Dead Right (Stillwater Trilogy #3)(51)
Author: Brenda Novak

The chief didn’t seem to be handling it very well. According to what he’d said when he first arrived, he still didn’t know whose panties had been found in the trunk, despite Madeline’s offer of a reward.

But someone had to know where they came from and how they got where they were…

“I’m taking this tape,” Pontiff announced, acting more self-important than he would have if Hunter hadn’t been in the room. “It’s worth keeping, just in case.”

“Just in case,” Madeline repeated, chuckling bitterly.

“What?” he said.

She didn’t respond. He wouldn’t like what she had to say. The answer—the resolution for which she hoped and prayed—never came to pass. All she did was wait. She’d been waiting for almost twenty years.

Hunter, seeming to understand her frame of mind, interceded. “Give us a call if you find anything,” he said, showing Pontiff to the door.

Once Toby had left, they were alone with Kirk. He eyed Hunter, then looked at her and made a startling announcement. “I’m taking that ski trip, Maddy.”

Madeline gaped at him. “By yourself?”

“Why not? It isn’t like you’re going to change your mind about going with me. And I’m not planning to stick around to watch what I saw earlier.”

She couldn’t deal with this. Not now. “I’m sorry, Kirk. I never meant to hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

She thought anger and jealousy might tempt him to contradict her or blame her but, after a moment, he seemed to become once again the man she’d always known. “Yeah. It’s just…too bad it didn’t work out.”

It was too bad. Her life would’ve been so much simpler if she could’ve thrown her whole heart into their relationship. But she’d always felt torn about Kirk and not completely committed. “You’ve been good to me,” she said sadly.

He jammed a hand through his hair. “Hearing you say that hurts worst of all.”

She frowned. “Why?”

He started toward the door. “Because that tells me it’s really over.” Pausing at the exit, he added, “But you’re a fool if you get involved with him.”

If? Madeline was already involved with Hunter.

When she didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, Kirk walked out.

She sat perfectly still, waiting for the customary panic to set in. She was really letting him go. After five years, this was it. The end.

But she didn’t feel the urge to run after him. And that was scariest of all. Because there could be only one reason.

Hunter Solozano.

Chapter Fourteen

Madeline sat with Hunter in a corner booth at Two Sisters, with her back to the door. Two Sisters did more breakfast and lunch business than dinner, but this was Friday and at six-thirty it was fairly crowded.

Madeline kept her face averted from the people sitting at the other booths and tables. They’d just finished a meal of meat loaf and mashed potatoes and were settling in for coffee and pie. But she didn’t want to see anyone she knew. She was still reeling from the events of the day. Stillwater had always seemed so safe. And yet suddenly, everyone and everything looked different.

As a result, she felt jumpy, defensive, even a little lost. Hunter was forcing her to question everything she’d once believed.

“You’re sure you want me to stay?” he asked.

Was she? She was caught in the middle of some dark mystery that seemed to have no solution. If he continued to search for the truth, she’d have to accept whatever he uncovered—good or bad. And she already knew what he thought might’ve happened.

But if he left, would she be able to pretend that nothing had changed?

“Are you going to answer me?”

She still longed to feel his hands on her. What they’d shared earlier wasn’t nearly enough.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted, running a finger back and forth over the smooth handle of her coffee cup. Where was her confidence? Her faith in those she loved? She remembered her father sitting her down at the kitchen table to tell her that her body was a temple, that she should never let anyone defile it.

Those were not the words of a pedophile.

“Do you trust me?” Hunter asked softly.

She stirred a spoonful of sugar into her coffee. “I don’t even know you.”

“Is that what you think?”

No. She hadn’t known him long and wasn’t familiar with the details of his personal life, but she trusted him instinctively. Or she wouldn’t have done what she’d done with him out in that field. Maybe it was because they’d skipped the usual small talk of strangers and jumped right into subjects that affected them on the deepest levels. Maybe that was why their relationship had progressed at such lightning speed. But she knew he was smart, he was a leader, he’d do a thorough job, and he wouldn’t hurt her if he could help it.

That was a reasonable start, wasn’t it?

“I’d like you to stay,” she said.

“Then I should move to the motel.”

“Because…”

He met her gaze, and it was almost as if she could watch every detail of their earlier encounter played out in the reflection of his eyes. “Because you know what’ll happen if I don’t.”

She was fighting so many battles at once, part of her felt it wouldn’t be so bad to concede that one. What was one torrid affair in thirty-six years?

But the saner part of her knew she might not be capable of making the best decisions right now.

You’re a fool if you get involved with him…

What if her infatuation with Hunter grew? What if it turned into something more? Where would that leave her when he went home?

“Okay.”

The waitress came to refill their coffee. Madeline mustered a smile because she recognized the woman from church.

“So…after hearing that message a hundred times, do you think it was Mike?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know. He couldn’t have gotten home and left that message before we reached the office. But he could’ve left it earlier, I suppose.”

“I’ll drop by tomorrow, see what he has to say about it.”

She’d made the right choice, she decided. She needed Hunter here. But, God, it was terrifying to consider what he might find…

“We should call Clay, too,” he said. “Tell him about the message.”

The old defensiveness instantly reared up again. “Clay would never do that to me.”