to you.”
“Unbelievable,” Chloe said. “Does he think I’m five years old or something?”
“Or something,” Sonny mumbled, looking sheepish.
“What a stroke of luck,” Hunter said, running a hand over his hair. “I think I’ll just put you on a boat and take you out a few miles to sea. And dump you. Shark bait.”
Sonny swallowed and shook his head. “I’m just following orders.”
Chloe glared at both of them. “Hunter, you can’t hurt Sonny. He’s been living on our land all his life. His family works for my daddy.”
“What’s that got to do with me dumping him in the bay?” Hunter asked, anger flaring in his eyes.
Sonny stood up straight. “I ain’t never hurt nobody in my life and I’m not about to start now. I just want to get her home safe. Her daddy’s stewing about something big and he’s worried she’s gonna get herself hurt.”
Chloe pushed Hunter aside and put a hand on Sonny’s arm. “Tell me why my father is so worried, Sonny.”
Sonny gave her a beseeching look. “I can’t say—”
And then they heard a pop and Sonny’s eyes went wide. He slumped forward toward Chloe, one of his hands grabbing for her.
But Hunter caught him, realization registering on his face. He held his fingers to Sonny’s neck.
“Chloe, he’s dead.”
“What?” Chloe reached for Sonny, a silent scream forming in her throat. “No.” She tried to grab at the still man, but when she looked at his face she knew. As she looked down at Hunter’s hand, she saw the blood seeping through Sonny’s lightweight jacket and running over Hunter’s fingers.
Sonny had been shot in the chest.
Blain Kent scribbled on his pocket pad while the medical examiner and several uniformed officers moved around him.
Hunter rubbed his eyes and wished he hadn’t brought Chloe here. This place was private and off-limits, but he’d been wrong to think it would be safe. He should have taken her somewhere way out from town. But where? He barely had a place to call his own. Just a small one-bedroom cottage near the marina. No way could he take her there.
Blain kept glancing up, questions hovering in his onyx eyes. The kind of questions he wouldn’t want to answer in his official report.
Hunter would never hear the end of this.
Blain finished his notes and gave Hunter a long, puzzled stare. “What’s next?”
Hunter didn’t have the answer yet on that one. Well, he knew the answer and he didn’t like it. “Miss Conrad has hired me as her bodyguard,” he said, his eyes clashing with Chloe’s.
They hadn’t discussed this, but he wasn’t leaving her side now. This went beyond dealing with the Conrads. Someone was out to get her, no matter what. If her father had sent the now very dead Sonny Bolton to save her, he’d made a grave mistake. Why would a man who had millions send a grunt worker in a battered truck that had obviously come straight off some used-car dealer’s lot to save his daughter? And how had the inept Sonny found this out-of-the-way hideaway?
None of this was adding up.
Neither was what Hunter had just offered. At the same time, he’d started this. Now he had to finish it.
She looked surprised at his words to Blain, but since she was still in shock over what had happened an hour ago, she didn’t flinch.
“That’s right,” she said, her voice low but clear. “Obviously, someone is trying to stop me from investigating my sister’s death. But I don’t intend to stop. So I need...not only a bodyguard but a private investigator, too. Mr. Lawson seems to know what he’s doing. He’s kept me from possibly getting killed three times today.”
She gave Hunter a grateful, shell-shocked glance.
“Of course.” Blain’s dark gaze flickered with enlightenment and a touch of amazement. “Well, we’ve got both your statements and we’ve got people combing the woods and beach to look for the shooter. But I’m thinking he’s long gone by now.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Hunter said. “Someone will be back, though. I need to get Miss Conrad to a safe place.”
“I have a room at the Millbrook Inn,” Chloe said. “I left a briefcase and a laptop there that I should pick up.”
Blain gave Hunter another inquisitive glance. “Okay, then. Don’t leave town for a couple of days, in case we need to question you again.” Then he looked at Chloe. “We’ll impound the victim’s truck and go over it for any evidence. I can put a patrol car outside the inn, just in case.”
Chloe nodded, her gaze holding Hunter’s. He could almost read her thoughts. She needed to get back to Oklahoma.
They’d have to worry about that later. “I’ll escort you to the inn and check your room,” he said. Then he made another snap decision. “And I’ll get a room there, too, if I have to. Nearby.”
Blain didn’t move a muscle and Hunter chafed under that dark detective gaze. He wanted to shout “It’s not what you think.” But he wasn’t sure what to think himself. So he ignored Blain’s steady, all-knowing scrutiny and focused on what needed to be done.
Then he turned back to Chloe. “Will that work for now?”
“Yes,” she said, a hint of relief and surprise in her voice.
“Hunter, a word please.” Blain’s quizzical expression had changed to one of concern.
“Sure.” Hunter didn’t want to have this conversation because Blain would want too many answers. And right now, Hunter would rather have his teeth pulled out than explain all of this to anyone. But he walked a few feet away with Blain, his gaze on Chloe. She turned to stare out at the moonlight over the bay.
“Uh, what’s going on?” Blain asked, his pen tapping his notepad. “Off the record.”
Hunter shrugged. “It’s a long story.” Blain had said that same thing to him once, regarding getting involved with Rikki Alvanetti, so Hunter hoped his friend would cut him some slack.
“I might need to hear it. You could be in with some real dangerous people, bro.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Hunter replied. “She showed up at the Hog Wash and then someone took a shot at us and it’s been one big adventure since then.” Had that only been a few hours ago?
Blain leaned close. “This was an execution. Probably by a professional. Why didn’t you call in the attack at the Hog Wash?”
Hunter knew better. “I should have, but the owner didn’t want the attention and I had to act fast. You know how that place operates. The Hog Wash is like a haven for misfits and
