Page 36 of Fatal Betrayal

"You don't know that."

"My gut says someone was waiting for us."

"Well, your gut is trained in psychology. Mine is trained in investigation."

"Then you should investigate."

"I intend to do just that. I need to go back to the office and see if we can find the car on any traffic cams in this area. I'll drive you back to the Benedict's house, so you can get your car."

"I'll call a rideshare," he said. "You need to go to work. And I need to…get the hell away from you for a while."

"It doesn't have to be a while. You should step away completely, Cooper. If this wasn't an accident, then it's not the end; it's the beginning."

"I'm not stepping away. I'm just taking a break."

He pulled out his phone. She took a few steps, then turned back to him.

"Thanks," she said.

Their gazes met and clung together for a long couple of seconds. A lot of emotions flew between them. Neither one of them had ever been good at backing down, being wrong, or apologizing, but he could see the truth in her eyes, and his tension eased. "You're welcome."

"You might not believe this, but I don't want you to get hurt, Cooper. So go home. Support Neil with your friendship and let me do my job. Can you do that?"

"I can do that tonight. But tomorrow, I'm back with you. That's what Neil wants, and it's what I want. And, by the way, I can take care of myself." He paused. "Give me your number."

She hesitated, then rattled off her number.

He sent her a text to confirm. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, if not before."

* * *

Andi drove back to the office Tuesday night, her mind whirring with questions, her emotions all over the place. She was glad that Cooper had wanted a break from her because she desperately needed a break from him.

He had saved her life when, as recently as twenty-four hours ago, she would have said he'd be the first one to push her in front of a speeding car, not save her from getting hit. And when he'd landed on top of her, when their bodies had gotten tangled up, with adrenaline surging through her veins, she'd felt a physical attraction to him that was completely unexpected.

It was why she'd felt the need to yell at him, to make sure they both remembered that they didn't like each other, that they weren't best friends like they'd once been; they were mortal enemies.

She suspected he'd felt the same need, maybe even more strongly than she had, because he blamed the devastation of his brother's life, his family unit, on her. Maybe he was pissed at himself for shoving her out of the way.

But, of course, he wouldn't do anything else. Cooper had always had a tremendously strong sense of right and wrong. When she was a kid, she liked to push boundaries, sometimes rationalizing that the end justified the means. Cooper had been the one to hold her back from going too far.

Conversely, she'd sometimes pushed him to go further than he wanted to. That had made them a good team for a long time.

Now they were a team again, but not voluntarily. They'd been forced together by a kidnapping, by a desperate father. Which only reminded her that she was wasting time thinking about Cooper when she needed to focus on what had just happened and why.

If it was deliberate, if the driver had been waiting for her and wanted to take her out or scare her in some way, then she was making someone nervous. That meant she was closer than she thought to a lead. But who was the lead? She'd talked to everyone attached to Neil's household and spoken to Jillian twice. That didn't narrow anything down. She needed more help, and the sooner she got it, the better.

When she arrived at the office, she found most of the agents had gone home, with the exception of Savannah and Nick, who were still working on the investigation. She filled them in on the near miss at the bar, as well as what she'd learned about Kristine and Jillian since her last check-in.

The three of them spent another thirty minutes trying to find traffic cam video from the area around the bar. Unfortunately, since she hadn't gotten a good look at the car, they didn't have much to go on.

"Maybe it was just a reckless driver," Savannah said when they ran out of steam.

"It's a possibility," she conceded.

"But you don't believe that." Nick gave her an assessing look.

"It felt deliberate. But I can't imagine who would come after me from this case. Our investigation has barely started. I'm not close to finding Elisa or who kidnapped her."

---