Free Dire Distraction by Dee Davis Page B

there on the river, or maybe it was something more—something she didn’t want to think about. Especially not now, in light of all that he’d just revealed. “It’s overkill. If Evangeline was truly that angry, she’d have confronted you with it. Not created some elaborate scam to make you believe she was dead. It just doesn’t make sense.”
    “And yet the photo exists.” He ran a hand across the top of his head, a gesture she was beginning to recognize as a sign that he was distraught. Not that she blamed him.
    The two of them had moved out onto the ramshackle porch of the shack, both of them armed as they talked, at the same time scouring the shadows of the jungle for signs that they weren’t alone.
    “But why would Evangeline go to such elaborate efforts just because you had a fight?”
    He was standing inches away. Close enough that she could feel his body heat. But she resisted the urge to reach out to him, knowing that it was important to maintain her distance.
    “I mean, you’re right,” she continued, “forbidding her to go was a bit Cro-Magnon, but the extreme reaction to that would be divorce, not creating some kind of elaborate scheme to disappear with your ex-partner. It’s just not a plausible scenario. Unless…” she paused, biting her lip, hating to put voice to the words.
    “Unless there’s more to the story?” he finished for her. “No. There’s nothing I haven’t told you. At least as far as I know, that is.”
    “Before Iraq, was there ever anything that made you believe something was going on between Evangeline and Shrum?” She stared out at the night, not willing to face him with the question, but she could feel him tensing next to her, his hand tightening around the porch railing.
    “No. And believe me I’ve been over and over it in my head. Martin, I’m sure, would have liked for me to believe that there was something. But I never saw anything to make me believe my wife was interested in anyone but me.”
    “But you said Shrum was charming.” The idea was repugnant, but somewhere in the recesses of her brain, she could see that it once might have been true.
    “He was. Is…for all I know,” Avery replied. “But Evangeline wasn’t the kind of woman to play games. Once she’d made her choice—that was it.”
    “Which only underscores the fact that her staging her death just to avoid you doesn’t make any sense.”
    “So maybe there was something else. Maybe I just didn’t want to see it.”
    This time she reached out to cover his hand, turning so that their gazes met in the darkness. “I haven’t known you very long, Avery. But I’d bet my life on the fact that there isn’t much you miss. And if you honestly believe there was nothing going on, then I don’t believe it either.”
    The heat from his hand radiated through her.
    “Thank you.” The words were simple, and Sydney suppressed a shiver. A woman like Evangeline would have been a fool to throw someone like Avery aside. Especially for a man like Shrum. Which is why the idea was preposterous.
    She pulled her hand free with a shrug. “I’m only stating the obvious.”
    “So you think she’s dead.”
    “I think there’s no way to be certain until we check it out. But I don’t believe for a moment that she is living there of her own free will. If she’s alive, then there’s got to be another explanation.”
    “Well, for the life of me, I don’t know what it could be.”
    “Maybe Shrum has something on her. Or maybe he’s been threatening you. If I loved someone that much I’d go to any extreme to protect them.”
    “Shrum was competitive. And he most definitely wanted Evangeline, but I don’t see him using blackmail to force a woman to stay with him.”
    “What if he’s lied to her? What if she thinks you’re dead?”
    “Then he’s more despicable than I already believed.” He clenched a fist, his jaw tightening in anger. “If that bastard has done anything to hurt her…”
    “We