Page 44 of No Bed Of Roses

Every damn word. “Duggan said Hicks knew about Isla’s last job at the Future 4 Us lab but that he couldn’t get her phone number or current whereabouts from them.”

Marcus tapped his pencil on the table. “I wonder if he found out more than he told your father. It’s unlikely your father would follow up with the lab, so Hicks could tell him whatever he liked.”

Isla shivered, and Levi put his arm around her shoulders.

His voice wasn’t more than a growl. “That’s what I think.”

Marcus flipped to another page in his book. “We found proof of tampering with your car. As Levi suspected, someone sliced the lines to the power steering and the brake fluids. The brake lines themselves were slit. Not all the way through, but enough to weaken them. Whoever cut them wanted the car to work for a few minutes until the fluid drained. With this proof, I’ll have more power to investigate. I’m going to name Glen Hicks as a person of interest in the case. That will give me some powers to dig into his life and find out where he is.”

Levi was pretty damn sure the bastard was right here in Vermont.

CHAPTER 15

Cherry Picking

The next morning, Isla felt the aches before she even woke. A shower helped, but the water tank eventually ran out of hot water. Lia had suggested light massage, so they’d both rubbed moisturizer onto the other’s sore muscles. Which had turned a tough morning into something a lot more fun.

Levi stretched as he looked out the kitchen window. The man was a magnificent sight. Those muscles from hard work were used to protect and to produce food. He might have been a warrior during his army days, but he didn’t use his body or strength to harm others.

He turned and smiled at her. “You up for a walk around the garden and the barn? We’ll make sure everything is good while we loosen up some muscles and let Hopper get in some fun.”

“Do you have anything you need to do for your hops?”

He shook his head. “Last night’s rain means I don’t need to water. The bines aren’t long enough to be wound onto the trellises yet.”

She took his hand. “I know your trellises aren’t all finished yet. I don’t want to take you from things you need to be doing.”

His face softened. “You’re not. The guys are helping me with the trellises. We’ve got time before I need them.”

“I can help.”

He laughed. “Then you’re in better shape than I am. My body’s way too achy to do any serious building today. Let’s take the day off and relax. Follow the doctor’s orders and think about how we can catch the asshole.”

Isla ran her arms around his waist. She wanted to help. No matter how many times he said it wasn’t her fault, it was totally her fault he couldn’t work on his farm, and she didn’t believe for a second that he was too achy to work. The man was in amazing shape, and she was sure he’d trained to ignore physical pain. He was taking care of her in yet another way. “Let’s check out your hops. See how they’re growing, and compare them to my base samples in the greenhouse. Collect some data.”

He grinned. “That brain is always working. Okay, let’s go see our plants.”

Hopper bounded around them, barking and fetching the ball Levi had brought along to throw for him. He looked like a different dog from the one they’d found bedraggled and hungry a few weeks before.

The overnight rain had left the fields muddy and the plants growing.

“It’s very different from where I’ve lived before, but that smell of earth and happy plants is the same. It’s amazing.” Levi laughed and threw the ball over the fence as they approached his property. Hopper squiggled under the bottom railing while Levi used it to boost himself to the top. Instead of climbing over, he held out his hand to her.

Isla took it and stood on the bottom rail. He placed his hands on her waist and lifted her to sit on the top rail beside him. For a long moment, they sat and watched Hopper bound away toward Levi’s barn. They knew he’d turn around when he realized they weren’t following.

Levi squeezed her hand. “It’s a good place.”

She squeezed back. “It is.”

“But if you need to leave it for a little while to be safe, I’ll go with you.”

Her heart swelled. She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to do that, but she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to go alone. With him at her side, she was brave enough to do anything. “Thank you. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“You won’t take off on your own?”

She studied those deep, thoughtful eyes that saw through to her fears and liked her anyway. “I won’t.”

Levi grinned and kissed her. Then he whistled at Hopper, and the lab came barrelling back across the field with the ball in his mouth. “Change of plans. Why don’t we go check out your hay loft?”

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