Page 94 of A Deeper Darkness

The dog nudged at her hand again, then took off running for the boys. Sam turned to the man who’d kidnapped her. He’d taken off his sunglasses and was watching her with a bemused expression on his face, his eyes darkly unreadable.

“I guess we need to be properly introduced. You’re Alexander Whitfield, I take it?”

“Xander. Call me Xander.”

“Okay, Xander. I’m not sure what in the hell you’re up to, but now that I’ve seen your little domestic drama, can we go back down the mountain? They’re going to be looking for me.”

“They can look, but they won’t find you until I’m ready.”

The words had a menace to them that sent shivers down Sam’s spine.

“Xander,” Maggie whispered. “You’re scaring her.”

“So? She needs to be scared. Maybe then she’ll stop parading around like a fool, sticking her nose in places it doesn’t belong. Go in the house, Maggie.”

Sam didn’t want to see the woman go. But she wasn’t going to let this man know how scared she was. As Maggie and her daughter went back across the glade, Sam bit right back at him.

“Hey. You came to me. You gave me the card with the coordinates.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t supposed to show up with the cavalry.”

“No, I was supposed to ride off into the forest alone to meet a stranger who’s the number-one suspect in my ex-boyfriend’s murder. Is that more like it?”

She was pissed off now. She didn’t like being scared, didn’t want to be here. She was worried about Fletcher. Worried about Susan. Worried for herself.

Xander didn’t budge an inch. “I trusted you. And you told the cops about me.”

“I had absolutely no choice about that. I tried keeping your little visit to myself, but Detective Hart saw you talking to me. They were looking for you at the funeral. They think you killed Donovan, and Croswell. And you haven’t exactly given anyone reason to believe otherwise.”

“Do you? Think I killed them? The men I served with, whose lives I’ve held in my hands countless times? Do you think I laid in wait and shot Eddie in the back of the head? Or Hal?”

Back of the head. He said back of the head, Sam. Donovan was shot in the temple. She’d seen the bullet track firsthand. Her anger dropped a notch.

“I have absolutely no idea. All I know is if youdidn’tkill them, you should have come straight to the police and turned yourself in when you knew they were looking for you.”

“And if I did? What if I did murder them? If you thought that for a moment, why on earth did you agree to come out here? Unless you don’t value your own life. Or you’re just plain stupid.”

She looked away, taking in the clearing. He was well established up here in the forest. It was a good hideaway. But why had he run? Why had he disappeared? Why had he led them on this wild-goose chase? If he was innocent, why hadn’t he said that from the start?

When she looked back, she realized he was staring at her again with those intense brown eyes. She took a deep breath.

“I’m not stupid,” she said.

“Well, I’m glad we’ve established that, at least. I couldn’t turn myself in. Among other reasons, they have my DNA at Billy Shakes’s house. I’m sure they’ve already told you that.”

“No, actually, they didn’t.” And why the hell hadn’t they? She immediately got annoyed with Fletcher. Wasn’t that something he thought she might want to know? For Christ’s sake, that tipped the scales, didn’t it?

“So you killed him? Made it look like a suicide?”

His eyes hardened. “You really think I had something to do with their deaths, don’t you?”

When his voice got quiet, she could feel the danger in him, coiled and ready to spring.Easy, Sam.

“You aren’t telling me you didn’t.”

“I didn’t. There. You satisfied?”

He whistled for the dog and strode away, disappearing into the woods where it didn’t seem there was a path.