by Lily Black
Detective Rawlings leaned back in her chair and tapped the paper in front of her with her pen. “And none of these men were more important than any other? You weren’t intimately involved with any of them?”
Alexa shrugged. “Not unless you’re counting a good-night kiss as intimacy. And that was only once, with the middle school teacher, Henry Dower. He got further than any of the others, but his kiss was more of a peck, anyway.” She pulled the next book from the box—a romance with a rich red cover and a couple locked in an intimate embrace. She sighed and tossed the book into the two-dollar box.
“Pathetic, isn’t it?” Alexa asked. “Between my work at Crouching Tiger and this library, I know just about everyone in town. I’m young, available, and reasonably attractive. But my love life as listed on that paper”—Alexa waved her hand at the sheet in front of Detective Rawlings—“aspires to the heady passions of a classic spinster librarian.”
Detective Rawlings smiled. “It’s not a long list, but it sounds like you’ve turned down more dates than you’ve said yes to. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It means you don’t want to date.” She glanced at the open door Drew had passed through. He was reading a book and hovering just out of earshot. “You’re sure there isn’t anyone else?” she asked carefully. “Anyone who may feel they have a prior claim on you, or that you’ve been…” She paused, seeming to search for the right word.
“I’ve been waiting for? Keeping myself for?” Alexa was quiet for a minute. “No one that needs to go on the suspect list.”
Detective Rawlings nodded, her smile sympathetic. “Well, then,” she said briskly. “Let’s get on with the fingerprinting. I’ve got enough information here to do background checks and ask a few questions. Our profiler is putting something together that may help.”
Alexa nodded her thanks and quickly sorted the last of the books in the donation box.
Detective Rawlings stuck her head out and waved Drew over. “Once we get Alexa fingerprinted, her fingers will have ink stains, so I’d like the two of you to leave quietly from the back door of the library. Fewer questions that way.”
Alexa followed Detective Rawlings’s instructions and carefully rolled her finger over the ink pad before transferring the print onto a card the detective had supplied. Drew stood beside her and watched, which made it hard to concentrate. She tried to focus on getting clear prints and was relieved when she was finished and could step away from Drew.
Detective Rawlings lifted Alexa’s fingerprints and looked them over before setting the paper aside. “Looks clear. I’ve already pulled yours, Drew.”
“I’m a little surprised I wasn’t fingerprinted when I started at the library.” Alexa looked at Drew. “I’m guessing you were fingerprinted a long time ago? Rangers have clearance, don’t they?”
“I was printed as a recruit, actually,” Drew said. “But I’m guessing the prints the police have are more current—the ones from when I moved back here and applied for my concealed-carry permit.”
Detective Rawlings nodded. “Those are the ones on file. Now that we have both sets, we’ll eliminate your prints so we can isolate the stalker’s, if there are any. Let’s hope he wasn’t savvy enough to wear gloves.”
Alexa nodded and forced a smile, but she found that dwelling on the stalker roaming through her house just made her sick.
She held her hands up. “Mind if I go quickly wash? There’s a sink back here in the staff lounge.”
The detective nodded, and Alexa left Detective Rawlings and Drew chatting about different fingerprint-dusting techniques and why the local police hadn’t purchased a portable electronic biometric scanner.
Alexa scrubbed her hands quickly, thinking of her fur babies as she did. It was time she checked in to see how they were doing. Once her hands were clean and dry, albeit still ink stained, she headed for the big utility door at the back of the library. There was a courtyard garden behind the library, where she could wait for Drew and make her call without being overheard.
Just as she opened the big metal door, she heard Drew call her name and looked back.
Drew walked swiftly toward her, concern on his face. “What are you doing, going off by yourself? If you need—”
Alexa made a sharp shushing motion with her hand. No one was supposed to know they were friends now or see them together, but they would be sure to figure it out if he kept after her like that. What was he thinking?
Alexa let go of the big door and stepped back toward Drew.
The door slammed shut. A sharp crash came from the other side of it.
Drew was at Alexa’s side in an instant, pushing her against the wall and shielding her with his body from anyone who might come through the door. He pulled a gun from the holster hidden underneath his jacket
Alexa held her breath, her heart beating a crazy pitter-patter. Please let it just be a stray dog or the wind blowing something over. It was strange—this queasy adrenaline rush felt nothing like the heady rush she got from sparring. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Drew’s gun.
He silently signaled for Alexa to pull the door open but stay hidden behind it.
She put a brake on her racing emotions and quietly did as he asked.
As soon as the door was open, Drew ducked out with his gun held ready.
Drew came back in. His was face grim, but his gun was pointed down in a more relaxed stance. “Get Detective Rawlings.”
Alexa let her breath out in a rush. “Is someone out there?”
Drew shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone, but I think your stalker was there.”
That was enough to send Alexa hurrying in search of Detective Rawlings. She found the detective browsing in the kids’ section. Alexa didn’t have to say a word. Apparently, her face said it all. The detective dropped her books on the shelf and followed Alexa. Neither of them spoke until they were in the staff section again.
“What’s the situation?” Detective Rawlings asked. “Did your stalker make a move?”
“It looks like it.” Alexa didn’t want to tell the detective she hadn’t seen what had happened and didn’t know what was going on. Once again, her life was spiraling out of control, but this time, all her fears seemed justified.
When they reached Drew, he pulled the door open wide, and the women looked out at the small brick courtyard. On the bricks right outside the door was a mess of shattered glass, jumbled books, and broken pottery.
Detective Rawlings pulled gloves from her coat pocket and stepped out gingerly. Avoiding the glass as best she could, she examined the scene. She pointed to the wall beside the door. “The light has been broken. Alexa, where are these books from?”
Alexa stepped forward and leaned out to get a better look at the books and pottery, wincing as she put weight on her sore foot. It was almost all better, but it still complained if she stepped wrong. “They’re all from the reference section on the second floor, and I think”—she leaned down to examine the pattern on a bigger shard of pottery—“this is one of the urns from upstairs.” She shook her head and stepped back so Detective Rawlings could come back inside. “Ms. Tullep is going to be brokenhearted. She loves those urns.”
“If the stalker is still here, we may have bigger problems than Ms. Tullep’s urn.”
Detective Rawlings flipped open her cell phone and spoke quickly to someone as she walked toward the front of the library. She stopped at the staff gate and looked back. “Can the two of you tuck yourselves out of sight for a few minutes, ’til we know what’s up? I don’t want you seen together, but I need you to stay here.”
Alexa nodded and led Drew into Ms. Tullep’s office. The initial sick feeling of shock was wearing off, leaving her feeling a bit breathless but very alert. She closed the door behind them and locked it. “Ms. Tullep isn’t in today. She never works Saturdays. No one will disturb us here.” As soon as the wo
rds were out of her mouth, she realized how intimate they sounded, and heat rose in her cheeks.
Drew flashed her a grin, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He prowled around the confined space, looking at pictures on the walls and glancing over shelves. He stopped in front of Alexa. “When you opened the door, did you see anyone out there?”
She shook her head.
“Which would be unlikely, given that the books appear to have been dropped from the second floor,” Drew said. “Is there a window over that door?”
Alexa closed her eyes, trying to picture the back of the building, then shook her head. She opened her eyes and crossed to Ms. Tullep’s desk. “Somewhere around here, there are framed before and after pictures, from when the old florist shop was converted into our library. It might show the placement of the windows.”
Drew helped her look, and in a few minutes, they were bending over the paired pictures. To the left was the grainy black-and-white photograph taken when the building served as Rose’s Flowers. On the right was a glossy picture of the library eight years ago when the conversion was completed.
Alexa pointed to the back door and the window just above it. “Not directly over it, but only off by a few inches.”
“What’s this?” Drew pointed to a skinny beam sticking out from the back wall of the building.
“Just something left over from the floral shop.” Alexa wiped a finger around the frame, clearing away dust. “I think it was used to hang long banners and sometimes flower arrangements.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Drew quickly took up a position on the side of the door, his hand on his gun in its underarm holster.
Alexa waited until he was ready then leaned close to the door. “Who is it?”
“Detective Rawlings.”
She opened the door, and the detective came in.
“We searched the building but didn’t find a likely suspect,” Detective Rawlings said. “Most of your patrons are older people or moms with kids. There was a young couple getting a little too affectionate in the poetry section and a group of teen boys that the deputy is questioning, but I doubt anything will come of it.”
Drew crossed to the desk. “I don’t think he dropped the pot when he heard the door open. He would have needed to sprint to get out of the library fast enough.” Drew tapped the photo. “I’m thinking he perched the pot with the books in it on this beam.”
Detective Rawlings peered at the picture and nodded. “That makes sense. If he balanced the urn on the beam, the force of the door slamming would shake the beam, and the urn would fall.”
Drew nodded. “Exactly.”
“You mean…” Alexa’s voice was a little squeaky. “He set it up then just left it there?”
Detective Rawlings nodded absently. She took the photo from Drew and looked it over closely. “We’ll check it out. Good thinking, Drew.”
“But if that’s what he did…” Alexa shook her head. “That would mean whoever next used that door would get hit on the head with a falling clay pot and several thick reference books. Not to mention broken glass because it broke the light. Anyone who used the door, not just me!”
Detective Rawlings and Drew exchanged a look. “It looks that way,” Detective Rawlings said carefully.
A wave of nausea washed over Alexa. The adrenaline she’d been running on crested and left her feeling a buzzy alarm that bordered on paranoia. The combined weight of the books and pot must have been really heavy and would have hit with a lot of force, possibly enough force to kill someone. And the trap had been set indiscriminately, so any of the library staff could have been hurt. Just what was this guy willing to do to hurt her?
Drew rested his hand on Alexa’s shoulder and spoke to the detective. “If there’s nothing more, I think it’s time we go.”
“Yes, good idea,” Detective Rawlings agreed. “I’ll let you know what we find.”
Mentally collecting herself, Alexa rose and offered Detective Rawlings her hand. “Thanks for all your help.”
The detective nodded and shook Alexa’s hand. “Just take care of yourself and stick close to Drew. Do that, and you’ll be okay.”
Alexa nodded and allowed Drew to lead her out the back door of the library. She couldn’t help but cringe and glance away as she stepped over the glass and picked her way through the mess outside the door. A deputy was bent down, taking pictures. He nodded as they walked by but said nothing. Luckily, the small back garden was sheltered from the road, and the near-accident hadn’t attracted any attention.
When she was buckled into Drew’s truck, Alexa leaned back and wrapped her arms around herself. The level of casual violence this sicko had shown left her shivering somewhere deep inside.
“The detective didn’t mention any leads, did she?” Alexa asked, turning to Drew.
He shook his head. “No, she didn’t say.”
Alexa’s gaze went to her beloved little town, and her voice came out ragged. “So, we have no idea who this man is. How could I have unwittingly inspired that kind of hatred and anger in someone I can’t even put a face to? Unless this is all the work of Jason Stone, and he’s come back to make me pay?”
“I’ll be interested to see what the profiler comes up with, but I don’t think it was him.” Drew’s tone was thoughtful. “From what you said, he acted impulsively when he attacked your friend and was very direct. This fellow seems super sneaky, and so far, I think he’s mostly intended to scare you.”
“You think so? Those bricks in that pot could have killed me.” Her voice wobbled a bit on the end of the sentence.
Drew gave her a sympathetic look. “Could have, but the pot fell to the outside, away from the door, so a direct hit was unlikely.”
Alexa thought about that, but it wasn’t as comforting as Drew meant it to be. She still would have been badly banged up or super scared, no matter what. And having two men out there who might want her dead wasn’t a happy thought. “Maybe Jason Stone’s tactics have changed. He spent more than three years in prison.”
“That’s possible.” Drew reached over with his free hand and briefly cupped Alexa’s hand in his. “Whoever it is, the detective will figure it out. I’m sure of it.”
Alexa nodded, swallowing around the tightness in her throat.
Drew made a left turn off the main road, and Alexa frowned. “This isn’t the way we went to your house last time, is it?” Was he afraid they were being followed? She looked behind the truck but didn’t see anyone.
“We’re making a stop on the way.” Drew gave her a half grin that dispelled her worries, but he still didn’t tell her where they were going.
He cut through a grocery store parking lot then parked. “Do you recognize where we are?”
Alexa nodded, warmth and gratitude swelling up inside her as she did. Her brain hadn’t been keeping up with his unusual route, but they were in the back parking lot of Dr. Springer’s veterinary clinic.
Drew came around the truck and helped her out then walked with her toward the door. “Dr. Springer said to come to the back door. He’ll have the cats ready to come home.”
“Wait.” Alexa stopped in her tracks. “When did you have the chance to talk to him?”
“I didn’t.” Drew’s grin grew wider. “I texted him when we left the library. I figured you could use a happy reunion.”
Alexa didn’t think—she just acted on impulse, and the next second, she was standing there with her arms around Drew. It was just so sweet of him to think of that, and he was right that she really needed to be with her cats.
Standing in his arms, she was suddenly very aware of his broad chest, tight abs, and the protective circle of his arms around her. His scent somehow always smelled fresh, as if he were soaked in sunshine. She’d enjoyed the company of men before, Drew’s in particular, but this was different. She felt as though her body
and soul were asking to wed this man, to be his and have him by her in a much more intimate way than even sex.
The feeling released a heady rush of hormones that swept all thought away. She could lose herself in Drew’s warmth and kisses. In his arms, she would have no worries, only bliss. It would feel so good to give herself to him as she had before.
Thankfully, that “as she had before” thought brought her back to her senses. She was feeling a temporary urge, brought on by fear and a primal need to feel safe. It meant nothing, just as their time together had meant nothing to him.
Alexa stepped out of Drew’s arms and tried to hike a smile into place. Her voice was a little wobbly when she spoke. “S-Sorry about that. And thanks for setting this up.”
Drew gave a half nod, his face strained as he turned away from her.
Alexa felt her heart pinch for having possibly distressed him but reminded herself that being with Drew was a temporary arrangement. Anything more than that would only lead to heartache.
Chapter Ten
Drew listened with half an ear to Alexa’s conversation with Dr. Springer, but most of his attention was on pulling himself back together.
What was he going to do? He’d been attracted to Alexa since the first time they met. He’d been walking the Saturday street festival with a buddy, and she was running a fundraiser table for her college. He chatted with her then went back when it was time to clean up and helped her pack up her stuff. They walked over to Crazy Pops afterward, and he thought that watching her suck on a Crazy Pop had to be the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
The rest of his leave was glorious. The three weeks were full of laughter and sizzling-hot sex, plus long walks and romps around the town. Alexa fascinated him. She was a sexy juxtaposition of all that was feminine and lovely set beside a determined independence, like satin over a titanium core. He gave her his full attention while they were together, but once he shipped off, he tried to keep her out of his mind. That mission was his first assignment as a Ranger, and he was determined to stay focused. Besides, things had ended messily between them. She’d called him one evening just at the end of his leave when he was in a fight. It was justified but ugly, and he had been forced to spend time in unsavory company at the police station, where he’d almost been booked. The incident had shaken his confidence to the core, and he didn’t want her to know, so when Alexa called, he was short with her, rude. He was just young enough and shortsighted enough to believe he was moving on, and he wanted to keep her from viewing him in an embarrassing light. Alexa sounded terribly hurt. She tried to press him and get him to open up. He’d been afraid for her to know the whole truth but felt terrible about hurting her, which only made him feel like a bigger jerk. He’d ended the call by saying something stupid about her being too needy then hung up. He hadn’t returned her calls afterward or acknowledged her once he shipped out.