Page 40 of Locked In Ice

“I’mnot playing,” Shay replied.“Not really sure what the hell you’re doing.But I do know one thing.”She looked at her watch.“Your five minutes are up.”She swung the cell door, and the hinges groaned.

Lane jerked.

“Time to get out of my town,” Shay finished.

***

“It worries me when you go silent,” Ophelia told Lane.They were out on the street.The sun burned down on them even as cars whizzed past.Shay had offered to have a uniform drop them off at their hotel, but that would not have fit Ophelia’s plans.At all.

So she’d opted for a walk.A very silent walk with Lane.She could feel the tension pouring off him.Did the man know that long, heavy silences were her arch nemesis?“I didn’t think you were leaving to commit a crime,” she blurted.

He stopped walking.Turned slowly toward her.

Ophelia lifted one hand to shield her face from the sun.“I don’t think you’re the bad guy, Lane.”

“Then what am I?”

“My partner.I followed you because I was concerned.You’d had one vicious day.You were nearly sliced open by a serial killer.I wanted to make sure you were all right.”She wet her lips.“And in the interest of full disclosure, yes, of course, I know you always take night walks.That’s the whole reason the cops were able to pin those charges on you before.You had no alibi.I was curious about the walks.I wanted to see…” How to explain?“You.”

A bitter laugh spilled from him.“What was there to see?Me, wandering in the dark?”

“You were looking for something.”He’d walked with purpose every step of the way.

His jaw hardened.

“Don’t tell me what it was.Fine.But do remember that my stalking self saved the day, okay?”

He didn’t speak.

She stopped shielding her face and rubbed the back of her neck.Tension knotted there.“I’m about to make a pitstop,” she informed him.Because partnersshouldtell partners their plans.That should be one of their rules.“Lesson four.Always tell your partner where you’re going.”Otherwise, you could find yourself needing an alibi or backup that just isn’t there.

“Lesson four?”A rumble, as if the question had been pulled from Lane against his will.“How did we get to four?”

Her mouth dropped open.“Seriously?”A huff.“You need to remember the pearls of wisdom I give to you.”Maybe she’d type them up and send them to him later, but for now… “To recap, lesson one wasdon’t get your ass knocked out by the bad guy.”

His nostrils flared.

“Lesson two was toalways thank the people who save your ass.” Ophelia sniffed.“I believe that means a thank you is in order since I provided you with an alibi and thus saved that gorgeous ass of yours.”

A muscle flexed along his jaw.

“Moving on…”We’ll come back to my thank you.“Lesson three was that dead men can’t give families closure.”The wind caught her hair and tossed it around.“But that isn’t on us since we didn’t kill Thomas.”

“No, I didn’t.”Gravelly.Rough.Deep.

She probably shouldn’t have found him sexy in that moment.Some things could not be helped.The man’s voice was hot.And he wasn’t a killer.

So, since her new partner hadn’t murdered their serial killer, it was her job to figure out who had.Unsolved mysteries nagged at her too much.“I think that brings us up to lesson four.Always tell your partner where you are going.”

“Whereareyou going?”

“You can come with me,” she hurtled onward, “or, if you prefer to keep your hands clean andnotpotentially get on the bad side of local cops, then you might want to return to the hotel.”

“We were told to leave town.”

Her hand stopped rubbing her neck.It fell to her side.Pressed to her thigh.“I don’t always do what I’m told.”A grimace.“To be honest, I usually do the exact opposite of what I’m told to do.I’m wired wrong like that.”

“I do not understand you.”

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