“I’ll have the cab drive us around the block and then drop us near the parking garage so we can get in and out quickly, and maybe our tail won’t have caught on.” Nathan peered down at her, his face close, near enough to kiss her.
Oh ... and she wanted that kiss.
And she didn’t want it. At the same time. How could she have such conflicting emotions?
She turned her face away.
“We should at least keep that meeting.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the strain in her voice.
“We are. I won’t give up the lead, but once we’re done, we’re heading straight for the airport. I can’t spend another day here now that someone is following us, and obviously the Gifford PD knows I’m here. Maybe someone in the department was asked to follow us.”
“Now that I know more about your father’s case, it stands to reason that his boss asked him to stand down because the FBI is probably also involved somehow.”
“Dad never got the chance to tell me, but even if that was the case, if he didn’t drop it, then he had a good reason.”
His father’s reasons had better be good. Erin sensed the danger was closing in on them, and they weren’t exactly sure of the source, but the possible players would leave anyone quaking in their shoes. Organized crime. Dirty cops. It was beginning to feel like something out of a mafia film. She shivered.
“I never should have brought you into this.”
“Don’t push me away. I can help you, Nathan. I will help you.” Erin wasn’t sure why she was committing so much to him, when Mom depended on her more than ever.
Nathan pulled her close enough that she felt his breath fanning her cheeks. His gaze locked with hers, then traveled over her face to her lips. Her heart pounded at the nearness, the attraction spiking through her. Just when she thought he would kiss her, he shifted away and held her against him, then whispered in her ear, “Don’t move.”
He held her, hugging her tightly while they remained in the shadows. She hadn’t seen who had followed them and wasn’t sure how Nathan had. Images of gangsters shooting down Jimmy Delaney in front of his house accosted her. Erin held her breath as the seconds ticked by in rhythm with her soaring pulse. Would someone gun them down here on the streets of downtown Boston?
Within a week or so of almost being killed by a boat, she was now once again facing a life-and-death situation, and she didn’t much like being in the action. She much preferred thinking about a case long gone cold and solving it after the fact.
Finally, Nathan slowly released her as a group of people exiting a nearby theater walked past. He pulled her with him to join the group. They walked hand in hand like they were a couple. A block away, Nathan hailed a cab and they scrambled in quickly. He instructed the cabbie to drive them around a few blocks, then circle back close to the hotel parking.
Erin watched out the window at the Boston city life going on around them as though everything was perfectly normal. But it was far from it. This had quickly turned into a clandestine adventure, and she couldn’t wait for it to end.
The cab traveled another block, then around again and approached the hotel. Erin searched the pedestrians, restaurant awnings, and shop windows. Was their shadow simply waiting for them to return at some point?
“You ready?” Nathan asked. “We’re going to make a mad dash into the parking garage to our vehicle.”
“Okay. I’m ready.”
He paid the cabbie, then they stole into the parking garage. They climbed the stairs to the third floor, where the rental car was parked. Nathan checked the wheel wells and the undercarriage for a GPS tracker . . . or was he also checking for a possible bomb? He didn’t say. She held back the rising terror and finally sucked in a deep breath only after they’d exited the parking garage and driven several blocks from the hotel.
“Are we still being followed?”
“I don’t think so, but it’s hard to know with all the traffic.”
She did not like where this search had led them. No wonder Newt had come back to Big Rapids. Maybe he’d come there to get away from the danger, but it had followed him.
Finally, Nathan steered them along neighborhood streets and past a few parks. Up ahead she spotted a cemetery and the sign COOPER HILL BURYING GROUND. The sun would be setting soon, but there was still time before they were completely in the dark—and for that she was grateful. Not that she was superstitious, but she simply didn’t relish walking in a dark cemetery with the added bonus of someone potentially following them.
Nathan parked across the street from the big wrought-iron arched gateway into the cemetery. No one was standing out front waiting on them. She glanced at her watch. Three minutes.
“Are you sure we’re not going to walk into an ambush of some kind? I would think you’d want to stake out the area first.”
“We’re not. You’re staying in the car so I don’t have to worry about you. Sit on the driver’s side and drive away if there’s trouble. Call the police.”
She stared at him. What?
“Please.” Nathan pressed a gun into her hands. “For your protection. You still know how to use this?”
“Wait. Don’t you need a gun?”