Page 419 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Sure.” Jacob rotated the cup. “I’ll charge them fair prices.”

Except rent in this zip code was nuts, so he’d lower the prices however far he wanted. At least enough to cover taxes and utility bills. After all, he owned the property outright.

The front door opened, and he heard it close. “Russ?” It was Addie.

“Kitchen!”

Jacob started in the middle of twisting around to look for her. To get a glimpse. Which would’ve been fine if his abdomen hadn’t been an angry mess of stitches.

“Sorry.”

Jacob shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

He swallowed some coffee to keep from hurling while Addie rounded the table and crouched in front of him.

“Hey.” She set her hand on his knee.

Jacob put the coffee down. “Hey.”

Russ’s chair scraped across the floor. He was halfway to the door when Addie said, “Hey.” Russ turned back.

“Austin…”

“What?”

Addie shook her head.

“I’ll tell Mona.”

Addie bit her lip. Russ left the room. He didn’t want to get into inane small talk. But as with Russ, the last thing he wanted to talk about were her case details. They had to, though. “What happened?”

Addie tugged a chair over.

“There’s coffee.”

She nodded but didn’t move for it. “I’m not going to sleep anyway. I’ll get some in a sec.”

“What happened since…all of it, I guess.”

She squeezed his hand. Jacob didn’t let go.

“Well, I found Mona’s boyfriend, the kid who is obsessed with us. He’s dead, but I have no idea yet if it’s the same killer.”

“I wasn’t sure this could get more complicated, but apparently, it has.”

“I’ll head to the office shortly and get an early start.” She shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”

Jacob couldn’t help thinking something was coming. It was like watching a storm gathering on the horizon. “Will you promise me you’ll be careful?”

The last thing he wanted was for her to get caught up in something that was even a flavor of everything they’d been through. Especially alone.

“Maybe I should have become a cop.”

Addie tipped her head to the side. “You think that’s the only way to protect me from the dark?”

Before he could answer she squeezed his hand. “I don’t need a cop, Jacob. There are plenty of those in my life, and it’s nothing like what we have. Right here.”

“I’d kiss you, but I need a shower and I don’t think I’ll be leaning forward for a month.” The words were out before he could call them back.

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