Page 72 of The Woman By the Lake

Her cabin was maybe a one-minute drive from his place, once you navigated the lanes, which, both his and hers, added another couple minutes.

So they were at her place in no time, and there were three Fret County Sheriff’s vehicles in it, lights still flashing, though one of them just arrived, because the deputies were grabbing gear to prepare to see if there were any forensics to be collected.

When he switched off his truck, he turned to her. “Wait there. I’ll lift you down.”

“I can climb out, Riggs.”

He raised his brows.

“I’ll wait,” she mumbled.

He ducked his head to hide his smile and got out.

“Hey, Doc,” Wade Dickerson, one of the newly arrived deputies called.

“Yo, Wade,” he called back as he rounded his vehicle.

She had her door open and her belt off, and he didn’t bother spotting her as she gave it a go. He just grabbed her waist, hauled her out and put her to her feet.

“Well, that was expedient,” she said.

“We’ll practice it,” he teased.

“You carting me around?”

“No. You getting in and out of my truck.”

She did an eye roll.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the cabin.

“Footies.” Sean Stole, another deputy, met them at the door and handed them both two slips of blue fabric with elasticated edges.

Damn, they were taking this seriously.

Maybe their discussion about the Whitakers tweaked Harry.

Or maybe Harry liked someone fucking with Nadia about as much as Riggs did.

“Hold on to me to steady yourself as you put them on,” he ordered Nadia.

She did as told and pulled the footies over a pair of strappy flat sandals.

He followed suit, balancing on each leg.

“You’re so macho, I think they have to alter the definition of macho to describe you,” she said like it was a complaint.

“What?” he asked.

“You couldn’t hold on to me when you put on your footies like I did with you?”

“I got good balance.”

“So do I.”

“My house wasn’t just broken into so I got my head together.”

“You skidded to a halt in your driveway not fifteen minutes ago.”

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