CHAPTER EIGHT
Dr. Gavin Grange.
His name kept going through Maggie’s head. So did the warning that David had issued several hours earlier with his call: his father, Bruce Tanner, had hired the doctor to kill Jake. She wanted to dismiss it as a total lie, especially since she didn’t trust David one bit. But this sounded exactly like a plan Tanner would have concocted.
Use a person that Jake trusted. A person he would have contact with because of Sunny’s illness. It was smart and sick, two things that Tanner was good at.
“Top or bottom?” she heard Jake say.
Maggie had no idea what he meant, and she jerked her attention to him. Since they hadn’t wanted to risk using the overhead light, the only illumination in the room came from the orangey coils on the heater, but Maggie saw that he was looking at the bunk beds. Her mind hadn’t been on that steamy kiss or his involuntary reaction, but it was now, even though it was clear that Jake’s question had no sexual meaning.
Since David’s call, Jake had given her a wide berth. Jake was no doubt trying to decide what, if anything, he should do with the accusation about the town’s doctor.
“I’ll take the bottom,” she answered.
Maggie stepped away from the tiny heater that was providing the only warmth for the cabin, and she grabbed one of the blankets Jake had brought with them.
“You okay?” Jake asked as he eyed her suspiciously.
She nodded, not wanting to rehash David’s call, their kiss or the fact they hadn’t heard back on any of the test results. They both had enough weighing on their minds without discussing the details.
Maggie climbed beneath the covers that were already on the bed. Cold covers, she quickly realized. It was like sleeping in snow, and the extra blanket that Jake helped spread over her didn’t add much warmth. He lifted an eyebrow when she started to shiver.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied again.
He made a suit yourself sound and climbed onto the top bunk. Jake didn’t say good-night, probably because they both knew it wouldn’t be one, and it would take a miracle for either of them to get any sleep.
The minutes crawled by, but they weren’t crawling fast enough. Since nightfall, the temperature had steadily dropped, and even though she still had on her clothes and coat, her teeth started to chatter. Great. No way to hide that sound in the otherwise quiet cabin.
She tried to get her mind on something else. Maggie went back to that kiss and wished she had that kind of heat again.
Yeah, it was stupid to wish that, especially since it wasn’t just about keeping warm. Being with Jake had made her remember how hollow her life was. It was a good thing she wouldn’t be going back to Coopersville, because she seriously doubted she could make it work.
One more butt pinch from Herman Settler, and she’d probably lose it.
Above her, she heard Jake mumble some profanity, and he climbed down from the bunk. He piled all his covers on top of her. “Move over,” he insisted.
He probably couldn’t see her expression, but Maggie was sure he knew what was there. Skepticism, worry and, yes, some fear. “This is not a safe thing to do.”
Jake slid her over himself and dropped down on the narrow mattress next to her. “Neither is catching pneumonia or getting frostbite. You’re cold. I’m cold. We’re stuck here until at least morning with no other blankets, and this is the only thing that makes sense.
“Besides, we’ve got on so many layers of clothes that we might as well be wearing chastity belts,” he added in a mumble.
Maggie wasn’t so sure of that, at all.
He turned onto his side, his back to her, and because there was no room between them, Maggie had no choice but to have her body against his.
Instant warmth.
And more than that, unfortunately.
Mercy, he smelled good. It was Jake’s own scent mixed with Nell’s Christmas gingerbread cookies they’d eaten earlier, and she had to force herself not to press closer to him to take in more of that. Apparently, she now had a thing for Jake’s scent and had come way too close to sniffing his shirt that was hanging in the bathroom.
Yes, definitely a long night.
She should have been exhausted, but she couldn’t even seem to close her eyes so Maggie just lay there next to Jake. Soon, she picked up the rhythm of his breathing, and she felt her own muscle start to relax a little.
“Why would Tanner choose to kill me?” Jake asked.
Clearly, she wasn’t the only one struggling with sleep, and it was a question that she was mulling over, as well. Unless…
Maggie went back to the first kiss nearly two and a half years ago. Tanner had learned about that kiss because he’d taunted her with it when she’d visited once in the jail. Perhaps Tanner thought she was in love with Jake and that killing him was the best way to strike at her?
But she kept that to herself.
“Maybe even Tanner’s not so twisted to go after a sick child,” she suggested. “Or he might feel if he eliminates you, then it’ll be easier to go after the rest of us. After all, you’re the strong one. The alpha male. And in Tanner’s eyes, his biggest threat.”
Jake stayed quiet for so long that Maggie thought it might be the end of a conversation they probably shouldn’t be having anyway. “I wasn’t a threat to him when he went after Anna.”
“You were. He didn’t want you around to figure out what he was doing, but I think he was counting on bringing you to your knees just long enough for him to cover his tracks and get away with murder. But that didn’t happen.”
“Oh, I was brought to my knees all right. Tanner was a free man for two months. If I’d been thinking straight, I would have connected the dots sooner.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “And those dots led you to my investigation.” Something that hadn’t been readily apparent, not even to Maggie. “For the record, I didn’t connect the dots, either. I didn’t think Anna’s death had anything to do with me or the investigation.”
“Yeah.” And there was another long pause. “I wasted two months believing her death had been some kind of random act of violence. That she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time when that armed robber came into the store where she was. I was wrong.”
“We both were,” she added. “And we were both punished. Me, rightfully so. You, simply because of the fallout.” The fallout was still there.
“What kept you from going off the deep end?” Jake asked.
It was an easy answer. “Punishment. I figured if I was dead, then that would be too easy. I didn’t deserve easy.”
“None of us deserved what we got.”
“No.” And that agreement hung between them for a while.
“I keep going back to David’s comment,” Jake said. “The part where he said he was just learning about your investigation and he wondered how much I knew. What did he mean?” he pressed. “And I’d rather hear it from you, rather than having to ask him.”
Oh. Well, that took away her out. Or rather her lie that she had no idea what David was talking about. She definitely didn’t want Jake bringing this up with David.
Heaven knew the spin David would put on the truth.
Maggie chose her words carefully. “Someone came to me with the initial information about Tanner’s illegal activity, and I felt duty bound to investigate it because it was pretty clear that the guy was a crook.”
And she froze, waiting for Jake’s next question, and he didn’t waste any time tossing it out there.
“Who came to you?”
Maggie tried not to waste any time, either. “I’d rather not say.” In fact, she wouldn’t say. “And I’d prefer if you didn’t talk this over with David. Anything that comes out of his mouth would probably be a lie anyway.”
Or worse. A lie coated with a little bit of truth.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Jake asked.
Oh, mercy. He just wasn’t going to let this drop. “I promised to keep the informant’s identity confidential.” Definitely the truth, and it was a promise Maggie intended to keep.
Despite everything that’d happened.
“Confidential,” he repeated, mumbling some profanity. “Even now, that’s between us. The secrecy. The pain. I know it’s been two and a half years, but part of me wants to keep on hating you,” Jake said.
Well, she’d gotten her wish about the end of a Tanner conversation, but this one could be just as lethal.
“Part of you should keep on hating me,” she agreed.
Jake turned, slowly, easing himself around until he was facing her. “So, why did I kiss you then, huh? Why did I have that reaction to you?”
“Yet something else we shouldn’t be discussing,” she reminded him.
He stared at her, and in the dark room, she could barely make out his eyes. They were fixed on her, and even though she couldn’t see the details of his face, she figured his forehead was bunched up. His mouth tight. Jaw muscles, too.
“I miss her every day,” he whispered, his breath hitting against her mouth. Not quite a kiss but close enough for Maggie to get a whole lot warmer than she had been just seconds earlier.
Maggie made a sound of agreement. “Me, too.” And maybe that would remind him, and her, of the pain that wasn’t going away.
Jake cursed. It was bad. And he jerked away from her and turned his back to her again. This was better, Maggie said to herself.
Another lie.
But she’d told so many of them tonight, what was one more? She didn’t want Jake to keep on hating her and she hadn’t wanted him to turn away—again.
The quiet returned. The cold, too, and Maggie huddled against his back to keep herself warm. She forced herself to close to eyes. To clear her mind. She wouldn’t do Sunny or Jake any good if she was sleep deprived.
“You know you’ll have to tell me sooner or later,” Jake whispered. “You’ll have to tell me who asked you to investigate Tanner.”
Maybe. But sooner wasn’t going to be tonight. And if Jake thought the answer was going to give him some peace and ease some of his pain, it wouldn’t.
In this case, the truth might destroy him.