“Safer how? I still can’t figure out why those two men came to find me in the first place. I’m a teacher. Why would anyone want to hurt me?”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
She let out a sigh. None of this was his fault. “Your cabin sounds fine. But shouldn’t we call the police?”
“Not yet.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
“By the time the police arrive, the two gunmen will be long gone. I only temporarily incapacitated them, I didn’t kill them. There’s no real proof of what happened—it would be our word against no one. I need to do a little digging before we call the authorities.”
She wasn’t sure she understood his rationale, but the idea that the gunmen might already be gone bothered her. She wished she’d thought to take a picture with her cell phone, especially of the guy lying on the floor outside her bedroom.
Silence stretched between them. Now that Lizzy was asleep, her thoughts raced. One gunman had gotten all the way inside her house. How was it that she hadn’t heard anything? She was normally an extremely light sleeper.
And how had Hawk gotten there in time to prevent the gunmen from hurting her? The fact that he’d taken out two gunmen without making a sound should have scared her to death.
But she felt safe. Ironic, since she didn’t even know Hawk’s last name or what he did for a living.
“Hawk—is that your real name?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Hawk Jacobson.”
She nodded, rolling the name around in her mind. “I want to thank you. For coming over to save us.”
He was silent for a long moment. “I’m just glad I was able to get to you and Lizzy in time.”
“Me, too.” She shivered and rubbed her hands together. “How far is the cabin?”
“Thirty minutes.” He glanced at her, his gaze impossible to read in the darkness. “Try to get some rest.”
She shook her head, knowing sleep would be impossible. “Do you think this could be related to one of my students? Like maybe one of the kids’ parents is into something illegal? I just can’t figure out what else it could be.”
“Anything is possible.” Hawk’s voice was husky and a bit hoarse, something she hadn’t noticed before now. As if he might have a sore throat. “When we get to the cabin you can make a list of possible suspects.”
“They’re students, not suspects.” The words were sharp and she winced, knowing she was taking her frustration out on Hawk. “Besides, I think the police should be the one to search for the men responsible.”
Another brief pause before Hawk spoke. “I’m a private investigator and I have friends who are cops in the Milwaukee Police Department. I need you to trust my judgment on this. Give me a little time to figure out what’s going on.”
Hawk Jacobson. Private Investigator. Friends who were cops. That was a whole lot more than she’d known about him an hour ago.
“Okay,” she reluctantly agreed.
The rest of the car ride was silent. Hawk exited the freeway and took a curvy highway heading northwest. Then he pulled off on the side of the road and shut down the vehicle.
“I need to go in on foot, make sure the place is safe,” he told her. He took a gun out of his side holster and held it out to her. “Stay here. If anyone approaches, I want you to shoot first and ask questions later.”
She recoiled from the weapon as if it were a venomous snake. “I’m not touching that thing.” She glanced at Lizzy. “We’re better off without it.”
Hawk’s lips tightened, giving her the impression he wasn’t happy. But he so rarely revealed any emotion that she thought she may have misinterpreted it. He gently placed the weapon in her lap. “You’ll use it if your life or Lizzy’s is threatened.”
Without waiting for her to respond, he slipped out of the car and shut the door behind him.
She watched him round the front of the SUV and head into the woods. One minute he was there, the next he was gone, somehow without leaving obvious boot prints in the snow behind. The man moved with incredible silence, making her wonder where he’d learned such a skill.
The service? Had Hawk spent time in the military the way James had? Yet if that was the case, why was he working as a private investigator? Why not join a police force?
She shook her head. This insatiable curiosity about her neighbor wasn’t healthy. Hawk’s personal decisions were not any of her business. She wasn’t interested in anything beyond friendship.
Ignoring the gun in her lap, she twisted the wedding band on her finger, thinking about James. How much she missed him. How he was everything she could have asked for in a husband and how he would have been an amazing father to Lizzy.
Then she thought about Hawk. Who was here, now. Who had not only helped her with house maintenance without being asked but was determined to keep her and Lizzy safe.
She slipped the ring off, and then, besieged by a rush of guilt, pushed it back on. Staring out through the windshield, she wondered how long it would take Hawk to check out the cabin. This sitting in the darkness, waiting, was getting on her nerves.
She heard a noise and froze. Then she did something she never thought she’d do. She picked up the gun. It felt heavy and cold in her hand and she had to wrap both her hands around the handle to keep it steady.
Another rustle and she instinctively knew the sound wasn’t from Hawk returning. The man was too quiet to cause this much noise. She tightened her grip on the gun, sweeping her gaze from the windshield to the passenger-side window, searching for anything amiss.
Two deer walked out from the woods. They stopped, looked at her with glassy eyes and then gracefully leaped and ran across the street right in front of the SUV.
She let out her breath in a whoosh. Deer. A doe and her fawn. Not men wearing ski masks.
Yet she didn’t release her grip on the gun.
Five minutes later, she noticed a dark shadow stepping out of the woods. She tightened her grip on the weapon but within a few seconds recognized the shadow as Hawk. The moonlight on his face made it easy to see his scar.
He quietly approached the car, nodding an acknowledgement when he caught her looking at him. He came around and slid into the driver’s seat.
“It’s clear.”
She held out the weapon. “Take this. I don’t want it.”
He took the gun and pushed it back into its holster. He drove a quarter mile down the road and turned into a gravel driveway.
The cabin was about a hundred yards in, nicely surrounded by trees. He pulled to a stop and then climbed out. “Do you want me to carry Lizzy?”
“I’ll get her. She might cry if she wakes up to a stranger.”
He nodded, grabbed the duffel and went over to hold the door. A dusting of snow clung to her boots, so she kicked the lower doorjamb to clear them before going inside. Lizzy snuggled against her chest as Jillian carried her across the living room. She hesitated, glancing at Hawk questioningly.
“There are twin beds in this room.” He opened the door to the right of what looked to be a bathroom. “The other room is off the kitchen.”
“Thanks.” She went inside and gently set Lizzy on the twin bed closest to the door. After removing her winter coat and boots, she tucked her daughter into the sleeping bag on top of the bed. She straightened and turned to find Hawk standing close.
Too close.
In