Page 34 of Hunted

“Just keep driving. It’s a big house at the north edge of town, on the right. I’ll tell you when we get there.” Why was she having all these doubts now? Her father was innocent. She knew that. There’d be nothing but proof of that at Jim’s office, which was no more than a converted spare room in his house’s basement.

Romano put the rig back in gear and pulled onto the road again. In a few minutes, they were turning into the driveway of James McManus, attorney-at-law. A light snow had begun falling, illuminated by their headlights.

Romano walked beside her to the front door. She didn’t think he could tell how terrified she was of what they would find. If her father had been working on something awful, that would explain his actions at the end. She hated that it all added up. Then again, senility or stroke also made sense, she assured herself.

She didn’t realize she’d frozen on the top step until Romano’s arm slid around her shoulders, squeezed just a little. “It isn’t gonna matter what’s there, Lexi. It can’t hurt your father now.”

She lifted her chin, turning to look him in the eye. “It can hurt me, though.”

“You can handle it.” His hand cupped her chin, and his eyes searched hers as if he truly cared what she was feeling. “You’re tougher than you think, Lexi Stoltz. You’ve proven that. A couple of times.”

“Yeah? If I’m so tough, why am I shaking right now?” She gazed into his eyes, and noticed that they were staring at her lips, like he wanted to kiss her again. And she wanted it, too.

A dog started barking from the next place over. The noise drew her gaze, and she saw curtains parting, then a face peering out at them. The neighbor’s dog kept up his barking, which in turn made her wonder where the McManus’s beagle was, and why he wasn’t barking. She turned, staring first at the door, and then at the rest of the house, noticing for the first time the darkened windows and the way the cold wind riffled the pages of three newspapers lying on the porch.

“I don’t think anyone’s here.”

He followed her gaze, then left her standing there while he ran down the steps and over to the garage to peer through the glass. “No car inside. Dammit.”

Lexi poked the doorbell with her forefinger, let up and poked again. But even when she gave up and started knocking instead, there was no response.

“Three newspapers,” Romano muttered, coming back to the porch. “Looks like they might be gone for a while.”

“They never go away for very long.”

“It’s the holiday season, though.”

“That’s right, it is. I forgot about that.” Romano frowned at her, and she shrugged. “It’s been a while since I’ve celebrated the holidays.”

His lips thinned. He was going to say something nasty about her father, she thought, but he bit it back. Instead, he just said, “I’ve skipped them lately, too.”

That admission made Lexi’s eyes sting. “We can check down at the store. Someone will know when they’re due back.”

“Or we can break in and get what we need tonight.”

“No!” She was so shocked at his suggestion that her jaw fell and her eyes widened. “We can’t go around breaking into people’s homes.”

He shrugged. “Maybe you can’t?—”

“Romano, please. These people are friends of mine.” She glanced again at the house next door, pointed at the face still peeking through the window. “We can’t do it right now, anyway. We’d be seen. Let’s at least wait until later, when the neighbors are in bed.”

He sighed—in disgust at her reluctance, she was sure—but finally nodded. “Okay, all right, but it has to be tonight. We don’t have time for finesse, Lexi.”

“I know.”

Relieved, she turned and headed back to the RV. He followed and soon they were driving again, through snow that fell thicker with every passing second. Romano was looking for a hidden spot to park for the night, and Lexi was worrying about her cat. So she directed him to an old fire trail cut out of the forest. He followed her directions but looked less happy about it the farther they drove. The snowfall had already coated the narrow dirt trail, but not enough to make driving hazardous. Not yet, anyway.

“This seems like it’s taking us awfully close to your house, Lexi. Are you playing games with me?”

“No games,” she told him as he chose a spot off the fire trail in a little copse of pines, and drove carefully onto it. “The house is nearby. If you follow the fire trail for a half mile, and then veer off to the right and cut through the pines, you’ll end up in my father’s precious backyard vegetable garden.”

Romano shut the motor off, then the lights. “You say that as if you’re not overly fond of vegetables.”

“He spent more time digging in that dirt than he did with me,” she blurted before thinking better of it.

“But he was a saint, all the same, right?”

She lowered her head. “I loved him.”

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