Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(50)

He jerked his head toward Savanna’s. “Next door.”

Heather pressed her lips into a straight line.

He knew that look well. “Is something wrong?”

“Not if... I mean, you told me you were going home to bed.”

“Heather, stop.”

“I’m just wondering what you were doing there, that’s all.”

He considered mentioning dinner but didn’t want to kindle her jealousy when he’d managed to back away from Savanna so successfully. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d kept his hands to himself and he’d said almost nothing about last night. “Just helping out a little.” Although that was stretching the truth a bit, he didn’t have it in him to try to reassure her tonight.

“Savanna’s pretty, don’t you think?”

Recognizing that as the trap it was, he sidestepped the question. “You’ve met her?”

“I stopped by earlier, when I was looking for you. She was out getting her mail.”

He pulled his house key from his pocket. Typically, he didn’t bother to lock his doors, not if he was in the area. But he’d locked them tonight. He hadn’t wanted to come home to find that Scott had trashed his belongings. “Why didn’t you call me?” He held the door so she could precede him into the house. “Let me know you were waiting?”

“I tried,” she replied.

He pulled out his phone to see why he hadn’t been alerted and discovered that it’d run out of battery. He’d been so engrossed in fighting his attraction to Savanna he hadn’t checked it since he’d left the house. “Oh. Sorry. It’s dead.”

“So what did you do for your gorgeous neighbor tonight?”

Gavin gave her a pointed look. It was her possessiveness that had broken them up the last time—because an ex-girlfriend had come to town and had wanted to see him. “Heather, please. Let’s not start that again.”

She lifted a hand. “I won’t. I’m just a little insecure, considering our history and the situation I’m in right now.” She looked close to tears when she slipped into his arms. “I guess I need a little TLC. It’s been a rough week.”

“I bet.” He rubbed her back, trying to give her that TLC. If he was going to be her significant other, he had to fulfill her somehow—couldn’t care only about the child. But when she took that as a sign that he might be amenable to more and turned her face to kiss him, he had to pull back.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not ready.”





14

After she’d returned Detective Sullivan’s call, Savanna carried her laptop to the couch in the living room. She was exhausted and needed to sleep, but she also needed to prepare for the next time Gordon tried to reach her, which could easily be tomorrow morning. She hadn’t heard from him or his mother today, which was a little odd given how often they’d tried to reach her in the preceding weeks. She assumed they were both angry over how she’d handled their last conversation. She doubted they’d let her go on her way that easily, however. They’d contact her again, and while Dorothy could do so whenever, Gordon had access to a phone only while he was out of his cell and in the day room, or general area, where the inmates spent most of their time.

Her stomach cramped as she typed the name “Emma Ventnor” into a search engine. Although she hated to put a face to that name, she thought a picture might tell her more than she knew. At the very least, the accompanying articles could provide information Detective Sullivan had not. The police had been so calculating with her in the past, revealing certain details while keeping others hidden, that she didn’t trust them much more than Gordon. She understood the reason for the games they’d played with her, of course, but she also preferred to go into this phone call prepared, didn’t want to help them tie Gordon to a murder if he wasn’t responsible for it.

Several links populated the screen. She clicked on the first one and a picture of Emma appeared. The girl had been pretty, all right, with shiny dark hair and big brown eyes. Savanna could easily see her ex-husband being attracted to such a beauty, especially as she read more. Emma had been popular, a cheerleader and a straight-A student—the kind of girl Gordon would’ve longed to date in high school but who would’ve been out of his reach. He’d been pudgy back then, until he’d grown serious about wrestling. He’d also been such a troublemaker, which was why he’d been sent to an all-boys school for reformation.

“Heaven help me,” she muttered as she scrolled through the article, which had been written shortly after Emma had gone missing.

Please, if you have information, contact the police. We’ll do anything to get our daughter back. She’s always been such a sweet, loving person.

That heartfelt plea from Emma’s father made Savanna wince. She had a daughter, too. She couldn’t imagine the pain involved in what Emma’s family was going through. Surely, Gordon would not resort to murder, would not take a child away from her parents.

Emma’s car had been found on the side of the road with a slight dent on one side. According to her parents, she’d been coming home from cheer practice when she went missing. The police speculated that whoever kidnapped her had hit her car, and she’d pulled over to exchange insurance information. No doubt she’d felt perfectly safe, since it was in the middle of the afternoon.