make sure your father doesn’t interrupt us again.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NINA SPENT SEVERAL HOURS talking to Anne. Although there was no evidence that her father was guilty of anything more than being a controlling asshole, he had no say over what happened next. Anne had tried to hurt herself and was legally required to be evaluated by a mental health professional. One that wouldn’t be Nina, since she would technically be classified as a witness. Nonetheless, Nina made sure the girl had her phone number along with the names of several counselors that Nina respected. Officer Harrison then drove Anne to the hospital, but before he did, Anne gave Nina a prolonged hug. The entire time, Simon stayed close, restless energy radiating off him like a raging fire.
Nina fought back gruesome memories of Beth and Rachel. This time, she’d helped. This time, no one had died. She’d been lucky. Lucky that Simon had decided to trust her and let her handle Anne as she saw fit. And lucky that things had worked out.
Simon, however, didn’t look like he felt lucky. He just drove, grim-faced and stiff.
Finally, the tense silence between them suddenly became too much for Nina to bear. She placed a hand on his thigh, forcing herself not to flinch when the muscles there bunched along with those in his jaw. He was vibrating, she realized. With residual anger? Fear? Both?
His girlfriend had been killed by a serial murderer. Simon believed that the reason she’d been killed was directly linked to her chosen profession. Anne hadn’t been a serial murderer, but she’d turned out to be a threat to Nina nonetheless. Had Simon thought of Lana in that moment? Had he wondered whether he would be responsible for yet another woman’s death? Because there was no doubt in her mind that Simon blamed himself for Lana’s death, just as he blamed himself for letting Anne Stanley get too close to Nina.
“Do you want to talk about what happened back there?” Nina asked. “Why Anne felt she had no choice but to use me as a shield?”
The leather wrap on the steering wheel squeaked as Simon squeezed harder. “I don’t really care why she went all wacko with a knife. That’s her business, not mine. I care more that she endangered you, and that you undermined my authority. That you refused to listen to me when I told you not the enter that room. This isn’t a fucking game, Nina. These are life-and-death situations, situations I’m trained to handle—”
“I’m trained to handle them, too. We simply disagreed about how to handle this particular situation. But you did the right thing by listening to me, Simon. And listening to yourself. Your gut told you to give Anne a chance.”
“My gut was swayed by you!” He slapped his hand against the wheel. “And look what happened. You were almost killed.”
“That’s an exaggeration—”
“Her knife pierced your fucking skin!”
“A slight cut. Nothing more. I wasn’t truly hurt. No, in this particular case, de-escalation didn’t work, not perfectly. A bad thing almost happened. But it didn’t. Even if it had, it doesn’t mean what we did wasn’t warranted. We can do everything by the book and still have horrible things happen. You know that. You can’t stop trusting your instincts because things don’t go perfectly.”
“My instincts are exactly what you’re trying to stop me and other officers from listening to.”
“That’s not true. The training I’m talking about will simply enable your men to have more information to work with. To assess the situation with. The way Officer Harrison was crowding Anne was making the situation worse. You instinctively knew that and—”
He cursed and suddenly swerved the car to the side of the road. He turned toward her, his arm against the back of the seat. “Instinct only goes so far. What if my instincts are telling me two different things?”
“Then you make the most reasoned decision that you can.”
“What if my instincts are telling me to pull away from you and pull you closer at the same time? What if they’re saying to back away because I don’t like your profession or the fact that you’re willing to endanger yourself the way Lana was? But what if they also refuse to let me forget the feel of your mouth under mine? Or the feel of your body pressed against me? What if they want me to kiss you again? Right here? Right now?”
She stared at him, her body trembling, her heart racing. She licked her lips and