Free Charleston with a Clever Cougar: A Dance with Danger Mystery #6 by Sara M. Barton Page A

lot
of the Soundings. The tail lights glowed deep red as they wound
their way out to Sandy Point Road.
    Ten minutes later, I was back in bed, propped
up on a pile of pillows in the hope of getting comfortable. No
longer worried about Daisy’s fate, I drifted off to a dreamless
sleep.
    Just after seven, I awoke to a banging on my
front door. Hurrying down the stairs, I wrapped my robe around my
sore shoulder, peeked out the sidelight, and recognized the medic
on my doorstep.
    “Doc!”
    “Cady,” he nodded noncommittally.
    “Come on in,” I urged him, throwing open the
door. Doc seemed secretive, almost guarded. “How did it go last
night?”
    “Fine.” No explanation.
    “So, you got the guy?” I had to know.
    “Yup.”
    “What did you do with him?” Doc’s eyes seemed
guarded, unwilling to meet mine. He brushed past me as I stood in
the doorway, his overnight bag in hand.
    “We took care of the problem. He won’t be
bothering Daisy or anyone else anymore.”
    “Was he arrested?” Persistent, I couldn’t let
it go.
    “Hey, if we don’t get a move on, we’re going
to be late, and you’ve got to get that cake to the wedding on
time,” he reminded me. “I’ll take a quick shower and then make some
breakfast for us.”
    With that, Doc disappeared up the stairs, and
a few moments later, I heard the shower running. I hauled my aching
body back up the stairs, made my bed using my good arm, and laid
out my clothes for the day. I picked a big shirt with buttons, a
colorful scarf to use as a belt, and another pair of leggings that
were easy to put on, easy to take off. I would look like a hippie
who escaped from a seventies love-in, but at least I would be
comfortable.
    Doc paused at my bedroom door on his way
downstairs.
    “One egg or two?” he asked.
    “One, please.”
    “One piece of toast or two?”
    “One, please.”
    “Juice?”
    “Please. Doc, what did you do with the
guy?”
    “Nothing you have to worry about, Cady.”
    “But I do. I saw you and your friends last
night.”
    “Did you?” Doc’s eyes got narrow. I nodded.
“And now you want to know where we buried the body?”
    I gasped as Doc uttered those words and they
made their way into my brain. It hadn’t occurred to me that they
murdered the man who assaulted Daisy.
    “You killed him?” My heart was pounding as I
stood in my bedroom, feeling very vulnerable. I was facing a
dangerous man. Would I be his next victim now that he had confessed
his crime to me? Those green eyes bore a hole right through my
forehead.
    “Well, isn’t that what you’re afraid of,
Cady? That we offed the guy, all because we didn’t haul his bad ass
self to the police department?”
    I stood there, stunned, not really sure how
to answer. All I knew was that there was a stranger in my bedroom.
Glancing around, I wondered where I would go to escape him. Had he
wormed his way into my life because he was a cold-blooded killer or
because he’d had some kind of psychological breakdown? What had I
let myself in for when I let down my guard?
    “Relax, Cady. The guy’s alive and well and
kicking up his heels far, far away by now. Yes, we snatched him.
Yes, we took him to what we in the Army like to call an undisclosed
location. We questioned him, scared the hell out of him, and then a
couple of the guys drove his lowlife ass up to the Canadian border,
warned him not to come back to Old Saybrook anytime soon, and then
left him there. He was alive and well.”
    “Really?” I hadn’t realized I was holding my
breath until I heard those words and the air escaped from my lips
in a whoosh . Doc was shaking his head, but his lips curled
up into a slight smile.
    “You sure do have trust issues, don’t you?”
he chuckled. “It’s a wonder you ever had a boyfriend.”
    “I’m not that bad,” I responded
defensively.
    “Not that bad? Good God, woman! Every time I
do something, you assume the worst. It’s like you can’t help
yourself.” Doc paused on his