Cold River - Carla Neggers [73]
Hannah had her back to him as she stood on tiptoes on a wood chair and grabbed a can of tomato puree from a high shelf. “I know you’re here, Sean,” she said without looking around at him.
Holding the can in both arms, she stepped down from the chair. The bruising on her wrist stood out in the storage room light. Sean saw that she had tears in her eyes, but her protective shield was up, too, and he wondered if the emotions she was fighting were more than she could handle. He suddenly wasn’t sure he could handle them, either. Best, he thought, to keep an objective distance and focus on what he was there to do.
“Jo called me on my way back here,” he said. “She took a good look up at the crypt. She’s impressed you and Bowie weren’t hurt worse yesterday.”
“Did she find anything new?”
“No.”
“Frustrated?”
“We’d all be smart not to provoke her right now.”
“If you mean by going to see Bowie on my own, I’m not under arrest. Neither is he.” Hannah set the tomatoes on a shelf behind her. “You’re not afraid of Jo, are you, Sean?”
He grinned. “Jo? I can see her cutting the rope on the tire swing on Elijah when we were kids. She was so mad at him, she climbed up the tree and had at it while he was in the swing.”
“And you watched her and let her get away with it.”
“She did it before A.J. and I knew what she was up to.”
Hannah laughed, tightening the tie on her evergreen apron. “I remember that tire swing. I’d see it when we drove past her house. I was never…” She reached for another can on a lower shelf. “Dominique uses locally grown and canned tomatoes when she can. Beth doesn’t care.”
“I wish I had memories of you in a tire swing, squealing with laughter, hair flying.” Sean felt a pang of regret that caught him by surprise. “We grew up just down the road from the Harpers. It was natural for us to get together as kids.”
“Yes, and there’s a bond now among you all that was formed during your childhood.”
“Just as there is between you and Bowie.”
“All this drama, Sean,” she said, turning back to him with the second can of tomatoes. “No wonder you’re a millionaire. Who can win against you?”
He winked at her. “Now you’re with the program.”
“You’re afraid Bowie will hurt me, and I’m not.”
He nodded to her injured cheek and wrist. “Maybe he did hurt you.”
“I don’t believe that,” she said quietly. “I’m not so sure you do, either. If you thought he was dangerous, why did you come barreling across the cemetery? You saw his van. How’d you know Bowie wouldn’t attack you?”
“I didn’t know. I was only thinking about getting to you.”
Color rose in her cheeks, and she quickly picked up her other can. “Something you might want to keep in mind when you all start in on me about being impulsive and reckless. I guess we’re both lucky things worked out the way they did.”
“You don’t think I could have taken on Bowie?” Sean asked, amused.
“That’s not what I said. If he and I both were attacked, then someone else was out there.”
“All the more reason for me to have been there with you.”
Hannah held her tomato cans close to her chest. She was slim, smart and one who prided herself on not needing anything from anyone. Maybe it was the tension of knowing she was holding back on him that had him noticing everything about her—had him wanting to keep her safe. He’d never met anyone more capable or self-reliant, but she looked so small standing there with her can of tomato puree. Even back in high school, she’d had a way of tying him in knots.
He’d never liked being tied up in knots. He liked having things straightforward, and he liked being in control as much as she did.
“You went out there this morning because you think Bowie knows something,” Sean said, forcing any gruffness out of his voice. “But you’re not sure, and you don’t want to focus attention on him if you’re wrong—”
“I already got all you Camerons focused on him.”
“He got us focused on him himself.”
“How, by returning home?”
“You’re not naive,” Sean said. “You know that Bowie’s…”
“What? From the