Maggie's Guardian (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Adams, Anna

  “I just want to see his reaction.”

  “Turn here.” She pointed to the road that fronted Carlson’s factory. The car rocked as Noah made the turn.

  A thick forest of evergreens crowded them on the other side of the car. For the first time since she’d moved to Prodigal, the dark green woods seemed to threaten. She faced the brick-and-glass structure she knew as well as she knew her own home.

  Noah slowed as they neared the gate. “This is a game,” he said. “Don’t tell a possible suspect I’m coming with you. You don’t want to put the killer on his guard.”

  It didn’t seem real. “You honestly think one of these guys is the killer?”

  “I’m willing to give them all an even break.” He grinned at her, and she wondered who he was.

  What kind of man could enjoy the hunt so much? They’d lost a good friend, and she’d never seen him more vulnerable than he’d been the past few days. She’d also never seen him more ruthless. “Noah, we lived with each other for five years but you’re a stranger. I don’t know you.”

  “Keely’s death changed us.” His grin slashed to a straight, tense line. “Losing her pared us down to the basics.” He pulled into the back of the line of cars waiting to get into the factory. “Why the security?”

  “Hugh convinced himself someone started the fire in the other building.” She turned to face the windshield and the pale blue, rust-encrusted car in front of them. “What happened between last night and this morning, Noah? Why are you different today?”

  “Do you want the truth?”

  The fact that he asked scared her, but he went on.

  “I had a lot of time to think after you went to bed. I almost asked you to stay with me. For the wrong reasons. You know I wanted you.”

  She didn’t dare answer. She didn’t know what to say, now that she had Maggie to think of.

  “I think it’s something about Maggie.” He glanced at her, and she felt the movement of his head, the touch of his gaze as if he’d brushed her face with the fingers he wrapped around the steering wheel. “About you and Maggie together,” he said. “I see what I lost, and I’m sorry we threw away what we had left.”

  What they’d had left was each other. She felt as if she were falling. Eighteen months after they should have talked, she didn’t know what to say. Fortunately, their turn at the gate came next. The security guard leaned into Noah’s window.

  “Ms. Gabriel,” he said, “Mr. Carlson asked me to have you call him before you went up.”

  She glanced at Noah, and hit redial on her cell phone. Carlson answered, instead of Lynn. “Hugh, this is Tessa Gabriel. As Lynn mentioned to you, my—Noah and I would like to speak with you this morning.”

  “I’m a busy, man, Tessa. I can’t make time to talk to you today. And I really don’t know what I could tell you. I assume this is about David?”

  “About your files,” Tessa said. “I’d like to discuss how much of your information you’d be willing to share with the police.”

  “The police? What are you talking about?” His voice rose.

  “We’ll be up in about ten minutes. I’d be glad to buy Noah a cup of coffee in the cafeteria if you need to prepare for us.” Suddenly she was as curious as Noah about what Hugh Carlson might have to hide.

  “Just come straight up, but I’d like to know when you’re going to stop pushing me around, Tessa.”

  “This should be the last time.” She hung up and glanced at Noah, startled to find him smiling.

  “Good work,” he said.

  “I’m in control with this stuff. It’s my job.” But she liked the pride in his voice. She’d never been sure he knew she was a capable lawyer.

  “You weren’t so willing to manipulate before.”

  Her pleasure faded. He glanced at her as he turned down a lane, looked for a parking spot. Suddenly he moved, and his big hand on her thigh spread warmth up and down her leg.

  “I meant it as a compliment,” he said.

  She fought an urge to wriggle away from his splayed fingers. Being manipulative didn’t sound so good to her. “You never saw me at work before,” she said.

  He pulled away, obviously looking backward over their five years together. “Is that true? I saw your office.”

  “From the doorway. But you never asked me about work, and you didn’t come to court for any of my cases.” She twisted her neck, tense, and pretty sure they should be talking about Hugh Carlson, not each other. “Not that I asked about your job that often.”

  He turned the car into a space. “You think we lived with each other for five years in total silence.”

  “I don’t remember what we talked about before Keely died. After, we didn’t say anything.”

  His eyes looked empty as he glanced from her to the building. “We should go in.”

  “As soon as Keely comes up you don’t want to talk.”

  “It’s the worst possible time.” He turned his vacant gaze away from her. “We’re trying to catch a killer.”

  She opened her mouth and licked her lower lip, holding back with frustration. But she’d thought the same thing. She opened her door and yet couldn’t stop herself from trying again. “I know it’s the wrong time, but I want to find a way to seal off the past and turn to the future.”

  “Seal it off? It’s part of who we are.”

  “The best part?” she asked. “Of either one of us?”

  “Maybe not, but I don’t want to forget.”

  Suddenly she was hot in the numbing cold. She’d been angry with him for eighteen months because he’d hidden in his job to keep from remembering. But if he didn’t want to forget even those horrible days after they’d lost Keely, he was braver than she knew how to be.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TIGHT-LIPPED, Noah followed Tessa into Carlson’s antiseptically neat brick-and-glass building. A tall, middle-aged woman met them at the revolving glass doors. Tessa introduced her as Lynn. She shook hands with Noah and then took them to Hugh Carlson’s private elevator.

  Silence accompanied the whirring machinery that hauled them up the four floors to Carlson’s suite. Lynn showed them into Carlson’s wide-open office, where the florid man offered them plush chairs.

  Noah walked where he was told, sat where Carlson suggested, but in his mind he kept straying back to what he and Tessa had said to each other in the car.

  He made himself listen as she once more explained she wanted to pass her case notes to Weldon. The other man folded his hands on top of the polished cherry desk, his posture claiming ownership.

  “First,” he said, clearly delivering a rehearsed speech, “you and David cost me a fortune forcing me to follow every code any legislator in the state of Maine ever dreamed up. Oh, I know you and David meant well. Your firm made sure I got a good factory out of the deal, but now you think I was so pissed off, I—what?—had him killed?”

  The mockery in his tone was a bogus effort to make the suggestion sound ludicrous. He was belligerent, and he’d thought out his arguments, but he didn’t look guilty.

  Nevertheless, his word choice interested Noah. No one had suggested he might have “had” David killed. Noah hadn’t even considered a hired killer, because David’s death had been so savage, as if someone had paid off a long-held vendetta.

  But Carlson was a big wheel in this part of the state, and he might know where to find a killer who performed custom hits.

  “Don’t eyeball me like that, Detective.”

  The man’s booming voice probably intimidated some people, but Noah had heard and disproved better stories. “What made you think of hired killers, sir?”

  Carlson froze, his brain clearly working overtime behind watchful eyes. Finally he leaned back, with studied indolence. His chair screamed in protest, and he grinned at the sound, slapping both hands to his voluminous belly. “I wouldn’t look so good chasing a guy around with a big knife.”

  Tessa’s arm jerked, as if she couldn’t stop herself from reacting. Noah c
overed her hand with his.

  “Sorry, Tessa.” Hugh Carlson turned a remorseful look her way.

  “What made you think of a knife, sir?” Weldon hadn’t released that information.

  “People talk in this town. What else are we going to do in all this snow?” Carlson tilted his head in a gesture that could have been a nod or a challenge. “What kind of weapon was it?”

  Noah studied the man’s face. Not a drop of sweat shone anywhere on his shiny, pink flesh. His smile seemed natural. His voice remained steady. Carlson wasn’t afraid of betraying himself.

  But was he arrogant? Or innocent?

  “Chief Weldon hasn’t told either of us what the weapon was.” Tessa didn’t mention she’d seen the long butcher knife. She passed Carlson the notes she’d taken from his case file. “Take a look at this. I’m planning to fill Chief Weldon in on the clients we had problems with.” She glanced at Noah as if she was looking for his agreement. “We think he’s having a hard time focusing on the real killer, so I’d like to clear up his suspicions.”

  “You’re suggesting I’m the killer.” Carlson set the papers on his desk, carefully stacking the two sheets.

  She leaned forward and plunged in. “I don’t think you’re guilty, and frankly, Weldon seems to consider me his favorite suspect.”

  Surprise dented Carlson’s armor. “You were David’s best friend.”

  “If I clear myself, and anyone who had a beef with David, maybe he’ll start looking in the right direction.”

  “I spoke to him before you arrived.” Carlson rose from his chair and planted himself in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. “I called him after you called, and he says I don’t have to tell you anything.”

  Noah waited for Tessa, but when she straightened, swiping at the hair that fell across her forehead, he took over. “We aren’t questioning you. Tessa’s given you a list of the facts she wants to pass on to Weldon so you can tell her where you disagree. If you ask her not to explain the differences you had with her firm on this job, Weldon may think you’re trying to hide something more incriminating. And you’ll have tied Tessa’s hands—she won’t be able to explain the situation to him.”

  Carlson frowned. “Don’t think you can scare me into some sort of admission.”

  Most innocent guys didn’t think in terms of admissions. “I’m making certain you understand.”

  Carlson glanced at Tessa. “You know David and I disagreed, and I got plenty angry with him.”

  “But threatening to get us disbarred isn’t the same as killing him. I know.”

  “And I was at the service when your house got shot up.”

  “If you hired a killer, you might have hired him again to fire at the house.” Noah pushed the papers at the other man’s clenched fist. “Take a look at these notes, and then tell Tessa if she needs to add or delete anything.”

  The heat came on while they waited for Carlson to decide. Against its soft whisper, he opened his fists and pulled the papers toward himself. “I’ll look at them. You two want to wait outside?”

  “I think we’ll wait here.” Tessa’s wry tone surprised Noah. “We should discuss anything you want me to take out, and if you get rid of us, you won’t let us back in. You’ll just shove the pages at me through Lynn.”

  The other man’s mouth curved in a smile. “You’re right.” He opened his desk drawer and took out a pair of rimless reading glasses, which he settled on his nose. “But I wonder if you’re going to get someone in trouble.” He peered over the glasses. “You’re looking at other clients, as well, aren’t you?”

  “You were our first stop,” Tessa said.

  “And I’ll bet I can guess who’s behind lucky door number two and number three, but don’t tell me. I’ll look forward to the surprise when we all decide to fire you at the same time.”

  “Your prerogative,” Tessa said, as if she didn’t care.

  Noah gazed at her. Her business had to provide for Maggie now. His ex-wife had turned into an actress, and she put on a good show.

  Carlson read swiftly. While they waited, Tessa walked to the window, turning her back on both of them. Noah resisted a physical compulsion to follow her.

  “This, Tessa.” Carlson pointed with the nib of his pen. She came back to lean over his shoulder. Noah looked away from her, disturbed by the dark hollow between her breasts thrusting against her pale blue sweater. “Where you talk about the survey,” Carlson said. “I don’t know why you have to go into my argument with David over who we should hire. It’s not code, and I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t want someone I knew and trusted to do the survey.”

  “True, but David thought we should get three surveyors, and you only wanted the one who’d most likely do the work in your favor. He didn’t want you to look as if you’d bribed your way into this building if your neighbors tried to take you to court.”

  “I just wanted the land everyone in this town has accepted as belonging to my family for three generations.”

  Tessa hypnotized Noah with her concentration. She nodded as if she’d heard Carlson’s claim before. “If you notice, I went on to say we’d all reached an amicable compromise.”

  “But not before you made me seem petty.”

  “Write what you want me to say, and I’ll say it.” Her impatience peeked through. “I just want this to be over.”

  “You didn’t mention the bonuses I gave you both.”

  As she reluctantly curved her mouth, Noah found himself smiling with her. “I didn’t want to tell Weldon I’d donated it to the Children’s Fund. He might think I was trying to bribe Child Protective Services.”

  “You don’t think much of him. He’s got good credentials.” Carlson stood as he spoke on Weldon’s behalf. “If you think he’s so bad at his job, why didn’t you speak up before he took over?”

  “He hadn’t accused me of murder then.”

  The other man smirked. “Accusing someone other than me doesn’t make Weldon a total idiot in my book.”

  Their camaraderie provoked an ugly undercurrent of jealousy that was almost as unwelcome as Noah’s physical response to Tessa. Carlson was her client. And maybe her friend. Noah stood, too, feeling as if he had to hold his own.

  Carlson came around his desk, ushering Tessa in front of him. “Make those changes—take out the surveying argument and add the bonus, and I’m fine with what you have.” He urged them both toward the office door.

  Noah let himself be led again. His instincts, completely clouded now and totally unreliable, told him this man could not have killed David.

  Only a lunatic would worry about exhibiting his good humor and generosity when a possible life sentence might be hanging over his head. And Carlson wasn’t a lunatic. Or at least not more of one than any big fish in a small business pond like Prodigal, Maine.

  Carlson herded them through his door and then pressed both hands to the frame. “Lynn, our guests are ready to leave, if you’ll take them down.”

  “No.” Tessa shook her client’s hand and then waved Lynn off. “We’ll be fine. I know the way, as long as the elevator isn’t locked. Thank you for your time, Hugh. Thanks, Lynn.”

  “Anything to clear up this mess and get Prodigal back to normal.” Carlson released the door frame and took his mail from a box on Lynn’s desk. He began to sift through the envelopes. “Murder hurts business.”

  Tessa smiled as they left the office behind. “We’re one task he can check off his to-do list.”

  She pressed the elevator’s button. The doors opened, and Noah waited for her to precede him inside the small, paneled cabin. He took her hand as she would have pressed the lobby button.

  “See?” she said, misunderstanding his need to have her alone. “I told you he was innocent.”

  “I’m not ready to clear him entirely.” Tonight he’d take some time to make his own lists, of what they knew and what they were guessing. “He might have killed David if the building had come in late.”

  Tessa shoo
k her head, in charge again with her job. Noah liked the attitude on her.

  “Late would have been the architect’s problem.” She tapped her index finger against her chin. “Although Hugh would have blamed us for hiring the wrong firm.”

  “Tessa, don’t forget what he said about someone being hired to kill David.”

  A hint of fear darkened her eyes, and he stroked her shoulder, sliding his hand beneath her jacket. “I’m sorry,” he said. Her warmth connected with his skin through the soft sweater. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He had to straighten up and quit thinking about Tessa, rather than the murder that had brought him here.

  “I don’t think—” She broke off. “You saw Hugh. He’s no actor.”

  “I’m saying a lot of killers seem sane until you get a confession. Stay on your guard until Weldon investigates him. He can request copies of Carlson’s phone records, even his e-mail accounts. I can’t do that.”

  She moved away from him and punched the lobby button, staring at her own image in the reflective door. “I don’t want it to be someone I know.”

  The elevator jerked a little and began to descend. Noah watched his ex-wife. What did she see in her fuzzy reflection? She’d always worried about her weight, but her delicious curves rendered him tonguetied and incompetent. He turned his head, just far enough to catch her worried expression.

  He looped his arm around her shoulders, keeping his hand on the rough weave of her coat this time. She neither moved nor spoke, but, with her stillness, she accepted him.

  A strand of her hair brushed his cheek. He closed his eyes. Her scent evoked memories of dark nights. She might have insisted on undressing with the lights out, but once she’d let him take her in his arms, she’d been all generosity. She’d once convinced him forever existed.

  His heart began to pound. He still wanted her. He wanted her with a desperation he’d never known, but she’d made his temporary position in her life crystal clear.

  Knowing where he stood with her, he should have moved away. He didn’t want her to know he still cared for her, and he hated the idea of her finding out he was scared of losing her again. He couldn’t let himself look weak in her eyes.