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“Guess you don’t believe me, huh?Think I’m just spinning some other wild story to cover my own guilt?”
“I think I want to break both of Paxton’s hands.”
He heard the sudden sharp inhalation as she sucked in a breath.“What?”
“I believe you,” he said.He would keep giving her those words until she understood exactly what they meant.“No secrets.From here on out.Not for me.No secrets.No lies.You might not like the truth I have for you, like the fact that I am one hundred percent serious about breaking that jackass’s hands, but I will be honest.You have my word.”
Silence.
But she was weighing him.Studying him.Judging him?
Aw, baby.Don’t do that.I’ll fail when you judge me.Because he knew exactly what he was.What he’d done.He also knew that he should never have put his blood-stained hands on her.
The tension in the air thickened as they stared at each other.
“Okay.”Hunter drummed his fingers on the wooden porch column.“I’m still standing here.Feeling like a third wheel, so I’m just gonna try and get us all back on track.That cool?”
Eb didn’t glance his way.
“Like I was saying a few minutes ago, I’m no profiler.But I have chased down enough predators in my time that I know how a lot of them think.I can see where you two were figuring that the fire and the attack on Ivan were linked—that they could have been done by the same person.Maybe you even suspect the bat was left there to frame Naomi.”
Naomi nodded.
Eb agreed.They were both thinking?—
“That’s certainly a possibility.But…all of this?There’s another scenario that can play out here, too.What’s happening might not be about hate.You have to realize that.Love can twist you up just as much as hate can.”
Now Eb’s gaze flew to Hunter.They’d turned the porch light off when darkness fell.The better to not attract the million bugs out there, so Hunter’s form was a big shadow.“What are you talking about?”Yeah, Eb absolutely felt twisted up.
“Maybe Ivan did set the fire.Maybe he was pissed at Naomi.Maybe he’d been pissed at her for a while, and he got one of his guys to go in and disable the smoke alarms at her place.”
Eb had told him that detail earlier.The disabled alarms bothered the hell out of him because they showed premeditation.Someone planned for Naomi to burn.This was no spur-of-the-moment attack.
“But I figure Ivan likes a personal touch.So maybe his men set the groundwork.Then he went in—all pissed because Naomi had taken Henry back?—”
Henry had flopped on the porch after Naomi came outside.But at the sound of his name, his big head lifted.
“So Ivan comes out to start the fire himself.Only he doesn’t count on being seen at the house while the fire is raging.”
Eb shook his head.“We didn’t see him.”
“Not talking about you.I’m talking about the person who was watching Naomi’s house.The person who saw Ivan, got pissed as hell at what he’d done, and grabbed Naomi’s bat to go and punish him.”
His muscles tightened.“Say again?”
“You told me a few minutes ago that the bat was in the bed of her truck.”
Yeah, he had told him that.While they were doing a rundown of the case after eating.
“So go with me here a moment, would you?Let’s just say this guy didn’t like what he’d seen.Didn’t like that Ivan torched her place with Naomi inside.He was pissed.He grabbed the bat and he went for his vengeance.Got there and beat the hell out of Ivan.Instead of the attacks being linked, we’re looking at two separate events.One, the fire—potentially set by Ivan.Two, the beating that Ivan got by our unknown perp.A perp who did it not to set up Naomi but because he didn’t want anyone hurting her.”He took a quick swig from the beer.“Just a theory.But sometimes, it helps to look at something from a different perspective.Maybe not everyone in this town believes that she is a villain.Maybe someone out there thinks she needs protecting.Maybe that’s what he’s been doing all along.Protecting her.I mean, if she didn’t kill her husband, then justmaybethe person who did was trying to protect her from Hudson.To eliminate the threat Hudson posed.”
“That’s one hell of a protector.”Or a completely obsessed psychopath.Or?—
An alarm started beeping.
Hunter pulled out his phone.“Speaking of eliminating threats…that wasn’t freaking thunder that we were all hearing.We have company coming.Just passed the front gate.”He cursed.“Not a pizza delivery guy this time.Got motorcycles.Coming in hot.”
Eb could hear the thundering—growling—sound of the bikes.So much clearer because they were close.Dammit.He caught Naomi’s hand instantly and hauled her into the house.Hunter was steps in front of him, and Henry was right behind him.Eb locked the back door.Made sure the extra bolts were in place.