That was how it had to be. He couldn’t share the professional Shane with her.
And he wouldn’t share the personal one.
Jessica clicked off the last picture and leaned back in the chair. None of the photos were of any help to them except the one Shane had already saved to his hard drive. Prissy had taken lots of pictures, or had others take them. There were several of her with Autumn, with Hammy, with her coworkers at Pappy’s, judging from the green and white uniforms, and several other people Jessica didn’t know. There were also dozens of selfies. Prissy had apparently been pretty wrapped up in herself. Of course, that didn’t come as a surprise.
Shane rose from his chair. “Our pizza should be ready by now.” He held out a hand to help her up. “Ready to go?”
She allowed him to assist her. “If you have the ingredients, I’ll stay and whip us up some salads while you pick up the pizza.”
Indecision moved across his features, and for several seconds he didn’t speak. Finally, he nodded. “I’ve got lettuce, tomatoes, cukes and carrots. Bowls are in the cabinet to the left of the sink.”
She watched him lean over the office chair and sign out of her Dropbox account. It was probably something she should have done, but she didn’t have anything to hide. He apparently did, because he shut the computer completely down. He was being extra-careful with whatever he had stored on there.
When he reached the door, he turned to face her. “It’s completely dark now. Stay inside and keep the door locked. I’ll walk you home when we’re finished with dinner.”
She smiled. “I think I can make it across the street without being mugged.”
“Your sister was killed and you’ve been threatened. No need to take unnecessary chances.”
“I just don’t want you to feel obligated, like you have to protect me. I do all right taking care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second. But humor me. Us guys, we like to be protectors. It’s the way God wired us. You know, the whole knight in shining armor thing.”
No, she didn’t know. “I thought knight in shining armor was a Hollywood concept. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen it in real life. It’s been my experience that no one does anything nice without ulterior motives.” Most of the guys she’d known were more interested in using her than protecting her.
Shane put a hand on her shoulder, his expression serious and filled with meaning. “Then you’ve been associating with the wrong kind of men.”
In the dim light of the apartment, his eyes had darkened to a deep hazel. The warmth there touched something deep inside her, and an unexpected sense of longing gripped her heart.
She drew in a shaky breath. “Maybe I have.” She just didn’t know there was any other type. Shane seemed too good to be true. In her experience, men who seemed too good to be true usually were. She knew nothing about Shane. How could she have let him into her life when he was shrouded in secrets?
As soon as he left, she headed toward the kitchen to prepare the salads, glancing around the living room as she passed through. The area was cozy, the furnishings simple. Two end tables flanked the couch, and a matching recliner sat adjacent to it. The space looked like the other time she’d been there. He was at least consistent. Not super neat, but definitely not a slob. A used mug sat on the end table, and a throw pillow had become wedged between the couch cushion and the edge of the couch. The Bible still lay on the coffee table, but this time it was open.
She couldn’t make out any of the words from the other side of the couch, not even the headings at the top of the page, but several lines had been shaded and tiny notes had been scrawled in the margins. Shane took his religion seriously. He didn’t just read the Bible. He studied it. Was his faith what made him different from the other men she had known?
She hurried through the salad preparation, then picked up her phone. Shane wouldn’t be back for another fifteen minutes. Twenty if Pappy’s was as busy as he’d said and it took them some time to check him out.
She walked to his desk and laid her phone next to his computer. After sinking into his office chair, she sat for several moments, index finger hovering over the power button. The old Jessica wouldn’t have given what she was about to do a second thought. Now it didn’t feel right.
She heaved a sigh. Shane had encouraged her to trust him, and she had, to a certain extent. She’d even given him a key to her house. But trust was something that went both ways. At least, it was supposed to. In their relationship, it seemed totally one-sided.
Shane was definitely up to something. This could be her only opportunity to find out who he was and why he was in Harmony Grove. She wasn’t going to throw that away.
She depressed the power button. While she waited for the laptop to boot, she played a ten-second video she’d recorded with her phone forty minutes earlier. By the time Shane’s login window appeared, she’d replayed the video five more times and was pretty confident she had what she needed.
She keyed the random combination of letters and numbers into the password field and hit “enter.” A half second later, Shane’s desktop appeared. When she clicked the folder icon on the task bar, a list of ten or twelve folders appeared, assigned numbers rather than names. She clicked on the most recent one, several files popped up, but her attention zeroed in on a folder. It was named “Parker.”
A chill swept through her. Why did Shane have a folder on his computer
