Page 76 of Tightrope

Matthias’s mouth kicked up at the corner. “I was pretty sure you could take care of yourself.”

“We’ll see if it works.”

“If what works?”

“I decided to find out if it’s true what they say about publicity,” Amalie said.

“Any publicity is good publicity?”

“I announced that the staff of the Hidden Beach Inn will be conducting tours of the Psychic Curse Mansion starting tomorrow afternoon. All local hotel, nightclub, and restaurant employees will be admitted free of charge.”

“You didwhat?”

Amalie started to relax. The plan just might work.

“With a little luck, word of Burning Cove’s newest attraction will be all over town by breakfast,” she said. “At the very least, the promise of a scary tour and free cookies should guarantee that I’ve got a line outside my front door at two o’clock.”

Matthias downshifted, slowing the speedster with the smooth, efficient skill that she had come to recognize as one of his signature traits. She was startled when he pulled off onto a side road that led to an empty parking area overlooking the moonstruck ocean.

Shutting down the powerful engine, he turned to face her, his left arm resting on the steering wheel, his right on the back of the seat.

“Are you out of your mind?” he said.

She blinked. “What?”

“I’m trying to run an investigation here, Amalie. I am not playing games. There’s a killer involved in this mess. It’s hard enough to separate the truth from the lies as it is. The last thing I need is to have tour groups traipsing through my crime scene.”

Anger exploded through her. She clenched the tiny evening bag in one hand.

“It’s not your crime scene, Matthias Jones,” she said. “It’s my home and my business. It’s my whole damnfuture. I am going to do whatever it takes to make a success of the Hidden Beach Inn. It’s all I’ve got. I’m not going to lose it without a fight.”

Her fierce response startled him.

“Look, I understand that the inn is important to you,” he said.

“Do you? Do you really? Do you know what it’s like to lose everything and have to start over? To lose not just a career but a wholeworld? I grew up in the circus. It was my home. When my parents were killed, I could have wound up in an orphanage, but my circus family took care of me. Hazel became the closest thing I had to a mother and Willa was like a sister. Now it’s my turn to take care of them and I can’t do that unless I keep the Hidden Beach Inn going.”

Matthias gripped the steering wheel very tightly with his left hand.

“I spent half my life looking for a way to make sure my talent didn’t destroy me,” he said. “Luther Pell and Failure Analysis gave me a way to use my gift for a purpose that feels worthwhile. I intend to succeed.”

“Even if it means trampling over my dreams? My whole future?”

“That’s the last thing I want to do. You’ve got to trust me, Amalie.”

“I do trust you,” she shot back. “Trust has absolutely nothing to do with this.”

“It has everything to do with what is going on here. Everything to do with us.”

“When did the argument get to be about our relationship?”

He reached across the seat and clamped his hands around her shoulders.

“Trust is everything when it comes to you and me. Do you trust me, Amalie?”

“I wouldn’t be sitting here in this car having this stupid fight if I didn’t trust you,” she shot back, outraged.

For a beat or two, Matthias went very still. It was too dark to read his eyes but the atmosphere in the front seat of the Packard was charged with the strange energy she had come to associate with him. In spite of her anger, she smiled.