Page 11 of Hold a Candle

Jamie nodded. “Ye are a detective, and a darned good one according to Quinn. What are yer suspicions? If I’m right, I’m betting ye have already been doing some investigating to figure out what he’s been doing and who he’s been seeing when he isn’t home.”

“If I had to guess, Mr....er...Jamie, I’d say ye have had some law enforcement background yerself,” she drawled taking a long sip before setting her cup down again.

Jamie chuckled. “Enough to know that it wasn’t the life for me.”

She looked interested. “Oh? And why is that?”

“Too many rules, restrictions, and the inability to just nail someone with a good right hook. I’d rather use a fist than a taser any day. And after my experience with a taser used on me, I was quite happy to look elsewhere for gainful employment.”

Pauley’s lips quirked. “Don’t tell me...yer hose watered yer trousers?” At the expression on his face, she tried to suppress a giggle. “If it makes ye feel any better, ye aren’t the only one that happens to. It happened to me as well.”

Jamie could take a joke on himself. The giggle she attempted to squelch turned her from a hard-bitten cop to a youthful young lass for a moment, and he appreciated the difference. Beneath her tough exterior, Pauley had a sense of humor. It made him want to learn everything there was to know about her. And to see those gorgeous eyes light up with laughter. He cleared his throat as the shadows returned.

“About Luca,” he said, bringing the conversation back to their reason for being together. “If ye like, I can check with Lucerne and Darro to see if they could use an extra station hand for a while at Neamh. I know he’d be safe there if ye think he would be interested in going. He would be too far out of town to get back to the unsavory people he may be running with, and anyone trying to contact him would easily be seen coming. Darro and Angus would make sure he didn’t get up to any trouble, and he’d be paid a wage for his work.”

“Ye mean Angus Sangster, right?”

“Ye know Angus?”

“Does anyone not know Angus?” she threw back with a grin. “I don’t know him personally, but I know of him.”

Jamie gave a rueful shake of his head. “He and the Sinh family gossip tree can actually produce results,” he confessed.

“Sin?”

“Ye don’t know about Sinh? It’s spelled with an h on the end and stands for Sangster Information Network Hub. I’ve seen it in action, believe me. I no thought it would work, but he proved me wrong.”

“Howdoesit work exactly?” she asked, intrigued.

“Ye’ll have to ask Angus about that,” Jamie replied. “I know he’s very protective of their privacy though, so he doesn’t ask lightly when he needs something. They usually stick to emergency type information requests as far as I know.”

The waiter came back to the table, a gangly young man with a crop of curly blond hair just on top of his head. Around the back of his head and over his ears, the hair was shaved close to the skin. “Will ye be wanting dinner tonight?” he asked politely.

Pauley glanced at her watch and shook her head. “None for me, thanks.”

“None for me either,” Jamie replied with a smile at the young man. “I don’t usually eat until later, but you can refill my coffee.”

“Me too,” Pauley added.

When the waiter was gone, she caught Jamie’s gaze. “If yer offer is serious, then I’d like to take ye up on it. I do want Luca to be somewhere safe, but I know he doesn’t want to be far away from home.” She hesitated. “Ye also have to realize that if someone did come looking for him, those in the home could be in danger as well. That’s why I didn’t want to send him to his brother or his sister. Both have young children. My grandchildren. I was considering taking an extended vacation and keeping him with me somewhere close where I could protect him myself until this is over. If he will let me.”

Jamie nodded. “Aye, I can see that. What do ye think the chances are that someone will try to get payback?”

Pauley shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just know that Ruskag had a record as long as yer arm. Assault with a deadly weapon, suspicion of murder, mob enforcer, protection rackets, money laundering, and a host of other charges. Some charges he spent time in jail for. Others, a slick lawyer got him off, depending on who he was working for. There’s no doubt the world will be a safer place without him in it, but that doesn’t mean no one will be looking for the person who killed him.”

Jamie didn’t like her idea. “Trying to protect him on yer own means ye won’t be safe either,” he said with a frown. “Can’t the police put him in a safe house?”

“Not unless he’s a witness to a crime,” she replied with a scoff. “As it stands, he will be on trial for accidental manslaughter if the Lord Advocate decides to charge him. I’m hoping that won’t be the case, but ye never know what can happen. I believe he will get off with self-defense since he has no criminal record. Best case is he won’t even be charged. But they may want to go through the motions of being thorough, especially if anyone complains that Ruskag isn’t getting a fair shake,” she added with an exasperated eyeroll. “The hearing will be on Monday and Luca has a good lawyer, so I’ll know what the stakes are after that.”

“Is he out on bond?”

“Aye, he should be at home now. One of the constables took him home so I could finish my report. I was actually getting ready to leave early when Quinn called me in.”

On a sudden impulse, Jamie reached across the table and closed his palm over her small fist. It was cold and he could feel her trembling with the effort to be strong and in control.

“When ye aren’t solving crimes and playing momma bear, what do ye do for fun, Pauley MacBride?” he asked gently, rubbing his big thumb against her smooth skin. He couldn’t deny the tingly feeling that shot up his arm, and he knew from her startled expression that she felt it too.

A breathy gasp escaped her lips as she tried to withdraw her hand, but he wouldn’t let her go.

---