Dean put on his best beach bum look and looked anxiously over his shoulder. “Who were those two?”
The kid responded to the “sheesh” tone. “They said private investigators. Handed me some kind of badge, but I didn’t look at it too closely.”
“What did they want?”
“Said they were looking for a woman who may have been kidnapped by her boyfriend.”
Fuck.
“But they were lying,” the kid said.
“How do you know?”
“It was the same picture of the woman in the paper yesterday for that murder up in Lewis.”
The kid was obviously pleased with his detective work.
“Really? You must have a good memory.”
The kid blushed. With his cropped strawberry blond hair and transparent complexion, that basically meant he turned beet red.
“It wasn’t hard,” the kid said. “She’s hot. Hard to believe she’d be involved in something like what they are saying.”
Dean nodded, not having to feign understanding. “I bet there’s more to it.”
“Was there something you wanted?” the kid asked, finally remembering his job.
“Yeah, a stamp for a postcard. But I just remembered I forgot my wallet back at the hotel. I’ll be back.”
Dean had all the information he needed, and he didn’t want to waste any more time. If those guys had gone into the market to talk to Patsy, there was a good chance she’d recognize the picture. It wouldn’t take them long to track them down to the guest house from there.
He wanted nothing more than to go after the bastards and put them out of their misery, but protecting Annie came first. He didn’t know if there were others involved, and he wanted to get her the hell out of here.
None of this made any sense. He’d expected the police to be looking for them, but why was Jean Paul? Was it a loose end to cover up the murders or something else? Whatever it was, Jean Paul obviously meant business. Dean had no doubt those guys had been sent to kill her.
He felt a burst of rage again but forced himself to focus. Annie. He had to get her somewhere safe.
Twenty-six
Kate looked at the screen of the vibrating phone on her desk and felt her heart drop into a dark void of dread and nearly forgotten pain. “Out of area.”
Not again, damn him. He’d promised to leave her alone if she did as he asked. She’d done her part. But since when had Colt Wesson ever kept a promise?
“I promise to love, honor, and cherish you, till death us do part...”
An icy wall slammed down hard in her head. She wouldn’t go there. Never again. Whatever love she’d once had for her ex-husband was long gone. That had been easy to forget. What had lingered was the anger and bitterness. She’d buried them beneath layers of time and perspective, and by building a new life for herself, but his sudden appearance in her life again after so many years had exposed some cracks.
She was tempted to ignore the call. But her therapist had told her she would have to face her past at some point, and Kate knew he was right. Or partially right. What he’d actually said was “forgiveness,” but that had about a snowball’s chance in hell. Kate wasn’t that much of a saint. But neither was she a coward, and she wouldn’t let him make her run away.
He was the one who’d done that.
Stay frosty.Wasn’t that what he used to say in the Teams?She would follow his advice. “Hello.” Her voice sounded appropriately sharp and brittle.
“Kate? It’s me.”
Her heart, her breath, everything inside her turned to ice. It was as if she’d just walked over a grave. Literally. The voice belonged to a ghost.
Was this someone’s idea of a joke?
