The Hidden Years

Cassidy knew better than to shake her head, since every time she did, the pain flared. “Either I was running and my back was to him, or my eyes were covered by the hat.”

“You’re positive it was a man?”

“Yes. He had a guttural voice. And he sounded educated.”

The cop stopped writing and looked up. “What makes you say that?”

Cassidy paused, trying to remember. “His grammar was good.”

Silvero started writing again. “Did he have an accent?”

“No.”

The cop frowned and looked from Cassidy to Jake. “You sure it wasn’t him that hit you?”

“Jake would never strike a woman,” Cassidy said.

Jake sighed as if he’d expected the question. “I’m carrying a weapon in my ankle holster. I never fired it and I gave it to Cassidy to reassure her. Would you like to inspect my weapon, Officer?”

Silvero nodded. “Move slowly, sir.”

Jake bent and handed the cop the weapon just as he’d done Cassidy. Suddenly she felt ashamed that the cop had questioned his honor. He’d saved her life. He didn’t deserve to be questioned. “Jake’s voice is different, deeper, than that of the man who hit me.”

Jake gave him harder evidence than she could supply. “Once you dig the slugs from her wall, you’ll see they don’t match my gun.”

The officer took Jake’s weapon and sniffed. Finally he handed it back to Jake. “How did you happen to come along when you did?”

“I needed to finish an earlier discussion between Cassidy and me.”

Their earlier discussion had been over! Jake had practically thrown her out of his house. Why had he come to her home uninvited, showing up at exactly the right time? Cassidy had seen movies where one man did the dirty work and the other befriended a mark to set up a sting. Although Jake had been furious with her earlier, he had no reason to do that to her.

Jake had once told her how the orphanage unfairly punished children. How he’d often taken onto his shoulders blame that wasn’t his. He couldn’t have changed that much. Besides, after the way he’d gently tended to her, she knew he’d never ever condone violence. Although Jake could be evasive, he was never sneaky or underhanded.

Jake answered the cop, speaking stiffly, shoulders thrown back and defiant. Cassidy sensed how much he disliked this inquisition and how useless he felt it to be. But he remained polite, if aloof.

Cassidy lost track of the interrogation and was jerked back to the present when the cop cleared his throat. “Ma’am?”

“I’m sorry. What was the question?”

“Can you think of anyone who could have done this to you? An ex-husband or former lover? A client?”

“I’m a small-town lawyer. Mostly I draw up wills and trusts, handle real-estate transactions, that sort of thing. I’ve never done criminal work or been married. And my last relationship ended amicably several years ago.”

Cassidy had mixed feelings about the cops going through her home, and once again she was glad Jake was with her. While she appreciated the extra police protection, it seemed an invasion of her privacy to have strangers roaming through her home and asking about her private life. She wanted to close this episode and put it behind her.

Jake folded his arms over his chest and spoke to Officer Silvero. “Enough. She’s tired. Let her rest, and if she thinks of anything else, she’ll call. You have a business card?”

The officer reluctantly closed his notepad. Cassidy sensed that if not for Jake’s intervention, the cop would have questioned her all day.

The officer handed her his card and looked around. “Don’t touch the slugs. I’ll have the crime team dig them out later. No point dusting for prints since the man wore gloves, right?” Cassidy nodded and he continued, “Perhaps you could call a friend over to spend the night?”

Jake shook his head. “She won’t be staying here.”

Cassidy almost objected aloud to his high-handed tactics, then decided to remain quiet. She’d rather discuss her living arrangements with Jake after the cop left. Maybe by then she’d recover some strength. Besides, she wasn’t eager to stay here alone. Not unless the police caught the intruder, and that seemed less likely by the minute.

After Officer Silvero and his partner left, Jake straddled a chair across from her. “I’m going to have a security system installed tomorrow. Until then, you can stay with me.”

“The security system sounds fine, and I appreciate your offer.” Cassidy hesitated, then blurted, “Jake, there’s something I didn’t tell the police.”

Chapter Three

“You forgot to tell the cops that you’re into kinky sex?” Jake’s teasing comment came out of nowhere. He was just hoping to ease her tension.

She humored him with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Nothing so scandalous.”

“You made an illegal U-turn on the way home?”

He didn’t like the paleness of her skin beneath the tan and wanted to see the glow come back. Even more, he wanted to return their friendship to an even keel and forget her words about how she’d wished they’d kept in touch. At night for months after she’d gone off to college, he’d thought of little more than what it would have been like to touch her and have her touch him in return.

He didn’t want those fantasies in his head. Besides, Cassidy had been frightened. Hurt. In shock. And while he didn’t believe that her remarks reflected anything beyond a desire for a platonic friendship, he suspected that her words would haunt his dreams for weeks.

“Jake, stop teasing me.” She rested her head back on the sofa and her golden hair spilled over her shoulders. “When I left your place, I was angry with you.”

“That’s why I came here. To apologize for my bad behavior. Even if your father refused to talk to me, I had no right to blame you for his actions. To practically call you a liar was going way too far. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. I’d say you’ve more than made up for your rudeness by saving my life.” Cassidy shuddered, then raised her chin, and her eyes darkened with determination. “I thought I’d dumped the box’s entire contents at your feet—”

He chuckled. “A highly dramatic gesture that helped me come to my senses.”

“—but one of the papers stayed in the box. A paper with a phone number.”

“You called that number?” he guessed, neither the least bit surprised by her impulsiveness nor bothered that she hadn’t returned to give it to him—not in the dark mood he’d been in. But he’d set those old painful memories aside. He’d moved on with his life. And part of moving on meant realizing that Cassidy had never felt about him the way he’d once felt about her. She’d considered him a friend and had never wanted more. He’d been the one who’d once wanted more, but he hadn’t been willing to show her how he’d really felt and risk losing her friendship. But that was all a long time ago.

He was different now, not so afraid to risk what he had to get what he wanted. But had Cassidy changed? Was she still the same person he remembered? Did she see him as the friend he’d once been? Or did she see him as a man with wants and needs and desires?

Cassidy’s sweet voice drew him from his thoughts. “The woman who answered my call asked for a password. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just read the words off the slip of paper.”

A password? He shoved aside thoughts about the past and concentrated on the present. Cassidy had his full attention. “What password?”

“I can’t remember. The paper’s in my purse in the kitchen, I think.”

Jake retrieved her purse and watched her dig through it. She was starting to recover from her ordeal. Slowly her voice was regaining some strength, her shoulders were slumping less. And he could only admire her courage.

Cassidy had grown up in a secure home with loving parents who’d given her every advantage in life. Yet she wasn’t spoiled. She’d had to live with setbacks and a few hard knocks. After her mother’s death from cancer, she’d shown a resilience that was a testament to Frazier Atkins’s fathering skills. And if the man had become overprotective of his daughter, Jake wouldn’t have blamed him—except that overprotectiveness had sliced Cassidy from Jake’s life.

While Cassidy might be facing her own mortality for the first time, she wasn’t just coping. She was thinking with all eight cylinders. And just like ten years ago, her primary thoughts weren’t revolving around him.

At least she seemed willing and able to keep her thoughts trained on business. Right now, Jake couldn’t afford the distraction of brooding over the past, not when Cassidy’s life might be at stake.