Page 99 of Riptide
"So what's your solution? I just wait? Let her burn my life down while I smile and bake croissants?"
"My solution is you let me handle it. Let me find Thorne, let me deal with Blaire, let me?—"
"Protect me?" Cara laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Gabe, you can't save me from this. No one can."
"I’m not willing to believe that.” He sat back, smiling wanly. “Besides, it’s not like you can stop me."
The words hung between them, raw and honest in a way that made her chest ache.
"I know you. I know what you believe in." She held his gaze. "The law and I have a complicated history. When you find out how complicated... you'll have to choose. And we both know what you'll choose."
Before he could respond, his radio crackled.
Ellie's voice, tinny but clear: "Chief, I found him. Old fishing shack off Cutter's Point. Plate matches."
Gabe's eyes stayed locked on Cara's for one long moment. Then he grabbed the radio.
"Maintain distance. I'm on my way."
He stood, pulled out his wallet, dropped a ten on the table.
"This conversation isn't over."
"Gabe—"
"Midnight, you said. That gives us time." He held her gaze. "Don't do anything stupid before I get back."
Then he was gone, the bell over the door chiming his exit.
Cara sat alone in the booth, the weight of everything unsaid pressing down on her chest. Through the window, she watched his truck pull out of the lot, heading toward the coast road. Toward Thorne. Toward answers that wouldn't help her.
Reagan slid into the seat Gabe had vacated. She didn't say anything. Didn't ask questions. Just sat there, solid and present, while Cara tried to remember how to breathe.
"He cares about you," Reagan finally said.
"I know."
"He's also a cop."
"I know that too."
Reagan nodded slowly. "So what are you going to do?"
Cara stared at the door Gabe had walked through. At the empty parking spot where his SUV had been.
"I don't know." She pressed her palms flat against the table, grounding herself. "Wait for midnight, I guess. See if Tom can work a miracle."
"And if he can't?"
Cara didn't answer. Couldn't.
Because if Tom couldn't find a way to stop Blaire, then by this time tomorrow, Cara Sweet would cease to exist.
And Carly Reid would have nowhere left to hide.
33
Gabe pushedthe SUV past the speed limit on the coastal road, gravel spraying as he took the curves too fast. He debated spinning up the red and blues, but traffic was light. And he didn’t want to alert Thorne.
