The Guarded Widow (8 page)

Maddy angrily narrowed her blue eyes and poked her sister in the arm. “Why was Gavin the first person to inform me of your break-in?”

Olivia glanced across the booth at him. That man has been a thorn in my side since day one; she seethed as she cast him a hateful look.

Seeing her bared teeth, Gavin promptly returned a charming smile. Then he made himself comfortable by relaxing against the back of the booth and crossing his arms over his wide chest. With a perverse grin, he settled in to watch the show; I’m really going to enjoy listening to this conversation.

That damned woman always has people around her, he angrily griped as his car crept past Liberty Dental for the third time in a week. After whipping into an open parking space near the street corner, he decided to create his own private opportunity to speak with Olivia Jones.

“I’m going to give her a little car trouble, just like her dead husband,” he sneered.

Literally shaking from the anticipation of meeting the pretty Mrs. Jones, he slinked up to her vehicle. The sun had already gone down, cloaking him in shadowy darkness. As he approached her SUV, he withdrew a switchblade from the inside pocket of his black trench coat and flicked it open. Then he plunged the sharp blade deep within the treads of each one of Olivia’s passenger side tires.

I’ll just follow her out to the main road, he decided, strolling at a leisurely pace towards his parked car. She’ll realize while driving home that her tires are going flat and she’ll stop to wait for help.

“Oh I’ll help her alright,” he snickered. “I’ll help “talk” her into telling me where those damn policies are.”

Fantasizing, he began picturing her terrified face and he grinned with satisfaction. So she’s why Tom Jones wanted out, he mused. Tom had wanted to make sure he didn’t lose his good looking wife.

He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled.

“Mrs. Jones should be leaving work, momentarily and she’s going to realize being alone with me is no accident,” he said, laughing wickedly.

One hour remained until his shift ended, and since he just happened to be in the neighborhood, Gavin decided to drop in at the Jones’s. Yes, he had paperwork that needed completed, that always needed completed. But his first priority was to interrogate Jeff Masters, because it was Jeff, who was currently installing Olivia’s security system.

After parking in front of her home, he paused to study the tastefully renovated stone house. I understand why she likes the solitude, the woods are peaceful, he thought as he stepped out of his police car. I’m glad she’s getting the security system put in, but she’s still going to be out here all alone.

Gavin climbed the porch steps and knocked hard against the heavy wooden front door. He already knew Olivia was still at work because he’d driven past her office parking lot earlier, before heading over.

As Jeff Masters opened the front door, he did not smile or greet Gavin. He merely stood with his arms folded over his chest, staring at the police officer in front of him, blocking the entrance to Olivia’s house.

Masters thinks he owns the place, Gavin mused. So he deliberately stepped in closer, forcing the shorter man to look up at him. Even with Jeff standing on the door step, they were not quite eye to eye.

“Olivia isn’t here, Rafferty. She didn’t come home yet,” Jeff said, pulling himself up to his full height.

“I know that. I’m here to talk to you Masters,” Gavin replied, pushing past him.

For the second time within a week, he proceeded to enter Olivia’s house without being offered an invitation and didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it.

After giving her trash bag a hearty toss into the office dumpster, Olivia hastily walked over to her SUV. As she rummaged through her purse, searching for her car keys, she silently fumed. I’m going to throttle my meddling sister. Maddy had called again and left another voicemail, pertaining to a blind date Olivia was positive she’d never even agreed too. Maddy had gleefully informed her that Thad Wolfe was looking forward to Saturday night. She also added that she’d arrive at the house no later than five o’clock so she could help her dress appropriately.

Olivia gritted her teeth as she unlocked the car door.

“I can choose my own clothes for this stinking blind date,” she grumbled, sliding in.

She started the engine, shifted into drive, and pulled out of the parking lot. Traveling down
Main Street
, Olivia contemplated calling Maddy and telling her to forget it, but knew she’d feel terrible about doing so. Her sister had shared numerous times throughout the recent annoying voicemails that Thad was really looking forward to this evening out.

Well, at least this Thad Wolfe insisted we meet at the restaurant and I’ll have my own car available so I can make a fast getaway, Olivia thought, trying to console herself.

Once outside the town limits, she began noticing that the SUV was not handling properly. “The car feels off or even lopsided,” she said aloud before purposely steering off onto the shoulder of the road. A brief, nervous glance out the car windows made her acutely aware of the how alone she was. Stranded along a back road, completely surrounded by towering dark forest, Olivia reached for her cell phone and speed dialed Maddy’s number. Much to her dismay, the call went immediately to voicemail.

Satisfied with the outcome of his conversation with Jeff Masters, Gavin left Olivia’s house to head back to the station. That man is a pain in the ass though, he thought, recalling how it seemed to irk Jeff that he’d stayed when all four rambunctious boys got home. Gavin chuckled. Man, that really seemed to eat at Masters and he certainly didn’t appreciate me asking questions about his personal interest in Olivia.

Skillfully, he steered the police cruiser around the last sharp curve in the road before it emptied into the mile long stretch of forest. Just as his headlights pierced the pitch black darkness, he noticed a vehicle parked on the other side, about a half mile down. Since its hazard lights were flashing, he reduced the speed of the cruiser to take a closer look. He went past the disabled vehicle another fifty feet before swinging a U turn in the middle of the road and parking directly behind a black SUV.

Immediately recognizing the vehicle to be Olivia’s, Gavin jumped out of the police car.

Two of his long legged strides promptly delivered him at the driver’s side door. A cursory glance inside told him the SUV was empty. Concerned, he called out her name. There was no response, only the hum of his car’s engine mingling with the melodic chirp of crickets hiding amongst the dark woods.

“Olivia!” He yelled again, louder, with more urgency.

This time, her head abruptly poked up from beside the front passenger side tire and a sudden wave of relief slid over him as he saw her face.

“Gavin,” Olivia exclaimed with relief.

For once in her life, she was very happy to see him.

“Oh, you’re in uniform. I guess I should call you, Officer Rafferty,” she teasingly told him, causing him to glare at her in response.

Gavin walked over and stood in front of her, dwarfing her in size. Given the circumstances, Olivia found his presence reassuring.

“Do you have a flat tire?

She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “I guess I have two flat tires.”

After sweeping his eyes over the SUV, he decided it did look lopsided.

“Wait here,” he told her and hastily strode back to his police car. Gavin returned gripping a flashlight within his hand and shone it down onto her front passenger side tire.

“They were fine this morning,” she mumbled, watching him kneel down.

Just then another vehicle started down the dark road, illuminating Gavin as he studied the front tire.

Olivia turned around, squinting against the approaching glare of blinding headlights, and watched as the car traveled toward them. The passer by initially slowed down, but then accelerated quickly and continued on his way.

“Let me see,” Olivia demanded, but Gavin only maneuvered her aside before getting up to check the rear tire.

“Hmm,” was all he muttered after crouching down, inspecting the rear passenger tire. Within seconds of the flashlight illuminating the tread, he’d discovered this tire contained a gash in it almost the same length as the front tire.

Clenching his jaw angrily, he stood up to survey the dark deserted stretch of road and realized that someone had intended to isolate her here, alone, in these woods.

Olivia tilted her face up to study him. He looked furious. As she waited for him to say something, anything, only one thought flashed through her mind. Gavin Rafferty’s a fierce looking man when he’s angry. Still having no clue as to why he was upset, she merely stared up at him, waiting with growing impatience.

He was beyond angry, irate was more like it. And when he’d glanced down at Olivia, he’d suddenly experienced a strong overwhelming desire to protect her. Actually, he’d envisioned hauling her into his car, driving her home and forbidding her to leave the safety of the newly wired house.

Olivia tucked her hands deep into her jacket pockets, shivered from the cold air, and then looked up into his cold blue eyes. They were unreadable.

Completely annoyed by his silence, she impatiently demanded, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Someone slashed your tires,” he said, reaching over to open her passenger side door. After removing her keys from the ignition, he lifted her purse off the passenger seat and then locked the doors. Not once did he look at her.

“Get in the car,” he told her, his tone menacing.

Once she was settled into the seat beside him, he started to reach across her, to help her with the seatbelt, but then thought twice about touching her. Instead, he stretched out his arm, neatly dropping her purse right in the middle of her lap.

Unfazed by its sudden presence, Olivia quietly stared out the tinted window with fingers of fear clawing inside her stomach.

“I’ll call for a tow truck,” he grumbled, still avoiding eye contact as he turned the key in the ignition.

“I don’t know of anyone who would do this to me. There’s not one person that I can think of who would want to hurt me like this,” she murmured, thinking aloud.

She averted her gaze to Gavin, his eyes were focused on the road but he still looked furious.

“I sure am glad I had the idea to have a security system installed,” she quietly joked in a half hearted attempt to ease some of the angry tension emanating off of him.

It didn’t work. He cast her a brief glance.

“It’s not Masters. He’s been working at your house all day.”

Then he fell silent again.

As the police cruiser approached the front of her welcoming stone home, they both could see Jeff Masters standing in the foyer. And for some reason, completely unknown to Olivia, she suddenly felt the urgent need to explain why Jeff Masters was still there, waiting for her.

“He needs to show me how to use the security system yet,” she hesitantly offered up, breaking the silence.

After a few more nerve wracking seconds, Gavin finally addressed her.

Instead of speaking, he gently shifted her face toward him by placing two fingers along the angle of her jaw. His light touch lingered against her skin while his fiery eyes searched hers. His gaze packed such scorching intensity; it began to physically warm her body from the inside out. Then slowly, ever so slowly, his intense eyes shifted, drifting over face and eventually traveling down to her mouth.

Finally, he was finally going to kiss her.

Only much to Olivia’s dismay, he didn’t.

Instead, he unbuckled her seatbelt and spoke in a low, frustrated growl. “Get out of the car, Olivia. Go in your house. Lock your doors and set the alarm on your new security system.”

Uncharacteristically, she complied without question. Surprised that her shaky legs still managed support her own weight, she stood ramrod straight. She’d rather be struck dead than let Gavin Rafferty ever know how much he’d just rattled her.

“Thank you for bringing me home,” she told him, not allowing her voice to tremble.

“Just go in the house,” he repeated, deliberately keeping his gaze fixed on the windshield. “I’ll take care of your car. You should have it back by tomorrow afternoon.”

Sparing her an unfriendly glance, he reached over, pulled the door shut and took off down the drive way. Apparently, he couldn’t get away fast enough.

Olivia shook her head, as if doing so could physically clear her jumbled mind. She turned around slowly, telling herself she needed to go into the house. She knew though, without a doubt, that she was going to have a very difficult time listening to Jeff Masters explain how to use the new security system. Her thoughts would once again be consumed by Officer Rafferty.

Gavin went directly to the police station. Marching over to Ron Barton’s desk, he leaned forward, splaying his large hands upon the disorganized surface. His partner barely looked up from the report he was typing.

“You seem pissed off,” Ron stated, nonchalantly.