Page 30 of Condemned By Secrets

Cartwright returned the smile and his eyes mocked Luther. “A social call, then?”

“No,” Luther paused and his nostrils flared. He was losing grip on the anger he was trying to contain. “I understand Miss Hendricks has had some trouble with you.”

The bastard’s expression didn’t falter. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“You know exactly what I’m referring to.” The threads Luther had hold of whipped out. “And I’m here to remind you we still haven’t found the vandal who damaged her car, which occurred at the meetingyouattended.”

Cartwright’s eyes bugged out. “Are you threatening me, Officer? Isn’t that—”

Luther’s pulse pounded in his ears as the fury he wanted to unleash whirled in his veins. “No.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice, the brusque growl a promise of violence to come. “I’mwarningyou. Leave her alone or you’ll find yourself facing more than the prospect of being fired.”

Cartwright’s face flushed red, and Luther cursed himself for angering the man. “I’m a suspect, then?”

“Yes. I’m watching you, Cartwright.” Luther’s hand went to the gun at his hip. “Tread carefully.”

Cartwright’s eyes flared then fell to the gun. He started to close the door, but Luther slammed his hand against it.

“Was there something else,Officer?” Cartwright emphasized the title, his mouth twisting in derision, as if it was an insult.

“Stay away from Miss Hendricks,” Luther whisper-growled.

“You’ve made that clear.”

“Good.” Luther let go and the door shut in his face.

Dammit!He wasn’t happy with the way that exchange went down. He’d succeeded in doing the opposite of what he’d wanted—pissing off Cartwright instead of scaring him. How the man would respond worried Luther. His stomach clenched at the thought of Anna having to deal with the consequences of his actions.

He’d lost his cool. The rage at seeing Cartwright and the inability to touch him was still simmering in his veins. Luther was usually laid-back, the one who remained unruffled in charged situations, but now he couldn’t seem to find his calm.

Climbing into the cruiser, Luther sat staring at the cheerful bungalow as his hands clenched on the wheel. If Cartwright so much as breathed in Anna’s direction, he would haul his ass in, and if he couldn’t find something to charge him with, he’d at least hold the bastard until he was afraid enough of going to jail that he’d leave Anna alone.

Luther forced himself to take several deep breaths and relax his hands. His knuckles were white in their death grip on the wheel. Slowly, his breathing returned to a normal rhythm, and he grasped the threads of control that had gone flapping in the wind of his anger.

Starting the car, he drove away, all too aware he couldn’t undo what had just happened. He’d have to check on Anna tomorrow to make sure Cartwright heeded the warning because, after this screw up, Luther wasn’t sure he would.

CHAPTER 12

Anna sat at her desk massaging her temples. She’d woken up with a headache from her sob session the evening before, and it had gotten progressively worse over the course of the day. Not surprisingly, it had escalated with her stress level. Most of her morning had been spent getting the complaint filed against Richard, and that whole process had caused the headache to flare up. Sighing, she dropped her hands. The rubbing had little effect, but she worried that if the pain continued, she’d be in full-blown migraine territory.

At the knock on her door, Anna jumped. Sheesh, she was tense. After everything with Richard, she’d taken to keeping the door closed, hoping to avoid him as much as possible. She hadn’t seen him today and prayed it wasn’t him at her door now.

“Come in,” Anna called, sitting up straighter and pasting a smile on her face. When it was Sandy, who walked in, the smile grew and her muscles relaxed. “Hi, Sandy.”

“Anna. Hon.” Sandy stalked to the front of her desk. “I’m worried about you. You’ve been holed up in this office for days. Is everything all right?”

Anna tensed up again. Her expression fell as she said, “Richard and I aren’t seeing eye to eye on something, and I thought it best to keep my distance.”

Sandy studied her and Anna fought the urge to squirm. Her bright blue eyes bore into Anna. What is it they say about a mother’s intuition? She felt like Sandy saw right through her thinly veiled answer.

On a blink, Sandy’s eyes softened and she smiled. “Well, lucky for you he’s not in the office today. But I was thinking, if you need some fresh air, I could get ahold of Jake, and we could go out to the Cooper Farm. I know you need more measurements for your project. And it’d be good to get his contractor’s eye on what you were thinking for the place.”

At the thought of escaping and avoiding Richard, Anna beamed. The dark cloud that had been hanging over her all day evaporated. “That sounds like an excellent idea! Why don’t you give Jake a call and let me—”

Anna stopped talking as the ringing of her phone intruded. Sandy nodded at her to take it and moved to leave, but Anna waved her into the chair in front of her desk as she answered the call. “Hello.”

“Anna Hendricks?” A woman’s voice asked.

“Yes.”

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