Lynn stepped into her path. “I believed you,” she said softly.
Rose stilled.
“My partner didn’t. He’s the one who was lead on the investigation. Then. Not now. I am not your enemy. I want to help you, and I want to find the man who is killing women in my state. We can work together on this. We can stop him.”
She wanted him stopped.
“Do you believe Dylan Nelson is the perp?” Lynn pushed. “Do you think your producer is capable of killing?”
Until today, she would have said no. She had said no. Not Dylan. But… “Anyone is capable,” Rose responded. “If pushed too far.”
“Judging by the photos, he is quite hooked on you. In the pictures, you didn’t look as if you knew that you were being photographed—”
“I didn’t know.”
“That worries me. Because if he’s not our perp, he’s still exhibiting stalking behavior that I find alarming.”
Not like Rose found it all comforting and awesome. She was alarmed, too. She was also running way out of options.
But Lynn wasn’t done being all grim and authoritative. “If you walk out of this station, you must have protection. Either police officers or your own personal guard.” A wave of her hand back toward War before she told Rose, “I’m sorry, but I can’t in good conscience let you just go out alone. If I must do it, I can have you taken to a safe house. I can have you put in protective custody—”
Basically held prisoner for who knew how long? No, not what she wanted. No, thanks. There was only one option from where Rose was standing. Even though that option pissed the hell out of her. “War,” Rose bit off.
“Excuse me?” A furrow appeared between Lynn’s brows.
“I’ll go the personal guard route. I’ll have War.” She slowly turned to face him. He was still standing against the wall. His gaze immediately locked with hers. “I might not like you very much right now.” Understatement. She wanted to scream at him because he’d hurt her, again. The bastard. “But I know you’re more than capable of doing the job. You also hate Dylan, so there’s that bonus.”
“Fucking despise him,” War confirmed.
“Yes, well, that means you should be able to protect me from him easily, doesn’t it?”
He pushed away from the wall. “Damn straight I’ll protect you.”
“I’m sure we can work out an agreement about payment. You can bill me.”
His gaze hardened. “I’ll do it for free.”
Oh, now he wanted to be generous? “Over my dead body.”
He stalked toward her. “Never gonna happen.”
As he got closer, her body tensed. Anger and fear and a dozen other emotions burned through her so that all she wanted to do was—
“Great. Wonderful. Glad this has been worked out.” Lynn’s voice was flat. “How about the two of you take yourselves and your weird tension out of my station? I need to go grill Dylan more before his lawyer shuts me down.”
War didn’t look away from Rose.
So she broke eye contact and spun for the door—and Lynn. “You’ll keep us updated?”
“Of course. You do the same for me. If you see anything that sets off alarms for you, you contact me.”
Rose nodded.
“We’re going to be monitoring your phone.”
You should have done that before! When I came to you before Barbara died! Her lips pressed together to hold back those words. Neal was gone. He’d been the one shutting things down. If Lynn wanted to work with her, if Lynn was going to be different, then Rose would cooperate.
“If this guy contacts you again, we want to know everything that he says. We will try to trace him and stop him.” Lynn’s gaze shifted to War. “I can count on you to continue keeping me in the loop? The same deal we’ve had before?”
Rose’s hands fisted. How wonderful that they had a deal—wonderful for them. Painful for her.
Did War just make deals with everyone these days? Sure seemed like it.
“I won’t let her out of my sight, and if someone comes for her, I will stop the SOB.” A lethal promise.
Unease flashed on Lynn’s face. “This isn’t about you taking the law into your own hands. It’s about guarding a victim.”
“I will always protect Rose. Don’t worry about that issue.”
But he hadn’t said a word about not taking the law into his own hands.
“And you…” Lynn pointed at Rose. “I’d prefer not to see you on the air talking about this case.”
“I’m taking personal time. Not planning to jump in front of a camera any time soon.”
Lynn didn’t say anything else. She hurried out of the room and down the corridor—no doubt, going to grill Dylan. As Rose exited the room, her steps were just as fast as Lynn’s. She wanted out of that place. Away from the ringing phones and voices and the sight of the desks covered with heavy case files that needed to be solved.
Before this nightmare, she’d loved working the crime beat. Since she’d become a target…
Everything has changed.
Rose hurried past the bullpen. Cut through the lobby. Shoved open the glass doors and burst outside. Night had fallen, and heavy darkness waited for her. The air felt thick and still, and she was far too conscious of War following right behind her.
His car was waiting on the other side of the street. Without a word, she headed for it. The traffic was light, so it was easy to dart across the road.
He reached the passenger side before she did. His hand slid out to curl around the handle. “You aren’t looking at me.”
No, she wasn’t.
“You’re barely talking to me.”
It was good that he was being observant.
“Are you going to give me a chance to explain?”
“I don’t want to do this on the street. I’m tired, and I want to get home.”
He hauled open the door.
She sat down. Hooked her seatbelt. When Rose realized her fingers were shaking, she balled them into fists. Her control was definitely fracturing all over the place. She’d tried so hard to hold herself together. If she could just make it to her condo…if she could get inside, get to her bedroom. Lock the door…
Then she could fall apart.
He started the car. Pulled them away and drove slowly toward the intersection.
“My home,” Rose emphasized. “I’m not going to your place. There is no way I’m sleeping in your bed tonight.”
“If that’s what you want…”
“It is. It is exactly what I want. That’s why I said it.” Her head turned so she was gazing out of the window. Her breath was coming too fast. Her chest ached.
“Rose, I did what I had to—”
“Could we just not talk for now? Let’s drive in silence. Just…a little silence.” A tear slid down her cheek. Angrily, she swiped it away. Breaking up with War the first time had hurt like hell. The same pain was hitting her again. The hollowness in her heart. The knots in her stomach. The pain that creeped and crawled through every part of her.
So much for being over him. If she’d been over War, then his lies wouldn’t have hurt so much.