“It worked?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the screen, which abruptly went dark.
“How’s the picture? Could you recognize me?”
“Yes.” Tess shook herself slightly. “This is weird. I never imagined...”
“You’d need any kind of home security system?”
After a moment she nodded.
“Better safe than sorry. And, I’ve got to tell you, I’d really like to catch these bastards on camera.”
She finally raised her gaze to meet his. “Did you install any of these at your house?”
“I did. I wish like hell I’d done it Saturday.”
“My father would say you’re shutting the barn door...”
“After the horses are all out?” His smile was a little crooked. “My dad used to say that, too.”
They stood there looking at each other for a minute, the bed assuming larger and larger proportions in Tess’s peripheral vision.
She had to get him out of there. This man could break her heart.
“Would you like a cup of coffee before you go?” There. That was pleasant but impersonal.
Something flickered in his eyes but he only said, “Sure.”
As she started the coffee, she asked whether he was ready to begin work on his bathroom.
“I’ve put it off until I get a new truck. Tackling the porch, too, since that involves hauling lumber. I started stripping the living room floor instead, just for fun.”
“Is it fun?”
He grinned. “Nope. Stuff stinks, which means the whole house stinks. Sanding isn’t one of my favorite jobs, either. Using a big, upright sander is like riding a motorcycle over cobblestones. It wants to throw you off real bad.”
Tess laughed. “Do you own one?”
“Nah, they’re cheap to rent. I might strip a couple of rooms before I do rent the sander, though.” He stretched his legs out. “The empty bedrooms, for sure. Might as well make it worth it.”
They talked a little more about the logistics. He didn’t want to finish the hall and have the new finish damaged while he was hauling the fixtures into the bathroom, for example. It was like building a tower with blocks. They had to be in exactly the right order.
Tess felt sure his mind wasn’t a hundred percent on the conversation any more than hers was.
Finally she couldn’t stand it. She set a mug of coffee in front of him and said, “I get the feeling there’s something you don’t want to tell me.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, I’ve been debating. It’s not bad,” he said hastily, seeing her alarm. “Like I told you the first time we talked, in a way it’s better if you don’t know too much.” He shook her head at her expression. “The fact you’ve been threatened and the sheriff’s department is pretending it isn’t happening throws all the rules out the window, though, as far as I’m concerned.”
If he’d said otherwise, she would have gotten mad. As it was, she took her seat across the table from him and just waited, aware of apprehension.
“Apparently, Bran has been asking questions.”
“You didn’t know he was?”
Zach shook his head. “We’ve had enough conflict, this...kinda surprised me, to be honest.”
And pleased him, which made him uneasy, if Tess was any judge. Typical man, not sure how to react to the softer emotions.
“Anyway—” The way Bran had heard it, Zach told her, was that Hayes and Antonio had had a near-fight the evening before the scene she’d witnessed. One the deputy’s girlfriend had seen and kept silent about.
“Are you going to try to talk to her?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I can’t. I’m a witness, not an investigator in this case. I’ve already called Lieutenant MacLachlan and told him what I heard without admitting who told me.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better coming from Bran?”
“No, he’s gone out on a limb here. To step into someone else’s investigation without being invited...” He shook his head.
Tess made a face. “I guess that makes sense.”
Zach laughed. “I’ll tell Bran you approve.”
“You do that.”