Page 11 of Capturing You

“Based on…”

Well, based on…the fact that she wanted them to be gone. She’d escaped, so of course they would run. Wouldn’t they? “I can’t stay here.”

He settled in his chair again, gesturing to hers. “It’s safe here.”

“How do you know? They’ll look for me.”

“If they come, I’ll send them away. Worst-case scenario, they force their way inside. This house has lots of hiding places.”

Fine. She was safe from her pursuers for now, but what about Ford? With that threatening scowl on his face, he looked anything but safe.

“Are you a local?” he asked.

“Are you?” she shot back.

He took a breath, blew it out. “No.”

“Why are you here then? Are you a contractor?”

“I’m…” He seemed to wrestle with his answer. Or maybe he was fabricating a story. “This is between you and me.” At her nod, he said, “I’m writing a book about unsolved mysteries in small towns.”

She hadn’t expected that.

Everyone in Shadow Cove knew the story. The family who’d lived here had been murdered. She’d heard a hundred variations of the facts and even more theories about who’d done it, but the killer had never been caught.

“You’re trying to solve the mystery?”

“Just gathering facts about it and the family,” he said. “But if I solve it”—he shrugged—“that would be good publicity for the book. You’re obviously a local.”

“Why is that obvious?”

“You didn’t ask what mystery I was here to solve.”

Good point.

“Have you been here long?”

“All my life.”

That muscle in Ford’s cheek ticked again. “I assume you know everybody in town?”

“Not everybody, but?—”

“And they all know you.”

“What are you getting at?”

Rather than answer, he asked, “How did you get here this morning?”

“I parked at the trailhead and took the path down to the cove.”

He glanced toward the front of the house as if he could see through walls and doors and forest. The two-lane road diverged from the highway south of here, hugged the coast past this house and others, then met back up with the highway a couple of miles north. Farther south, a few other properties had been built on the seaside edge of the road, though this property had to sit on a couple of acres, putting the neighbors a good distance away.

A path led from the road between the Victorian and a neighboring property. It trailed down the rocky hill to the cove. It wasn’t an easy hike, but it offered a fabulous vista. Of course, all of it was private property, but that didn’t keep visitors away.

“You parked on the road?”

“In that sandy area by the trailhead.”