Alone in the Dark by Karen Rose Read Free Book Online

a split second before her shoulders straightened and her expression grew cold and piercing. In the blink of an eye she was back to being a cop. ‘We don’t have any reason to hold you,’ she said brusquely, ‘but we’re sure to have more questions. You don’t have any upcoming travel planned, do you?’
    Well , he thought sourly. Her allotted moment of compassion was evidently over.He opened his mouth to reply with something sarcastic, but stopped himself. He wasn’t being fair. Her compassion was still there. It had always been there. He’d seen it the day she’d stood beside his hospital bed, then again at his brother’s grave, even though she’d kept to the very back of the gathered crowd. He could see it now, lurking behind the piercing focus of her eyes.
    She didn’t want it to show and he could respect that. For now. ‘No,’ he answered quietly. ‘I’m not planning to go anywhere.’
    She gave him an assessing look. ‘Because you’re going to search for Tala’s killer.’
    He lifted a shoulder. ‘I make my living digging for news, Detective.’
    ‘Don’t,’ she said sharply. ‘Don’t go looking for the shooter or anyone else. Send me that list of people you’ve annoyed, and any other recordings you made of Tala in the park – as quickly as you can.’ She handed him her card. ‘My email is at the bottom.’
    He already knew her email. He already knew almost everything about her – everything he could dig up legally from afar, that was. Well, he allowed, mostly legally. And mostly from afar. Because he’d been way too curious about this woman since he’d opened his eyes to find her standing over his hospital gurney, her gaze dark and wary. And full of respect.
    He’d seen it again tonight, he realized. Respect. When he’d come back to make sure Tala’s body was properly cared for. When he hadn’t left the girl alone in the dark. It had been too long since he’d felt true respect for himself. He’d once done the right thing simply because it was the right thing to do. His self-respect had kept him from giving in to the ever-growing temptation to deliver his own brand of justice to the slimy, perverted sons-of-bitches responsible for making the news he dug up for a living. But his self-respect dwindled every time the slimy SOBs won, every time he failed to remove a threat from the community. Every time a child went to bed afraid because the slimy SOB still slept in the next room.
    Now the only thing that stayed his hand was his fear of falling so deep into the abyss that he could never pull himself out. Delivering one’s own brand of justice was a slippery slope. Marcus O’Bannion knew this from experience.
    But tonight he’d seen respect in Scarlett Bishop’s eyes, and suddenly he wanted to see that again. Desperately. He’d been too curious about this woman from afar for far too long. Maybe fate had finally done him a favor. Maybe Scarlett had crossed his path for a reason. Maybe she was his way back into the light. Or maybe he was just so pathetically lonely that he’d believe anything that allowed him to spend a little more time with her. I’m okay with that too.
    ‘I’ll go to my office straight from here.’ Marcus lifted his brows, watching her face. ‘If you’re done with me,’ he added, just mildly enough that she could take his words as either an invitation or a challenge. Either would work, for now.
    Her eyes flickered for the briefest of moments before control returned. She’d drawn a breath, slow and deep, and he wondered which of the two she’d chosen. Invitation or challenge?
    ‘You didn’t say you wouldn’t go looking for Tala’s killer,’ she stated flatly.
    No, he hadn’t. Nor would he make that promise, because it would be a lie. ‘So . . . you’re done with me?’ he asked, then watched in fascination as the color rose in her cheeks.
    ‘Goddammit,’ she hissed. ‘You’re going to get yourself killed for real this time.’
    It was