Page 116 of Liar's Point

She reached for the remote and turned up the volume.

He rolled his eyes.

She gazed at the television, fuming. Had he come all the way over here just to rub her nose in this? She stared at the game, pretending to watch as she ignored the smell of his bodywash.

He propped his ratty sneaker on her coffee table and bent his head down, forcing her to make eye contact.

“What?”

“The thing is, I’m the lead here,” he said. “And I have to think about the safety of you and everyone else on this team.”

“I appreciate the thought,” she said, matching his calm, reasonable tone. “But, unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury right now given that we have two active murder investigations and no suspects.”

His jaw twitched, and she could tell she’d hit a nerve.

“And anyway, I’m capable of assessing my own risks,” she said. “I don’t need you to do it for me.”

“Maybe you do.”

Anger swelled inside her. “No. I don’t. That’s part of what I signed up for when I became a cop. And as I already told you, I really don’t appreciate you treating me different than Owen or Adam or any other man I work with.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate you keeping shit from me,” he said. “Like the fact that you noticed some guy tailing you around town. Kate told me about that.”

“So?”

“So, don’t you think that might be something you want to let me know? We’re in the middle of a homicide investigation. Two homicide investigations. Why did I have to learn that from your sister?”

She shook her head. “You still don’t get it.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Don’t get what?”

“Emmet. We work in a small town. Running into guys I’ve arrested comes with the territory. It happens to me all the time. Same for people I’m investigating, or people who don’t like me, or people who don’t like cops for whatever reason.”

“Nicole, a black SUV—most likely a Tahoe—tried to run you down last night. And we have reason to think one of our murder victims was being tailed by a black Tahoe.”

“That has nothing to do with this.”

“How the hell can you say that?”

“Because. The person I saw following me was in a silver car. Last night’s incident was a sport utility vehicle. And anyway, black SUVs are everywhere. You have no proof that those incidents are related. It could have just been one of the many local dirtbags who has a beef with me.”

His mouth tightened. “Well, I’m going with worst-case scenario because that’s how I am.”

She shook her head and looked at the TV. She reached for her plastic cup of water, but it was empty.

“When’s your next pill?” he asked.

“Never.” She glanced at him, and his brow furrowed with concern. “They make my head fuzzy, so I quit taking them.”

He watched her for a long moment.

Then he got up and went into the kitchen, and she saw him look at the flower arrangement. Her stomach tightened as he stared at the little white envelope by the vase.

Nicole looked at the television, emotions pinging around inside her as she listened to him moving around in her kitchen. He returned with a pair of cold Coronas.

“Here.”

He handed her a beer and sat down on the sofa beside her.

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