Free The Guardian by Connie Hall

gag twenty-first birthday gift from Nina, her youngest sister. She hadn’t been able to part with it. 9:00 a.m. Kermit’s tongue ticked off the seconds. Six more days and she would have to marry Akando. No, no, no. Time was going by too quickly. And if she didn’t marry him,one of them would lose their life. She couldn’t let that happen.
    There was only one good thing about the morning: that moon from last night was gone. And when she’d checked in with her captain, he had said she didn’t have to report back to the station until this murder case was solved. At least Winter had told her one truth. He had actually arranged for her to work with the feds on the park case. The captain had ordered her to go home, to not talk to the press, and keep him informed on the Rock Creek case. Winter probably cast a spell over the captain, the chief and the mayor. Had he done the same thing with Senator Kent? That was probably how Winter maneuvered his way into handling the case. And what did he know about the murder? She was certain he knew more than he had divulged.
    He had said he’d searched Sanecki’s apartment. But he could have conveniently missed something. Those liquid silver eyes flashed in her mind and sent a chill down between her shoulders. No, she didn’t trust him at all. And she didn’t trust herself around him. His nearness turned her insides to jelly. No, she’d done the right thing by tracking Tumseneha alone.
    She made a face at the gate as it finally rose. It had felt like eons sitting there, but in reality it had only been a minute. She rubbed her aching temples and felt dead tired from lack of sleep; the coffee she’d had at Happy Jack’s wasn’t cutting it.
    She found a parking place, went directly to the front desk and got the key for 226. The old red carpet in the lobby and elevator smelled of wet shoes, perspiration and years of stale carpet cleaner.
    When she reached the second floor, the scent of eggs, bacon and coffee wafted down the hall. Her stomach growled and she realized she wasn’t only tired, but hungry, too. She hadn’t eaten much at Happy Jack’s. Who could eat with Winter’s stone-cold eyes boring into them? And his arrogant assumptions about protecting her. Yeah, like she needed his help.
    Fala followed the numbers on the doors. Then the charm on her neck warmed slightly, the metal detecting something before she had. Her senses began to tingle and a primitive fear crawled down her spine. Tumseneha’s aura was here, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been at the murder scene, or at the station. She hadn’t been able to track him after he’d disappeared from the alley. He must have used some kind of cloaking magic to cover his tracks. She had no doubt he was luring her along, letting her find evidence that he had planted. She gritted her teeth at being manipulated. Somehow, someway, she’d find him.
    She kept one hand on the hilt of her pistol while her gaze swept the hall. The exit door. Several tall potted ferns.
    When she reached 226, she eyed the Christmas poinsettia wreath still hanging on the door, the silk flowers seeming to droop. She felt the senselessness of a young woman losing her life. Had Tumseneha killed Katrina Sanecki just to toy with Fala? Or was it a prelude to the station attack and a way to lure Fala to her death? Either way people had died because of her. It wasn’t right.
    She forced the guilt back and focused all her attention on the lock. Carefully, she turned it and opened the door.Elbows tight to her ribs, gun butt fixed in her palms, she entered the apartment.
    The living room opened onto a kitchen on the left and a hallway that led to what looked like a bathroom and bedroom. The first thing Fala noticed was the quality of the furniture, sleek, modern and mostly chrome. A thirty-inch flatscreen television sat between two black bookcases. Everything sparkled and smelled like