give it another go.
He just hoped he’d have enough self-control to wait until Maddy wasn’t watching.
He distracted himself by dialing the number of the ICU waiting room at the hospital where Cissy was being treated, asking to speak to someone with the Cooper family. His brother J.D. came to the phone.
“It’s me,” Sam said. “Just wanted to check on Cissy.”
“She’s moving around,” J.D. said. He was trying to keep his voice calm-self-control was J.D. Cooper’s defining characteristic-but he couldn’t mask an undertone of excitement. “The doctor says it may be a sign she’s coming out of the coma.”
Sam felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders. “That’s great news!”
“The doctor’s not sure how much she’ll remember, if anything, so I don’t know if she’ll be able to help you catch the guy who did it,” J.D. warned.
“All that matters is getting her well.” A knock sounded on his office door, and Maddy jumped to her feet at the noise. “Go tell her that Maddy and I are rooting for her.”
“Will do,” J.D. said.
Apparently tired of waiting for Sam to get off the phone, Maddy went to the door and opened it, throwing herself at Kristen Tandy with a squeal of excitement. Kristen’s wince, though quickly suppressed, made Sam’s stomach knot.
“J.D., someone’s at the door. I’ll call you later.” Sam rang off and hurried to the door to peel his daughter off Kristen’s legs, swinging her up to his hip. “Sorry about that.”
Kristen shook her head. “Just caught me by surprise.”
“Miss Kristen, come see what I drawed!” Maddy held her hands out, her fingers wiggling with excitement, as if she could draw Kristen to her through sheer force of will.
Kristen pasted on a smile and caught one of Maddy’s flailing hands. “Slow down, cupcake.”
“Why don’t you finish it up while Miss Kristen and I talk? Then when we’re through, you can show it to both of us.” Sam put Maddy down on the floor again.
Maddy looked ready to argue, but he gave her a gentle nudge toward the coffee table where she’d been filling a couple of his spare legal pads full of squiggly drawings. With a long-suffering sigh, she picked up one of the highlighter pens he’d given her to draw with and went back to work with renewed zeal, the tip of her tongue peeking through her cupid’s bow lips.
“Sorry about the delay.” Kristen settled into the armchair he indicated. He pulled up the chair’s twin and turned it to face her, unwilling to have the bulk of his large oak desk between them.
“Everything okay?” he asked. She looked distracted.
“I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Nothing to do with this case. Did you find any letters from Darryl Morris?”
“A couple.” He handed her the letters he’d culled from his files. “The first one is pretty straightforward. Morris asks me to reconsider the plea deal. His tone is urgent but not particularly hostile.”
“I see that.” She set that letter aside and picked up the second one. “This one’s not quite as…diplomatic.”
“No.” In the second letter, Morris had informed Sam in angry language that he’d contacted the mayor to lodge a formal complaint against Sam and the district attorney’s office for their decision to make the plea bargain. He also informed Sam that if the D.A.’s office didn’t reverse the decision, he’d contact the media, as well.
“Did he contact the media?” Kristen asked.
“Probably. But Charlie Morris was a seventeen-year-old kid who’d already been pulled over twice for speeding and who had just dropped out of high school because he ‘didn’t like all that school stuff.’ The driver of the other vehicle was a devoted father and husband who ran a popular pizza restaurant and volunteered at a homeless mission. Honestly, the media wouldn’t have touched the story with a ten-foot pole.”
“And he never wrote you again?”
“There’s nothing else from him in the files.”
Kristen’s brow furrowed. “I guess we at least bring Morris in to tell us why he was taking photos of the kids at the preschool. Maybe if we keep him talking long enough, we’ll find out if he still holds a grudge against you.” She held up the letters. “Can you make me copies of these?”
“Those are the copies. I thought you might want them.” He gave her the file to hold the letters. “Any chance I could take a look at the interrogation video when you’re done?”
She shot him a wry look. “I think you overestimate the technological savvy of the Gossamer Ridge Police Department.”
“You do record audio, at least?”
“We do. I’ll ask Carl if it’s okay to let you take a listen.” Kristen stood up, tucking the folder under her arm. Sam was about to remind her of Maddy’s request when she turned to Maddy on her own and said, “Now, Miss Maddy, you had something to show me?”
Maddy beamed at Kristen as she crouched beside her at the low coffee table. “It’s me and Uncle Gabe, see? He taked me fishing. I catched a big catfish, see?”
“I see,” Kristen said, sounding impressed. “Did your daddy clean it and cook it for you?”
Maddy looked up at Kristen in horror. “Cook it?”
“We haven’t told her where fish sticks come from yet,” Sam said quietly.
Kristen gave him a “now you tell me” look and turned back to Maddy. “I’m sorry, did you say catfish? Of course you don’t cook catfish! So, that’s you in the green dress, right?”
Maddy nodded, pointing her stubby little finger at some more squiggles on the page. “That’s Uncle Gabe, and that’s Rowdy-”
“J.D.’s dog,” Sam supplied. “Mom and Dad are keeping him, along with Mike, at the lake while J.D.’s up here at the hospital with Cissy.”
“And that’s Uncle Jake in his boat,” Maddy continued, pointing at a speck just above the patch of blue that Sam supposed was the lake, “and that’s you and daddy.” She beamed up at Kristen.
Kristen turned and gave Sam an odd look. Bending closer, he saw why. The stick figures Maddy had identified as Kristen and him were standing on the pier, holding hands.
“That’s a beautiful picture, baby,” Sam said. “Why don’t you draw us another one?”
Maddy grinned up at him and went to work on a fresh page of the legal pad.
Kristen pushed to her feet and turned to Sam, keeping her distance, “no touching” written all over her body language. “I’m going back to the station to pass all this by Carl and get the go-ahead to bring Darryl Morris in for questioning. I’ll see you later, Maddy, okay?”
Maddy looked up at her, frowning. “Don’t you wanna see my picture?”
“You can show it to me later at the house. Make it pretty!”
“Okay!” Maddy turned back to her drawing.
Sam hurried after Kristen, catching up at the door. He laid his hand on her arm to stop her from leaving. “We need to talk.”
Her chin went up, but her eyes didn’t quite meet his. “I’ll call to let you know how the interview goes.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Her jaw squared a bit more and this time she met his gaze, her eyes defiant. “You’re not going to go all squishy on me about a stupid kiss, are you? Because if I’d known you were going to be such a girl about it-”
“You’re projecting, Detective.” He leaned closer, smiling a little as her lips trembled in response. “You don’t want to admit how much it got to you, do you? So you pretend I’m just imagining that pulse in your throat fluttering like a butterfly.”
Her throat bobbed and her eyelashes dipped to shield her eyes from his gaze. “Whatever last night was, it’s not going to happen again. We’re clear about that, right?”
His smile widening, he opened the door for her. “Let me know how the interview with Morris goes.”
Not looking at him, she slipped out the door and disappeared down the hall.
Sam’s smile faded as he walked slowly back to his daughter’s side. It might have been fun seeing just how far he could get under Kristen Tandy’s prickly skin, but she had a point. Sure, when the case was over and done, there’d be no ethical reason why he and Kristen couldn’t see where their attraction would take them. But there were other reasons not to entangle himself with her, beyond the ethical questions.
Kristen was kind to Maddy, and Sam had no doubt that she’d give her own life to protect his daughter, but that
