If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (32 page)

“I was talking to Puck,” Lena said. She bent over, scratching the dog’s head. “Did you say you saw Roz?”

“Yeah. Outside talking to her husband.”

Lena’s hand faltered. Then her fingers curled convulsively in the dog’s silky fur. “Carter. You saw her talking to Carter,” she said quietly.

“Yeah.” Okay, something about Lena’s tone had a cold chill running down Hope’s spine.

Behind her, she heard a door shut … and voices.

Slowly, Lena straightened. “Hope,” she said, keeping her voice low, all but soundless. “Come on.
Now
.”

A very large part of her was dying to know what in the hell was going on.

But Hope understood fear. She understood the survival instinct. Without saying a word, she headed for Lena as the voices behind them drew closer. They slipped out of the kitchen, with Lena easing the door shut so it didn’t swing and betray their presence.

Seconds later, they heard Roz calling out, “Lena, you in there?”

Lena turned her face to Hope, one finger lifted and pressed against her lips.

They moved down the hallway, Hope wincing as she moved along next to Lena, her steps sounding unbelievably
loud, at least to her own ears. After a few seconds, Lena said in a quiet voice, “We’re going to the other kitchen. The day staff is in there. Just don’t say anything—don’t ask. Ezra’s on his way.”

Ezra—

Hope slid a hand into her pocket and tugged out her phone.

Up ahead, a door opened.

Puck stopped in his tracks, growling low in his throat.

Even before he moved out from behind the door, Hope knew who it was.

Carter Jennings stood there. Behind the lenses of his glasses, she couldn’t see his eyes. That bothered her, a lot.

She could see his smile, though.

And the smile really freaked her out.

“Hello, ladies.”

“Carter.” Lena sounded calm and cool.

Hope wondered if Carter could tell that Lena was shaking—oh so slightly. Edging in a little closer, Hope stared at the other man.

Where was Roz?

Where was Ezra?

And what in the hell was going on?

Puck growled again, low and rough, deep in his chest. Lena gripped his leash tighter. “Easy, boy,” she murmured. “Easy.

“He’s antsy today,” Lena said. “I guess a lot of us are.”

“Yeah.” He continued to stand there, just watching them.

Hope swallowed. There was something about that stare that just unnerved the hell out of her.

Lena—how did she manage it—gave him an easy smile. “Speaking of antsy, I was dragging Hope along to
the big kitchen. I promised your wife some chocolate chip cookies, but I want coffee and my blend is in there. I’ll probably spike it with some Kahlua, too, and your wife doesn’t touch the stuff.”

A faint smile curled Carter’s lips. “No. No, she doesn’t.” He stepped aside, using his body to block a side door leading down a hall. “I’ll come by and grab some cookies later, ladies.”

“You do that. If you wait too long, you know Roz will eat them all.” Lena murmured to Puck, and Hope, still glued to her side, followed her along. As she did, she kept her head down. From the corner of her eye, she tried to glance past him.

Was that Roz …?

She heard Carter sigh.

Lena stiffened, walking faster.

“You know, don’t you, Lena?” he asked.

“Know what, Carter?” She didn’t wait for an answer, shoving through the door, one hand coming out to grab on to Hope’s, all but dragging her through. She didn’t let go, either. They passed the kitchen and still Lena kept moving, long, confident strides of her legs. “Door, Puck,” she said.

“Lena, what in the hell is going on?” Hope demanded, shooting a look back over her shoulder, half-expecting to see Carter appear in the doorway.

“I don’t know.” Her voice was no longer so cool, and not at all controlled. It shook, but it wasn’t just fear in Lena’s voice. There was fury there. Tightly reined in, but fury, nonetheless. “But something’s up. I heard it in his voice. Puck’s pissed. And Ezra …”

She snapped her mouth shut. “Come on. You drove, right? We’ll get in your car and go wait at the end of the drive.”

*   *   *

Carter stood in the front door, watching the two women climb into Hope’s car. They acted like the devil was behind them, he mused. Especially Lena. Although there was a marked amount of caution in Hope’s eyes. A smart girl, his pretty little mouse. She saw him standing there, but pretended otherwise, her eyes bouncing away without making contact.

Nothing to see here, nothing to see …
he thought.

As the car backed away, he retreated into the house, his mind whirling.

They knew.

Just
what
they knew, he wasn’t sure. But they knew something.

He didn’t need to waste any time wondering how, either.

The bracelet. Nia Hollister. Damn that bitch. How had she connected it? How had she connected Katia, some tramp in Chicago, to her cousin’s death? Rage had him shaking and he made himself pause, take a breath. He needed to think.

He had plans in place for this. He’d always had plans. He just needed to think everything through … once he put things in motion, there would be no going back.

Clearing his mind, he pushed through the staff door, heading down the hall to the private door. They separated the private parts of the house from the public areas they shared with guests. Just inside, Roz lay on the floor. Her face was slack and he sighed as he crouched down next to her. He touched her cheek and listened as she moaned softly. She’d wake up soon.

“ ’Til death do us part,” he said gently. Slipping his arms under her, he rose.

There was a lot of work to be done now. Two thorns he needed to remove before he finished things. Then he’d take care of things with Roz.

He’d give her something, make sure she’d stay quiet
while he took care of business. He didn’t want her to worry, didn’t want her scared. Kissing her brow, he slipped out of the house as quietly as he’d come. He had everything he needed stashed in his shop. He would have had to go back for that stuff anyway. Certain things needed to be destroyed.

As did certain people …

S
EEING THE LITTLE GREEN SEDAN SITTING AT THE END
of the Inn’s drive had Law’s eyes narrowing. “What in the hell is Hope doing here?” he muttered.

Ahead of him, Ezra slammed on his brakes. Law did the same thing, putting his car into park. He didn’t bother asking Nia to wait—it would have been a waste of breath.

She was out the door as fast as he was and moving on long legs to catch up with him as he came up to stand by Hope’s car. Ezra was already bent over, peering inside, something oddly relaxed about his posture.

A familiar canine head popped up from the back seat, dark, liquid eyes peering at Law. “Hey, Puck.” He bent over and saw Lena sitting in the front passenger seat. Well, that would explain why Ezra wasn’t already back in the car, tearing his way to the Inn. “Lena. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hi, Law.” She had her head back against the seat, her shoulders tense and rigid. “Any time somebody wants to fill me and Hope in, we’d be just fine with that.”

Ezra scowled. “Yeah, that would be nice, darlin’. But I’m afraid I’ve got to figure out how to get a warrant. I
want you to go back home with Law and Nia. And
stay
there.”

Law narrowed his eyes as he straightened, glaring at Ezra.

Ezra stared back. “What do you want me to do? Take you two with me? Just how hard do you want to make it for me to arrest him, huh?
Think
, Reilly.” Then he shifted his gaze to Nia. “You came to me for a reason, Nia. I’m hoping it’s because you trust me to do my job. Now get the hell out of here and let me do it.”

A heavy, tense silence fell.

Then, to Law’s surprise, Nia reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder. “He’s right. We’ve done what we can. Besides, he can’t just send them off by themselves. He needs to be
here
 … and he can’t be worrying about Lena and Hope. He needs somebody watching them. And hell, you’d be worrying about them, too.”

“Shit.” He covered her hand with his. “Why do you got to go and be all reasonable?”

She gave him a wan smile. “I’m taking a leap of faith.” Then she looked at Ezra. “I hope I don’t regret it.”

The sheriff scowled and then pointed toward Law’s car. “Go. Now. I’ve got too many calls to make, lawyers to fight with.”

“You didn’t tell him I saw it on Roz’s desk because I’d stolen it,” Nia said as they drove along behind Hope’s car.

“Yeah. Illegally obtained evidence wouldn’t help him get a warrant and he’ll need one. Hell, even without illegally obtained evidence, he’s got a fight on his hands.”

“It’s him,” Nia said quietly. “I know it. In my gut, I know it. Nothing fit—that’s why I had to come back, because nothing about what they said with Joely
fit
. This
fits
.”

“I know you think it does,” Law said, keeping his
voice neutral and wondering if she had a gun stashed on her somewhere. Shit. It wouldn’t surprise him. She’d gotten one illegal, unregistered weapon—she could get another. It wasn’t that damn hard, if somebody knew how to look. Obviously, she knew how to look. “Nia, you need to let him do his job. Your cousin wouldn’t want you blowing the rest of your life for her—let him handle this.”

Nia smiled sadly. “You think I’m going to go after him with guns blazing?”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Are you?”

“I want to.” Her voice was husky and soft, shaking. “But I’m terrified right now. When I saw that bracelet, I was so damn sick, I could barely see. All I could think was I’d been sleeping
that
close to him, paying him money … and I was terrified. I keep seeing those pictures you took and I’m terrified. If I see him, could I even pull the damn trigger or would I turn into a wailing, screaming mess?”

He reached over and caught her hand, squeezed it. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed it and murmured, “Ezra’s a smart guy, and he’s a good cop. Let him do his job, okay?”

“I’m
trying
to do my job,” Ezra growled.

“You’re trying to prove you’re nuts.” Beulah Simmons gaped at him. “That’s what you’re doing. Why in the hell should I give you a warrant based on a bracelet that may or may not belong to a woman who was killed in Chicago months ago? What possible connection could Carter Jennings have to some cotton-candy-looking Barbie doll from Chicago?”

Ezra swore and wished there was some way he could have gone to Remy. But there wasn’t. Remy couldn’t be involved in this, no way, no how. But Beulah was a hard-ass
of the highest order. Normally, that was a good thing. But she didn’t allow any wiggle room and she wasn’t too impressed with the one piece of evidence he had.

Hell, even
he
knew it wasn’t much.

Slamming the report down on her desk, he said, “
Look
at it, damn it. The bracelet matches the description to a T. If it wasn’t for the inscription, I wouldn’t think much of it, but it matches. The sapphire matches. And Carter Jennings
was
out of town that weekend. There was a big arts-and-crafts show in Chicago—he was down as one of the vendors—I checked their website. He attends every year.”

“So?” She shoved up from her desk, not even topping five foot five in whatever skyscraper heels she had on today, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in attitude. “A
lot
of people were in Chicago. It’s
Chicago
.”

“You’re not going to give me the damn warrant, are you?”

“Based on a bracelet? One a disturbed, distraught woman gave to you?”

“Nia Hollister is
not
a disturbed woman. Distraught, I’ll give you that, but she’s not disturbed.” Ezra grabbed the evidence bag and the report. Shit, shit,
shit
. “Fine. I’ll find more evidence—I’m getting a damned warrant, Beulah. I’ve had a weird feeling all along about the way the Carson case went down—it was too fucking easy. If something that screwed up looks too simple, then maybe there’s a reason for it.”

He stormed toward the door.

“Ezra. You need to calm down. You’ve got a good career here—”

He paused and looked back at her, furious. “The career can get fucked, Beulah. What good is my fucking badge if I can’t protect people against a killer who’s been in plain sight for God knows how long?”

“You’re wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “Carter isn’t a killer. You’re wrong.”

“What if I’m not?” He jerked open the door.

As he stormed out of her office, Beulah sank back into her chair, shaken.

The conviction in his eyes, in his voice, worried her.

Beulah knew cops. She might be a small-town county DA, but she knew cops. She’d be willing to bet the Jimmy Choos she’d just bought online last night that Ezra was a good cop—a smart one. He didn’t strike her as the type who’d go off blindly.

Pressing a hand to her belly, she closed her eyes and tried to think.

If he was wrong, it was going to cost him his job. Ash, Kentucky, wouldn’t forgive an outsider coming down on one of their own—especially not somebody like Carter Jennings.

But if he was right …

“Shit, boy.”

The way Ezra saw it, he had two choices—well, three, but one of them wasn’t really a choice. That third one—the not-choice—involved going to talk to Remy. Remy Jennings—Carter’s cousin, and the other county DA. A
not
-choice of the highest order, as far as he was concerned, because if Beulah hadn’t believed him, then why would Remy?

So scratch
that
possibility.

Second possibility—get a few of his men out, asking some questions. Even if he just took one or two of the men he thought he could trust the most—hell, even just one, like Keith. Maybe they could get somebody who had seen
something
. Could a man really hide that long without showing anybody his true nature? It didn’t seem that way.

But it would take too long. Ezra didn’t know how much time they might have. His gut was screaming a warning—
hurry, hurry, hurry
—time was something he didn’t really have, he suspected.