Page 56 of Scorched

She smiled as she talked, the beauty of it hitting him in the solar plexus, stealing his breath. He wasn’t sure his reservations would make a lick of difference. She drew him in, her pretty hands holding tight to his heart.

Heavy footsteps approaching snagged his attention, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Seb stopped at their table, and Maggie slid over to make room for him. Their server followed close behind with their food. She set the plates down and smiled at Seb.

“Can I get you anything, Sheriff?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

Seb watched her go, making sure she was out of earshot before he spoke. “All right, show me this card.”

Declan slid it toward him, then stuffed a bite of his steak in his mouth, chewing quickly. He wanted to eat as much as he could before his stomach soured from their conversation and food was no longer appealing.

Seb took the card out of the envelope, holding it by the edges.

“Careful, there are pictures inside,” Maggie cautioned.

“Of course there are,” Seb muttered. He opened the card, sucking in a breath as he got a look at them. “Goddamn. Do you know when these were taken?”

She nodded. “They were all last week. Those,” she pointed to the top two, “were outside my office. The next one was at the fire station, and the fourth was at the courthouse.”

Seb studied them all, then looked at the envelope. “It’s postmarked in Denver, so someone didn’t want to broadcast they were mailing stuff to you. We might be able to find who took them, though. The courthouse and fire station are both public places with lots of cameras. The surrounding businesses have them too. I’ll have my deputies get the footage from around there and see if we can’t find our shutterbug. In the meantime, you need to be careful. You’re still staying with Deck, right?”

“Yes. He still can’t drive.”

“Good. Keep doing that.” He frowned as she picked up her cocktail and took a drink. “You’re not driving, though, after drinking all that, are you?”

She put the drink down and shook her head. “No. We’re going to stay at my house tonight. If I’m too buzzed, I figure I can get Brady to come get us.”

“I can drive that short distance,” Declan said. “There’s a lot less alcohol in my drink than yours, and it only kinda hurts to raise my arms now. The doctor’s supposed to clear me later this week, anyway.”

She frowned. “Fine. But if you hurt yourself—”

“I won’t.” He looked at Seb. “What are the chances this is related to our arsonist?”

Surprise crossed Seb’s face. “What makes you think it is?”

“The burned-out faces. Don’t most people who send this sort of thing cut the faces out or cross them out with a big X?”

He shrugged. “Usually, yes. But I’ve seen stalkers who burn the faces. They’re most often smokers, though.”

“See?” Maggie looked at Declan. “It’s probably someone related to one of my cases.”

“That’s more likely,” Seb said. “You need to go through your recent case history and make a list of anyone who might want to do you harm.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. All right. I’ll start that tomorrow after court.”

“And I will get my deputies working on camera footage from the area. Maybe one of the faces will match a name you put on your list.” Seb slid out of the booth, taking the card and its contents with him. “I’m going to head out. I’ll drop this into evidence, then go home. Hopefully, London will have managed to win a round or two against Abigail, so she’s in a good mood. That girl is ruthless.”

Maggie chuckled. “What were you playing?”

“Poker.”

Declan laughed. “You let Abigail play poker?”

“Who do you think taught her to play?” He grinned. “I’ll see you guys later. Maggie, be careful.”

“I will. Let me know what you find.”

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