Page 3 of Dark Terror
He sighed. “I am anyway. Me and Ugly Do… I mean me and Cricket are coming in.” On second thought he was glad Harry wasn’t here. His partner would be laughing so hard her brains would be seeping out her ears, that entertained at how cool, calm, and collected Gabe Caulderwas not. Nothing ever flustered him, or ever had before this woman.
The door opened, Cricket was snatched out of his hands, and then the door was slammed in his face. Damn, she was good. In spite of himself, he smiled.
“Cara.” He knocked again.
“Go away.”
“No can do.” He leaned against the wall to wait her out. He could set up a time to finish tomorrow and send her home. God knew, she’d gone through enough tonight. But by tomorrow the details would be fading from her mind, especially those she didn’t want to remember.
“Would you be more comfortable talking about this at home?”
“He saw me. He must have watched me run into the library. What if he’s waiting for me to come out? What if he follows me home?”
“Is there someplace else you can go? A friend or family member?”
“No.”
Well hell. He moved to the door and leaned his head against it. “How about we go get a burger or pizza, and then I’ll follow you home? Make sure he doesn’t. Then we’ll talk some more.”
“Really?”
She’d whispered that, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted him to hear her. She was scared, and who could blame her? His captain would have his nuts if she knew Gabe had offered to do such a thing, going alone to a woman’s house without his partner. And Harry? She would slap him upside the head for his stupidity.
Even knowing all that, he still followed Cara home, skipping a stop for food since she said she couldn’t eat anything. He kept his gaze focused on his rearview mirror, watching for headlights shadowing them. Nothing struck him as out of the ordinary, but he didn’t believe for one minute that the killer had any intention of turning his back on Cara.
On the drive to Cara’s, his phone rang, Harry’s name coming up on the Bluetooth screen. Knowing his partner would step on a plane and fly home from Florida given the slightest reason, he regretted sending that text.
“Tell me you’re not at the airport, about to get on a plane,” he said in greeting.
“Talk to me,” no-nonsense Harry said.
“Shouldn’t have texted you. I was just frustrated. We have a new murder case, and the only witness is a woman, a librarian.” A darn sexy one, but he wasn’t about to tell Harry that.
“I’ll come home.”
“No, you won’t. Your only brother is getting married tomorrow. You will stay for the wedding, Harry. This one isn’t going to be solved overnight, so no reason to rush back. We’ll meet up on Monday, and I’ll bring you up to speed.”
“Give me the details.”
“I will. On Monday. If I see your face before then, I’ll never speak to you again. I’m hanging up now.” He disconnected.
Delaney Harrison was every man’s fantasy, and she hated that fact with a passion. Tall, with legs that took a mile to get to her waist, four colors of blonde hair that changed with the light, a figure curved in all the right places, and brown eyes that screamedbedroom eyes. She overcompensated for all that by being tough as nails. In her spare time she taught self-defense to women and could take down a man twice her size nine different ways.
The first few weeks after being partnered with her, Gabe had acted like every other man in the department. He’d fantasized about her, had wished she wasn’t his partner so he could ask her out. He’d apparently been too obvious about his attraction to her. She’d invited him to meet her at a gym, and when he’d arrived, expecting to maybe have some hot workouts with her, she’d taken him into a room where the floor was covered with mats.
“You want me, come and get me,” she’d said.
He’d stared stupidly at her, not sure what was happening. Of course he wanted her. What man wouldn’t?
“Crap on toast,” she’d muttered and then had almost permanently incapacitated him. As soon as she had him on his back on the floor, she’d put her foot on his chest, stared down at him, and said, “I will not have my partner eyeing my ass while licking his lips.”
To be fair, he’d never licked his lips, but he couldn’t deny that he had admired her ass. She’d embarrassed him—which had been her intention—and after that, he’d lost interest in all parts of her except for her brilliant mind. And although he didn’t dare let her catch him doing it, behind her back, if one of their cop brothers looked at her with anything other than respect, Gabe didn’t hesitate to get in the man’s face. Over time she’d earned the esteem of all their brothers in blue, and only a newbie was stupid enough to eye her with dirty thoughts in his mind without every other cop on the Dark Falls’ force ready to play big brother and set him straight.
Gabe followed Cara onto a tree-lined street, his gaze scanning the neighborhood, pleased to see that she lived in a nice area. She pulled into the driveway of a cute bungalow, parking inside the one-car garage. He came to a stop behind her, thought about it, then called his cousin. After talking to her, he got out of his car and headed for his witness.
Chapter Two
Cara wondered who the detective was talking to. She waited for him to finish his call, and when he exited his car, she turned and walked into her house. Inside she set Cricket down. The little dog raced around her living room, stopping here and there to sniff something. What was she supposed to do with a dog? She’d never had one before. She should have thought to make a stop for dog food.
