Free Out of Sight by Stella Cameron Page A

together.”
    “Almost,” Sykes said, flinching inwardly at his own thin attempt to cover for Poppy.
    “Sykes left before I did,” Poppy said. “I wasn’t much later.”
    “Does that mean Ward took you home?”
    “No. It means I walked, on my own. It wasn’t that late and it isn’t far.”
    “That’s not a good idea, Poppy, and you know it,” Nat said.
    “No, it damn well is not,” Sykes said. “I can’t believe Bienville let you do that.”
    “He didn’t know. He was busy with all those people when I slipped out.”
    “Right after he just about told them all that he wanted you at his side, as his wife?” Sykes said, furious.
    Poppy scowled at him. “He didn’t mean it that way,” she said. “Drop it.”
    “Ward asked you to marry him?” Nat said as if he were asking about the weather. “But you’ve never even been inside his home—not until last night?”
    “He didn’t ask me to marry him,” Poppy said.
    Sykes was angry but he took pity on her. “He implied that he wished she was interested in him. A lot of champagne had gone in. You know how those things go.”
    “I hope we’ll learn something useful when we find out what killed Sonia,” Nat said.
    Sykes gave himself a moment to switch topics.
    “A blow to the head,” Poppy said. “Isn’t that what they said?”
    Nat looked away. “I want to know exactly what killed her.”
    Poppy shot to her feet. “I’m going down to ask to see Ward. I don’t like the sound of any of this.”
    The slightly smug expression on Nat’s face puzzled Sykes. “Let’s wait,” he said to Poppy.
    Then Sykes got it. Nat wanted to get a definite reaction out of Poppy, something to show him how she felt about Ward, and he had it.
    “No,” Poppy said. “I’m going down there to wait and take him home. He’s being ganged up on because…well, probably because of jealousy of some sort. Or he’s being framed by people who don’t want him to succeed.”
    Poppy signaled to Liam that she was going out and set off for the door.
    Ready to go after her, Sykes wiped his hands on a napkin.
    “They’re just friends?” Nat said. “This only gets more interesting.”
    Sykes made certain he chose his moment well, then took pleasure in Nat’s expression when he turned back from watching Poppy leave to find no sign of Sykes—or none that Nat was able to see.

8
    A t first Poppy didn’t think Ward was going to answer his phone. It rang and rang and she prepared to click off.
    “Yes?”
    She heard his voice just in time and slammed her own cell phone back to her ear. “Ward? Where are you? I went to the police and they said you just left.”
    “Poppy? Honey, I thought…I’m so sorry you had to get dragged into something like this. I never in my life expected to see something so horrible in my own house. I don’t know what happened. Poppy—”
    “Are you okay?” She cut him off.
    “I’d be more fine if you were with me. I’m goin’ home now. I’ll send a car for you?”
    She stood outside the black railings that surrounded the forecourt at the police precinct. The afternoon had turned gray, as gray as she felt. “You don’t need to do that,” she said, trying to think what to do next. A breeze turned into a sudden hard gust and flattened her T-shirt to her back. She didn’t feel sure what she wanted anymore.
    “I’m going to have dinner brought in,” Ward said. “You feel like lobster? I could eat…you don’t want to know what I could eat. I don’t do old coffee and stale donuts. That’s what the cops live on down there.”
    “Ward, are you allowed back in your house, yet?”
    He took a moment, then said, “If I want into my house, I get into my house. Seriously, oh, hell, this is god-awful. No, I can’t go back there. I’m not thinking straight. I want you with me. It’s important.”
    It’s important? Poppy wasn’t sure she understood what that meant. Maybe she didn’t want to.
    A heavy hand on her shoulder almost buckled her