Page 78 of Midnight Secrets

“I figured. It was a long shot, anyway. You already said you didn’t want to disturb me.”

He hummed, trailing behind me when I turned to head for the kitchen. “Doesn’t mean I wasn’t tempted. You wearing anything under that robe?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see him staring at my butt as I walked. A devilish smile lit my face. “Be good and you might find out.”

His dark eyes met mine. Need burned in their depths. “Witch.”

I let out my best cackle, then laughed for real. “Do you want some coffee?”

“Yes, if you’ve got enough brewed.”

“I used the pod side of the machine today, but it won’t take long to make another cup.” Reaching the counter, I removed my mug from the tray, then put a clean one in its place and a fresh pod in the machine. In just over a minute, we took our steaming cups to the living room.

Sinking onto the couch, I cuddled up to Ozzie’s side. Pebbles jumped up with us, filling in the gap between our thighs.

“So tell me about your night.” I lifted my mug to blow across the surface of the steaming brew. “You said it turned busy. Does that mean you found something?”

“It’s what I didn’t find.” He took a sip of his coffee, then set it on the end table.

“Oh?”

“I went through the house picture by picture, comparing everything. Nothing was different. Not until I reached the master bathroom.”

A frown knit my eyebrows together. “The master bathroom? You found something out of place in there? How?” There hadn’t been much personality to the room. The Hammonds had swept all their toiletries into drawers or taken them with them.

“Do you remember a sweatshirt sitting on top of the hamper?”

My frown deepened as I pictured the room. I’d barely been in there. Just long enough to snap a couple of pictures. But now that he mentioned it, yes. “I do. It looked out of place inthe spotless bathroom. Why? Did it have a bloodstain on it or something?” I supposed it was possible the killer had gone in there to clean up after stabbing Marie and brushed up against it.

“No. It’s missing.”

“Missing?”

He nodded. Absently, his hand covered Pebbles’s back and he stroked her fur. “I looked all over the house for it. Even checked the laundry room and the garage. No sign of it. You didn’t move it, did you?”

“No. I just took pictures. If it had still been there when we staged, Lynne or one of her staff would have slid it into the hamper, but we didn’t get that far that morning.” That was strange that it was the only thing missing.

“I don’t suppose you took a look at it? It has a logo on the front, but with the way it’s lying on the hamper lid, I can’t tell what it’s for.”

“Um…” Biting my lower lip, I closed my eyes, trying to picture it. “It was black with gold letters. And I think, maybe, I saw part of the state flag.”

“Yeah. That’s the same general impression I got.” He blew out a breath and picked up his coffee again.

My face pulled with dismay. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. I was really only in the bathroom for a few seconds. Just long enough to take the pictures.”

“I know. It’s fine. I just… I feel like I’ve seen it.” Grimacing, he stared off into space. “I just can’t place it.”

I raised a hand to my face, chewing on a magenta-colored nail as I thought about the logo. “Is it a police thing? Now that I’m really thinking about it, the side I could see had that swoop to it, like a shield.” I drew the shape in the air with one finger.

His frown grew fiercer. “Maybe. I’m not sure.” The deep vee between his eyebrows smoothed out as he exhaled. “It’ll come to me at some point. Trying to force it, though, will just make itmore elusive.” He turned his head, those dark eyes meeting my gaze. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Okay.” I was more than willing to talk about whatever he wanted. Staying right here snuggled against him was fine by me. My to-do list could wait. “What do you want to talk about?”

Fire shot to life in his midnight eyes. “How about what you have on under this robe?”

The arm over my shoulders tightened and his hand slid around the side of my neck and over my collarbone to snake beneath the lapel of my bathrobe. In moments, he reached the top swell of my breast and gooseflesh erupted on my skin.

My gooseflesh got gooseflesh when his delightful mouth pressed against the pulse point on my neck.

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