Hidden Identity. Carol J. Post

all I can think of right now.”

      “And you don’t find that odd.” Something didn’t add up with Meagan Berry, despite Darci’s lack of concern. Hunter had been a cop too long to share her trusting attitude. And he’d been conned too many times to take anything at face value.

      “No, I don’t. She went through some pretty traumatic stuff, and right now, she’s just trying to forget.”

      “She told you that?”

      “She didn’t have to. Women can sense these things. She’ll open up when she’s ready.”

      That wasn’t good enough. Whatever Darci “sensed,” he wasn’t willing to go on intuition. “Did you have a background check run on her before hiring her?”

      She shook her head.

      “If you were hiring someone you’ve known all your life, I can see skipping all that. But not a stranger who’s being really secretive about who she is and where she came from. Don’t you think a background check would be a good idea? I mean, she’s handling your money.”

      Something flashed in Darci’s eyes. “No, I trust my gut. And my gut tells me Meagan’s not a criminal.”

      He didn’t miss the defensiveness in her tone. “Look, I’m not saying she’s an ax murderer or anything. But she was totally freaked out about having her picture taken. That’s a sure sign of someone who’s hiding something.”

      “Maybe she just doesn’t like to be in the spotlight. She’s a private person.”

      “It’s more than that. She just had murderer painted on the side of her house. And now someone is threatening to kill her.”

      With his last statement, some of the stubbornness left Darci’s eyes. Maybe she was weakening. He leaned against the counter, which put him a little closer to her. “Let me check her out, just to be on the safe side. You have her Social Security number and date of birth, right?”

      “Of course I do. But I’m not giving them to you.” She dug in her heels, five foot three inches of stubborn determination. “That’s confidential information.”

      “Come on, Darci. I need to do this. You have to admit she’s hiding something. And I owe it to the people of Cedar Key to find out what.”

      “Then get a warrant. Or a subpoena.” She planted both hands on her hips. “Don’t you have police work you need to do?”

      “This is police work.” Hunter sighed. He was getting nowhere. Darci was sticking up for Meagan as if she were her oldest childhood friend. “Look, you’re sure she’s not hiding from the law. But she’s hiding from something. We’ll have a much better chance of helping her if we can find out what she’s running from.” He paused, then continued, his tone pleading. “She’s scared, Darci.”

      She studied him for several moments. Then recognition dawned in her eyes, and a slow smile climbed up her cheeks. “You like her, don’t you?”

      “Of course I do. She’s a nice lady.”

      “No, I mean you like her. Finally, there’s someone capable of cracking the armor of the untouchable Hunter Kingston.”

      “That imagination of yours is working overtime again. I’m concerned for Meagan the same way I’m concerned about every resident of Cedar Key.”

      “Uh-huh.”

      Uh-huh, nothing. Darci didn’t know what she was talking about. Meagan was cute. And she seemed sweet. In fact, she had intrigued him from the moment she first showed up in Cedar Key. Her incredible artistic ability, that shy smile, those expressive green eyes... But he wasn’t looking.

      If he was, he would look for someone with integrity, someone he could trust. Not someone with a dark past, surrounded by a web of lies. He’d been lied to all his life. Conned and stolen from. The last thing he needed was more deceit.

      He pushed the dark thoughts aside. “So are you going to help me or not?”

      “I already told you, that information’s confidential. I’m not allowed to give it to anyone without Meagan’s permission.”

      “No problem.”

      He would find out what he needed to know with or without her help. Bobby had been able to get several viable prints from her place last night. They had already been turned over to Levy County to process. Anytime now they would get the results back.

      Something told him there were some surprises in store.