Page 35 of Lawman’s Witness

She stared at him astonished. “So he has killed before?”

“I found evidence that in high school, he was questioned by the police about a former girlfriend who was attacked and hospitalized for her injuries. Like this time, he had an alibi. His new girlfriend swore they’d been together all night. His attacked ex-girlfriend accused him at first, but later retracted it, saying she didn’t get a good look at her assailant. It would appear that he got away with it.”

“Just like he’s trying to do now.”

“I haven’t quit investigating from the moment you walked through that door saying you’d just witnessed a murder, but I might not be a homicide detective long enough to see this through. I’m getting a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to stop.”

“You could lose your job?”

“I’m more worried about letting you down or failing to keep you from getting killed.”

Amy Sue sat back and took a breath. “I’m just afraid that no matter what I do, Jack Marshall is going to get away with murder. I suspect you are worried about that, too, Detective.”

He laughed. “Isn’t it time you called me Russ?”

“Russ.” She liked the sound of it on her lips and felt heat rush to her center as their gazes met. His eyes were a rich warm brown like melted dark chocolate, his lashes long. It struck her how handsome he was, especially when he smiled.

But it was the look in those eyes that sent butterflies flitting around in her chest. Like a lightning bolt, she felt the electricity of it spiking not just desire, but an aching need she’d never felt so strongly before. Russ’s look promised so much more than she’d ever dreamed possible.

Amy Sue swallowed and glanced away to reach for her fork and cut off a piece of the pineapple Danish. She could feel her fear of letting a man into her heart again. As she put the bite in her mouth and chewed, she felt shaken by the look that had passed between them. She instantly doubted it, telling herself that he was only being nice. Only doing his job.

But when she looked up again, she knew something real was happening between them. It had never felt more real. Russ was taking a chance on her, one that could cost him his career. Not just that, she realized. She’d seen both desire and that aching need in him as well. They both wanted this, needed it.

“What do you think?” he asked and smiled. For a moment, she felt confused and didn’t have any idea what he meant. “The Danish. Have you ever tasted anything like it?”

She licked her lips and laughed. “I haven’t. It’s amazing. Do you mind if I…” She nodded toward the rest of the one she’d taken a bite from.

“It’s all yours,” Russ said, sounding pleased. He had wanted her to like his grandmother’s concoction as well as the café. Mostly, though, he wanted her to like him and she did. “I’m really glad you like it.”

Nodding, she more than liked this man. Her instincts told her that she could trust him not just with her life but with her heart. She wasn’t sure if she was the one who leaned in for the kiss or if Russ had initiated it. Not that it mattered.

The moment his lips touched hers, she felt the ground under her feel solid for the first time in months. He cupped the back of her neck, drawing her closer as he deepened the kiss. She knew that she would never taste pineapple again and not remember this moment and the joy of their first kiss.

Even as they drew apart, she could tell it wouldn’t be their last. There was something as solid as the ground in Russ’s look, a staying power that said he was in this for the long haul.

Now if they could just stay alive, she thought as her cell phone rang.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Amy Sue didn’t return her sister’s call until after Russ walked her back to the hotel.

“I’m worried about you,” Josie said without preamble when she answered. It was the lawyer in her, Amy Sue told herself. Or maybe the second sight she had on occasion. Josie hadn’t been worried about her going to Billings alone for a week and look how that had turned out. But if she’d seen anything bad happening beforehand, she hadn’t said anything.

“Has your second sight come back?” she asked between bites of cold fries. She was joking, kind of. When Josie didn’t answer right away, she was alarmed and said, “It has, hasn’t it?”

“Maybe, a little. I don’t know for sure,” her sister said. “Of course, I’m worried about you given the kind of man Jack Marshall is. I have a really bad feeling.”

Amy Sue had known that anything she did to get justice for the murdered woman was putting her in danger. But her sister telling her about her so-called bad feeling felt more real and terrifying than she wanted to admit. Like their grandmother, Josie had seen things before they happened. She said she sensed them, a darkness she saw coming.

When Amy Sue came to Billings to prove Jack Marshall was a killer, she’d been angry because she hadn’t been believed. But she’d also wanted justice, and not just for what Marshall had done. She wanted justice for what had happened to her last year. A man had tried to kill her, but the real pain was that he’d made her trust him only to break her heart. Getting justice for that then-unknown woman Marshall had tricked and murdered had made her fearless.

She no longer felt fearless. Detective Russell Tate had made her want to believe in love again and a future she could only dream possible. The only thing she was willing to risk now was her heart with him. But she’d made a promise not just to herself but to Liz and even Whitney. She couldn’t go back on that any more than Russ could stop trying to get justice as part of this job—even if he lost that job.

Last night after Russ had arrived so quickly following her call, she had let her sister know that she was safe and that the detective was with her.

Now she filled Josie in on what she’d discovered yesterday. “The dead woman’s name is Whitney Clark. Russ is following up on it, but we still need to find someone to verify our suspicions as to how Jack Marshall pulled it off given his alibi.”

“We?” Josie asked.