The Protectors of Riker County

Maggie held up her index finger, much like the sheriff had done earlier in the hospital.

“One, that Dwayne wiped down the entire place after he was beaten into unconsciousness.” Maggie held up another finger. “Two, I wiped the place down before I did my own unconscious dance.”

Matt held up his finger in lieu of her ticking off her third.

“Three, whoever attacked both of you wiped the place down, erasing any evidence linking him or her to the house. And to you and Dwayne.”

That cold in the pit of Maggie’s stomach was starting to unravel to the point of becoming flat. She had no sarcasm or joke to replace it. There was no denying she was caught in the middle of something.

And she needed to figure out what that something was fast.

Maggie gave the detective one decisive nod. He must have seen the intent in her eyes. Ever so slightly he tilted his head to the side. The human way to silently question something that was a mystery.

Under different circumstances, she would have liked to have been a mystery that the handsome Detective Matt Walker tried to solve, but now she was afraid the question mark she had been branded with was dangerous.

“Okay, then we only have one option.” She brushed past the man and headed for the living room. He followed her, his stare burrowing a hole in every step she took. He kept quiet as she grabbed her purse and dumped its contents on the floor next to the couch. “Let’s figure out what I did yesterday.”

His eyes didn’t leave hers for a moment. Then he nodded.

“I agree. I also want to call in CSU to dust for prints here. They’re still working on the partial, but considering how quickly you appear to have left yesterday, maybe if you did have company, we can at least find out who it was.”

“Good idea.”

Maggie was still trying to ignore how freaked out it made her feel to know someone or something had spooked her enough to run from her own home. Her eyes started to skirt over the various pieces of her life that had made up the inside of her purse when she realized Matt wasn’t moving.

Maggie looked up and met his eyes.

Trying to solve another mystery.

But not one that had to do with her.

“After I make this call you’re going to answer a few questions before we do anything else.” His voice was cold. She could almost swear she felt its chill from where she sat on the floor. He wasn’t going to let her off the hook this time. She’d run out of wiggle room.

“Sounds fair.”

Matt pulled out his phone but kept his eyes on her when he spoke again.

“And we’ll start with why you think my wife was murdered.”