Page 83 of Counter Attack

“Maybe that wasn’t where you were supposed to go to university. It would’ve been terribly difficult if you’d been in California when your grandfather had his bypass surgery.”

As usual her grandmother was right. She also would have missed a couple of really good courses that Irvine didn’t have. “Nathan is a good guy, but I don’t have time to add a relationship to my life.”

“You may want to rethink that, missy. If you don’t, one day I fear you will greatly regret it.”

43

At eight fifteen, Nathan slowed and turned into the sheriff department’s parking lot. He was running a little late. He’d almost decided to go into Chattanooga by himself to dig into Phillip Denton’s background, but he realized that was a mistake—he wanted and needed Alexis with him.

Not only that, he wasn’t going to throw away a friendship forged on the elementary school playground—they’d been friends that long.

She met him just inside the entrance. “You’re late.”

“Good morning to you too. Did someone get up grumpy this morning?”

“No. Butsomeonehas had a lecture from her grandmother ... and maybe God.”

He bit back a smile. A discussion from Godandher grandmother could only be good, but now was not the time to ask what it’d been about.

“Can we go? Madden is expecting us in an hour, and we may hit heavy traffic.”

“I’m ready whenever you are—my truck is parked in the sally port.”

By the time they rolled out of town, the silence in the cabhad grown like an overinflated balloon that threatened to pop any second. Nathan wasn’t driving to Chattanooga like this and pulled over on the side of the road.

“Look,” he said, turning to Alex. “I’m not sorry about what happened last night, but you are, so I apolo—”

“Stop. I was as much to blame as you were.” She blew out a breath and leaned her head against the back of the seat. “Do you think we can forget it ever happened?”

“I don’t think so—that was some kiss.” Nathan had his share of relationships, and he didn’t remember any of the kisses from them. “But we have to go back to where we were before last night, so why don’t we put ‘us’ on a shelf to deal with after we solve this case?”

She raised her head and looked at him. “Can you do that?”

“Sure.” No, but neither could they work together with this bomb ticking between them. “Can you?”

“Of course.”

Alexis probably could. “Good. It’s settled then.” After making sure no cars were coming, he pulled back onto the road. “So have you learned anything from Denton’s file that Madden sent?”

She took out her iPad. “No. I’ve only read my report of what happened, but I plan to read the rest on the way.”

“Will this be your first time to read the whole thing?”

“Yeah. Every time I asked for it, Madden blew me off. But at least he’s getting us a search warrant for Denton’s place.”

Nathan frowned. “It’s an apartment—why hasn’t someone rented it?”

“It’s actually a condominium, and while it’s up for sale, there have been no takers. Something about the deed, or possibly the fact someone died in the condo.”

They needed to look into the deed. It was possible they might find a lead to a relative of Denton’s at the courthouse.Might even be able to access their records online if the county had uploaded all their deeds.

“I meant to read Madden’s report before now, but I wanted a time where I could process it. Should have looked it over last night.”

“You were tired and probably had other things on your mind.” He certainly had.

“Yeah...” She stared out the window. “Why have two men died from my bullets?”

Her question hung in the air. Nathan had never killed a man and prayed he’d be like most career cops who escaped that fate. “It’s not like you had any choice in either situation.”

---