The Guarded Widow by K M Gaffney Read Free Book Online

boots, out in the woods behind your house. They seem to trail off deeper into the forest.” Ron shrugged casually. “They didn’t look fresh though.”
    Olivia paled slightly. “Thank you for following up on this for me. Nothing seems to be missing. I just thought I should probably report this incident.”
    Gavin, having been closely watching her, noted how her face had registered a look of alarm, and wondered what she wasn’t telling them.
    He pinned her with a stare. “Anything else you’d like to share with us, Olivia?”
    She made an honest attempt to reply casually as she reached for the coffee pot, “No, nothing at all.”
    “We’re going to have to take a rain check on the coffee, Liv,” Ron said apologetically as he checked the screen on his cell phone.
    He was anxious to leave, already looking forward to brow beating his friend about Olivia Jones.
    “We gotta get back to the station, Gav.”
    “Oh certainly, I’ll see you out.”
    She turned in time to see Michael galloping into the kitchen.
    “Hey Mom, can we have more popcorn?” he asked, studying their company with a curious tilt of his head. “What’s with the cops?”
    He didn’t wait for his mother to answer.
    After noticing Gavin, he grinned with recognition. “Hey you were the ref at our last basketball game!”
    Gavin smiled and introduced himself, gripping Michael’s hand within his own with a firm handshake. “You’re right. You’re on Bob Rathton’s team. You played a good game last Saturday.”
    Michael beamed from the praise.
    “Thanks! I’ll see you at the next game, Officer Rafferty,” he said before running off to await his popcorn.
    Olivia glanced up at Gavin and, for the first time since he’d strode through her front door, she felt herself soften toward him just a little bit. Then she led the two men toward the front door and stepped back, waiting for Ron to pass through. Once he did, she angled her face and offered Gavin a genuine smile.
    His first thought was, damn she’s pretty. He acted on his second thought. Leaning over, he firmly placed his hand upon her arm and lowered his head, dropping his voice so only she could hear him.
    His face was so close she was forced to stare up into his icy blue eyes. “You’re a terrible liar, Olivia.”
    For a split second, what he’d said did not even register. Once it did, she tensed up and glared at him, hissing furiously, “What are you insinuating, Officer Rafferty?”
    “Don’t get all fired up again,” he murmured. “I know you weren’t completely forthright tonight. Barton mentioning those footprints bothered you. I can guarantee you that I’ll be returning at a later time, without Officer Barton, to find out what you’re omitting.”
    He released her arm and grinned.
    “Good evening, Olivia Jones. I’ll see you soon.”
    As he descended the front steps, his grin widened even more as the front door slammed so hard he could feel the steps reverberate underneath him. Then he strode out to the police cruiser and climbed in beside his visibly amused partner.
    “So, that’s why you pulled up the Jones report the other night,” Barton smirked as he gnawed on a coffee stirrer. “Spill it, Gav.”
     
     
    Olivia stood in the kitchen, surveying the damage created by the boys popping their own popcorn, and then bent over to pick up the scattered pieces which trailed into the family room. Disgusted, she admonished herself. I can’t believe that I actually started to like him for a minute. As she gathered up the plastic cellophane wrappers someone left on the counter, she vowed she’d never drop her defenses with Gavin Rafferty again.
    Feeling exhausted, she wandered into the family room and cuddled up with her sons to finish watching their movie with them.
     
    He was highly pissed off and chased his foul mood with a double shot of whiskey. Tom Jones’s house had been a dead end. But he knew, without a shred of doubt, that Tom had kept copies of all their