Her Holiday Protector. Lenora Worth

did you need to get away from your ex?”

      She didn’t want to talk about Chad. “We’ve been apart for a while but he’s having a hard time letting go. I just wanted some time away, to think about things.”

      “So you came here. Not that far away.”

      She bobbed her head. “My mother is sick,” she said, sincerity her only hope. “I came to visit her during the holidays. I don’t get back here too often.”

      “And who’s your mother? Maybe you could go and stay with her?”

      Rikki knew she’d said the wrong thing by the way he analyzed her with that deep blue-eyed stare.

      She tried to fix it. “Can I just stay here? I’ll lock up.”

      She didn’t really want to stay here but she couldn’t let him see how scared she felt right now. He already suspected her and...she couldn’t explain anything else to him. The detective would jump to the wrong conclusions.

      He gave up and stood. Rikki stood up, too, relieved that he wasn’t so close to her anymore and that he seemed willing to let it go. For now.

      But he didn’t let it go.

      “I don’t think you should be alone right now, and you can’t stay here, anyway. This is a crime scene.”

      “And I can’t stay here because you think I’m in shock or because I’m a suspect or because you think whoever did this will be back?”

      “All of the above,” he said, not even blinking.

      “I see.” She moved away from him, her arms in a protective stance across her midsection. If she told him the truth, he would take her in for questioning. That’s how things worked in her family. “I...I don’t want to upset my mother.”

      “Then go to a hotel but as I said, this is a crime scene, so you can’t get back in here until we’ve cleared it.”

      Rikki whirled to stare over at him and tried again. “I can’t stay in my own home?”

      “Not tonight.”

      His tone told her not to argue. “Okay, I’ll find somewhere else.” And she’d have to leave again. Soon. She’d go by to see her mother and then...she’d just go.

      “Do you think your boyfriend followed you?”

      “No.”

      She’d found someone in her house and they’d gotten away after killing Tessa. Instincts told her this wasn’t Chad’s doings, no matter how much he’d threatened her.

      “Do you know anyone here besides your mother?”

      She did, but no one she could trust. “No. I’ve been away for a while and as I said, I don’t get back much.”

      He jotted notes. “I could drive you somewhere.”

      Rikki looked up at him to make sure he wasn’t trying to trip her up. Were detectives always this accommodating? “I have my car.”

      She turned away, her mind on the horrible scene outside the window. And where was Pebble? Where was her cat that traveled with her?

      She refused to think about that or the tough-guy detective giving her the third degree. He probably already had her license plate number. Probably had already run it through the system.

      He wouldn’t find anything incriminating on Rikki Allen. But he could find a whole lot of information on Regina Alvanetti. Then he’d know she was the daughter of the infamous Franco Alvanetti.

      “What do you want to do?” he asked, his tone telling her she didn’t have much choice in making that decision.

      “I want to cooperate with you,” she said, resolve settling over her like the night chill. “But honestly, I’m not sure what to do next.”

       TWO

      “I suggest you let me drive you somewhere safe.”

      Rikki turned to stare at up Blain with dark-chocolate eyes. “And where in this town would that be right now, Detective?”

      Surprised, he said, “Well, Millbrook is pretty tame, all things considered. Preferably, with someone you trust. But I guess anywhere you want to go as long as you let me get you there and make sure it looks safe.”

      “I don’t see why that’s necessary.”

      Something was so not right here. Blain hadn’t dealt with a murder case since returning to Millbrook after his stint as a marine MP. He’d worked hard serving his country and after doing recon work to track down some of the meanest humans on earth, he’d learned a thing or two about people. They tended to be evasive when they were trying hard to appear normal. Evasive and not so good at faking it.

      This beautiful, frightened woman was definitely hiding something but he had to give her credit for staying fairly calm during this whole thing. Had she had a lot of practice?

      He watched her pace, saw her glance out to where her friend had died. She was as nervous as her missing cat probably was right now, but she held it in check with a gritty silence. Natural, since she’d come home to find an intruder and her friend murdered. But why wasn’t she opening up to him? Especially about the ex-boyfriend. A case of domestic abuse?

      And why didn’t this scene make any sense? A robbery? A random act? A revenge killing? What? And what was the victim trying to tell him? He had pictures of the whole scene and he’d study them later. Especially that possible letter K written in blood.

      He tried a new tactic. “You know, you and the deceased look a lot alike.”

      She whirled at that, long ribbons of dark hair curling around her face and shoulders. “People told us that all through college. Said we looked like sisters. Tessa is...was...a year younger than me. I never imagined she wouldn’t make it past twenty-eight.”

      So that made Rikki Allen twenty-nine, obviously.

      Just a few years younger than him. Blain cleared his head and got back on track. “Look, I’m the only detective in town and since I was first on the scene, this is my case to solve. The more you tell me, the quicker I can make that happen. We need to find the person who did this.”

      She grabbed at her hair and let it spill back around her face. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve been back in Millbrook a couple of days. Tessa drove down today to spend the weekend with me. I was out running errands and checking on some of the homes I’m scheduled to furnish. When I got home, I called out her name and that’s when...when he shot her and then he ran.”

      “What kind of errands? What kind of work?”

      She gave him a look that should have been intimidating. It only made Blain more aware of her, in too many ways he shouldn’t be aware. “I’m an interior designer. I work all over the Gulf Coast and all through Florida, decorating homes and condos, but lately in Tampa and down in Miami. I have a few clients up here, too.”

      “So you were with one of those clients?”

      “I can provide a play-by-play of my afternoon, if you need me to, yes.”

      She was well-trained in deflecting questions, Blain decided. “And what about your sick mother?”

      “I visited her before I went on my errands.”

      He wondered about the sick mother part, but Blain would get to the bottom of things, sooner or later. “Okay. So, I’ve got the timeline pretty much figured out. I’ll have to wait to hear from the ME to find out the exact time of death. We’ve checked all of the upstairs rooms and according to my report, you told my officers that nothing important or valuable had been taken. But it looks like you might have surprised the intruder during a possible robbery.”