Free The Stranger Next Door by Chastity Bush

… or was I mistaken?
    He watched as she blew out a breath, ran a hand through her disheveled hair, and started moving toward the house.
    Following her lead, he trailed after her. She could be mad all she wanted. She wasn’t leaving his sight if he had anything to say about it.
    He had the feeling this latest incident wasn’t the last. If someone wanted Tess bad enough to try to kidnap her, they’d be back. Whether she liked it or not, he was going to have to keep a close eye on her … a very close eye.

Chapter Seven
    Tess pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes and leaned against the hard back of the chair.
    She hadn’t been surprised when two men she recognized as friends from the force, Officer Danny Holdings and his partner, Officer Marty Flynn, knocked on her front door, but what really knocked her socks off was the sight of her street clothes-wearing captain, Richard Lewis. He wouldn’t have been in the office at this time of night, which meant someone had called him at home to inform him what had taken place.
    Her skin prickled with suspicion.
    Leading them into the house, she led the way into the kitchen and seated them all at the large table.
    Once everyone was settled, she told her story as they took notes. Once she finished, they then turned and took Jack’s account of what transpired.
    “You and Dean arrested a lot of bad guys. There's no telling who’s after you, if there’s anyone after you at all,” Captain Lewis said on a sigh. When Tess leaned forward, he continued, “But from what you and the PI here tell me, that’s what it sounds like, especially what they said about the old man wanting you.”
    There was something in his voice, in his expression, that held Tess on the edge of her seat. She’d known Captain Lewis for over ten years. She knew when he was holding something back. Narrowing her eyes momentarily, she let the question die on her lips. Prodding him wouldn’t do any good. If he felt she needed to know, he’d tell her.
    “Can you think of anyone who might be angry enough to come after you?”
    Turning her head to the left, she met the deep green eyes of Danny Holdings. He was a handsome man with thick blond hair, a firm masculine jaw, and an astonishing build beneath his form-fitting uniform.
    There's no doughnuts in his diet , she mused.
    Shaking her head, she frowned. “No one I can think of off the top of my head, but apparently there is someone or you guys wouldn’t be asking so many questions.”
    Reaching across the table, Officer Holdings squeezed her hand gently before releasing it to resume his note-taking duty.
    “Why did you come, Captain?”
    She didn’t mean the question to sound as harsh as it did, but the situation had to be really bad before the captain came out to investigate. When he drained the last of his coffee and plopped his mug on the table with a thunk, that small niggle at the back of her mind tugged, and she grew even more certain he was hiding something. Something she wasn’t going to like.
    Rubbing a palm over his balding head, Captain Lewis blew out a breath before answering.
    “The truth?” he asked, raising his thick graying eyebrows.
    When she nodded, he did the same and, looking to the officers to her left and right, began. “Have you watched the news or read the paper today?”
    Shaking her head at the odd question, she answered, “No. We’ve been too busy working on the house to see much television, and I haven’t subscribed to the paper yet. Why?”
    “We found Melanie Camillo dead this morning.”
    “What?”
    “Who’s Melanie Camillo?” Jack asked from where he stood behind her.
    The feel of Jack’s strong hands on her shoulders anchored her, calmed her nerves. She didn’t have time to consider why or what it might mean that he was able to ease her with such an innocent touch.
    Looking up into his face, she explained, “Dean’s wife.”
    When he nodded his understanding, she looked back to the captain.
    “What