Page 346 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

She closed her eyes. The report was going to say that he’d gotten under her skin, and she hadn’t wanted to follow orders even before that. Benning had played her because he knew more about Addie than she knew about him. That she hadn’t been able to handle the stress of being that close to the suspect.

Her jaw clenched. Now she’d been reassigned.

The writing on the wall.

“You didn’t catch him?”

She held herself still under his scrutiny. “Benning is in custody. I was told to come here.”

“A new assignment?” Just like that, he was back in “police” mode. Addie had to fight the squirm of being under the spotlight gaze of a seasoned investigator.

She took a sip of coffee. “Seems like you might know more about it than me.”

“I make a point to be informed. Planning on staying here?” Gathering intel. Forming a conclusion. What would he find her guilty of?

“I can get a hotel room.”

“So you can tell yourself it’s temporary. You’re only here for a trip, so you’ve got an out when it gets too hard, and you can’t handle it anymore.”

Seriously? “If it does, it’ll beyourfault.”

“Now you sound like Mona.”

Addie frowned. “What’s wrong with Mona?”

“Other than the fact she’s a teenage girl?” He patted that barrel chest and the denim shirt that covered it. The guy was built like an ox. Or an old oak nothing could fell. “I’m what’s wrong with her.”

“I’ll talk to her.” Addie sipped her coffee.

“She gets straight As. She shows up to work and she doesn’t spend all her money as soon as she gets paid. I don’t much like what I’ve heard about that new boyfriend of hers, but she always gets home before curfew. What’s there to talk about?”

Addie took a sip of her coffee. She needed fortitude in the form of Russ’s pancakes if she was going to venture into this minefield. He’d raised her. She shouldn’t be concerned now he was raising Mona as well.

They needed a change in subject. “We could talk about who it was at the FBI that assigned me here.”

He snorted. “That boyfriend of yours gave the order, right?”

“We aren’t dating anymore.” Because he was reconciling with his wife. “And I’m going to find out who sent me here.” Then she’d know if this was worth fighting.

“Hmm.”

Addie wasn’t going to ask what that meant. “You know why I can’t be here.” She sighed. “I need breakfast. Want anything?”

“There’s a sausage breakfast casserole in the fridge. One of the ladies from church saw your car yesterday and dropped it off. Cinnamon rolls, too.”

“Seriously?”

“You’re home.” He shrugged. “It’s a big deal.” He turned away.

Addie gathered the blanket and now-empty mug and moved to the back of his chair. She leaned down and kissed his prickly face. “I missed you.”

He said, “Hmm,” again, but nothing else.

“What was that video call about yesterday?”

Russ reached to a white envelope on the desk beside his mouse and slid it under a manila file. “Nothing. Just some business.”

Addie rolled her eyes and went in search of sustenance. It was either nothing, or it was business. It was unlikely both of those things.

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