Page 5 of Crosshairs

“It’s probably nothing,” she said, not wanting to worry her.

“I want to know why Cora got up from her bed and went to the library in her gown.” Gran glanced back at her sister.

“If she thought someone was in the house, wouldn’t she call 911?” Ainsley asked.

“You know better. Your great-aunt would have acted first and thought later.”

“So that’s where you get it from,” Linc said with a chuckle.

He was trying to make it sound like he was teasing, but Ainsley knew better. In spite of what he thought, she hadn’t jumped into breaking up with him without agonizing over it.Hehad been the one who’d sided with her father, and she would never forgive him for it. Or open her heart to him again.

3

Was he crazy or what? Trying to tease Ainsley like they were friends. She would more likely befriend one of the gators in the swamps around Natchez than him. A strand of her raven hair had come loose from the clip, and he clenched his hand to keep from tucking the loose curl behind her ear. Besides, given the glare he was getting, she would probably shove his hand off. Black hair and flashing blue eyes. A deadly combination. At least for him, anyway.

She narrowed her eyes. “How come you know your way around Cora’s house? I don’t remember you two being that close.”

“I’m advising her about her book, and it’s easier for me to come here.”

“Why would she ask you—”

He palmed his hands. “Your aunt came to me and asked for my help. I presume because I’m the historian at Melrose, and Melrose’s second owners, the Davises, were neighbors and friends of the Chamberlains.”

“You’rethe historian at Melrose?” Her eyes widened. “I mean, I knew you were a ranger, but you were a sharpshooter with the FBI. I thought...”

“That I was in law enforcement, like you?” So she kept up with him, but no one had told her he was aninterpretiveranger. One that led tours and didn’t carry a gun. “No. I’ve had my fillof killing.” He wasn’t about to tell her he couldn’t even think about holding a gun without feeling sick.

Ainsley sagged into the chair she’d vacated earlier, and color flooded her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to argue with you.” She glanced toward Rose, who had returned to her sister’s bedside. “I just want to understand what happened here tonight.”

Linc released the breath trapped in his chest. He didn’t want to argue with her either. They’d had enough of that in the past. He took her grandmother’s chair and leaned toward her. “You really think someone was in the house with Cora when she fell?”

Instead of answering, she looked up as Kanesha approached them.

“I’m having trouble keeping her blood pressure from bottoming out, and the storm has abated enough for us to get to Merit,” Kanesha said. “Is there another exit from the basement?”

“Over here,” Ainsley said. She stood and hurried to a small hallway. Linc followed and saw the broken glass from the window in the door at the same time she gasped.

“Someonewashere,” she said.

“Maybe.” A branch lay just inside the entrance. “Or the storm blew that in.”

“Mighty convenient it only broke out the pane above the doorknob,” she said.

Linc glanced at the water near the door. Could have blown in, or someone tracked it in.

“Does the driveway circle around to the back of the house?” Kanesha asked.

Ainsley nodded. “There’s no shelter, but it’s only a few steps from the basement to the drive.”

“We’re going to transport soon, then.”

“Gran,” Ainsley called to her grandmother, “I’m going to check out the library while they get Cora in the ambulance. I’ll be back before they leave.”

“Mind if I tag along?” Linc asked.

“Why? You’re not in law enforcement.”

No, and he never would be again. “Does it count that I’m a volunteer with SAR?” Search and Rescue didn’t require a gun. “This could fall under the ‘search’ end.”

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