Covert Danger by Jerusha Agen

Author:Jerusha Agen [Agen, Jerusha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781956683172
Publisher: SDG Words, LLC

Amalia couldn’t help but enjoy seeing Gaston happy. The big goofball had always adored children more than anything, but he rarely got to interact with them.

She watched the scene from the edge of the kitchen. As Gaston lay on the sofa with Rocky, providing a giant pillow for the kid to lie on, the dog looked happier than she’d ever seen him. And the girl was obviously happier than usual, too. Less defensive. More real. Open.

Cultivating a bond between the kid and Gaston could be useful. Maybe she would soften enough to tell them what she knew about Rottier and the murder, and she could become Nguyen’s problem again.

“Like a match made in heaven, aren’t they?”

Amalia could hear the smile in Michael’s voice, too close to her shoulder, without turning. She could tell when he’d seen her reaction to Gaston and the kid that he’d misinterpreted her expression. She shouldn’t have let that much emotion show. Stupid lapse. But it had warmed her to see Gaston enjoying himself with someone who appreciated him the way he deserved.

“If a person believed in heaven, I suppose you might say that.” Amalia didn’t have to look at him to know her statement would hit the mark. “What I see is a girl with secrets she doesn’t want to share.” Amalia turned to Michael. “A girl who might share them if she keeps letting her guard down like she’s doing now.”

Michael’s mouth firmed into a hard line, surrounded by the brown facial hair that was a bit thicker than before. “I guess you’d know a lot about that.”

She lifted one shoulder and flashed a grin. “I suppose I would.” She stepped closer to him, needing to show he didn’t know her, didn’t control her, didn’t affect her emotions in the slightest. “On the other hand, maybe she didn’t see anything incriminating and Rottier only thinks she did. Maybe she’s just stringing us along to get what she wants.”

“You mean like we did?” Michael stared down at her, anger mixing with pain in his eyes, matching the last glimpse of him locked away in her memory.

Was that really what he thought they’d been doing? What she’d done for him?

His gaze softened, and his eyes widened as he looked at something over Amalia’s shoulder.

She jerked around.

Rocky stood there, hands clenched into fists at her side. “I’m telling the truth.” Unshed tears glistened in her angry eyes. “I did see something.”

Amalia calmly crossed her arms over her chest. “Prove it.”

The kid jutted out her small jaw. “No. You’ll send me back if I tell.”

“We wouldn’t do that, Rocky.” Michael must really believe that somehow, or he wouldn’t tell the kid. After all, he apparently never lied anymore, as he liked to keep reminding Amalia.

“She would.” The kid thrust a finger toward Amalia’s face. Her lips trembled as she spun away and ran to the hallway.

Gaston jumped off the loveseat and jogged after her.

“You know,” tension edged Michael’s voice behind Amalia, “if you’d be nicer and show you trust her a little, she’d tell us what she knows.

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