When he reached for her again, she didn’t pull back but hurried with him toward the minivan.
“They could have been following you instead,” she said once she’d reached the driver’s side door. “You did have the quote in theInformer. But you don’t think so, do you?”
“Neither do you.”
Rachel nodded, her knees wobbly.
When they reached the minivan, instead of immediately hitting the unlock button on her key fob, she tested the door handle first. Still locked. She leaned close to the windows to check behind the seat anyway before climbing inside.
“How long do you think they were out here?” She climbed inside and inserted the key into the ignition.
“Could have been a while.”
They exchanged worried looks over how they’d spent the afternoon. Rachel glanced back at the house first, then the garage. She’d checked her van lock, but they hadn’t looked around for boot prints that didn’t belong to either of them.
She blasted the heat inside the van, and frigid air shot to her face and feet, but the shivers that overtook her again had nothing to do with the cold. Could someone have been lurking just outside of one of the garage’s three automatic doors, listening?
“I hope it wasn’t long.” Her stomach felt rock-hard as she added, “That was alsonota white SUV.”
Next to her, Mick dragged his teeth over his bottom lip. “And this time, we’re nowhere near a fire scene.”
* * *
Mick knocked on Rachel’s back door ninety minutes after she dropped him off at his truck. He’d waited until the evening’s stranglehold on daylight finally eased, but he no longer knew why he bothered trying to visit her in secret now. Whoever had been trying to frighten her already knew about him, and it would be more difficult than ever to keep her safe.
He adjusted the strap of the backpack he carried this time, his civvies folded inside for work in the morning. She would argue about his plan, but he would be spending the night on her couch whether she thought it was a good idea or not. He couldn’t leave her and the girls there, exposed.
She pulled open the door, wearing a knee-length robe, flannel pajama pants peeking out at the bottom, fuzzy slippers on her feet. The towel wrapping her head announced that she, too, had showered. He doubted that hers had been for the same reason—that he couldn’t concentrate with her scent still on him, threatening his senses every time he took a breath—but she’d washed him off all the same. She waved him inside and shut the door.
“Are the girls in bed?” he asked in a low voice.
“Just. It won’t take them long to go to sleep. They played hard today.”
Her gaze flicked to his, hinting that she knew of two others who’d played with some enthusiasm of their own, but she looked away and padded into the dining area. He needed to forget about those things if he hoped to help her at all.
She’d tucked the messenger bag into one of the chairs at the table, but her laptop was open at her regular spot, a notebook and pen resting next to it. He set his backpack on the floor before removing his coat and hanging it on the same chair he’d claimed lately.
“What’s that?” She pointed to the backpack.
“Clothes. I should stay over.” At her wide eyes, he added, “On the couch. Just to make sure everyone’s safe.”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
And later, he would convince her to let him stay, but he decided not to start an argument just yet. They still didn’t know what they would find inside those folders, including what he suspected whoever had been in the driveway earlier didn’t want them to see.
He pointed to the messenger bag. “Did you already…?”
She shook her head and then pulled the whole thing on top of the table. “I haven’t had the chance yet.”
Either that, or she wanted him to be there while she examined it. Since he suspected there would be something even more awful in those files, he was glad she’d waited. He wanted the chance to support her no matter what she found.
She pulled the first file out and tipped back the corner, hesitating.
“Last chance to put the whole thing away and pretend you don’t know anything while you still mostly don’t,” he said.
“I think we’re beyond that.” She stared down at her fingers for several seconds and then looked up at him. “Whoever that was in the car, they really didn’t want me to know what’s in these files.”
Her jaw tightened as the determination he’d come to love about her flashed in her eyes. She opened the file flat, angling the stack of papers so they both could read.
