Page 65 of Hidden Depths

Tom dropped his head with a sigh. “I thought we both agreed you needed to go.”

“That’s not—” She set her glass down, anchoring her hands on either side of the sink. “Never mind.”

He walked to the other side of the counter and leaned across, resting his hand on top of hers. He noticed for the first time that she smelled like coconut.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t want to go. I know I have to, but I don’t want to. A week ago, I would have been out of here like a shot. But now I don’t want to leave—it doesn’t matter.”

“It must be hard having to move again after settling here. If we can catch these guys and confirm they have no idea of your existence, you can always come back.”

“It has nothing to do with—”

She looked at his hand, then pulled hers out from underneath it and went to the living room, dropping onto the couch.

He was slow to join her. Afraid to push for an answer. Mostly because he was afraid she didn’t want to leave for the same reason he wanted her to stay. Once you voiced something like that, it was hard to undo. She couldn’t stay. That had to be the end of it.

“What if we hadn’t found them?” she said quietly.

“Balthazar and Dutch?”

“Yeah. If we had never discovered the danger I was in or the smuggling they’re involved with, we would have gone on a second date. Maybe even a third by now. Life would be normal. We would be two regular people.”

He sat in the chair farthest from her. “I would have preferred that.”

“Would you? You keep saying how glad you are that I gave you something work-related to do.”

“That’s because it’s easier.”

“Easier than what?”

He studied her face. Taking on the role of an agent protecting a witness didn’t mean the attraction was gone, but it put a large, immovable barrier between them.

“Does it matter? Things are the way they are, and the bottom line remains that you can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

They locked eyes for a moment, and he knew it was pointless denying to himself any longer that the danger had passed beyond her physical safety. The sheriff had been right. He’d become emotionally attached. His muscles tensed in his desire to go to her. The way she was looking at him, he knew she could see it. He had to stop this.

“I know you want vengeance for Balthazar and Dutch’s part, but it’s not the right course of action. I wish things were different, but they’re not.”

She nodded and looked down at her hands. “Idowant vengeance.”

He didn’t like turning the attention to such a gruesome memory, but it did what he needed.

“You don’t need to be here for that. I can get it for you. It won’t be long, and we’ll have a whole team of agents down here.” He sighed up at the ceiling. “You don’t look convinced.”

“It’s not that I don’t think you can do it. When Lansky—When he did what he did. I was sitting on our couch. Frozen. I sat there, afraid to move and draw attention to myself but knowing it was inescapable. And the blood—”

“Don’t do this to yourself.” He moved forward on the chair, but resisted going to her. “You think you should have done more to help them, but you did. You testified in court. That was the most powerful thing you could have done. Don’t ever forget that.”

She closed her eyes, pushing tears from down her cheeks. “I was so helpless.”

He stood, knowing it was a mistake, knowing he was dangerously close to something.

“You weren’t. You didn’t let Lansky keep you from testifying. And you’re not helpless now.” He sat on the coffee table in front of her.

“Aren’t I? Lansky was locked up for the last five years, but I have been locked up here just as long. I’ve hidden here feeling helpless until that morning in church, when God set me free. But it hasn’t meant I can stop running. Even dead, Lansky has all the power. And I’m not stupid. I know I’m at greater risk if I stay here, but for the first time in my life I don’t want to run, and I hate that I’m forced to. I hate that it doesn’t matter what I do, my choices are taken from me.”

“Leaving now has got nothing to do with running away. It’s simply the best way to move forward with the investigation.”

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