When the water had calmed around us, no longer rippling from our movements, she said, “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
God, she was sexy, and it was taking all my resolve to wait this out. I had to remind myself she was so worth the wait. “I am actually. I think I have a lead on your father’s case.” That had been my other motivation to see her.
“What?” she asked. There was a fierce woman inside her. Determination was beating out sadness.
“I told you about the video from the auto body?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I was caught up trying to watch the car that went by slowly. After I went forward, it shows your father leave.”
“He left?”
“Yes, he was at the bar maybe twenty minutes and then he left.”
“Where did he go?” she asked, but I didn’t think she expected me to answer.
“I couldn’t see from that angle, but he came back maybe fifteen minutes later, and he wasn’t alone.”
Her eyes grew. “You know who it was?”
“Unfortunately, no. The problem was, I never saw them leave.”
I’d been watching over and over again, hours before her father came and hours after. The angle was off. It was possible they could have left another way. “We’re getting close,” I said, feeling it in my gut. I could go canvas the town for more video, but the autopsy had begun. If I waited, I should have what I needed for a formal investigation.
“There’s something you should know,” she said, untangling herself from me. She waded away, putting space between us, and I didn’t like it.
“Evan came to the bar today and he wasn’t alone.”
“This is when you gave the ring back to him?”
She grinned. “Oh, it should be news in town. Least of which was that he admitted to me the ring didn’t have a real diamond.”
“Asshole.”
“No, it’s fine. Honestly, I felt better. I thought I was hurting him when I wasn’t. He didn’t love me. He loved the idea of me. The native backwater girl whom he could show the world through his prism. My dad had been right about him all along.”
“I’m still, sorry. You deserve better.”
She shrugged. “A learning experience. Besides, I have you.”
I swam in closer and kissed her because I couldn’t stop.
She grinned and held up a finger. “You’ll want to know this. The interesting thing is Darcy acted like she knew him.”
“Okay,” I didn’t see where she was going until I did.
“Like she really knew him. She dared me to choose between the two of you as if she’d be happy to take the other.”
Though I shouldn’t be shocked, I was, somewhat. “Darcy told me she had a thing with the mayor.”
Emma gave me a look like I was dense. “The mayor’s too full of himself to settle down. I don’t know. But Darcy seemed a little too sure of herself.”
Would Darcy sleep with Emma’s fiancé? I wanted to think no, but that wouldn’t be what any other investigator would consider if they didn’t have a close relationship with her. It was time I had a talk with Darcy.
“I’ve got to get to the bar,” Emma said. “Jack and I have come to an understanding, but I don’t know how long it will last. I’ll see you later,” she said.
We got out of the water and used towels I had in the back of my car. I was prepared for almost every situation, including a change of clothes.
“Will I see you tonight?” I asked.
When she looked at me like she did now, I lost my breath every time.
“I’ll be late,” she said.
“My door will be unlocked.”
She grinned.
I watched her drive away. Emma Hawkins was mine and she’d be my wife, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Chapter 21
Emma
It was hard leaving Aiden. A part of me had wanted to cross that finish line right there in the cove. We’d been alone, I’d been reasonably sure of that. The other part was scared. What if I didn’t live up to his expectations? It wasn’t like I had the kind of carnal knowledge about sex that Darcy did.
Though I’d told Aiden I had to go to the bar, I needed a shower after that. Only, there was a car parked in front of my house. It wasn’t close to my neighbors. Whomever it was, wanted to see me.
I got out knowing that the out of state license plate could only be one person.
“Were you with him?” Evan’s car door had opened the minute my feet hit the pavement. “Have you been screwing him this entire time?”
I didn’t want to have this conversation especially out on the street. No doubt, my neighbor, Ms. Watson, was watching from her window. But I also didn’t want him inside my house. I didn’t like the hate beaming from his eyes.
“What does it matter? You’ve been screwing Darcy.” Though I’d angrily threw that at him, I honestly didn’t care if he had.