The Lawman's Legacy. Shirlee McCoy

He placed his coffee cup in the deep porcelain sink. “I think that’ll do it for today. I’ll stop by again tomorrow.”

       “Tomorrow?” She sounded appalled, her dark eyes wide, her freckles stark against smooth, pale skin.

       “Will that be a problem?”

       “No. I just…I’ve told you everything I can. What good will another meeting do?”

       “Telling me everything you can is a lot different than telling me everything you know.”

       “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, but the shadows in her eyes said something different.

       “You know, Merry—” he stepped close, cupped her jaw, her skin silky smooth beneath his hand “—you’ve lived in Fitzgerald Bay for a year. We’ve been out together, spent a couple of hours talking to each other, but I still don’t know much about you.”

       She stiffened, her jaw tightening beneath his palm. “Since we’re not dating, you know enough.”

       “That’s what I thought, too. Until you started lying to me.” He stepped back, watching as his meaning settled in and over her.

       “I—”

       “I have a lot of work to do. I’ll be back tomorrow. Sometime between now and then, you might want to decide whether continuing your lies is worth losing everything.”

       “What are you talking about?”

       “Withholding information and evidence from the police is a crime you could go to jail for, Merry.”

       “You can’t be serious!” Something flashed in her eyes, a terror so deep that Douglas almost regretted the threat.

       Almost.

       But he had a job to do, a murderer to find. Olivia deserved justice. He planned to get it for her, and he planned to do it quickly.

       He couldn’t allow the investigation to go on too long without a suspect. If he did, people might do exactly what he feared and point their fingers at Charles.

       The Fitzgerald family motto had been stamped onto his heart before he was old enough to know what it meant. He lived it, breathed it, believed it.

       God first.

       Family second.

       Duty to the community after that.

       Olivia’s murder touched on all those things, and he’d push for answers until he found the person who killed her.

       Push no matter how uncomfortable pushing might be.

       Push no matter the terror he saw in Merry’s eyes.

       Push, because he had a feeling she was the key to solving the case.

       If she was, there was nothing she could do, nothing she could say that could make him go away.

      FOUR

      He meant it.

       The coldness in Douglas’s eyes left no doubt about his intentions. He’d be back tomorrow, and he’d ask more questions. If he didn’t get what he wanted, he’d come back again and again and again.

       Merry didn’t need time to decide if continuing to lie was worth going to jail over. She couldn’t go to jail. Couldn’t leave Tyler. Couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen to him if anyone found out….

       But no one would.

       Douglas was interested only in the murder investigation, not Merry’s past. As long as she was up front about her friendship with Olivia, she had nothing to worry about.

       Only she’d made a promise and breaking it seemed paramount to dishonoring Olivia’s memory.

      Please, God, help me know what to do.

       Break the promise? Keep it?

       She took a deep breath as she followed Douglas to the door, tried to look into his eyes and convince him that she had nothing to hide. “I haven’t lied to you.”

       “But you haven’t told me the whole truth, either. That’s a problem for me, Merry. I want full disclosure. I want everything that you know about Olivia. Everything she said, everything you thought she might have meant. Everything.” He hooked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on the tender flesh there. She felt his warmth seeping through her, felt herself giving into his urgency and her own need to tell him what he wanted to know.

      I trust you more than I trust anyone else in Fitzgerald Bay, Merry, and I’m trusting you with this. Promise me you’ll keep it secret. Don’t tell another soul about it, Keep it locked away until my sweetheart comes for it. Promise me.

       Olivia’s words seemed to drift in on the frigid winter air as Douglas opened the door. They sealed Merry’s lips, insisted that the promise be kept, the secret hidden.

       “Think about it, okay?” he said softly, and Merry nodded, afraid that if she spoke, she might say what she shouldn’t, reveal what she’d promised not to.

       “Mommy, is he leaving?” Tyler appeared at the top of the stairs, his chubby cheeks flushed with excitement, his black eyes flashing with curiosity.

       “Yes.”

       “But I didn’t show him my other police car.” He held up a small police car, his sleeve riding up just enough to show the bottom edge of the scar. A purplish smudge against tan skin. Barely noticeable, but Merry noticed, and she wanted to race up the stairs, pull his sleeve down.

       “I haven’t given you permission to come out of your room, Ty. Go back in there.”

       “But he’s leaving!”

       “For now. I’ll be back tomorrow, sport,” Douglas responded, and Merry was sure she heard a threat in his words.

       “See my other car?” Tyler held out the car again, the sleeve riding up even farther, revealing more of the scar. Merry’s heart skipped a beat, then raced on, the sloshing pulse of it stealing her breath. If Douglas noticed the purplish mark, if he asked about it…

       “Go to your room, Tyler William. This instant.” The sharp edge in her tone surprised Tyler as much as it surprised Merry, and he shot her a hurt look before trudging back to his room.

       Great.

       Could the day get any worse?

       “He’s got a lot of energy,” Douglas said, and Merry braced herself for the questions she knew would come.

       Because, of course, the day could get worse.

       “That’s for sure.”

       “He doesn’t look much like you.”

       “He looks like his father.” It’s what she always said, and she assumed it was true.

       “You were married?”

       “No.”

       “I see,” he said, and she was pretty sure he did see. All her half truths and evasions. Her way of living for four long years.

       “If you don’t need anything else—”

       “Do you share custody with Tyler’s father?” He cut her off, and she knew he’d go when he was ready. Not a minute sooner.

       “He’s not in our life.” Stick to the truth. Keep it simple. Don’t offer more than what is asked for. Those were the rules she lived by, and she followed them as if her life depended on it.

       Her life probably did depend on it.

       “Has he ever been?”

      Keep it simple.

       “No.”

       “Is there a reason for that?”