It was a possibility, but she felt that they were taking too much of a chance going with that. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not bet my sister’s life on that theory.”
Morgan propped himself up on his elbow and looked into her face. “Well, neither would I, which is why I’ve arranged for Nik to have a protective detail the second she gets off the plane.”
She knew Morgan meant well, but she viewed his solution from a woman’s point of view. “Just what Nik needs, a squadron of police officers around her and Finn. Perfect way to start off her married life.” Before he could say anything more, another thought occurred to Krys. “Besides, isn’t there some sort of a time limit on this?” She saw him raising a puzzled brow so she explained, “Someone within the department must be balking at what this is all costing the city of Aurora.”
“There isn’t any cost limit,” he told her.
That just didn’t make any sense. “What are you talking about?” she asked. “Everything costs these days. I imagine police protection has to cost a fortune in overtime pay.”
“It would,” Morgan agreed. “But not when it’s all off hours.”
She didn’t understand. “Off hours?” she questioned. What was he talking about?
“That’s right. This is family business,” Morgan explained, “not police business.” He smiled broadly. “That’s one of the benefits of being a Cavanaugh,” he told her. And then he drew her closer to him. “Now, don’t you have anything better for your mouth to be doing than talking?” he asked her. “Because if you don’t,” he said, lowering his voice, “I can think of at least one thing—possibly two,” he added as he returned to lacing a wreath of kisses along her neck.
He was doing it again, Krys thought. He was pulling her back into the enticing vortex of heat and dizzying passion that he was so very capable of creating for her.
Krys gave up voicing her concerns and just allowed herself to become totally wrapped up in the heady, mind-blowing reality that was Morgan.
Come morning, Krys was once again acutely aware of the lack of time she was currently dealing with. She wished she could buy into the theory that Morgan had voiced, that whoever had been out to kill her, for whatever reason had first prompted him, had given up or just called it a day. She tried to believe that she, and consequently Nik, were in no more danger now than they normally were.
But something in Krys’s gut made her feel that this wasn’t over yet. That there was another verse of this melody that still needed to be played out. Moreover, she didn’t have any idea of where or when the melody would start up again. Or just how intense it would wind up being.
A deep dive into not just Lawrence Jacobs’s financials but the financial dealings of anyone close to Jacobs turned up nothing.
“If the guy was paying off a hired killer, he found a new source of currency to do it, or he had someone else paying for it.” Morgan leaned back in his chair, staring at the information he had waded through that was on his screen.
So much information and he had gotten nowhere.
“If you ask me, if Jacobs was paying someone to eliminate you, he lost faith in the assassin and decided to call the whole thing off.” He waved at the screen. “There’s no paper trail and, don’t forget, no more evidence of any further attempts on your life.”
“Then what? You’ve decided to call off the protective detail?” Krys asked. She wasn’t worried about herself, but she was worried about her sister.
“No, not yet,” Morgan told her, not wanting her to worry. “We’ll give it a few more days once Nik comes back to Aurora.” He thought for a moment. “Say a week after Nik and Finn get back. If at that point there are no indications that she—or you—are in any danger, then maybe we’ll think about packing up our tents and slipping off into the night.”
He looked at Krys to see how she felt about this latest school of thought.
Krys felt that she had to agree with him. Morgan was right and she was undoubtedly just being paranoid.
She forced herself to say as much. “You’re right.” But even as she said the words, she could feel her gut tightening—for more than one reason.
“Does this mean you won’t be camping out in my house anymore?” she asked. She did her best to sound blasé about it, but the truth was that the thought of his not being with her was upsetting. She had gotten very used to having him around.
“Why don’t we just take this one step at a time?” he suggested. “There’s no sense in rushing anything, right?”
There was a smile she couldn’t begin to fathom or untangle playing on his lips. A smile that nonetheless made her stomach flutter.
Krys inclined her head. “I bow to your superior wisdom.”
“Well, I think I can safely say that’s probably the last time I’ll ever hear anything even remotely like that again,” Morgan told her with a genuine laugh.
They were in the squad room, which meant that this really wasn’t the time to let herself react to Morgan and that sexy laugh of his. It was a lot safer if she just changed the subject—which she did.
“Since you haven’t said anything, I assume there’s been no progress in locating that woman who Bluebeard had taken hostage and was in the car when he had that accident?” Krys asked.
From the information that had been available, they had come to the final conclusion that the woman had to have been the serial killer’s next intended victim. There was nothing to point to any other reason she had been in the vehicle with him.
“None whatsoever,” Morgan answered. He was nothing if not persistent and said
