With her arms still crossed over her chest, Rachel reached for the jacket Mick had draped over his arm and hung it on the coat rack. She wasn’t encouraging him to stay, she decided. Just being polite. He pushed his hood back but kept the sweatshirt zipped.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said.
“I’ve been meaning to check in on you since the other day.”
“How did you know where I live?” She raised her hand. “Scratch that. I was listed as my brother’s emergency contact in his personnel file.”
“Ding. Ding. Ding.I didn’t even need the small-town information network for that one.”
“Using his records to find me wasn’t exactly ethical.”
“I’m seeing a few gray areas,” he said with a shrug. “Including not contacting the police after the incident near the fire scene.”
“Besides only having a scary vibe to report, how would you have explained why you askedmeto take you to pick up your truck? The sister of the person you replaced wouldn’t be most new chiefs’ first choice.”
His lips formed an O and then closed altogether. He pointed to the front window. “But if you were watching for people through the blinds, as one of your girls mentioned, then you’re reallynotokay. Did something else happen?”
“That was Carly.” She pointed to the twin on the far side of the sofa. “And other than seeing white SUVs everywhere the past two days—even one regularly in the school pickup line—nothing new to report.”
“I’ve been seeing a bunch of them, too.” He unzipped his sweatshirt, revealing a navy firefighter T-shirt, this time with the wordChicagojoining the Maltese cross. “Can’t anyone buy a blue vehicle like mine?”
“Speaking of your pickup, where’d you park?” She peeked out the blinds again, trying to make out a truck from among the snow-covered SUVs and sedans lining the curb. “You were right. We shouldn’t be seen together.”
“Left it at the apartment. I’ve decided I like walking.”
After placing his boots on the mat, he sidled next to her, too close, and bent to peek through the same slat. She let it fall against the window.
“I thought maybe you could show me the strange emails you found.”
He pointed to the kitchen table where Rachel’s laptop rested in the dark, over-the-ear headphones positioned on its closed lid. She shook her head.
“I already told you about them.”
“At least let me look for myself. Especially since I didn’t tell the investigators about the emails or the SUV.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He shrugged as though the decision hadn’t sat well with him, and then his gaze lifted, trapping hers in its intensity.
“Maybe I was trying to get you to trust me.”
The connection lingered until she had to look away, her mouth dry. She knew better than to trust anyone lately, so why was she so tempted to rely on the man, who remained one of the biggest obstacles for her brother ever to get his life back?
“All right. I’ll show you, but I don’t think you’ll find anything new.”
“Then let’s look.”
Rachel shook her head. “First things first.”
“What do you mean?”
With her thumb, she gestured to the television. “I believe you promised to watch a riveting princess story with two young ladies, who have—” she paused to glance at her watch “—fifteen whole minutes until bedtime.”
Rachel waited, expecting him to suddenly remember something else he needed to attend to at the station. Other than her father and brother, she was used to being disappointed by men.
“Wouldn’t want to forget that date,” he said.
Mick padded over to the couch and settled between the girls. He spread the throw over their three laps as though they watched animated royalty together twice weekly. “Okay, who’s going to tell me what I missed?”
