Free Killing Me Softly by MAGGIE SHAYNE

pulled tight between them. And then, to break it, she took his hand and began pulling him along the path behind her, back toward the inn.
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œTo the inn, to get your car.”
    â€œTo go where?” he asked.
    â€œTo Shadow Falls. You’re taking me to your house.”
    He stopped, using his weight to stay put, despite her tugging. “My house is currently cordoned off with crime-scene tape. And for all we know, there are cops there even as we speak.”
    â€œWe’re going, anyway.” She tugged again. “If there are police there, we’ll just keep on driving. But if noone’s around, we can take the opportunity to get those files out of there.”
    â€œNo. I can’t let you tamper with evidence, Dawn. You’ll wind up sharing a cell with me.”
    She looked up into his face, still gripping his hand. “I can think of worse things.” She almost wished she could bite back the words, but instead she averted her eyes, ignored the heat rushing into her face and went on. “Besides, we’re not just going for the files. We need to get inside the house. Into the bedroom.”
    â€œWhy the hell would you want—”
    â€œBecause the place where Bette died is probably the best place for me to try to make contact with her.”
    â€œI’m not gonna let you do that for me, Beth.”
    She was encouraged, though, because he stopped holding his ground and instead let her pull him along the path beside her. They crossed the garden and emerged onto the lawn, where the winding footpath continued all the way to the front door. They were nearly to the porch steps when a speeding vehicle came squealing around the curve in the road. Headlights blinded her as she turned in alarm.
    Brakes screeched, rubber burning on the pavement, and something flew past, hurled by the driver, smashing right through the Blackberry Inn’s living room window.
    Bryan swore and raced toward the car, but it was already peeling out, fishtailing twice before the tires gripped the road, and speeding away.
    He grabbed her upper arm and ran with her, up thefront porch steps and into the inn. Beth and Josh, Nick and Rico were all standing in the foyer, and Rico’s gun was in his hand. Broken shards of glass littered the floor, and in their midst lay a brick with a piece of paper wrapped around it.
    â€œIs everyone all right?” Bryan shouted.
    â€œYeah,” Josh told him. “Everyone’s fine.”
    â€œYou see anything, Bryan?” Nick asked.
    â€œBlack, Olds 88. Probably a ’93 or ’94. Vermont plates, too dirty to make out. Passenger-side taillight was broken.”
    Dawn blinked at him, completely awestruck.
    â€œDawn?” Nick said.
    She couldn’t take her eyes off Bryan. This was a side of him she’d never seen. Damn. He really was a cop. She’d known it, but she hadn’t known it. “What?”
    â€œDid you see anything Bryan didn’t?”
    â€œHell, he lost me at black. And I wouldn’t even have been sure about that much.”
    â€œBeth, can you get me a zipper bag and some salad tongs, please?” Bryan asked.
    Beth rushed away and returned with the requested items. Bryan knelt beside the brick, and used the salad tongs to pull the paper off and unfold it. It wasn’t hard to read. Just one word. Murderer.
    Dawn could see that it hit Bryan as powerfully as if the brick itself had nailed him in the belly. He actually flinched back from it.
    Nick knelt beside him, took the tongs from his hands and used them to tuck the note into the plastic bag.Then he pushed the brick in, as well, lifted up the bag, closed the zip top and handed it to Rico. “You want to take this to the station, or you want me to?”
    â€œI’m headed back there, anyway,” Rico said, and he took the bag and sent a sympathetic look at Bryan. “Hang in there, partner. This is just some