Temptation Trails - Page 143

“Yeah, I’ve seen them.”

“This one has a drip of hot chocolate on it.”

“Owen drinks hot chocolate.” My voice kept getting weaker.

“Exactly. But the thing is, it could be argued it’s not from our house. Those things are all over this town. Rocco gives them out like candy.”

“So they won’t believe you if you say the coaster you found on my car proves that someone broke into the house.”

“Right.”

My stomach turned over with worry. I didn’t want to doubt him. I wanted to believe he knew what he was doing. That his instincts were right and his superiors were wrong—he wasn’t letting the case get to him.

But what if he was?

What if everything was coming to a head. Being a cop and a single dad with a new girlfriend and a surprise pregnancy, plus a cold case murder and a series of what could have been unrelated events. Strange, but unrelated.

Unlucky, even.

Oh no.

Was this all the bad luck curse at work? And was it going to drive him crazy?

“Okay, so maybe someone was in the house and maybe they took a coaster. That seems like a weird thing to take, doesn’t it? Underwear makes sense. It seems like the sort of thing a creepy stalker-type person would take from a woman’s house. It’s intimate and shows he was not just in my bedroom, but in my top drawer. But a coaster? What’s the point of that?”

“He’s taunting you. He’s showing you he was inside and he wants you to believe he can still get to you, even though you’re in my house now.”

I rubbed my hands up and down his chest, as if I could help calm him down. He was so tense. “What did you do with it?”

“I bagged it and put it in my pocket.”

“I still think maybe you should have someone look into it.”

He lowered his forehead to mine and quieted his voice. “I don’t know who I can trust right now. And I have a lead I need to follow up on. It might confirm that I’m going in the right direction.”

“But Jack told you to take time off. He probably said get some rest.”

“He did. But I need to do this first. I just wanted to stop here and make sure you’re okay. That was when I saw the coaster on your car.”

I glanced over my shoulder toward my car. It was definitely disconcerting. He was right, those coasters were all over the place. I remembered the night Garrett had missed our blind date, Rocco had given me one. But what were the chances someone would randomly stick one on my car? Especially one with a dribble of hot chocolate on it?

“I’m fine. There’s always so many people here, I don’t think I’m in any danger. And the SPS walk by constantly. I have a batch of cookies in the oven just for them, actually.”

“Good. I’ll make sure they stay until you close. They’ll walk you to your car. And I don’t want you to come home after work. Go up to my parents’. Owen will be there.”

“You really don’t think it’s safe to go home? Won’t you be there?”

He touched the side of my face. “Please, love. Just go to my parents’. I’ll meet you there.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He leaned in and brushed my lips with a soft kiss. “Everything is going to be fine.”

I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his chest. Why was this happening to me?

But I already knew the answer.

My bad luck curse was close to running out. It was going to find a way to get me, and I had a feeling it would make it big.