Page 74 of Double Take

“Why’s that?”

“Because after Adam died, I locked everything up in storage.”

His eyes narrowed on the key in her hand. “And that goes to the lock?”

She nodded. “I haven’t been there since I had it all hauled away. It’s not a whole lot, but there was a file cabinet, some boxes of papers, probably some pictures, and some furniture. Maybe something there that can tell us about Adam and who he was hanging out with, if he was doing anything on the side that I didn’t know about.” She raked a hand over her hair and tucked a few strands behind her ear. “He could have had a whole other life and I’d never have known. I wasn’tthinking about that when I put the stuff in storage, I just wanted anything that reminded me about Adam out of my line of sight.”

James nodded. “Understandable. All right. I’ll ask Cole to meet us there. And on the way to the lake house, we need to stop and get you a phone. I don’t like you being without one.”

“That would be good. I need to text the number to my parents in case they need me.”

“Then let’s get to it.”

Lainie noted his pained expression even though he was doing his best to hide it. It had been a long morning for her, but with his injury, he had to be feeling particularly worn out. “When’s the last time you took some pain meds?”

“Just before we left the house.”

She nodded. “Good. Tonight, you need to forget about me and rest.”

His gaze locked on hers. “I could never forget about you, Lainie.”

Once again warmth crept into her cheeks, and she had to wonder if there was anything more than just kindness behind his words. And if so, what was she going to do about it? Nothing. She twisted the key once more. She would do absolutely nothing.

ON A STRAIGHT STRETCHof the highway, James took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at Lainie. She had finished setting up her new phone and now her faraway expression and pinched lips said her thoughts were spinning. He couldn’t blame her.

“You okay?” he asked her.

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m prepared, I guess.” She snaked her fingers around the necklace. “Got the key, got water bottles for all of us, got some snacks from the pantry that weren’t damaged.” She huffed a short, humorless laugh. “I mean, what does a girl take to go sift through the leftovers of the guy who tried to kill her?”

At least she was being honest. He reached over to grasp her handand give it a squeeze. “You’ll be okay. One way or another, you’ll be okay. I’m going to see to it.” He only hoped he could live up to his promise, but if he didn’t, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. He let go of her hand with reluctance and wrapped his fingers back around the wheel.

Lainie glanced at her phone again and sighed.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“I almost prefer having no phone.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m supposed to go over next Friday to help my mom do some cleaning, but she’s decided I need to come tomorrow and is blowing up my phone with texts.”

“And you’re off tomorrow, right?”

“Of course. She knows my schedule because I share it with her. Might be time to stop doing that,” she muttered.

“Do we need to go by there?”

“No.”

The instant response lifted his brow. “Okay.”

“I’ll text my dad and let him know some details so he can intervene. I think I need to stay away from them for now. At least until we get my situation figured out.”

“Might be a wise idea.”

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “But it’s safe to be around your family?”

“With the gated community, and a cop at your side?” He jabbed a thumb in his chest. “Not to mention others who are well-versed in using guns against predators? Yes, it’s safe. He couldn’t get to you there, which is why he went after your house. My guess is, it was to prove you couldn’t ‘beat’ him.”

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