Free Hide From Evil by Jami Alden Page A

Glasses. The whole nine yards. My dad thought sports would be good for me, but I was too uncoordinated to do anything but run track.”
    “No hurdles,” he smiled.
    “Or javelins. I would have lanced the mascot.”
    Sean was shocked to find himself for the second time that day laughing at something she said. He looked around and caught the stares and realized how they must look. Like any other couple. Talking. Laughing. Flirting.
    Like a normal date, the kind he hadn’t had—hadn’t even wanted to have—in over three years.
    For a split second it felt so good he was almost ready to give himself up to the illusion of normalcy.
    Except the whole thing was completely ab-fucking-normal, starting and ending with the woman sitting across from him. Jesus Fucking Christ, what the hell did he think he was doing? What the hell did he think she was doing—flirting, acting all interested so she could lure him out, get him to help her on this misguided need for the truth? As if that would ever help anyone.
    “So football, that’s how you got to be friends with Jimmy Caparulo, right? Before you joined the army together and met Nate?”
    And just like that she confirmed his suspicions. “Damn, I gotta give you credit. You’re good. Subtle. You almost made me believe it.”
    To her credit, she didn’t bother to pretend to not know what he was talking about. “Look, I get it. You want nothing to do with my investigation. But before he died, Jimmy said he should have told you something—he should have helped you. If you can think of anything, no matter how random, maybe it will help me figure out the truth—”
    Sean threw a couple of bills on the table and stood up. “I told you. I have no idea what was going on with Jimmy and Nate.” Except that he had trusted both of them, loved them like brothers. “Whatever it was, it didn’t involve me.” He snatched his coat from the booth and headed for the door.
    “Except for the part where Nate framed you for murder and involved Jimmy in the cover-up,” she called after him.
    Sean’s stomach twisted, the fish and chips sitting like a bowling ball in his gut. “And now they’re both dead, so I guess they got what they deserved.” The other diners were staring, transfixed. Sean kept his gaze on the door, careful not to make eye contact with anyone.
    As he looked through the pub’s front window he could see that the B&B was still dark. “Nance,” he called. “Do you know when Wendy will be back?”
    Nancy looked up from the cash register. “I believe she’s back next week.”
    “Next week?”
    Nancy looked up, startled at the menace in his voice. “Yes, she went to Seattle to visit her sister like she always does this time of year.”
    “Then who’s running the B and B?”
    Nancy frowned at him. “It’s closed for the season.”
    Oh, shit. “Closed,” he parroted like an idiot.
    “We don’t get enough people in the shoulder seasons.”
    “What about the place farther out on Highway Two?”
    “They’re not opening up until Memorial Day. No one is. If you need a room, you should be able to find something in Wenatchee.”
    Sean nodded curtly, grabbed Krista’s arm, and yanked her out the door.
    “Wenatchee is nearly twenty miles away,” Krista protested. “How the hell am I supposed to get back to my car?” she said.
    “Not my problem, just like this whole fact-finding mission isn’t my problem. You’re lucky I’m feeling generous enough to give you a ride.”
    They reached the truck and he climbed inside. She rapped sharply on the window until he unlocked her door. She flung herself into the seat with an irritated huff. She opened her mouth, but before she could utter a sound he gunned the engine and turned on the stereo full blast, the roar of Alice in Chains drowning out any questions.
     
    Krista reached out and snapped off the stereo and did her best not to shrink under Sean’s menacing stare. She’d definitely caught glimpses of a nice guy