“What is it?” I fist my hands in his shirt and give him a little shake. “Gray?”
“I lost control yesterday,” he whispers in a raw voice. “I almost killed that man. Would’ve, if you hadn’t stopped me.”
My heart hurts hearing the desolation in his tone.
“You were protecting me,” I’m quick to defend. “He was hurting me and you stopped him.” Even as I’m saying it, I realize that’s not the problem. It’s losing control at all that has him spooked.
“What if you hadn’t been able to? Or even worse, what if I got mad at you? Who’s to say—”
“That’s enough,” I cut him off. “You would never do that.”
He removes his arms from around me and grabs my wrists. The only thing I can read from his face now is agony.
“You don’t know that,” he mumbles, turning away and creating a distance between us I don’t like.
“I do know that,” I counter firmly. “Everything I know about you tells me you are a good man to the core. For God’s sake, Gray, you jumped through the glass pane of a door to protect me.” He’d had a cut on his face and a few on his hands they’d cleaned up in the hospital. “I don’t believe you could ever touch me in anger.”
Despite his rigid posture, I walk right up to him and plaster myself against his body, not allowing for any space. It takes a few moments, but eventually I feel his arms close around me as he buries his face in my hair.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Have such blind faith in me?”
I lean back so I can look in his face.
“Easy,” I tell him. “I know what evil looks like.”
Gray
“I was told at Olson’s I could probably find you here.”
Officer Derek Francisi is standing on the front steps when I open the door. I’d been half-expecting the cops to come knocking at some point.
“Come in. Robin is just getting out of the shower.”
She walks in as I’m handing the officer a cup of coffee.
“Ms. Bishop, how are you feeling?”
“Robin, please, and I’m fine. A bit banged up is all.”
“Coffee?” I ask her.
“Please.”
She turns to me with a kind smile and her eyes hold a promise.
We never finished our earlier conversation, when I asked her what she meant by knowing what evil looked like. Kim called, interrupting. Then I remembered I should probably get in touch with Jimmy, during which Robin headed for the shower. So that comment of hers still burns in my mind, but it’ll have to wait.
She sits down at the table facing Francisi.
“What can I do for you this morning?”
“Just following up. Anything more you’ve remembered from yesterday morning’s events?”
“Not really, except maybe wondering how the hell he got in? I didn’t notice any signs of a break-in, and I know I locked the front door behind when I got there.”
Derek shoots a glance in my direction before responding.
“That’s because he had a key to the back door.”
She sloshes coffee on the table when she sets her cup down too hard.
“How would he have a key?”
“That’s the question we haven’t been able to ask him yet.”
“How is he?” I can’t stop myself from interjecting, an uncomfortable feeling creeping under my skin.
“Rough,” he says, giving me a hard look. “But he’ll live. You messed him up good, though: he’ll need surgery to fix his face.” He turns back to Robin. “As to how he’d have a key, that’s part of the reason I’m here.”
“Not from me,” she blurts out indignantly.
“I figured as much, but thanks for confirming. Who else has a key to that door?”
“As far as I know Jason, Donna, me, and of course, Kim, the owner. She’s the one to ask if you want to make sure.”
“I plan to. Right after I leave here.”
“So…” Robin puts a hand on my knee under the table before she continues. “What will happen now?”
Francisi moves his chair back and gets up.
“Once he’s back on his feet, he’ll be heading for jail and new charges will be added. No judge is gonna let him go before his trial, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“And that’ll be the end of that?”
I cover her hand with mine. I know what she’s digging for and apparently so does Francisi.
“Robin, the only charges coming out of this incident will be felony charges against Mike Hancock. We’ll keep you updated.”
I push a hand on her shoulder when she tries to get up, “I’ve got it,” before following the officer to the door, stepping outside with him.
“You sure?” I ask him, partially pulling the door closed behind me. “Prosecutor may remember my name.”
“Got nothin’ to worry about, Bennet. I understand your concern, but I suspect your reputation isn’t half as bad as you may think it is. Your father’s reputation was another thing altogether. Not a lot in this town goes unnoticed.”
Feeling a weight lifted, I watch as he ambles to his patrol car and gets behind the wheel. I’m still standing there when he passes another vehicle coming up the drive. A silver compact driven by a woman I don’t recognize. Not at first anyway.
“Excuse me, who are you?” she snaps, getting out of the car.
She’s young, in her twenties if I had to venture a guess, and something about the challenging look she shoots me is familiar.
“Paige, right?”
“Where is my mother?”
She looks over my shoulder at the partially closed door and shoves her hand in her purse, and I lift my hands up defensively. As I suspected, her hand comes out holding a small can I assume is mace.
“She’s inside.”
The young woman gives me a hard look and I step out of the way when she barges past me and shoves open the door, yelling for her mother. I follow in a little slower to find the two women facing off in the living room.
“What the hell?”
“Calm down, Paige, I’m fine,” Robin soothes. “Let
