“I’ll explore the periphery, see if anything else seems worth searching.”
“Do it like you’re taking a stroll,” he warned.
Sasha nodded. “I’ll act wide-eyed and excited to be here.”
Like it was her first trip. “Good. I’ll keep an eye on you as I check out some of the fixed objects with passing curiosity.”
As she unclasped her fingers from his with unhurried steps, his hand lingered. Truth was, he didn’t want to stop touching her. And letting her out of his range bugged the control freak in him. But working fast and smart would do far more to make Sasha safe than refusing to let go.
Even after the last of his fingertips glided over her palm, he felt her touch burn through him as they strolled around the bandstand. Sasha wrapped her arms around herself as if she wished she had a coat—or needed his warmth.
Nick studied the stone steps, walked up, paced across the floor of the stone dome, then back down the other side. The electrical box stood maybe ten feet away.
When he reached it, he glanced down. Sure enough, the oblong gray panel had a door on the front, secured by a small lock. Nothing else he could see nearby opened with a key.
“Hey,” he called out when Sasha drifted toward a nearby trash can. He held out his hand to her, and she strolled closer. “Did Mike have any friends who worked for the city? Someone who might have given him a key to this box?”
“We had a neighbor whose wife worked for the city. She and Mike talked fairly often about sites they loved and what it was like to work for local government. In fact, I think she worked for the city’s parks and parkways department.”
“Come here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. Their bodies collided. He dipped his head again, trying not to get lost in her sweetness as he unfastened the chain from her neck and let the key slide into his palm. Regretfully, he pulled away. “Let’s see if your key fits this lock.”
She sent a sideways glance at the panel. “Could we really have found it already?”
He shrugged. “It makes sense. I don’t think Mike meant the search to be hard.”
“He stumped me.”
“No. He just didn’t explain everything because he didn’t intend for you to dive into this dangerous shit alone.”
Sasha frowned. “How was I supposed to know that?”
“He sent you the flowers with the card and the key. And he told you to find me, right?”
“Yes,” she admitted as if the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. “You’re right. He planned everything.”
Nick nodded. “He meant for me to help you find his evidence.”
In fact, the more Nick looked at the situation, he began to wonder if Mike had wanted him to take care of Sasha, not just now but always.
Dangerous fucking thought…
Nick pocketed her chain and palmed the key. His heart thudded as he sent her one last glance, then scrutinized the area. The coast was clear. He had the wind and the dropping temperature to thank. Who knew how long this boon would last?
He didn’t waste another second before he bent to the hip-high box and shoved the key in the hole. It fit—but it didn’t turn. The lock, like the door itself, had weathered with the elements. It was slightly rusted and stubborn, but with some brute force, it gave way. With a scrape and a squeak, it protested as it unlocked and the door slid ajar. Nick wrenched it the rest of the way. Beside him, Sasha gasped.
“What are we supposed to find?” She glanced up and down the electrical panel, scanning well-labeled breakers and a few plastic-coated wires. There wasn’t much else to see.
“I don’t know.” He dragged out his phone and launched the flashlight app to make sure he wasn’t missing anything hidden in the shadowed recesses of the box. With eager fingers, he tapped his way around the inside of the lid, the sides, the crannies underneath the guts of the panel. Nothing. Then he felt his way along the top.
His fingertips brushed over a hard, plastic ridge.
“I think I got something.”
“What?”
Nick groped to find the best grip around the edges. A flash drive. He yanked it. The sounds of Velcro drifted up with the wind.
Just like that, he held Mike’s evidence in his hand. Triumph and hope for Sasha’s future roared through Nick. For the first time since receiving Mike’s phone call asking him to look into Clifford because something seemed crooked, he had hope this situation might turn out right.
