of her in the hospital. His ability to dismiss his concern about the case vanished the moment he’d seen those photos. Yeah, he’d tried to pawn the case off on Billy, but now that it was his, he was going to be haunted by those images until Jimmy Ramsey was back in jail—or dead. As a cop, he couldn’t walk away. As Kim’s ex-lover…well, that was something he had to get over. That wasn’t why he was here. “He’s no threat? I should drop the case? You’ll be fine?”
“Where did you get those?” Her hand went to her thigh, where he knew a nasty scar had to be hidden.
He leaned against the desk, his hands flat on the surface. “Jimmy hasn’t checked in for parole.”
She caught her breath, her fingers curling around the arm of the chair. “It was a bear.”
“Why are you shutting me out? I’m here to help you.” Hard to imagine there was a time when he’d known every secret she had. She wouldn’t even let him into her worst nightmare now.
Kim seemed to steady herself and threw him a challenging stare. “Why are you here? I thought you were going to assign someone else to the case.”
He gritted his teeth. “It has to be me.”
“Why? Do you think maybe you’re too personally involved—”
He held up his hand. “It’s been ten years, Kim.”
“Believe me, I know how long it’s been.”
So she’d been counting the years as well? “What happened back then doesn’t matter anymore.”
Her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. “It doesn’t?”
“No.” It couldn’t. He’d moved on, and he wasn’t interested in revisiting their past. He simply wasn’t. Instead, he nodded at the pictures. “That’s what matters now.”
She followed his gaze to the photos, and said nothing. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking anymore. Oh, sure, he could sense her anxiety and fear, but nothing else. He sure couldn’t see inside her mind. Didn’t know why she’d left, why she hadn’t visited her dad, why… The list was too long.
“Kim.”
She looked at him. “What?”
“Let’s make a deal. I’m here as a cop. That’s my job, and let’s not take it any further than that. The past is gone.”
After a long moment, she nodded. “Fine. No past. It’s better that way.”
“Yeah.” Then why did he so desperately want to find out what had happened? Why had she left? Dammit! Why couldn’t he stop thinking about it? Was he so weak that one moment with her in his arms caused ten years of immunity to collapse?
“I’m getting an alarm installed today. I’m going to alert the staff to keep an eye out for him.” She met his gaze. “He won’t get me.”
“It’s my job to keep you safe. I’m not going away.”
She groaned. “Why does it have to be you?”
“Because it does.” He felt years of rage bubble up, bitterness he’d kept buried for so long. He couldn’t contain it. “I might not have been good enough to marry, but trust me, I’m good enough to keep you alive.”
Her glittering eyes snapped to his face. He wished he could see pain and regret in them, but he saw nothing beyond the defensiveness. “I thought the past was off-limits.”
“I won’t let you use it to endanger yourself. Get over it and let me help.”
“Sean—”
The door swung open and Sean was on his feet with his hand on his gun before Didi had even stepped inside. “You have a visitor,” she said. She lifted her eyebrow at Sean in the same not-so-subtle flirtation she’d directed toward him when he’d first arrived.
As if he had time for that crap. “Who is it?”
Didi narrowed her eyes in the typical look of a woman who wasn’t used to men being immune to her charm. “Tom Payton from the marina.”
“I’ll come out and meet him,” he said.
“Me, too.” Kim jumped up, ignoring his glare to stay in the office. “I have to run this place, Sean. I’m not going to let Jimmy rule my life.”
“You’re taking over the Loon’s Nest?” Didi asked Kim as she trailed along after them. “Really?”
“Really.” Kim walked into the reception area one step ahead of Sean, but he made sure she wasn’t between his gun and their guest, who appeared to be a skinny kid wearing cutoffs and sneakers. He looked like he was eighteen, but something about his eyes said he was more likely to be in his mid-twenties. He was wearing a Yankees cap and his nose was sunburned. He blushed when Didi shot him a come-hither look. Guess the kid hadn’t figured out that Didi probably gave that smile to anyone with a Y chromosome.
“I’m Kim Collins.”
The kid nodded. “Tom Payton. Eddie sent me up here to get you. He wants to show you something on Max’s boat.” He looked nervously at Sean. “You’re the cop?”
“Yeah.”
“He saw your cruiser. Wants you to come, too.”
Sean glanced at Kim as they followed Tom out the door. Her face was shuttered and she wouldn’t look at him. Was she pissed at Sean or upset because they had to deal with her dad? What had happened to make her hate Max so much?
No, that wasn’t Sean’s problem. It was so frustrating to find himself falling into the old patterns: caring about her, wanting to know what she was feeling, wishing he could take away her anguish. He’d thought he hated her too much to lapse into past behaviors. Habit. That’s all his feelings were. A bad habit it was time to break so he could focus on the more important questions. For one, what was going on with Max’s boat?
Eddie met them at the door to the boathouse, where he had Max’s boat in dry dock. He wasted no time on pleasantries. “You guys gotta see this.” He walked them over to the boat and pointed to the steering column. “Right there.”
Sean could see some scratches on the casing. “What am I looking for?”
Eddie pulled out a screwdriver and pointed to a small piece of metal poking out. “That little piece wedged in there?” He tugged on the steering wheel and it didn’t turn. “Jammed the steering column so it can’t turn.”
Sean squatted and pulled a flashlight off his belt. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah.” Eddie leaned on the rim of the boat. “Told you his wife was trying to kill him.”
Sean had been treated to Eddie’s murder theories during their late nights at the hospital and he still didn’t buy them. In Sean’s opinion, Eddie felt guilty and was trying to absolve himself. Sean was certain Helen adored Max, even if she didn’t want to operate the Loon’s Nest for the rest of her life. “Assuming for a minute it wasn’t Helen, how else could this have happened?”
Kim was standing back, her arms folded across her chest. She was acting as though she didn’t care, but he couldn’t believe it. He simply couldn’t. He’d seen her love for her family too many times. It had been real and enduring. How had it come to this?
Eddie frowned. “I didn’t do it.”
“I know, Eddie. But could it have happened by mistake?”
He hesitated. “Well, Tom was working on the boat earlier in the day. He might have made an error, I guess.”
Sean could hear Tom outside talking to one of the resort guests about renting a boat to go waterskiing.
He sat back on his heels. “If the piece got wedged in there before Max took the boat out, how could he have steered from the start? Or it is