Page 85 of Rekindle My Heart

The bell dinged as he walked in. LeRoy stuck his head out of the office. The weariness in his eyes fled, and a questioning expression replaced it. “Detective Daniels, afternoon. Did you catch the bastard?”

“Still working on it.” Ryan moved to the counter.

“What can I do for you?”

“Could I take a look at your video from this afternoon?”

His expression puzzled. “Sure. It’s been pretty quiet around here today.”

“Just checking on something. Thanks.”

He waved Ryan back and booted up the video. “Here you go.”

Ryan zipped through the video until he saw the Tahoe. A few seconds later, Erica’s vehicle followed.

“Can I get a copy of this?”

“No problem. But I don’t see what you’re looking for. It’s probably one of the dealer’s customers.”

“Could be.”

“Not that they’ll find him,” LeRoy muttered as he typed a few keys. “On its way.”

“Thanks.” Ryan’s email notification pinged. The time caught his attention. “I have to go. Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime.” LeRoy walked him out and locked the door after him.

He needed to watch the whole video but didn’t have time until after dinner. Maybe he and Erica could watch it in bed?

Memories of her soft hair on his chest this morning had him pressing down a little harder on the accelerator. He’d shaved two minutes off his usual time in driving to her house.

He was getting ahead of himself. One night didn’t make up for years of her hating him.

But it was a start.

A smile tugged at his lips when Karma’s bark drifted across the yard. She opened the door and one-hundred-thirty pounds of welcome bounced for him. Tail wagging and eyes bright, Karma wiggled his way between Ryan’s legs and back around.

“Hi, boy. I missed you too.” He rubbed the dog’s soft head.

Ryan was distracted, or he would have noticed the somber expression on Erica’s beautiful face sooner. “Who died?”

The frown told him that wasn’t the right thing to say. He wanted to add other than Sarah.

“No one. It was just a day.” She turned and left him standing on the step.

“Okaaay.” He drew out the word as he followed her inside. “What happened since you dropped me off this morning?”

She flopped to the couch; a bag of frozen peas lay on the coffee table. “I went to the station. Was working on some of the incident reports we talked about.”

Did she find something new? And what was with the veggies?

“I was talking to Walker, then they got a call. I was alone… or so I thought.”

His whole body tensed.

“The lights went out. So, I went to find the breaker.” Her eyes went from sad to pissed to frightened.

Fuck. He didn’t like that. “What happened?”