looked up at him wide-eyed.
“Well, we’re good then. He’s dead and we’re on our way to the station. You can ID him and…”
Franny cleared her throat. “There’s more, Royal.” Her voice shook. “They found the body…in your apartment.”
Yeah, definitely not good.
Chapter Twenty-One
Franny had managed to settle her panic a bit, until the last part of that text. Why would the dead body of the kidnapper be inRoyal’sapartment? She knew her writer brain wasn’t based in reality, but the only thing that made any kind of sense to her was that…
“Someone…set you up?”
“Maybe.”
He was so calm. So detached. “What do you mean, maybe?” she demanded, unable to be any of those things. “There’s a dead body in your apartment.Youdidn’t put it there.”
“No,” he agreed easily.
“Royal.”
He flicked a glance at her, but there was nothing behind it. No heat or ice or anything. Just a kind of blankness that chilled her. “I’m going to take you to the police station.”
“No, we’re not going anywhere near the police station. Copeland told us not to.” She waved her phone at him as if that would get through to him. “We’re going to listen.”
“I’ll just drop you off.”
“Royal.” She couldn’t let him do that, but she couldn’t quite think of what to say that might get through thatcopfacade. She’d seen Copeland and Thomas put that on. So easily shutting off any…personunderneath this job they did. The only thing she could do when they did that was maintain being reasonable. Find some cop facade of her own.
“I understand you think getting me out of the way would be safe,” she said, hoping her voice sounded as calm as his. “But Copeland is telling us to stay away.Us.We need to listen to him, so we don’t complicate whatever they need to investigate with the…”
