Page 9 of Cold Light of Day

He lowered the window, dreading what she might have to say. “Can I help you?”

“I thought you’d want to know that the woman you saved—Sarah—is doing well. She said her boat sank.”

He shrugged. Made sense. “And?”I can’t get involved more than I already am.

That was for the best.

The chief glanced up and down the street like she thought someone might overhear if she wasn’t careful. “I’d like to confirm that and see what exactly happened.”

Huh. Interesting. Well, he’d thought something hadn’t seemed right.

“What else did she say? Is she filing an insurance claim? You could start by finding that out.”I need to keep my mouth shut.

“I asked, and she said she would call them.”

But the chief clearly didn’t believe her. “I’m not sure what that has to do with me.” He could put on his best nonchalant expression and pretend he didn’t care. But if he was being honest, he wanted to know what happened too. After all, he’d risked his life for this woman.

“I’d like you to dive with me to find her boat, if thereisone.”

If there was one? Otis’s words rushed back to him.“God brought you here for a purpose.”

Sorry, God, but I can’t get involved.“How did you know—”Oh, right. He’d been wearing a dive suit, and he’d told her that he had scuba gear in the back of his truck.

She arched a brow, her lips curling up slightly. “That’s some serious equipment you’ve got.”

Then it hit him. “You dive?”

She nodded, her blue-and-amber eyes mesmerizing him. He hadn’t known, and knowing now shouldn’t make a difference, but it did. It absolutelydidmake a difference. He liked the chief even more.Likewasn’t a strong enough word.

“So, what do you say?”

He pulled his gaze from hers—because she held some kind of power over him—and stared down the street, watching the traffic and passersby and trying to clear his mind.

Then he angled his head and looked at her. “You have to be dry-suit certified, plus that dive is about a hundred and fifty feet at the deepest part and—” At the look on her face, he stopped. “But you probably already knew that.” And no one else around here was equipped for such a dive. She could reach out to other local communities—Haines or Skagway or even the state—for search-and-recovery divers, but after her recent experience with the state, he supposed ... not yet.

I don’t know if this is a good idea.

She met his challenging look and waited for his answer. “Well?”

He shouldn’t, he really shouldn’t, but he found himself asking, “What time?”

Because Grier had never been good at following the rules, even when those rules were the ones he’d personally set in stone.

FIVE

Catching her breath, Autumn shut the door to her office and leaned against it. Had she really just asked Grier to dive with her tomorrow? Of course, he was the man of the hour, and she would go with the flow.

But her pounding heart had nothing to do with the fact she needed his skills at the moment and everything to do with the way his eyes seemed to look right into her soul and search the hidden places, and she feared that one day he was going to find what he was searching for. She’d pegged him as trouble when she first met him, and she’d been right.

Unfortunately, she might be just a little addicted to his particular brand of trouble.

Oh brother. I’ve lost my mind.

Or at least she lost it when she was in proximity to Grier.

Autumn shoved from the door, moved around her desk, and plopped into the chair. She couldn’t afford this distraction in her life right now—or to lose her mind.

Hanging on the wall across from her was Dad’s plaque from when he was chief, which she’d left there because the Scripture said it all. Birdy and Ike gave it to him when he first started in Shadow Gap.