Too many cigarettes and beer last night, she thought, and wondered when he was going to start taking his health seriously. “Someone left a threatening note on my car this morning. After Anton checks the truck for devices, I want you to go over it with a fine tooth comb."
He nodded. “I dare say the IIS will, too."
"Probably. Keep an eye on what they find and let me know.” She held out her hand. “I need your car keys to go visit Denny."
"Don't tell me that stupid little punk is caught up in it?"
"He delivered the note."
"Idiot.” He handed her the keys and coughed heavily as he walked away.
She resisted the urge to order him to the doctor and headed over to the car. Cade joined her a few minutes later. “So tell me about this Denny,” he said, as he buckled the seat belt.
She shifted gears and headed off. “His dad died in a car accident about eight years ago. His mom has since doted on the kid and believes he can do no wrong. Denny, of course, now figures he can do whatever he wants and get away with it."
"A brat, in other words."
She nodded. “And not the brightest of kids."
"Will he be at home?"
"Unlikely. His usual daytime haunt is the basketball courts over on Monarch Street."
"He doesn't do school, either?"
"Left when he was sixteen.” She glanced at him. “He's now eighteen, but looks at least early twenties."
He fell silent for a few moments, but his gaze was something she could feel, a heat that slid through her veins as smoothly as his hands had slid over her skin last night. And it stirred her just as easily, just as quickly.
Why hadn't the moon fever faded with daylight? Was that the price she had to pay for running before the promise had ended? Or was it was simply a matter of being close to the one man who had gotten to her in ways no other man ever had? Either way, it was going to present problems. Could she really do her job and hunt down a murderer when her hormones had her as jumpy as a bitch in heat?
She really didn't know, and that was the major problem—not the unfulfilled moon promise.
"What?” she said, when she couldn't stand the growing silence any longer.
"Have you kept in contact with any of your friends from Rosehall?"
She slanted him a cool glance, which was nothing but a brave front, but he didn't know that. “According to you, I didn't have friends. I just had bed buddies."
"What about Nelle James?"
Nelle. So that's what this line of questioning was about. “I didn't sleep with Nelle."
His expression suggested he very much doubted the truth of that, and that got her dander up more than anything else he'd ever said about her. She certainly hadn't shared herself with everyone at the commune, no matter what he thought, and she most definitely hadn't slept with women. Not that she had anything against those who did; it just that it didn't rock her boat.
"But you were close,” he said. “Very close."
"What of it?"
"You warned her to run, didn't you?"
His voice was flat, but she shot him a quick look. His expression was just as flat as his voice, but his eyes glimmered with the faintest hint of fury.
And there was something almost satisfying about that.
"Yes, I did."
"Why?"