Page 77 of Dangerous Lover

“Ms. Lake.” He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to.

Her throat felt tight. “I met Jack—Mr. Prescott last Friday. He’d just got into town and needed a place to stay. I take in boarders.”

“If he just got into town, how did he know that you have rooms to let?”

“The cab driver told him, on the way in from the airport.”

“What time did he arrive in your shop?”

“Around four. I was thinking of closing up early because the weather was so bad. Nobody had come in all afternoon. He was actually the only person who came into the shop that afternoon.”

“What did he have with him?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What did he have? What was he carrying?”

“Oh. Well, he had a duffel bag and a suitcase.”

“Were they heavy?”

“I have no idea. He carried them in and carried them out.”

“Was he armed?”

Caroline’s mouth closed with a snap. Yes, he’d been armed, though at the time, she hadn’t known it. She would never have taken an armed man into her home. The silence stretched out.

“Ms. Lake. Answer the question.”

“Is Jack being accused of something?”

“Just answer the question. You can do it here, or in Seattle. Your choice.”

It felt like a betrayal—of a man she wasn’t sure she trusted any more. Still, Caroline found it hard to tell the truth. “Yes,”she said finally. “He was armed. I didn’t know that at the time.”

“What kind of weapon was he carrying?”

She stared at him. “Are you joking?”

He stared back, gaze flat, utterly impersonal. No, he wasn’t joking.

“Mr.—Special Agent Butler, I know absolutely nothing about guns. It was big and black, that’s all I can say.”

“How do you know he was armed?”

“Someone broke into my house yesterday.” Or rather, Jack told her someone had broken into her house. Carolinehatedthis, hated second-guessing herself, second-guessing and doubting him. Hated the feeling that she’d been making love—and falling in love—with a fraud. “I found out then that he was—was carrying a weapon. Until then, I had no idea.”

“See, Caroline,” Sanders said suddenly. “You should have known better. You’ve never been a good judge of people. This should teach you a lesson in trusting perfect strangers.”

Harris didn’t turn his head. “Mr. McCullin, one more word out of you and I will have you arrested for obstruction of justice, is that clear?”

“Sorry.” Sanders tried to look chastened, but it wasn’t working very well. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Now, Ms. Lake. Did he say where he’d come from?”

Caroline was starting to realize how very little Jack had said about himself. “Well, he said he’d been in Pakistan. And he said that his father had died very recently, in North Carolina. I don’t know whether he flew in all the way fromPakistan or whether he’d stopped off in North Carolina.”

“Our records show him as flying in from Africa. From Freetown.”

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