Laura raised an eyebrow.
“Much,” Wolf admitted. “Hey, I’m on the rebound.” He turned very serious. “Those men keep watching you.” She turned and saw who he meant. Joe, Edward, and that asshole Brad were talking amongst themselves, ignoring everyone around them. They stared at her in turns and talked behind their hands as though deciding on an assessment.
“They’re trying to decide if I’m going to be murdered tonight,” Laura said.
Wolf paled. “No.”
“Now you sound like Caleb.”
“Damn it, Laura, I know Rafe and Cam offered to take you away.
Tell me they didn’t.”
“They did.”
“Then why the hell aren’t you gone? Why aren’t you miles down the road?”
No one understood. “I have to face him. I ran once, and now there’s another dead girl. I’m the one who got away. He’ll come after me. He has to. It isn’t in his nature to leave something undone. He’s been stewing for years on the fact that I got away. This is the only way to catch him. If he’s allowed to continue, he’ll never stop.”
“Fine, then let someone else be the decoy,” Wolf suggested.
“Surely they can bring in someone with your height and coloring.” She’d thought of that herself, but discarded the notion. “It won’t fool him. He’s very clever, and for all I know, he would be the one picking the decoy.”
Wolf breathed deeply, his chest expanding. “You seriously think he’s already here?”
“I know it. He’s here, Wolf, and he will come for me.” Laura turned and walked off, Logan following behind her. She needed to find a bathroom. She had an interview to do.
“Scotch?” Stef Talbot asked, holding up a crystal decanter of amber liquid.
Cam shook his head. He didn’t need anything screwing with his faculties. Not even a single drink. He was already a bit nervous about leaving Laura, but Stef had assured him that Logan Green would watch over her. She wouldn’t be allowed to leave the safety of town hall. “No, but thank you.”
Rafe shook his head as well. It seemed they were in sync. They had been since they stood out by the river and contemplated what the hell they would do if Laura didn’t let them back in. Stef shrugged and poured three glasses. He passed them to the men in the room. Nate Wright took his with a nod, and his partner, a big dude named Zane Hollister, took the other.
Cam waited impatiently for someone to tell him why he was here.
The door to Stef’s office opened, and the twin cowboys with the wife who liked to feed her child walked in.
“Damn, Stef, give me some of that. Rachel is pissed off,” one of them said.
The other grinned. “And not just at me, brother. I told you she wouldn’t know what to do if we presented a united front.”
“Yeah,” the first one said morosely, “now we’re both cut off.”
“Max, don’t worry. It never lasts long. She can’t help herself.” Stef looked at the two with great affection. It was easy to see they were all friends, which begged the question of why he and Rafe had been called into this meeting of a close-knit group.
“Gentlemen, I appreciate the invitation, but my partner and I really need to get back to Laura,” Rafe said in a firm but polite tone.
Cam nodded. He would have just said “what the fuck.” Rafe was better at the social conventions.
“Partner? Is he really your partner?” Stef asked, staring at both of them.
What was that supposed to mean? Cam tried to explain. “We used to be partners when we both worked for the Bureau.”
They all exchanged looks, heads shaking, eyes narrowing. They seemed to be communicating amongst each other, as though that was the answer they had all expected and it disappointed them.
“That’s what we thought,” the sheriff said.
“Amateurs.” Max Harper had a little frown on his face.
“What is this about?” Rafe seemed calmer than Cam felt. Cam felt like he was being judged and found wanting.
Zane Hollister turned. “Look, we all care about Laura. It’s easy to see that you do, too.”
“Are you attempting to pursue a ménage relationship with Laura?” Rye Harper asked. He asked the question academically, without a hint of judgment. Cam tried to calm down.
“I don’t see where this is your business, but yes,” Cam managed.
He kind of wished he’d taken that drink.
Stef sat on the edge of his desk looking wholly comfortable as he probed into someone else’s private life. “Laura belongs to Bliss. She’s everyone’s business. We work differently here, gentlemen. You should get used to that.”
Zane grinned, his scarred face looking years younger. “Yeah, everyone is up in everyone else’s shit here.” Stef shook his head. “Not the way I would have put it. I believe what the big guy is trying to say is that we care for each other here.”
“And you two are totally fucking this up,” Max interjected.
Dark eyes rolled as Stef replied. “Again, I would have used different words.”
Max shrugged. “And taken up way more time with all your pussyfooting around. Let’s get to the point. You two are fucking up.
You’ve been fighting amongst yourselves since the day you walked into town.”
Rye agreed with his twin. “You two are not acting like partners.
When we asked about the whole partner thing, we weren’t talking about your work relationship. We were talking about the way you live your lives.”
Nate held out a hand. “Don’t take this the wrong way. We’re really trying to help. Normally, we would take a step back and let you two figure this out on your own, but we’re worried about Laura. With a killer on the loose, she needs the two of you to get your shit together.”
“Trust me, those two are experts at this. They know how to fuck up. They fucked up for years before getting their shit together. You should listen to them,” Max said, sarcasm dripping.
Zane stood up, and his face turned into a mask of intimidation. He bared his teeth at Max, and then sat back down and sipped his Scotch while looking up at Nate. “He’s right. We were dumbasses for years.
We wasted a lot of time that we could have spent with Callie.” Nate put a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “That’s in the past.” Cam looked over at Rafe, who seemed to be assessing the situation as he always did. Though Cam had gone through all the training and knew how to read body language and size up a subject, Rafe was the one with the true talent for it. Rafe wasn’t on Laura’s level, but he knew what he was doing. When Rafe’s shoulders relaxed, Cam calmed down.
And Stef Talbot smiled. “There. That’s what I’m talking about.
Rafe just decided we’re not out to get them, and Cam took his cue.
Now we can talk.”
“Are you sure you’re not a profiler?” Cam asked, surprised someone had read him so well.
“I am many things,” Stef replied. “But for now call me a concerned friend. Laura isn’t happy.”
“When she talked to Rachel earlier this afternoon, Rach said she’d been crying,” Rye explained.
“She had a rough afternoon.” Rafe’s eyes were downcast. They had all had a rough afternoon. There had been moments of pure joy, but now all Cam could feel was an aching sadness.
“Yes, I watched the whole thing.” Nate took off his Stetson and set it down on the desk. “I also know that you two did what you could to protect her. The trouble is she’s not protecting herself. Now, I know a little bit about what happened. Stef and I have looked into this. We don’t know all the details, but we can read between the lines.
Laura handed in a profile of the serial killer that neither one of you agreed with.”
Cam nodded. His guilt was an uneasy knot in his gut. “We backed the senior special agent’s report. Laura was upset because we were involved at the time.”