Page 9 of Dark Terror
She picked up Cricket, holding the dog against her chest like a shield. “I don’t know if it was him. Do you think it was?” Her eyes beseeched him to say no.
“Probably not.” Could have been, and if so, that scared him, too. It meant their killer was watching her. But she was terrified enough right now, and he didn’t want to add to her stress. “What was he wearing?”
“He had on a ball cap, but it was pulled down over his forehead. Um, sunglasses, a dark T-shirt, blue, I think, and jeans. I couldn’t really see his face.”
“Was he tall? Same build?”
“I think so.”
“Did you see him leave, which direction he went?”
“No. I’m sorry. He was scaring me, and I didn’t want to look at him anymore.”
Gabe called it in, giving the man’s description and his last known location, requesting a BOLO.
“What’s a BOLO?”
“Be on the lookout. Patrol will be watching for someone matching his description now. Hopefully he’ll be spotted and picked up.”
“And if he’s not?”
She looked like she was about to collapse in on herself, and without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her to him. “It’s going to be okay, Cara.”
“You don’t know that.” She pressed her face against his chest. “What if he knows who I am?”
She was right, and he didn’t know, couldn’t promise that she’d be safe. He couldn’t be with her around the clock, and the thought of her alone and scared, hearing noises in the dark of the night and wondering if it washimfinally coming for her brought out protective instincts the likes of which he’d never felt before.
Not good, Gabe. Not good at all. Realizing he was embracing a witness in view of anyone watching, he dropped his arms and stepped away. What the hell had come over him? He didn’t let his emotions out when on duty. He kept them reined in whether on the job or off. Being a detective, and a damn good one, was his life, all that mattered. Sure, he dated. He wasn’t a monk, but he didn’t do relationships. Had never wanted to after Brittaney and hadn’t missed having a woman permanently in his life.
Yet, standing here with Cara, he wondered what he had been missing, and why it was this woman who had caused a shift inside him that had him suddenly feeling like he led a lonely life. Yep, why her was the question, but the bigger question, what was he going to do about it?
“Nothing.”
“What’s nothing?”
Had he said that aloud? He shifted his gaze from her to the corner where she’d seen the man. “Just thinking about something. Let’s see if Cricket will show us where he lived.”
Chapter Four
Cara missed having Gabe’s arms holding her. She’d felt safe with them wrapped around her. She prided herself on being an intelligent, strong-minded woman, but murderers, especially ones focusing their attention on her, were out of her league. And she wasn’t at all ashamed of being afraid. She’d be a fool not to be.
It also seemed as if Gabe had suddenly put up a wall between them. One minute he was holding her—and that had felt better than it should have—and in the next, he wouldn’t even look at her. Had she done something wrong?
She set Cricket down. The little dog spent a good five minutes sniffing the grass before doing his business.
“I think you’re supposed to clean up after him, but I don’t have any baggies,” she said.
Gabe looked at the steaming pile, his expression one of horror. “I’m supposed to?”
A laugh burst from her. “I didn’t mean you as in you personally. I just meant that people are supposed to pick up after their pets. Isn’t it like a law or something?”
He turned those gorgeous green eyes her way, amusement shining in them behind the black-framed glasses. “Unless you’re going to, I guess I’ll have to arrest both of us because I’m not going near that stuff.”
And just like that, she felt they were back on even ground. “Are you going to handcuff me?” she said, then resisted the urge to slap her hand over her mouth as another laugh escaped. Had she really said that?
He grinned at her. “You’re wishing you could take that one back, aren’t you?”
“Yes, please.” She liked that he hadn’t made a suggestive reply to her comment and also liked that he hadn’t ignored it either.
