More Than a Lawman

by Anna J. Stewart

  One day he’d pull up anchor and just...sail off. House, home and sanctuary all in one.

  Seeing Eden standing in the spacious living area, which included a small pullout sofa across from the easy-access kitchen, confirmed his decision to make the space as modern and as un-boatlike as possible. Shifting the galley table to the other side of the sink provided more space for guests. He could still smell the trace hint of varnish and sweat, but he chalked that up to the countless hours of sanding and painting that had been his life for what seemed like endless months. Now that the boat was finished, he scarcely knew what to do with himself on the weekends.

  “Cole, I have no words.” Eden dropped her bag on the floor and planted her hands on her hips. Her gaze softened as she spotted the collection of framed pictures he’d displayed on one wall, including one of her parents from the first summer family vacation they’d taken him on. “This is so...real. And look!” She held out her arms and braced her feet apart, not coming close to covering the fourteen-foot expanse. “I’m not wobbling. Neither is my stomach.”

  “It’s not like the river is known for its tidal waves.” He grinned as he passed her, heading to the kitchen, and popped open the fridge to stash the beer and sodas he’d picked up earlier today. “Take a look around while I grab the rest of your stuff. And my dinner. Good thing I like cold pizza. Oh, your room’s under here.” He leaned over on his way up the ladder and pointed to the open door to his left. He’d planned to make it an office, but the last thing he wanted to do in this space was work. A guest room had seemed a viable second option, especially given how many times Jack had crashed at his place on their weekends off. “It’s not huge, but it should suffice.”

  He welcomed the night air as he stepped outside, jogging to his car and organizing what was left into trips. He could go back to her place anytime, he’d told her, but that hadn’t stopped him from taking as much as he could. He’d talk to the lieutenant in the morning, see about getting a few lab techs out to her house to check for any evidence, but he already knew they wouldn’t find anything.

  The Iceman had shifted to playing head games, which, as far as Cole was concerned, made him even more dangerous than before. It would also upset Eden even more, which would make Cole’s job to keep her out of harm’s way that more difficult.

  Her giant boards would have to go, but he’d found a few smaller magnetic ones stashed between her filing cabinets that she could use. He needed her happy here, or, as that probably wasn’t possible, content. A content Eden was one who was less likely to take risks.

  If this didn’t work, he’d take that tracker idea under advisement.

  For now, Eden was safe. Under his roof. His protection. If anything happened to her now...

  It would be on him.

  Chapter 11

  Eden gripped the edge of the door frame and reached around to flip the light switch to the triangular guest room. A double bed in the corner, a dresser-desk built in right next to it. Cabinets along the other side of the room. A long, narrow window stretched the length of the mattress. Two small recessed lights shone above the pillows. Neat, organized, streamlined. Everything she knew Cole to be.

  Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined such a stately boat. His attention to detail, right down to the cubbyhole and peekaboo drawers in the narrow shelf under that window, was meticulous. She sank down on the bed, staring wide-eyed first at the narrow closet next to the sliding door, then at the recessed small-screen TV across from her. She caught sight of a wireless modem in a cubby just above. Internet. And Wi-Fi. She smirked. Something else she’d been wrong about.

  Every unkind word she’d ever said about his home reverberated in her mind. She tried not to live with regrets. Who had time for them? But given the comments she’d made, she realized how lucky she was that Cole still considered her a friend. She really didn’t make things easy on him, did she?

  She didn’t make things easy on anyone.

  A heavy thud hit above her. She darted back out and up the stairs as he set another stack of boxes onto the deck. Before she could say anything, he was off again. Eden inhaled, slowly, deliberately. And tried to relax.

  There was something oddly comforting about the absence of sound. Certainly no squeaky gnome yard ornament to keep them awake.

  If she could even sleep.

  That was twice the Iceman had come after her. Or was it? What if she’d been home? What if she’d come face-to-face with whomever had invaded her home? Eden frowned as she sat on the edge of the polished bench and slipped her hands under her thighs to keep them warm even as she basked in the cool night breeze. Why sneak into her home when she clearly wasn’t there? What purpose did that serve? Had he left something? Taken something she hadn’t noticed or didn’t think was important?

  He hadn’t disturbed any of her notes or files on the case. She couldn’t shake the idea that the focus on Chloe meant the Iceman didn’t have anything to do with the break-in at her home. She was overthinking things. Reading too much into this. Clearly she thought the photo was important; it had been set aside as a focal point. But the timing...

  Chloe. Twenty years almost to the day and the briefest thought of her childhood friend could send her dropping into the past like Dorothy’s tornado to Oz. It was wishful thinking she could have a shot at finding Chloe’s killer after all this time.

  Wishful thinking. That was all it was.

  With decades’ worth of practice, she pushed the pain and memories aside and concentrated on the present killer. The one still in her sights.

  The one she had a hope of catching.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” she whispered into the darkness as she tried to puzzle together the information she had. What was she missing? What did he want?

  Why had he left her alive?

  “I figure tomorrow you can organize everything,” Cole grunted as he returned to the boat with what she hoped was the last load.

  “Tell me all this won’t make the boat sink,” Eden attempted to tease.

  “She’s got a pretty strong frame,” Cole said with a sharp nod. “She’ll survive.”

  Eden shifted on her seat. Were they still talking about the boat?

  “Why don’t you head downstairs and I’ll hand these off to you.”

  Eden nodded, uncertain about so many things. She refrained from speaking. She stood on the second-to-last step and held up her arms.

  “Ah!” Cole pulled the first box out of reach. “Only if you promise to leave these be until tomorrow. We both need some sleep.”

  Eden nodded, too exhausted to argue. “Agreed. I have enough to think about.” Like what that image on the shiny white surface had been when she’d done her Allie-guided flashback. Maybe when she stopped thinking, maybe if she started doodling, it would come to her.

  They loaded all of Eden’s stuff into the cabin, stacking the boxes and such aside. Eden curled up in the corner of the sofa, while Cole grabbed a couple of sodas, one of which he handed to her, and got busy with his pizza. She watched him sitting beside her, her eyes unable to focus. She rubbed a finger against her temple and tried to put the fragments of memories Allie had helped her retrieve into some kind of coherence.

  “Might help to talk it out,” Cole said.

  “Talk what out?”

  “You’re thinking more loudly than most people talk.”

  “What does he want?” Eden asked, grateful for the verbal open door. “Everything he’s done over the years, taking me, leaving me in the locker, calling you, then breaking into my home? It’s not right. It doesn’t fit.”

  “Serial killers aren’t out to fit anyone’s mold, Eden. They do what they want, when they want. For whatever reason they want.”

  She inhaled the spicy scent of pepperoni despite the lack of heat as she sipped her soda, enjoying the moment. “But
why the change? I mean, yeah, I got to him with what I said on my blog, and yes, I know it was stupid,” she added before Cole could. “But it got us a result. He panicked and he struck out.” At her, unfortunately, but at least someone innocent hadn’t had to pay for her arrogance.

  “He was angry,” Cole added. “You humiliated him.”

  “Why would he care?” Eden stared.

  “The ego, even the ego of a psychotic, is still fragile, you know. You made fun of him. As if what he’s doing isn’t important.”

  “Is what he’s doing important?” Eden asked as the wheels in her head began to turn again.

  Cole shrugged. “It is to him. What is it you writers say? The villain is the hero of his own story?”

  Eden’s ears tingled in that familiar sensation that struck whenever she was onto something. “Could it be that simple?”

  “Depends what your definition of simple is.”

  “What is he doing with these people he chooses?”

  “He kills them.”

  “Then why keep them for weeks, months even? If killing them was his goal, then why does he still need them?” She shifted on the sofa and grabbed Cole’s arm. “Do you think Mona would let me see the bodies?”

  Cole winced. “Are you sure you want to?”

  “I want her take, a medical take on what she thinks was done to them. He wanted them for a reason. He needs them for a reason. What if their similarities have nothing to do with who they are or where they are but what they are?” She jumped up and raced to the boxes and ripped off the first lid, dragged it over to the polished table on the other side of the kitchen sink.

  Nothing was in any kind of order, something she muttered about while she started sorting again. She was wrist deep in the box when she felt the air around her chill. When she looked over at Cole, she found him watching her, jaw locked, eyes sharp.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  She pulled her hands free. “That’s not a nothing look, Cole. What?”

  He shrugged and took a long drink of his soda. “I just shouldn’t be surprised you couldn’t let it go tonight. Despite what you said.”

  “I know what I said.” She waved off his reminder. “But this can’t—”

  “Wait. Yes, I know. Nothing ever can, can it? And nothing else matters except what you want. What you have your laser focus pinned on. Not even your promises.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, not liking the accusation. “You’re saying I don’t keep my word? Because I opened a box?”

  “Exhibit A.” He got up and stashed his remaining pizza in the fridge. “You couldn’t even make it a half hour.”

  “It’s a box, Cole.”

  “It’s proof you don’t think about anything other than what you want.”

  “That’s not true.” Except...was it? “Cole, it’s papers and notes. It’s not like I’m—”

  “You know what? Forget it.” He downed the rest of his soda and wiped his mouth, the harsh shake of his head snapping her to attention. “You don’t want to get into this with me, so why do I bother.”

  “Maybe I do.” What else did she have to lose? She was trapped here, with him, at least until it was safe for her to go home. They might as well get all their issues out, right? Otherwise whatever this was between them was only going to get in the way of their investigation.

  Eden hopped up on the counter beside him, forcing her attention onto him and away from the box that could hold the answers to the case. “Go on. You have more evidence you want to throw in my face? Have at it.”

  That he only hesitated a moment told her he’d been thinking about what to say to her for a while. Unease bubbled in her belly.

  “You agreed to stay home tonight,” he said. “With your friends. Where I knew you’d be safe.”

  Eden pressed her lips together. “Allie had an idea and I needed to jump on it.” She tapped a finger against her temple. “I needed whatever was in here to get out.”

  “You couldn’t have waited until I got back, or at the very least called me so I could be there.”

  “We didn’t need you, Cole. Besides, I hoped—” She broke off when he moved in and planted his hands on either side of her hips. She wanted to squirm. She almost did. Especially when he pressed forward so he was almost nose to nose with her. All the nerve endings she thought had been dormant tingled to life. “Okay, no, it didn’t matter. I didn’t let it.” She couldn’t let it matter. This was her life. She wasn’t about to let anyone dictate how she should live it. Not even Cole.

  Particularly not Cole.

  “I’ve pleaded with you for months, almost years, to ease off the Iceman,” Cole said. “Or at the very least, to be careful. And what did you do after assuring me you would? You practically skywrote he’s a pervert and dared him to call your bluff.”

  “Impulse. I was mad,” Eden mumbled and caught her lower lip between her teeth. Okay, so he had a pretty good case against her. But she got results! How could he not see that? “I was afraid I’d run out of clues.” Or that the Iceman would disappear again. She was close this time. So close.

  “And again, what Eden wanted was all that mattered. You don’t take anyone else into consideration, do you? Have you ever once wondered how the rest of us would feel if something happened to you?”

  She hated the disappointment she saw on his face, heard in his voice, felt in his touch as he stroked a finger down her cheek, a sliver of warmth in the cold reality of her life. “Something did happen and I’m just fine, remember?” A bit weirded out now, maybe a tad more uneasy, but she was alive. And that was all that mattered. “Cole—”

  “Just once I’d like you to keep your word to me, Eden. Just once I’d like to know that what I want, what I think, matters to you.”

  “You do matter.” Eden caught his hand when he pulled away, tugged him closer as she hitched to the edge of the counter. She hooked her foot around the back of his thigh to hold him there, realizing too quickly just what she was opening herself up to. “Cole, I swear you’re important to me. Just like Allie and Simone—”

  “I’m not Allie or Simone,” he said, that expression in his eyes shifting to one of cool determination. He moved in that last inch and held her hips, pulling her into him in a way that set her desire humming. “I’m here, Eden. I always have been.” His hand let go of her but only long enough to bury itself in her hair and cup the back of her neck. “You scare me. Not only because of the chances you take, but because I’m terrified you believe your life isn’t worth living.”

  Eden’s breath hitched as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Featherlight, a promise of sorts. A promise she wasn’t sure she could live up to.

  She closed her eyes against the heat coursing through her, told herself she couldn’t afford the complication of a relationship. “I thought we decided—”

  “We didn’t decide anything.” He kissed her forehead, and if she could see him, she suspected she’d find him flinching against the reality of their situation. “I’ve told you how I feel, Eden. I want to see where this could go. But—” he released her and stepped back “—I’m not entirely sure I can trust you.”

  “You can.” She really didn’t like the sound of that. “Cole, you have to know there’s no one else I trust more in this world than you.” Except Allie and Simone.

  “Prove it.”

  “How?” Now she was the one who narrowed her eyes. Even with everything that was between them, she couldn’t refuse a challenge.

  “Let those boxes alone for tonight. Just put the case away for a few hours. Do that, and then maybe I can begin to.” He let her go and took a step away. As he moved, the muscles in his arms flexed, capturing her attention the same way they had when he’d been ready to shoot her garden gnome. “Now, I’m going to lock up and take
a shower before I go to bed. Bathroom is down there, first door on the left. My bedroom’s at the far back.”

  “Why do I need to know where your bedroom is?” She was going for haughty, but sounded kind of sad even to her own ears.

  “You know why, Eden. And now you know what it’ll take for me to let you in. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  * * *

  It was too quiet.

  Eden flopped onto her back, stuffed the second pillow under her head and stared up at the too-close ceiling.

  Cole Delaney and his sanctimonious rationality! Every time she tried to concentrate on her memories from the parking lot and find a clue as to who the Iceman might be, she got pummeled with erotic images of tangled sheets, entwined limbs and a very naked potentially former best friend.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ached to be touched, but since Cole had kissed her in the kitchen the other day, that heavy, pulsing need hadn’t diminished. Instead it clung and wrapped her up in a haze of confusion, longing and sexual frustration.

  Eden swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, tempted to let the growl building in her throat free. She needed to get this out of her system.

  She needed to get him out of her system.

  Going to bed with Cole was practical. It would satisfy her curiosity, so she could get on with what really mattered.

  She grabbed her phone, stared at the time.

  Two thirty. Yeah. She could do this. It was just sex, right? How much damage could it do?

  Even as the debate raged in her head, the sound of rustling on the other side of the door had her getting out of bed.

  “Well, that’s a sign if I ever heard one.” She pulled open the door, poked her head out and blinked against the lights. “Cole?”

  “Go back to bed,” he said from around the corner.

  “What are you doing going through my boxes?” The heaviness eased as her brain kicked into gear. Not completely, though. The sight of Cole clad only in low-riding blue pajama bottoms, exposing a solid six-pack—not to mention those estrogen-boosting chiseled hip bones—had her considering the quickest way to divest him of the fabric. Oh, yeah. She’d spent far too much time thinking about this. “I thought we were leaving those until tomorrow.” It had taken every ounce of control she’d had to slip the lid back on and set the box on the pile after he’d gone to bed. A new kind of challenge. One she’d won and been proud of.