“Hi, Daddy!” She patted his face affectionately before twisting in his arms to look at Kristen. “Daddy Mike’s gonna let me feed the worms, Miss Kristen. D’you wanna come with us?”
Kristen looked positively green, but Sam suspected it had nothing to do with the prospect of feeding worms.
He tamped down a bit of resentment. “Miss Kristen has a job to do, baby. And I’m afraid you and Daddy Mike are gonna have to go worm feeding some other day. I’ve got plans for us this afternoon. Want to know what?”
“What?” She caught his face between her hands again, making his heart swell. But instead of her lopsided grin, he saw static, candid images captured in a series of still photographs. He glanced at Kristen, who was watching him, her expression for once unguarded. The look on her face was utter devastation. There was no other word for it.
He cleared his throat and looked back at Maddy. “We’re going to have a movie marathon! All the princesses-as many as we can get through before bedtime.”
Maddy wriggled excitedly in his arms. “Really?”
“Really.”
Sam heard Detective Foley make a low, sympathetic sound behind him. Normally, Sam would agree-an afternoon and evening full of animated fairy-tale musicals were to be avoided at all costs. But this time, he could think of nowhere he’d rather be than his parents’ guest cottage with his little girl tucked safely against him on the sofa, miraculously still with him to watch dancing brooms and singing mice.
“Can Miss Kristen come, too?” Maddy asked.
“I told you, Miss Kristen has to work.”
“But after work, can she come, too?”
Sam started to say no, but Kristen cleared her throat behind him. “Yeah, Maddy. I can come after work.”
Sam looked up at Kristen, startled. She met his gaze, sheer terror shining in her blue eyes. But her small, pointed chin jutted forward, like a soldier preparing for battle.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, unconvincingly. “Y’all are staying here for a few days, right?”
He started to tell her it wasn’t a good idea, but the glee in Maddy’s laughter stopped him before he uttered a word. He looked at his daughter, finding her grinning at Kristen with sheer delight, and stayed silent. “Yeah. There’s a guest cottage down the hill from my folks’ place.”
“I can be there by seven-thirty,” Kristen told him quietly after Maddy had climbed down to follow her grandfather into the back room. “I’ll bring some microwave popcorn or something.”
“You don’t have to do this.” Sam didn’t miss the reluctance in her eyes.
“She goes to sleep-what? Eight? Eight-thirty?”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed, not following.
“Good. Then you and I can go over a few things.”
He arched an eyebrow. “A few things?”
“A few cases, actually.” She stepped away from the counter, lowering her voice. “I think whoever sent you those photos may be someone you’ve crossed in your work. You were a prosecutor before you moved back here to Alabama, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I was an assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Arlington County.”
“Tried a few cases?”
“You think someone I prosecuted is looking for revenge?”
She shrugged. “It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?”
“Okay, I’ll think about it.” He shot her a wary grin. “Something to do while the princesses are singing.”
Her answering smile transformed her face briefly, giving him a glimpse of what she might have looked like had her tragic past not left indelible traces on her young features. Her eyes shimmered like a cloudless sky reflected in a calm lake, and the worry lines creasing her forehead disappeared as if erased.
He felt another unexpected tug of attraction, sudden and primitive, that lingered even after her smile faded into the careworn lines he’d become accustomed to. He cleared his throat as Maddy and his father reemerged from the back room with the bait containers. “Okay, we’ll see you around seven-thirty.”
“Foley, I’m heading into the office to type up my report. You coming?”
“Uh, yeah.” Foley’s gaze moved quickly from her to Sam and back again. “Call us if you need us.” He fell in step with Kristen as she headed for the exit.
“Bye, Miss Kristen!” Maddy called from behind the counter.
Kristen lifted her hand to Maddy, shot Sam an enigmatic look and left the bait shop, Foley on her heels.
“She seems like a nice girl,” Beth Cooper commented, patting Sam’s back as she passed on her way back to the front counter. “Too sad about what happened with her mama.”
Sam dragged his gaze away from the empty doorway. “I know the basics-her mother killed her brothers and sisters and tried to kill her. But what else do you recall about it?”
His mother gave him an odd look. “That’s pretty much all I remember. The news reports at the time were vague.”
“What happened to the mother?”
“I don’t think she went to jail. I want to say maybe the state mental hospital or something like that.” Beth’s gaze was quizzical. “You’re awfully interested in Detective Tandy all of a sudden.”
“Stop it, Mom.”
Her smile faded. “Just be careful, okay? Maddy’s at a ripe age to get attached to a woman in your life. She’s old enough to wonder why her mother doesn’t ever come around.”
He’d bent over backward to make excuses for Norah to Maddy, more for his daughter’s sake than his ex-wife’s. But Maddy was nearing school age, and she’d soon start wondering why everyone else in her class had a mommy to take care of them. One day his excuses wouldn’t be enough.
One day, he’d have to explain that not all mommies wanted to be mommies, and there was nothing she could have said or done or been to make a difference. It was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life.
No point in making it harder by letting another woman so clearly not cut out for motherhood break his daughter’s heart.
“YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS.” Kristen stared at Carl Madison, shaking her head. “Carl, there’s got to be someone else-”
“I could find someone else,” the captain of detectives conceded. “But Foley says the child already likes and trusts you. And honestly? You need to do it for yourself.”
“Don’t do that.” Kristen glared at her foster father, her anger festering. “You’re not my father anymore.”
“You never let me be,” he said bleakly.
Guilt stoked her anger. “All I ever wanted was to be left alone to get on with my life. That’s still all I want.”
“You’re not getting on with your life. You’re hiding behind your badge and your attitude, avoiding anything that scares you or challenges you. I’m not talking to you as a father now,” he added when she opened her mouth to protest. “I’m your boss, and this is a job I think you can do if you put your mind to it. Are you telling me I’m wrong?”
Nostrils flaring, Kristen looked away from Carl. “I don’t think Sam Cooper will agree to it.”
“I think he’ll agree to anything that will keep his daughter safe from another attack.” Carl’s voice dipped an octave. “Fathers are like that.”
Kristen stood up, her legs trembling with pent-up anger and a healthy dose of apprehension. “It’s a terrible idea.”
“But you’ll do it?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” She left his office, giving the door an extra-hard push as she shut it behind her. The slam echoed down the corridor behind her.
Foley looked up as she entered the bull pen, making a face at the sight of her scowl. “Good afternoon to you, too.”
“Carl wants me on full-time babysitting duty with Maddy Cooper,” she growled.
Foley’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? I was betting he’d tell you not to go on your movie-night date with Sam Cooper.”