SleepSoftly by Sleep Softly

Author:Sleep Softly
Language: eng
Format: epub

He pulled up the Chadwick Web site and clicked on the photo file. A moment later, he was staring at her. Blond. Lovely. Ashlee Davenport. He raised a hand to the screen and traced the contours of her face. She was perfect. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t thought about it before. The mother figure. Of course…

16

I was halfway home before I calmed down enough to think about the consequences of striking a police officer. A federal cop. Can I be any more stupid? My phone rang, and when I saw Jim’s number, I considered not answering. Instead I flipped the phone open and said, “I’m sorry I slapped an FBI agent. Are you pressing charges?”

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “You gonna forgive me for being an ass?”

All the tension drained out of me and I eased my foot off the accelerator. I was hitting eighty, moving with the northbound traffic but still traveling faster than I liked, and faster than my old Ford wanted to go.

“Maybe,” I said. “If you know what you were an ass about and this isn’t just a ‘placate the little woman’ ploy.”

“I invited you on a date, suggested a fast-food place instead of a restaurant more suited to your refined elegance, showed up late, somehow made you pay and questioned the integrity of your family, obviously someone you like.”

He had it all down pat. Smart man. “Wicked Owens is a charming, kind man who got into trouble once a long time ago and has worked his backside off to remake himself. To make himself worthy of his Mama Moses and the trust she put in him. If he were white, fully white, he never would have appeared on your radar, would he?”

“I’m not a racist, Ash. I’ve got white Chadwicks on my radar, too.”

I wasn’t sure that was any better, but it seemed ornery to say so. I maneuvered around a slower-moving convertible with the top down. The driver had hair so tangled it would have to be buzzed to the scalp. “So why do you want to know about Wicked?”

“He came to me today with some information. I want to know if he’s on the up and up.”

Guilt snaked its way into me. I had just slapped a potential boyfriend and…oh crap. I had called him that. I had actually said, “Boyfriend, my ass.” Maybe if I just didn’t mention it…I took a slow breath. “Wicked is on the up and up. If he told you something, you can trust that it’s the truth as far as he knows.”

“Good. Thank you. We’re going to charge Smith with statutory rape in about an hour. And we’re holding him pending charges on the other cases. But there are things that don’t add up, and the information Owens brought in is even more damning to our case.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry I lost my temper and slapped you. I’ve never slapped a man before. Ever.”

“Maybe it’s because it’s been a few years since you had a boyfriend.

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