Evidence enough he didn’t like her answer. “Then help me understand. I take it this isn’t the first time this has happened?”
She took her time answering. “No, it isn’t. But it’s my problem and I know what I’m doing.”
That look on his face said that he didn’t believe her, and she couldn’t blame him. After all, the way she’d reacted tonight wasn’t the normal behavior of someone who had things completely under control.
“I suppose you’re right. It’s not my place to—” Before he could finish the sentence, her cell phone chirped to life on the kitchen counter where she’d left it earlier. Suddenly, she couldn’t move. “Don’t you think you should answer it?” JT asked when she made no attempt to do so. “It might be important.” She read every single one of the questions in his eyes. She knew them all by heart.
After the third unanswered ring, JT picked up her cell phone and handed it to her, forcing her hand.
The caller ID registered “Unknown,” just as it always did. Faith wanted to throw the phone as far away as she could, but if it were truly him, it wouldn’t matter if she didn’t answer. He would just keep calling...or worse.
It took everything inside her to accept JT’s challenge without falling apart. “Yes. Yes, of course you’re right.” Her hands shook as she hit the talk button and listened to the familiar stanza of the old love song, “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
She murmured something to JT—some excuse—she wasn’t sure what. Somehow, Faith managed to draw air into her lungs. Put one foot in front of the other. She needed distance between herself and the man watching her every move, seeing too much. If she wanted to stay alive, she couldn’t fall apart. If she stayed in the same room with JT, she would.
Faith closed the door to the great room and leaned against it. “Please, please, just leave me alone,” she whispered frantically. “I don’t remember anything. I can’t hurt you.” The sound of a receiver slammed into its cradle was her only answer. She pushed away from the door and sank down to the sofa. Tears sprang easily to her eyes and she rubbed her hand over them.
She was so tired of fighting this battle alone.
“Is something wrong?” JT asked quietly from the doorway. She hadn’t even heard him come in.
Faith rose to her feet and moved away before he could spot the tears. “No, I’m fine. It’s...nothing.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m not—” She couldn’t go on when he came over to where she stood and stopped inches away. JT touched his finger gently to her cheek and held up the proof for her to see.
“Who was that on the phone just now? What’s really going on here, Faith?” The gentleness in his tone made it next to impossible to remain strong. It would be so nice to be able to lean on someone besides herself for a change. Remember Austin. Remember how the police treated you there.
She shook her head. “It was just a wrong number.”
“That’s not the truth, is it? Tell me what’s going on in your life. I promise you can trust me.”
She’d give anything to believe him, but she couldn’t. Two people were dead already because of her, and she was no closer to learning the name of the person responsible for their murders now than on the night of the attack. Even if she did trust JT, she’d be putting his life in jeopardy by doing so. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”
JT glanced around the great room at the unpacked moving boxes scattered around the room. “You said you’ve been here a month and yet you’re prepared to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice. What are you running from, Faith McKenzie?” he said, a challenge in his voice.
She drew in a shaky breath and did her best to answer without giving anything else away. “Nothing.”
Just the tiniest of smiles lifted the corners of his mouth. “I spent way too many years as a detective not to know when someone isn’t telling me the truth. Whatever this is, it won’t go away on its own.”
When she didn’t answer, he added, “Okay, I understand. You’re not ready, but when you are, you can talk to me.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s late and I should go, but if you need anything, anything at all, you can call me. I live just down the beach from you.” He reached inside his wallet and pulled out a business card. “Here are my numbers. The one at the bottom is for the house here but you can reach me on my cell at any time, day or night.”
“Wyatt Securities” jumped out at her in bold black lettering.
“I mean it, Faith. If you need anything, you call. Even if it’s just to talk.”
He walked over to the door before adding, “I’m going to give you a piece of free advice. Living on the island, especially out here along the beach, can be isolated. We are all neighbors here. We take care of and rely on each other. I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but if he’s bad enough to make you as scared as you clearly are, I hope he doesn’t follow you here to Hope Island for everyone’s sake.” JT lifted a finger in a final farewell then strode out her door and she could breathe again.
He had no way of knowing how much she desperately hoped for the same thing.
* * *
JT had seen the expression in Faith McKenzie’s eyes a hundred times before while working domestic violence cases. It never got easier and it always promised a bad ending. Faith McKenzie was scared to death. God only knew what kind of trouble lurked in her past.
He’d encountered a lot of desperate victims on the job, but the type of fear he’d seen in her tonight seemed fused to every part of her being. He couldn’t imagine what had happened in her life to bring her to this point.
JT tried to dismiss the unfamiliar stirring in his heart as he walked along the beach to his house. There was something about Faith that made him want to help her. No one deserved to live in such turmoil, and although she was clearly scared out of her mind, he couldn’t deny he found himself attracted to her. He hadn’t thought of another woman as beautiful since Emily’s death.
Even without a trace of makeup, Faith was a strikingly lovely woman. She’d twisted her raven hair up into a makeshift knot on top of her head. Several strands had worked loose and framed her oval face. She hadn’t been trying to impress anyone and yet she possessed the type of beauty that didn’t need enhancing. But it was her eyes that tore at his heart the most. They were the color of midnight blue and haunted by fear.
Without a doubt, she was one troubled soul and he didn’t know what to do about it.
You can’t help someone who doesn’t want your help, he could almost hear his sister saying. It was certainly true enough and it wasn’t as if he didn’t have his own set of concerns to worry about.
This had been the most stressful week in a long time and the upcoming one promised even more issues. One of Wyatt Securities’ potential clients, a global energy firm, had recently detected a major security breach in their servers and had come to Wyatt for advice on how to overhaul their systems and to ferret out any additional breaches. If Wyatt landed the contract, it would mean a huge amount of business for the company. With their already heavy workload, the additional business added up to a lot of overtime for the staff and for JT. While
