The Christmas Clue by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online Page B

take us that long to get there this time of night.”
    “Your apartment is safe?” she asked. There was some concern in her voice this time.
    “No. But then, no place is completely safe right now. It does have a good security system, which I actually use since it’s in the city, and we can get in and out of there without being seen.”
    “And what then?”
    It was the million-dollar question. Matt was betting she wasn’t going to like his answer. “I’ll search through department files to see how I can gain access to Dominic’s estate. But before I do that, I’ll need to make arrangements for you to be sent to a safe house.”
    Cass was already shaking her head before he finished. “We have to find your daughter and the evidence. It’ll go faster if we’re working together.”
    “And it’ll put you in even more danger.”
    More head shaking. “We’re talking degrees now. Someone wants to kill us. The danger can’t get any worse than that. Besides, we have to work fast. Time isn’t on our side.”
    Matt couldn’t argue with her about that, but he could argue about a potential partnership between them. “Remember that part about me not playing well with others?”
    “Tough. For this, you have a partner. Me. ”
    So he wasn’t going to shake Cass Harrison anytime soon. She was as mule-headed as he was, and he was wasting his breath arguing with her. Besides, if he did stash her away in a safe house, she likely wouldn’t stay. Nope. She’d break out somehow, probably by picking the lock, and that would ultimately put them both in danger because she’d head directly for Dominic’s estate alone.
    Still, that didn’t mean this partnership was going to happen. Matt figured it’d take another run-in with assassins or some other equally life-threatening situation, and then he might be able to talk her into backing off.
    Repeating that to himself, he shook his head.
    Cass Harrison wouldn’t back off if there were a hundred attempts on her life. Still, he’d have to try hard to convince her otherwise.
    Because the traffic was heavier, Matt eased his gun into his lap so that it wouldn’t be seen by a motorist. He didn’t want to have to deal with anyone calling in the local authorities.
    The blanket shifted. She moved closer. No longer hip to hip, her left breast was squished against his right arm. With everything else he had going on, Matt just couldn’t understand why his body reacted to hers in such a primal way.
    “Why did you kill her?” she asked.
    He welcomed the question, even though it’d come a little later than he’d anticipated. Still, conversation might help keep his mind off the things it shouldn’t be on in the first place. “Having second thoughts about me?”
    She made a sound that could have meant anything. “I just want to know why you even brought it up.”
    Matt frowned. “To show you the kind of man I am.”
    Cass turned slightly and faced him. The blanket slipped off her shoulder, as did the strap of her camisole. She quickly put them back in place, but not before he got an actual glimpse of the nipple that’d been driving him insane.
    “So, what kind of man are you?” she asked. “Was this woman a serial killer or a bank robber—”
    “She was innocent,” he volunteered. “Never even had a speeding ticket.”
    When Cass didn’t respond, he glanced at her. She was studying him, but that wasn’t fear in her eyes. “Then what did she do? Why did she have to die?”
    “She loved the wrong man,” Matt explained. He turned off the highway and took the street toward his apartment. “During a routine drug bust, things got crazy. The drug dealers fired shots. So did I. This woman jumped in the path of a bullet meant for her crack-dealing boyfriend.”
    Cass huffed. “That’s what I hate about love. It messes with an otherwise rational mind. The woman was an idiot for giving up her life for a worthless piece of slime.” She paused, and there was a change in her