When Fall Fades (The Girl Next Door Series Book 1) (36 page)

“He’s inexperienced, not to mention a coward, so maybe he decides to make it look like an accident. As in, oops, I accidently drove my car into the river. Some people are ignorant enough to think that water will eradicate all evidence.” Archer shook his head at the stupidity. “Of course, this is all conjecture, but it’s consistent with what we know.”

“He could have been headed toward the Meramec River. The Mississippi isn’t that far either, but it’s a bit less discrete.” Sadie toyed with the options while twirling a long, wavy thread of her ponytail between her fingers.

Archer did his best to stay on point. “Say that’s all true. Why go through all that trouble only to leave the car on the side of the road?” Lost in thought, he almost missed her watching him, a slow, spreading grin tilting her lips.

He was about two seconds from lunging at her and kissing her senseless when she snapped her finders. “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

“Lay it on me, Holmes.” He wagged his eyebrows and was rewarded with a sassy grin.

“Because Charlie lost his license, he hadn’t driven his car in over a year. Evan doesn’t know this because he’s been out of touch for years, so he starts to drive away to stage an accident, hide the evidence, and end up with a huge payday in spite of not finding the ‘treasure,’ and what happens?”

This time she wagged her eyebrows back, and he swore his heart stuttered. “He runs out of gas.” She punctuated each word, beaming.

“That can be confirmed.” He pointed at her when he spoke. She was pretty good at this. “So, Evan inherits a bundle, can’t touch a penny until the investigation is over and is back to square one looking for instant cash flow. You don’t often get much of a grace period with these types of debts. When he goes back to Charlie’s to search one last time for the missing treasure, he doesn’t know that it’s with the girl next door who catches him during his break in.”

He started seeing all the pieces come together. Why there was no sign of forced entry the first time—Charlie let his grandson in for a visit. Why the first attempt to deliver the drug was in the coffee—less violent for a first-timer. The position of the driver’s seat for someone much taller—someone with motive, who couldn’t wait for an old man to die, terminally ill or not.

It all seemed like a good fit and a plausible story, but that really didn’t matter. He shoved off the edge of his desk, paced away from Sadie, paced back. Crammed his fingers through his hair and regretted forgetting, yet again, about his broken hand.

“What’s the matter? We’ve obviously got the wrong guy. Let’s go arrest Evan.” Sadie started to stand as if she were going to slap on the cuffs herself.

He shook his head and touched her shoulder, urging her back into the seat. They were dead in the water before they’d even jumped in. “It’s all circumstantial. We don’t have a shred of evidence. Even if we could prove he faked the alibi, we still don’t have an eyewitness or any way to trace him here. I trust you, but remembering his eyes through a ski mask won’t be enough.”

“What about the drugs?”

“Even if we can prove that he or his wife broke in to Vale and stole the drug, unless we find it on him, there could be any number of identical compounds from every other pharmaceutical company in the country. Bottom line, even if we can prove he needed the money, we can’t prove he was here killing his grandfather for a treasure. I mean, it even sounds ridiculous.

“Plus, we have a much more likely perp with a criminal record, motive, means, opportunity,
and
a confession.” Archer dragged another chair next to hers and sat, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees. “You see, we can’t just paint him the most logical choice and expect a jury to agree, we have to prove that no one else could have done it. Or trick him into confessing.”

“I understand that, but doesn’t Canterbury have a history of mental illness? I swear, he was saying some of the weirdest things. And I think the only reason he took me was because I was right there, I recognized him, and my witness account was in that file he stole. He must have thought I knew something. Not to mention, he had needle marks on his arms and showed some obvious signs of withdrawal. Maybe he was just looking for a fix? Do they even know if the medical lab he broke into had any of that truth serum stuff?”

“They haven’t confirmed all that was missing. Apparently they were remodeling and they weren’t sure their inventory list was accurate. I do know his father was mentally ill so maybe it runs in the family, but at this point, it probably doesn’t matter. The DA has their guy.”

She leaned forward to match his pose, speaking much too close for Archer’s sanity. “Maybe we can see if Evan knows anything about cars. My dad’s shop just called me back today and confirmed someone punctured my brake line the night of the fund-raiser. Evan was still in town that night.”

“What!” Archer jerked back. “How do I not know about this? What happened?”

She winced at his outburst, licked her lips. “I-I wasn’t sure if it was vandalism or just an accident until today, but someone tampered with my brakes. I crashed my Jeep. Ran off the road into a well-placed tree, actually.” Shrugging, she leaned back. “I’m just saying it’s worth looking into. There’s gotta be something that ties back to him.”

He swallowed down an angry little pill of injustice. With Canterbury’s confession Evan could get away with this. “We’ll follow up with all that, but my guess is it still won’t be enough to prosecute. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky. On a more positive note, I did hear back on something pretty cool this morning.”

“Let’s hear it.” Her fight face, with those pinched pink lips he knew would soften unbearably under his kiss, morphed into an equally adorable grin. She sank back into the chair and propped her feet up on Archer’s desk.

Archer heard his gulp go all the way down his throat.
Easy now.
“A guy I know in the army pulled some strings. I know how Charlie’s name was cleared and why he waited all these years.”

She raised a suggestive eyebrow. “Well, don’t hold back on me now.”

The woman was a menace. “It, uh, turns out Charlie wanted things to be set straight, but just for him, not to punish anyone else. He sent only the pages from the journal that would exonerate him and made sure even though Reamus had already passed away that his family wouldn’t have to suffer the shame of his mistakes. He said it takes just as much courage to forgive as it does to stand on the front lines. But only one gives you the kind of freedom and victory to grant rest for your soul.”

Her lips curved in a peaceful smile. “That sounds like him. And now, once and for all, he can truly rest in peace.”

Chapter 37

Sadie Carson

T
he way they’d left things last night should have made this awkward. And even more unsettling than their fight were the new suspicions about Charlie’s
actual
murderer. But somehow here Sadie sat, in Archer’s office, inches away from her kryptonite, yet not the least bit tempted to run for cover.

An expectant silence ballooned between them. The way he was looking at her,
oh man
. Those eyes were so decadent they could make her stomach rumble, no question. But it was the unguarded vulnerability that was her undoing.

She curled her fingers, letting her short nails scrape across her slick palms. That now familiar ache she felt when she’d heard his voice on her phone was nothing compared to this. Was this infatuation? Lust? It wasn’t just that he was attractive—though, holy hot flash, the man brought some serious heat. It was that he had this mystical power to breach the walls around her heart. Making her feel lighter. Freer. Making her want to dream of something else …
someone
else.

How could one look turn her into this pathetic, wanting mess? She broke eye contact, fought the urge to fan her hot cheeks.

All their previous bickering never required any sort of explanation. Come to think of it, the majority of their interactions over the few short weeks they’d known each other had been arguments. It seemed they hadn’t felt the need to censor their feelings, until now.

The silence seemed to heat to its boiling point, and each moment that passed stretched with the increased tension of what wasn’t being said.

Fine, so maybe she’d overreacted last night. It’s not as if her emotional stability had been at its peak. Blame it on the traumatic abduction, the swollen knot on her head, on literally fighting for her life and her virtue. Heap on the hurt of Archer not coming to her rescue, then the tender look in his eyes when he’d comforted her and called her his girl. It was a wonder she hadn’t curled into the fetal position and let her crying jag carry her mindlessly into tomorrow.

But then Ryan came crashing into the mix—the past and the present colliding when she least expected it.

Ryan’s ghost was too big to confront in Archer’s—and that Agent Mackenzie’s—presence. Sadie hadn’t been ready to surrender each one of those broken pieces, and knew that if she handed Archer her heart on a silver platter, he might not want the poorly mended shred she had to offer.

What about now?

Archer’s eyes were still on her. He was a trained detective. Could he see how transparent she was? How vulnerable? Her heart was a trapped base runner in a pickle, stuck on the base path between love and loss, waiting for the guy with the ball to make a move.

After what felt like an eternity, he opened his mouth. “Sadie—”

“Hey!” Sal poked his head in. “You two love birds make up yet?”

Archer squeezed his eyes shut. “Impeccable timing, buddy. You need something or you just thought it’d be a good time to stop in for a chat?”

Sal smirked, looking pleased with himself. “I just heard back from one of the guys at the Chicago Field Office. Says this thing’s tied up so tight, might as well be a noose. No one’s saying a thing. Looks like you’re not gonna get much help. I doubt it will be conclusive, but I can call Candice and see if she can reexamine the strain and attempt an exact match to Vale.”

“Need an excuse to c-c-call her, huh?” Archer imitated a stutter.

“You’re obnoxious.” He turned to Sadie with a lazy salute. “Good luck with this one,
bonita
. I’m out.”

Archer chuckled good-naturedly. The deep, resonant sound brushed deliciously against her nerve endings. When his laugh lines smoothed and his eyes simmered like fondue, it was all she could do to keep from dissolving into a puddle right then and there.

“I have so much I want to say, I don’t know where to start.” He cleared his throat. “Do you think we could go somewhere and talk? I’d like to do this right.”

“Okay.” Sadie gave him a half smile, and somehow managed to stand and walk with him out of the office without biffing it. “Where to?”

Archer paused by the Camaro, a pained look crossed his face. “My place?”

She nodded and slid behind the wheel.

His loft was only about ten minutes away, but her nerves raced a marathon around her brain during the short trip. What was he going to say? Was she ready to hear whatever it was? Would he cop out with a generic apology, or would he bare his soul? If he did, was she ready to reciprocate? Did he love her?

“Ahh!” Slamming on the breaks, the old girl screeched to a halt a mere inch from barreling into his bumper. Her breaths came fast, her heart zinging with instant adrenaline.

Where did that thought come from? The last time she’d fallen in love it had taken almost twenty years. She and Archer hadn’t even known each other a month.

He couldn’t possibly.

She couldn’t possibly. Could she?

The night sky beyond her window had a hazy imprint of the city lights, the halo glow of the streetlights distorting to look like stars in the distance. She stared out into the dark unknown, at the fuzzy horizon, and wondered what tomorrow might bring. Love, loss, regret?

A car horn brought her out of her daze. She shook her head and stepped on it. A few minutes later she was pulling into Archer’s parking garage beside his blacked-out Suburban. With no more time to ruminate on what lay ahead, she stepped away from the safe confines of Ryan’s beloved car and took her first step toward an uncertain future.

The second they walked through the door to his apartment the warm, Archer-scented air blissfully invaded her senses. The sweet sandalwood and spice took the edge off her apprehension, making her more attuned and aware of the way he moved, of the tense plane of his body as he slipped out of his jacket and motioned her to the couch.

This was it. He could break her heart, or he could ask for it. She resolved to take whatever he threw at her and keep moving forward—trusting that all her unanswered prayers were part of a bigger plan she didn’t need to understand.

They sat angled toward each other with plenty of space between them. Too much space for her to discern the intention of the talk. When she looked into his eyes, they weren’t at all calm and steady like they’d been in his office. He looked nervous. Maybe even terrified.

She spoke softly, urging him out of his silent struggle. “Now would be the time to say something, Archer.”

“I know.” He blew out a breath, tugged at his tie until the knot gave and it slipped from his collar. Then he unbuttoned the top two buttons revealing the base of his throat and a few dark curls of hair on his tanned chest. “Sadie, we haven’t known each other for very long. Usually it doesn’t matter how long I’ve known someone because it’s safer not to care, not to be distracted by feelings or relationships of any kind. I’ve been … afraid to open myself up to anyone, and not just because of my childhood. I was a soldier, a sniper for the army—and the only one from my unit that didn’t return home in a box.”

He looked away, his breathing forced and even. “I wasn’t sure I could take any more loss. It always seemed to find me and leave me as the tortured lone survivor.” Turning those eyes back on her, she could see his pain—see how he wore it as a suit of armor. Just like she did. “So, I put up this wall and all these rules to protect myself, and to protect others from ending up dead like everyone else who’d ever gotten close to me.” She saw his Adam’s apple catch in his throat. “I thought I was fine. I didn’t even realize how isolated I’d become until you came along and tore down that wall brick by brick.

“God knows, I fought it. Not only were my feelings unwanted and unplanned, but I knew they would screw with my job. After what my father put me through I knew I’d rather be alone than turn into the guy that takes people for granted. But something about you stuck to me.” His lips tipped in a bashful smile. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Couldn’t stop the way you woke me up and made me want to be a different kind of man. You make me feel like the best version of myself. And maybe that’s selfish in a way, but it’s not just about what you make me feel. It’s you. You’re it. And not because you’re freaking beautiful and funny and smart and feisty—and well, just too tempting to deny. It’s because of the beauty shining from within. Your heart is my greatest treasure. Worth more than all the diamonds in the world combined.”

Foolish tears swam in her eyes. She looked down, swiped away the moisture with her knuckle, desperate to pull it together, but Archer reached across the space between them and gently lifted her chin, forcing her to drown in his liquid honey gaze. His tender touch skimmed over her cheek, absorbing her tears.

“You helped me find my way back from the bitter edge. You,
Doctor
Sadie Carson, helped mend a deeply broken part of my heart.”

And you helped mend mine.

“That was one heck of a speech.” She whispered with a watery smile.

“Not too mushy?” With the softest caress of his knuckles, he stroked from her cheek to the side of her neck and down her arm until his hand rested on hers.

She shook her head and reminded herself to breathe.

“Good, because I’ve got some groveling to do. I’m
so
sorry I invaded your privacy. I didn’t even think about what I might find, I just couldn’t figure out why you were under my skin, so I turned to what I knew and investigated. And to be honest, I felt so guilty after I glazed over the most basic information that I trashed the file. I didn’t know anything about the car or Ryan until Sal accidently told me after he dropped you off last night.”

He squeezed her hand. “Baby, I’m truly sorry about your friend. Someday—if you ever decide you can forgive me—I’d be honored to hear about him. And for the record, the only girl I’m interested in is you. That woman in my office—”

“I’ve already forgiven you,” she interrupted. Turning her hand over, she wove her fingers through his.

“That makes the next thing I need to say a little easier.”

“And what’s that?” Her voice wobbled.

“That I …”