Taking the towel, Nick wiped the rain from his face and crossed to the coffee station, pouring two cups.
“That’s fresh-brewed, Chief. Made it just a few minutes ago.”
Nick handed one of the cups to Sara and lowered his voice. “Be careful, his coffee is lethal.”
For the first time, she smiled. Nick would have smiled back, but noticed the small abrasion on her cheekbone and grimaced instead. He couldn’t believe his mother had struck her. But he knew she’d never recovered from what had happened that night twenty years ago. He supposed they all bore scars. But to hold a misplaced grudge against Sara for something her father did was unconscionable. He was going to have to talk to his mother about it.
“We can talk in my office.” He motioned toward the wood-paneled door at the rear of the room.
Sara headed toward Nick’s office. Nick glanced back at B.J. who was doing his best not to ogle her. His deputy raised his brows up and down like Groucho Marx and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Cut it out,” Nick murmured.
Walking inside, he closed the door behind them and settled behind his desk, all too aware of the faint scent of perfume on her wet skin.
Sara took the visitor’s chair across from him and sipped her coffee. She’d toweled her hair, leaving it tousled and curling around her face, like wet brown silk against fine porcelain. Her brows were thin and dark and arched above big, gypsy eyes. But it was her mouth that arrested his attention and held it. Full lips the color of mulberries arched like a pretty bow. Twenty years ago he’d kissed that mouth. Even as a twelve-year-old kid, it had made one hell of an impression on him. As a man, he knew one kiss would never be enough….
“I didn’t realize your mother would still harbor such intense ill feelings toward me over…what happened.”
Realizing he was staring, Nick picked up his cup of coffee. “I wanted to apologize for what she did.” Taking in the mark on her cheek, he grimaced. “That was inexcusable.”
“Thank you.” She lifted a hand as if to touch the small bruise, but let her hand drop to her lap instead.
“If you want to press charges…”
“I think everyone involved has already been hurt enough.”
“Just don’t think that because she’s my mother I won’t do my job.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
Leaning over, Nick dumped his remaining coffee into the ficus tree’s pot. When he set the cup back on his desk, he noticed Sara watching him. “Tree doesn’t seem to mind.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”
He smiled. “Just don’t tell B.J.”
She didn’t smile back, but amusement glinted in her eyes.
For an instant, the only sound came from the rain hitting the glass. Nick took that moment to ask the question that had been gnawing at him since the moment he’d seen the rental car parked outside his mother’s shop. “Was your visit to my mother part of the family business you’re taking care of while you’re here?”
“One of the reasons.” She sipped coffee.
Nick’s cop’s instinct had been telling him all along there was more to her appearance in Cape Darkwood than she was letting on. “So what’s the other reason?”
“I want you to reopen the case.”
An odd mix of disbelief and disappointment gripped Nick’s gut. She’d seemed so rational last night. As a cop, he appreciated rational people. Why did she have to go and spoil his opinion of her?
“What case?” he asked, knowing full well which case she was referring to, hoping he was wrong.
“The Douglas murder-suicide.” She said the words as if he were dense.
“You mean the one that has been closed for twenty years?” he asked dryly.
She pursed her lips as if he were trying her patience. The feeling was mutual. If she hadn’t been so damn good to look at in her snug jeans and lavender T-shirt, he might have already tossed her out of his office. But he’d always been drawn to her. A lifetime ago, the feeling had been innocent and vague. As a man there was nothing vague or innocent about what he felt for Sara Douglas. Attraction. Maybe with a hint of adult male lust mixed in.
Setting her cup on the corner of his desk, she leaned forward. “Nick, I think the police may have been wrong.”
“And you think that because…?”
She hesitated, and for the first time Nick got the impression she wasn’t telling him everything. That she was keeping secrets. What secrets? What could possibly have been important enough to prompt her to fly all the way from San Diego to Cape Darkwood after all the terrible things that had happened here?
“I have my reasons,” she said vaguely.
“I guess it’s safe to assume you’re not going to make this easy and tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Let’s just say I have reason to believe there was a fourth person involved.”
“A fourth person?” Intrigued, he leaned forward. “Like who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how can you be so sure there was one?”
“I’m not.” Frustration tightened her mouth.
“That doesn’t leave me with sufficient grounds to reopen the case.”
“Maybe you could do it…unofficially.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re the cop. All I’m asking is for you to take a look at the file. See if all the loose ends were tied up.”
“Sara, the case was closed. I’m not real big on conspiracy theories.”
“Neither am I,” she said firmly. “But if certain things didn’t come to light twenty years ago, don’t you want to know about it?”
“Certain things like what?”
He stared at her, vaguely aware of the din of rain, that his heart rate was up just a tad. “Are you trying to tell me you’ve remembered something about that night?”
“No,” she replied quickly.
The accepted supposition amongst the residents of Cape Darkwood was that seven-year-old Sara Douglas had witnessed the murders, but the experience had been so horrific, her young mind had blocked it. Had the memory finally resurfaced? Why wouldn’t she tell him?
“If you want me to follow up, you’re going to have to give me something a little bit more concrete to go on.”
“I don’t have anything concrete.”
“Then at least level with me. Tell my why you’re here. Why you came back.”
“There’s no hidden agenda, Nick. All I can tell you is that I came to find the truth.”
“Are you telling me your father didn’t kill them?”
“I’m telling you I’d like the police department to revisit the case and prove beyond a shadow of doubt that he did.”
Nick thought of the words written in red on the rear window of her car and an uncharacteristic rise of concern went through him. “Have you told anyone else about your suspicions?”
“No.” She hesitated just long enough for him to believe otherwise.
“Any idea who vandalized your car?”
“No. Kids.” She shrugged. “Someone who doesn’t want me poking