Luke watched Graff with a murderous expression. “He gave you hassle?”
Harper made a dismissive gesture. “He tried to talk to me out at the house. Followed me to my car talking trash. I didn’t like him then. Don’t like him now.”
She didn’t mention that he’d asked her out. The last thing she needed was Luke getting in a macho fight right now. But he seemed to know there was more to it than she was letting on. He pulled out his phone. “Give me his name again. I’ll run him through the system tomorrow.”
Harper spelled it for him. The whole time, she could feel Graff’s eyes burning into her back.
“I think we should go,” she said.
He didn’t argue. Leaving their full drinks on the table, they headed out. As he held the door for her, Luke fixed the tabloid reporter with an icy stare.
Outside, Harper took a deep breath and let the salt air clear Graff from her lungs.
As they walked back to their cars, she told Luke about Graff’s fixation with Cara. “There’s something personal there,” she said. “He seems obsessed with her.”
He shot her a sideways look. “And now he’s obsessed with you.”
“He’s the least of my worries,” she said, dismissively.
Harper looked down the empty street. Now that she had some idea what she was up against, living out here was starting to seem like a truly terrible idea. The Tybee police force was too tiny to help her if men like the ones Luke had described came for her.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, Luke said, “I don’t like you living out here.”
“Yeah,” Harper said. “I was just thinking it might be time to move closer to a heavily armed police department.”
He didn’t smile. “I’m serious. You should think about moving back to town.”
“I’m on it,” she said. And she was. Tomorrow she would start making calls and see if she could find a new place in the city.
The thought was cheering. Maybe it was worth having a killer after her if it meant she could go home again.
Luke glanced down at the keys in his hand. “Harper. About your mother … You’re not planning on going after Dowell for revenge, are you?”
There was a long pause. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, finally.
He lifted his serious blue eyes to hers. “Well, before you do anything, remember this. I am a police officer with eight years of service. I am over six feet tall and trained in self-defense. And Dowell’s thugs nearly killed me.” There was a new intensity in his expression. “You’re the toughest woman I know. But they would eliminate you. Do me a favor. Don’t do anything. Just keep your head down. Pretend you don’t know what you know. Give me some time. Let me see what I can find out.”
Their eyes locked, and she saw something in his gaze that was more than worry. Something that sent heat into her bloodstream.
“I’ll wait to hear from you,” she promised.
Suddenly, she felt completely drained. She longed for nothing more than for him to wrap her in his arms, as he once would have done. But that was the past.
“I guess I better go,” she said.
He looked almost disappointed—as if he’d hoped she’d suggest something else. But he said, “Yeah, me too,” and shifted the keys in his hand. “I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”
“Thanks.” She opened the driver’s-side door. The interior light glowed, illuminating her face.
“Hey,” he said. “Watch your back, you hear me?”
It had been a long time since she’d seen that expression on his face—a complex mixture of concern and longing. She felt that look in her stomach.
But there was no point. He had someone else now.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said, getting into the car. “I’m always careful.”
13
That night, Harper dreamed she was speeding across the marshes in the dark. The road unfurled before her, straight as a razor. There were headlights in the rearview mirror. Closing in. The glow grew brighter and brighter until a blinding light filled the car and she couldn’t see the road ahead.
There was a bang, and her eyes flew open. She was lying on the couch, her forehead beaded with sweat. Zuzu was asleep at her feet.
Daylight streamed through the open blinds, sending shards of bright sunlight across the dark wood floors.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Someone was pounding on the door.
She sat up, disturbing Zuzu, who leapt from the sofa in a fluid arc and stalked