Ava shook her head, exasperation clear on her face. “You’re smarter than this, Pres. You know something’s up with him. I just hope you don’t find out the hard way.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. I knew her heart was in the right place. I couldn’t fault her for wanting to protect me. I went over to where she sat on the sofa and rested my head on her shoulder.
“Listen, if it makes you feel better, I promise I’ll take a step back. I’ll be smart about this. I won’t let myself become too attached too quickly, okay? I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect myself. But I can’t just forget him. I like him too much.”
Ava chewed her lip, but in the end either decided that she believed me or wanted to stop arguing about it. She gave me a hug. “I love you,” she whispered.
I had no idea how long it had been since I’d heard those words, but they were like balm for my soul. “I love you, too,” I told her, and I meant it.
Chapter 14
Preslee
It wasn’t easy for me to play it cool with Kris. Evidently, I was the sort of person who wore their thoughts on their face.
“Are you okay?” Kris asked for the third time since I’d climbed into the car.
“Sure,” I told him. “Just fired up to get started.”
He’d offered to take me to local bars and restaurants near the scene of the accident. We were on the hunt for potential witnesses or any suspicious activity that might give us insight into what happened that night.
“Let’s keep our expectations realistic,” he warned me. “We have to remember that the crash took place four months ago. Some of these people, especially the bartenders in the area, must see hundreds of different people a night, and we’re asking them to remember something from November. There’s no guarantee that they’ll remember anything.”
“I know,” I said as much in agreement as a reminder to myself. I told myself time and again to not get my hopes up.
“There’s only one thing that could possibly help us with this,” he added.
“What’s that?”
“We can hope that the person who hit you was memorable. Maybe they were a regular at a bar, who knows? Maybe they got particularly drunk, made a scene. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out they started a fight or something.”
I wasn’t feeling so hopeful. Still, it was worth a shot. Right now we had nothing other than the few photos Kris had seen in my file. That was it. Unless I was willing to tell the cops about the money I’d been offered on the off chance they’d be able to force Quaid to tell them the name of the client behind the money.
I wasn’t ready to do that yet. Part of it was because I knew attorney-client privilege was nearly impossible to breach, but another part was because I knew the offer would disappear as soon as the police got involved, and I wasn’t sure yet that I wouldn’t end up taking it. Those hospital bills were intimidating.
I forced my attention back to the matter at hand. “So when we ask people if they saw anything, we have to try to jog their memory. Did they see anyone who shouldn’t have been driving? That sort of thing?”
Kris nodded. “But then there’s another layer to this…”
“What’s that?”
“A bartender’s not likely to give up that sort of information if he knows it’s in connection with an accident.”
“Because then he might get in trouble for over serving,” I finished. Of course. I hadn’t even considered it. I was glad to have Kris in my corner, even if I did have to keep reminding myself to stop thinking of him as a boyfriend or even a sex buddy and start thinking of him as my lawyer.
“So let’s not mention the accident,” he advised. “We have to come up with another reason why we’d be asking these questions. What would lead us to go around four months after the fact, asking whether there were any particularly drunk patrons on one specific night?”
I thought hard, but I drew a blank.
“Yeah, me too,” Kris said when I admitted that I wasn’t coming up with anything. We drove on in silence for a few minutes.
“Then I guess we just have to be honest,” he said. “You were in an accident, but now you’re fine. You’re not pressing any charges, but you would like to know who could have hit you. Let’s stress that the bartender won’t get into any trouble.”
“But we can’t guarantee that, can we?” I asked.
“No, we can’t,” Kris answered slowly. “But we have to take that chance if we’re going to find out what really happened to you.”
I looked out the window at the sparse landscape. I didn’t know how I felt about lying. Kris seemed to know what he was doing, and he had the experience so I figured I should follow his lead.
“By the way, in case I didn’t tell you this already.” Kris glanced over at me, a smile curving his lips. “You’re looking really cute today.”
I blushed. I’d put some time into my appearance even though I’d told Ava I’d cool it with Kris. I had gone shopping earlier in the week, using some of the money in my bank account to buy a few outfits that fit better than what I had. I still hadn’t gained back the weight I’d lost while in the hospital. I’d been petite then. Now, well, Ava had taken to calling me tiny.
“Thanks.” I paused, and then asked, “Where are we headed?”
“The scene of the accident first. Is that okay with you? I don’t want to spook you or make you feel funny.”
“Well, we’re already on our way,” I teased. “Maybe you should have asked me in advance.”
“I’ll stop the car right now,” he stated, and I knew he meant it.
“Nah, it’s okay. I’m only kidding.” I squeezed his knee. “And, by the way, you look pretty good yourself...then again you always do.”
He smirked.
“Come on,” I continued. “You know you do. Don’t even pretend that you don’t. Nobody looks like you and doesn’t know the effect they have on people.”
I was gratified to see a blush touch his cheeks. He was so, so handsome, it took my breath away to look at him sometimes. He was particularly handsome today in a deep blue turtleneck sweater and khakis. A dash of stubble lined his strong jaw, I had to stop myself from tracing it with my finger. So damn sexy.
Kris pulled the car over to the side of the road when we reached a three-road intersection. “Is this it?” I asked. He nodded tightly, and I knew he was watching my reaction. I got out of the car and took in my surroundings. “I don’t remember any of this.”
We were parked at the top of the down stroke of the T, a fairly rural road. The main road, running right and left of where we stood, was much busier. I tried to imagine it as it might appear late at night. There weren’t many lights. It would have been pretty dark.
“From what I understand, you lived around five minutes down the road in that direction.” He pointed down the road to my right. Yep, no memory of that.
He pointed to the center of the intersection. “From the photos I saw, it looked as though you were hit around there. Right in the middle.”
The light turned green, and we trotted over to the other side of the main road. He ran his hand over a telephone pole. The wood was damaged, splintered, and the pole leaned slightly to one side.
“Here’s where you ended up,” he supplied.
I ran my hand over the splintered wood, trying to let the sensation prompt something in my mind.
Nothing.
“You okay?”
I nodded. “It’s just a little strange,” I told him. “A little heavy, but not bad.”
“So you were probably coming from that direction.” He pointed down the rural side road. “And you took a left turn.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, curious.
“You were hit on the driver’s side, and all the glass was in the intersection,” he said. “It made sense to me, especially if you then hit the pole. If the car had been coming down the side road, and hit you as you drove down the main road, you would have been knocked into this field.” He motioned toward the field that sat on the other side of the main road.
His logic made sense to me.
“You’re a pretty smart guy.” I winked, trying to lighten the mood. Again, I saw that adorable blush.
“My mom always told me so,” he said. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“So what now?” I asked. I scanned the area. “No traffic cameras,” I observed ruefully.
“I think, if the car was coming from that direction,” he pointed down the main road to the left of where we’d parked, “then we should start our search that way. Make sense?”
“You’re a genius.” Before I could second-guess myself, I grabbed the collar of his suede jacket and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Thank you,” I said softly. “I wish there was some way for me to show you how much your help has meant to me.”
He winked and smiled. “I can think of a few things.”
I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm, ignoring the warmth fluttering in my belly. This wouldn’t be the time or the place, even if I hadn’t promised Ava that I’d back off. That wasn’t going very well, but I was hoping we’d find something to distract me from how much I wanted to drag Kris off to the closest private space and have my way with him.
Instead, we got back into the car and made a left turn at the intersection. There wasn’t much going on for the first half mile or so, but soon we came to a small plaza. It seemed like as good a place to start as any.
Of course they had no information to give us. The bartenders were all new, and they had no receipts on hand from a night that long ago.
“We have to get these POS systems updated,” the hostess told us apologetically. They were just getting ready to open for lunch and were extremely busy, so we thanked her for her time and left.
The pattern repeated itself at another two restaurants. We also stopped in at a convenience store since there were cameras there, and Kris thought that maybe the person who hit me had stopped in for something. Unfortunately, all the tapes from that far back were sent off-site, and the owner would have to contact the company that stored them to get the one from the night in question. Kris handed the owner a business card, asked if he could do just that, and get in touch when he did.
I had to admit, I liked seeing Kris take charge like that. I could only imagine what he was like in the courtroom.
“Do you always take command like this?” I asked as we left the store.
“What do you mean?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“You walk in these places, full of confidence, and ask your questions. You’re not shy about it. I’d be all ‘gee, so sorry to waste your time.’ I’d never think to ask the owner to get a copy of that tape because I wouldn’t want to inconvenience him.”
“You learn over time that it’s important to ask for what you want,” he told me. “There’s nothing wrong with going for it. Walk into a room, certain that you’re in control, and you will be. You’d be surprised how well it works – even when you feel like you’re not in control of anything. Appearing as though you are is half the battle.”
“Hmm…” I said, one eyebrow raised. “Have you ever taken that attitude with me without my knowing about it?”
He grin was pure sex. “Maybe I have, and maybe I haven’t. Next time I do, I’ll let you know.”
Damn, this whole backing off thing was harder than I thought it’d be.
We drove further down the road, this time hitting a strip mall that also had security cameras. When we pulled into a space, my stomach growled. We’d been out for hours and hadn’t had lunch.
I told Kris I’d wait in a small bar slash restaurant while he asked the bank manager to look at ATM camera recordings from the night of the accident. It really seemed like a good idea at the time.
Chapter 15
Preslee
I walked into the dimly lit restaurant, and took a moment to let my eyes adjust. It was too early in the day for many customers. There were only two people seated at the bar and nobody in the restaurant.
“Can I help you?” the bartender greeted, his voice clipped.
“My boyfriend is down at the bank,” I explained. “When he’s finished, we’re going to want lunch.”
The bartender relaxed. I didn’t know why I called Kris my boyfriend, maybe there was something about a poorly lit bar and people drowning their sorrows that made a girl wary. No matter the reason, the term had brought with it a pang of longing. No matter what I told Ava, or how dumb it was, I couldn’t deny that I wanted what I’d said to be true.
I pulled out a barstool and asked for an iced tea. Judging from the lack of customers, I found myself wondering if eating here was a good idea. Maybe a beverage was as far as I’d go.
When the bartender returned, I had an idea. Kris had told me about confidence, and how all it took was courage and some great acting to get what you want. I wondered if that was true. I could at least give it a try.
I gave the bartender a wide smile. “Thanks.” I winked, leaning forward and propping my elbows up on the bar. “We’ve been out for hours and I’m completely parched.” I took a long, slow sip from my straw.
“No problem.” He swallowed, returning my grin with a boyish smile full of dimples. It easily took five years off how old I thought he was.
“It’s pretty quiet in here. Do you ever get bored?”
He shrugged. “It’s only like this in the afternoon. Don’t get a lot of drinkers at this time of day.” He lowered his voice and glanced over toward the two old men sitting at the far end of the bar. “They’re regulars. Like clockwork, they come in for their bourbon every day. Three glasses each before they go back to wherever it is they escaped from.” He chuckled, swirling his finger near his temple, the universal sign for crazy.