Lyra heard Archer’s exhale of relief as they stepped into the cool, clean and somewhat quieter air.Her ears still buzzed with music.“We worked well together just now.”
His eyes flashed for a second.Was he also remembering exactly how well they’d worked together by the bar, his hand sliding down her neck…What wasthat?
“You almost ate our witness.”
She waved that away.“Details.We got answers.”
He considered her for several long seconds.“I have a feeling partnering with you will be complicated.”
“I’m not simple.”
“Far from easy,” he said.
“I’m not easy.”
That got the corner of his mouth to lift, almost a smile.“I’ll regret this.”
“Shake on it?”
He eyed her outstretched hand, as he’d done at the condo.
“What, Caidos don’t do handshakes?”
“No.”
She held her question about why he didn’t want to touch or, in particular, be touched.
But he touched you.She shivered at the memory, at the need he’d seemed to feel for her.
“Who is Tara?”he asked.“Andcouldsomething that happened five months ago play into this?”
Lyra rubbed her forehead.“I don’t know, but it sure looks like it’s connected.My twin brother, Kirin, was dating Tara’s daughter, Ellie.Tara is Dragon, but she married a Deuce, and Ellie took after her dad’s class of Crescent.Huff totally disapproved of Kirin and Ellie being together, which I thought was weird consideringhemarried a Dragon.After Tara went missing, Pop admitted that she secretly gave him her blessing for Kirin and Ellie’s relationship…and they became clandestine friends.Once the authorities found out, Pop became the first suspect.Some people, including me, think Huff did something to her.Because there was no sign of foul play, the case went cold.”
Archer was observing her.“There’s more.Something that bothers you.”
“How do you know?”
He made a vague gesture toward her.“Your facial expression.”
Yeah, right.
“A few days after Tara’s disappearance, Kirin, Ellie, and I were at the office in the bakery.I spotted a note tucked beneath the calendar pad on the desk.As I started to pull it out, I realized it was from Tara.Has your mind ever jumped from one possibility to another at lightning speed?No, you’ve probably never done anything impulsive in your life.”Except maybe that thing in the bar…
“All I saw was that it was signed ‘Love, Tara.’I panicked.What if she wrote something that looked bad?What if Pop went to prison because of a word, a phrase, and the next thing I knew I was sticking the note into the Yankee candle jar that was on the desk.”
Unfortunately her rash action had fractured Kirin’s relationship with Ellie.
Archer raised his eyebrows.“You burned the note?”
“Men are convicted on circumstantial evidence all the time, even without a body.I couldn’t take a chance of some stupid note sending Pop to prison.I knew he didn’t do anything to Tara.Of course, in hindsight, I wish I’d read it.Subconsciously I must have thought that if he’d kept the note and hidden it…” She couldn’t even say it.
“That he was in love with her.”
Lyra nodded.“And…maybe that baby is his.”She didn’t want to think it, but damn, the possibility nipped at her.
“I can help you go back in your mind so you can read the note.”
“Really?Like hypnosis?”
