Page 3 of Dead Man's Alibi

Jake gave Nate one last glance and then headed for the door.“You’ll have to answer the question eventually, Bennet.”

“Why should he when you’ve already decided where he was?”Sam demanded.She had to ride the tide of fury, or a million other feelings storming around inside of her were going to win out.“I thought better of you, Jake.I really did.”

He stopped there in the threshold of the house.Herhouse.With Nate.Who had just proposed to her and now this…

She shook her head as Jake gazed down at her.

“Same goes, Sam,” he said, like he was disappointed in her.

She’d show him some fucking disappointment.

“It’s due diligence,” Nate said gently.

He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but Sam shrugged it off, gripped the door with her hand while Jake stepped out onto the porch.

“It’s bullshit.”She wanted to start throwing punches, but that would get her arrested, so she managed to stop herself.Barely.“Don’t ever come back here,” she told Jake.Vibrating with rage, because if she acknowledged anything else inside her right now, she might actually collapse.“Or anywhere near us.”

Jake looked at her with something like pity.It was a pity that was so familiar to her life, she nearly lunged at him, but Nate put his hand on her arm.Held on tight like he could read her mind.

“I have a job to do, Sam,” Jake said.So certain.Sowrong.

“Fuck your job.”She slammed the door on him.

Then she stood there, breathing like she’d run a marathon.Her mind was racing and she couldn’t get a grip on anything.

Except this was all wrong.She looked down at the ring on her finger.

Or maybe you’re just cursed.

Nate gently turned her around so she had to face him, but she couldn’t look in his eyes right now.So she just stared straight ahead into his chest.Still wearing the dress shirt he’d worn to the party, though she’d unbuttoned the top few buttons herself what felt like a lifetime ago but couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes.

“Sam.Take a breath.”He sounded socalm.

He certainly wasn’t hyperventilating.Didn’t he understand?

“They have to check into everyone,” he continued.So certain and sure.“It’s policy.It’s normal.You know that.I don’t even think Hayes is trying to be insulting, and that’s coming fromme, Sam.I hate that guy.Either way, it doesn’t matter.We both know I didn’t do anything.Not directly.”

She couldn’t even deal with his self-blame at the moment.Not directlyher ass.But that was a secondary point.The primary point was that she’d been here before.

Exactly here.

Terror was too real a thing when twining with adrenaline and a million other things.

“Yeah, we both know that.”She sounded as winded as she felt, no matter how she tried tobreatheas he’d suggested.

She managed to look up at him now, though that made tears prick her eyes.But she wouldn’t let them fall.“We also both know, better than anyone, that it doesn’t matter what youreallydid if they decide you’re the suspect they want.”

Nate’s grip on her shoulders tightened.His gaze softened.Not pity, like so many other people had given her over the years.But understanding.

“This isn’t going to be like your father.”He said it like a vow.

But he was wrong, and she knew it, even if he didn’t.

Chapter Two

The apartment above Honor’s Edge Investigations Office

Cal Bennet heardvoices outside his door.Kind of hushed whispers, but since he was up and making himself breakfast in the kitchen just a few yards from said door, he could hear them, even if he couldn’t make out the words or place the voices.