The children had finally gone down for an afternoon nap and she had a moment to herself. Her aide would watch the sleeping angels for fifteen minutes and then Darby would return the favor. She retreated to the break room and enjoyed a cola. For a full ten minutes, she relaxed and sipped her soft drink, content to daydream about making love with Aidan. The intimacy between them was so intense it felt a little scary. She’d never imagined it could be that way…certainly not based on her previous experience—all two times.
What she and Aidan had was special. But what would become of their relationship when Lester was caught and Aidan no longer had any legitimate reason to stay? He would be assigned to a new case and she would be left behind.
An ache pierced her and she had to blink back a wave of tears. Would he ask her to go with him? Would he consider staying? She loved New Orleans…didn’t feel complete when she ventured too far from home. But would this eclectic city be all she needed to keep her happy?
No way.
She wanted Aidan in her life. Didn’t want this to end.
Today, she decided. When she got off work this evening they would have to talk. She wasn’t going to ask for a commitment, just some indicator of what he wanted or where he saw this relationship going.
She loved him. Mistake or not, it was what it was. Every instinct told her that he felt the same way, but she couldn’t seem to trust her instincts these days so that gave her no comfort.
Her ten minutes up, she went to the bathroom and freshened her lip gloss, ran a brush through her hair. Afterwards she returned her purse to her new locker in the ladies’ lounge and headed back to the class of four-year-olds where she’d been assigned.
A man waited at the door.
Her forward movement stalled and her heart lunged into her throat.
But when he turned around, she recognized him and relief slid through her.
“Detective Willis, what’re you doing here?”
Dumb question, she considered belatedly. He was here about the case, of course. The relief she’d felt suddenly hardened into fear.
Had Lester struck again?
That was her worst fear where he was concerned. The thought that he might harm another child tore at her insides. But he was dead, wasn’t he? She sensed that he was…but could she trust her senses?
A resounding no echoed through her brain.
The only thing she could really trust in any of this was Aidan’s word.
Only that once had she doubted him and she’d rationalized that incident to the point of completely setting it aside.
“We need to talk. Privately.”
The detective’s solemn expression sent a new kind of uneasiness slipping over her nerve endings. This did not sound good at all.
“Sure.” She poked her head in her classroom and warned her aide that she’d be a few moments more, then she led Detective Willis back to the break room.
“Shall we sit?” she asked, thoroughly unnerved by his somber demeanor.
“You might want to.”
Darby took a seat in the closest chair, her knees having gone weak with his words. “What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
“We discovered Lester’s body this morning.”
Relief soared once more. She exhaled a mighty breath of it. “That’s good, right? Where was he found?” The whole city would rest better knowing that bastard was dead and, no doubt, in hell.
“He was deep in the swamp. Not that far from where we found the remains. But he was hidden in such a way that it took a team of dogs to find him.”
The sound of the dogs barking flashed in her mind but she forced it away. Didn’t want to see, or even imagine, the horror of it.
She scrubbed her hands over her face, suddenly weary. Though she felt profound relief at knowing it was over, something nagged just beneath the surface of her newly found calm.
“I want you to see this.”
Darby hadn’t even realized he’d been holding a large envelope, the nine-by-eleven kind that would hold letters without having to fold them, until he offered it to her. Or photographs, a little voice added.
She took the envelope, her hands suddenly shaking. She banished the foolish trepidation. What was wrong with her?
After opening the clasp, she reached inside and pulled out a thin stack of glossy eight-by-tens.
Her breath left her chest in a rush as her brain absorbed what her eyes saw. Lester…executed in a gruesome fashion.
He was going to die…slowly…painfully.
The thought rammed into her mind, reminding her of what she’d felt coming out of that swamp.
She had known this was going to happen.
“We found my other officer, too,” Willis said quietly. “He’s still in a coma but the doctors think he’s going to make it.”
Her gaze lifted to meet Willis’s. He towered over her, his expression accusing. “How did this happen?” Not that she regretted for one moment Lester’s horrible death. He’d deserved it. Her jaw clenched at her own hardheartedness. But it was true. The bastard had murdered at least seven children. He deserved this—she glanced back at the photograph in her hand—and far worse.
“We don’t know how it happened. The only people we know of having been in the swamp at around the approximate time of Lester’s death are you and your friend.”
Darby blinked, startled at the implication of his words. “What are you implying?”
He sat down beside her, his expression softening just a little. For the first time since she’d made Detective Willis’s acquaintance, she felt a little uncomfortable in his presence. He had stronger feelings for her than he should.
She swallowed back the anxiety building in her throat and struggled to hold his gaze.
“I’m not saying you had anything to do with this,” he amended gently. “But your friend is another story. What do you really know about him?”
She shrugged, gave her head a little shake. “What’s to know? He’s my friend. He’s been protecting me.”
“Are you
