Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(32)

“What are you up to, Chase?”

She picked up the papers and read the name “Douglas Stone.”

Immediately she remembered Burnett’s words: He’s saying a man named Douglas Stone killed your aunt.

She read on. Chase had several addresses and information on several different Douglas Stones in the Houston area. He also had the name “Don Williams.” She didn’t know who the Williams character was, but she’d bet a quart of O negative blood that he had something to do with her father’s case.

And damned if she wouldn’t find out.

She pulled her phone out and snapped close-up shots of the papers.

*

Della went back to the office to collect her things, then headed back to her cabin. She should try to rest, but the thought that Chase was somewhere hiding from her made napping impossible.

She’d drop her stuff off then find him. Then nap. She hadn’t seen her cabin when her nose caught the scent of one particular dog’s message. Then she was hit by the scent of his owner.

She took off, expecting to find him on the porch, but nope. Then she noted the door was ajar. The little twerp had just invited himself into her cabin. Who did he think—

Okay, maybe she couldn’t bitch too much about that.

Not that she didn’t have plenty of other things to bitch about. She flew up the steps, dropped her items on the porch with a loud thud, and went to confront the lying piece of poop.





Chapter Fourteen

When she flung open the door, he stood between the sofa and the coffee table. No doubt he’d heard her coming in time to make it to his feet. But the sofa hadn’t had enough time to lose the six-foot imprint of his frame. His eyes, she noted, still carried the lazy look of sleep.

“Sleeping on my couch, huh?” she accused, and felt Baxter bumping her leg with his nose begging for a petting. Bending slightly, she petted the dog, hoping that bit of kindness didn’t make her appear less than pissed.

Chase passed a hand over his face as if trying to wipe away the evidence. “I was waiting on you.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket as if to see how long he’d slept. “What all did Burnett want?”

“Where’s my uncle, Chase?”

He frowned. “I could swear we already covered that.”

She opened her mouth to blast him with all the reasons she would never believe a word he said, when he spoke up.

“But I’ll be happy to answer it again.” He looked right in her eyes. “I don’t know where he is. He didn’t kill your aunt. And I’m here to help find the person who’s guilty.”

“By napping on my sofa? Uninvited,” she blurted out, pushing aside her own guilt of snooping in his cabin. Baxter raised his paw and gently placed it on her knee. She offered him another soft scratch behind his ear.

“The door wasn’t locked.”

Yeah, she’d used that excuse, too. “It’s still wrong.” She lifted her hand from the dog and slipped it on her hip.

He stepped closer and smiled. “And it seems I’m not the only one … in the wrong. Did you go through my clothes? What? Were you curious if I was a boxers or briefs guy?”

How the hell did he know I was there? She tightened her eyes at him. “Your undies don’t concern me.”

“Not even a little bit?” His smiled widened. “Not that I blame you, I mean, I got to go through yours the first day we met.”

“Still a Panty Perv, huh?” she asked through tight lips, remembering how he’d found her backpack and later commented about her underwear.

“Just a Della perv.” He laughed.

When she shot him her best go-to-hell look, he stopped laughing. “Okay, so maybe you weren’t going through my … undies, as you call them, but you were at my cabin. I smell the fresh paint.” He reached for her.

“Stop!” She pointed a finger at him. “The only reason I’m tolerating your presence right now is that I need to get my dad off a murder charge. So either tell me something about that, or leave.”

She stomped her foot and waited to see if he was going to tell her more about Douglas Stone and this Williams character. Not that any of it meant her uncle was innocent. But perhaps Chase thought he was. Perhaps her uncle had him fooled.

He held up his hands in surrender. “I’m here to help, Della.” The tease in his eyes faded as he stared at her. “Did Burnett tell you that I resigned from the council and I’m working for the FRU?”

“Yeah, he gave me the bad news.”

He cut his eyes up as if her answer annoyed him. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“Wanted. Past tense. You lied to me.”

“I’m telling the truth now. I’m not hiding anything. Ask me anything, I’ll tell you.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t belong to the truth-will-set-you-free liar’s club.” She growled. “Are you dense enough to think you can come back here now and things will be the same?”

He closed his eyes as if frustrated.

Good. He deserved to be frustrated.

He opened his green eyes and looked back at her. “Della, don’t fight me. Work with me. We can do this. We’ll make it right.”

She shook her head. “There is no ‘we,’ Chase. There’s you and there’s me. I’ll work with you on the case, not even because I believe you don’t know where my uncle is. The only thing to make right is getting my father off. I don’t trust you. But right now you are the only lead I’ve got.”