But her greatest fear was that Erin wasn’t alive. All she knew—via the Capitol K-9 Unit—was that back in February, an elderly couple in rural Virginia had taken in an injured young woman matching Erin’s description, but she’d left a few days later, her appearance dramatically altered. Weeks later, two thugs had terrorized the couple for information on Erin’s whereabouts. Who were they? The killers? Bounty hunters?
And where was Erin? Reports had come in last month that someone in rural Virginia was using public computers to research bills introduced by Congressman Jeffries. Could that be Erin? If so, what was she looking for?
One angle Selena was following involved a case Michael Jeffries had been very passionate about. Michael had been working pro bono on a murder case for convicted killer Greg Littleton, a man who Michael believed was innocent. Perhaps the real killer wanted Michael off the case permanently and killed him. Maybe the killer had trailed Michael to his father’s house, murdered him there, and when his father, the congressman, appeared, the killer shot him, too.
Lots of maybes and not a lot of answers. Selena hadn’t had the time in the past few weeks to work on anything except the Easter Egg Roll, but she had managed to interview Greg Littleton in prison, convicted of murdering Saul Rather. Michael had been fervently working to prove Littleton was innocent. Those who believed in his guilt weren’t happy about that. As a crusading attorney, Michael had made himself some enemies.
Now that the Easter Egg Roll was over, Selena intended to devote more time to looking into the Littleton case and any others that appeared promising. Someone had killed Michael Jeffries and left his father for dead—and that someone wasn’t Erin Eagleton.
As Selena approached her car in the staff’s underground parking, she discovered Nicholas lounging against her white Ford Mustang with Max sitting next to him. How dare he look so innocent with those big brown eyes and cocky grin. He’d removed his ball cap and stuck it in his back pocket. His thick, dark blond hair was cut short but not military-style. Knowing his Navy SEALs background, that had surprised her when she’d first met him last year.
Her anger began to soften as she took in his casual stance, as though nothing was wrong. She quickly shored it up. She would not be used. Her mother had tried to get back in her big brother’s graces by using Selena. It hadn’t worked. Her uncle had recognized that his sister wasn’t serious about not drinking, that all she needed his money for was to support her while she drowned herself in alcohol, leaving her daughter to fend for herself.
Selena had learned one thing growing up. She was the only one who would look out for herself. She ignored Nicholas as she unlocked her car and tossed her purse on the passenger seat.
“Max, what do you do when you’re in hot water?” Nicholas said to his K-9.
The sound of the dog’s bark echoed through the underground garage.
Selena pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. He was going to charm her. She’d seen him charming the women at the White House, and she wasn’t going to buy into it. She’d watched her mother fall for one man after another, thinking he would take care of her.
But her current man had never stayed around long.
He tapped the side of his head with his palm. “Max, what a brilliant idea. I’ll try that.”
Nicholas sidled along the body of the car until he was half a foot from her right arm. The hairs on it tingled.
“I’m sorry. Nothing I did today had to do with your cousin. I was trying to point out to Dan the error of his suggestion with sarcasm.”
Selena squeezed her eyes closed, her heartbeat accelerating at Nicholas’s nearness. Finally she turned slowly toward him, backing away a step. “Be honest. Have you ever considered I might have been helping Erin stay hidden?”
“Honestly—yes. I’m not going to lie to you. My team has looked into all the possibilities while searching for Erin, so being a friend and a family member, you would obviously be on that list. And if I was perfectly honest, at first that is why I initiated several conversations with you lately.”
She tensed, flexing her hands. “I knew it. At least I appreciate your honesty. Now I need to leave. I’m tired, and I pray I don’t fall asleep driving home.”
“Then let me drive you to your house.”
“I was trying to point out the extent of my exhaustion with exaggeration. I’m perfectly fine to drive myself. I’m not going to fall asleep at the wheel. In fact, with all that has been going on today, it may take hours for me to go to sleep.”
He chuckled. “I know that feeling. My body is exhausted but my mind is racing a mile a minute.”
She had to fight the urge to respond to his charm. Life lessons from her childhood taunted her. She would never be like her mother, depending on others, depending on alcohol to make it through the day. “This is not going to work.” She stepped back again and encountered the open driver’s door.
His expression sobered. “Seriously, I would like to escort you home. Someone took your house keys today. You should have your locks changed.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve thought of that. I know how to take care of myself. You should have seen the neighborhood I grew up in. The total opposite of Erin’s childhood. My branch of the Eagleton family are the black sheep. I have a locksmith coming to my house in—” she checked her watch “—an hour. I need to be there so he can change my locks, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to be going.”
“Have it your way.” Nicholas moved away from her white Mustang.
When she slipped behind the steering wheel, she inhaled a calming breath and started her car. As she backed out of the parking space, she noticed Nicholas open the rear door of an SUV only three vehicles away and wait for Max to jump into it. She went through the security checkpoint with Nicholas’s black Tahoe a vehicle behind hers. When she turned right, he did, too. Her grip tightened as he continued to follow her.
Although she had nearly a full tank, she pulled into a gas station. Nicholas came up behind her.
She shoved open her door and marched back to his SUV. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Escorting you home the best way I can.”
Her head pounding, she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but when she couldn’t find the words she wanted to say, she snapped her teeth together, then spun on her heel and stalked to her Mustang. Fine. He could waste his time “escorting her home.” That didn’t mean she would talk to him or even acknowledge his presence.
As she continued her drive to her house in Arlington, she kept looking back to see if he was still behind her. Although it was too dark to see his face, she imagined his pleased expression for following through with what he’d wanted to do. There was one part of her that felt like a suspect being tailed and another part that warmed when she thought about him trying to protect her from the person who’d taken her keys—for what reason, she had no idea.
In college she’d had her purse snatched on campus when walking back to her dorm from the library late one night. She had been so angry she’d chased after the guy, caught up with him and tackled him to the ground. A campus cop who’d rushed to her aid had lectured her about the risk she’d taken. She supposed it had been foolish, but her reaction to being robbed was automatic. She’d come from a tough area of Washington, DC, and had learned
