Lex charged downstairs. Napoleon was growling and yipping along the glass door that looked out onto the porch. Lex took his weapon from his gun safe, slotted in a clip, chambered a round and slid the door open. He stepped barefoot onto the porch. Napoleon bulleted out at his feet, rushing over the grass to a line of trees and shrubs along the boundary. He started growling and snuffling exactly where Lex thought he’d heard something rustling the night before. Jenna appeared on the porch behind him, his robe wrapped around her. He motioned for her to get back inside quickly.
Lex made his way over the grass, crouched down and examined the soft dry soil under the trees. Prints. And they looked to have been made by a male, about a size eleven shoe. Someone had been standing here. Lex glanced back at the house.
Whoever had been lurking under this tree would’ve seen him on the porch last night. He needed to get someone to look at these prints. He dragged his hand over his hair. What was he going to say? That he’d been making love to Jenna Rothchild instead of bringing her in after the attack on her life last night?
God, he’d been a fool. This could have been her attacker, right here, watching.
Lex swore softly, made his way back over the grass to the house.
“What was it?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Nothing.”
“But Napoleon never—”
“I want you to get dressed, Jenna. Take some of my clothes. And I’m going to call Perez to come pick you up. She can take you in, help you file a report—”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to get myself off this case.”
“What…do you mean?”
He took her shoulders. “Jenna, this is going to get real complicated between me and you. It appears your father not only withheld those death threats but he also lied about the fire at your grandfather’s South American office. We’re likely going to see him being charged for obstruction of justice at minimum. And depending on how this all plays out down the road, and what else we learn from him in questioning, you may end up being a witness for the prosecution—”
She blanched, reaching for the back of a chair, the implications—the full brunt of what she’d done—hitting her square in the harsh light of morning. She wiped her brow with the back of her wrist, shaking slightly. She was also perspiring, probably still in shock. Geez, he should never have slept with her. “Jenna, listen—”
She jerked out from under his touch. “Look, intellectually, I know this all has to happen, Lex. But…can you…maybe leave me out of it? I mean, get a warrant for those notes without naming me or letting him know I betrayed him?”
“I can’t do that, Jenna.”
Panic mounted in her face. “Lex, you have to, please. I told you everything. I came clean. I just don’t want him to know I—”
“Do you realize what you are asking me to do? I’m a law enforcement agent, Jenna.”
She grasped his hand. “Please, Lex. For me.”
“Listen, we need you, Jenna. Your father is withholding serious evidence in connection with murder. What he did, what he hid from police, could have gotten you killed. For all we know, he’s up to something that did get Candace killed. He needs to tell us what happened in the past, with that ring, or more people could get hurt. And we’re going to need your testimony to do what we need to.”
She looked nauseous. “And…and you’re taking yourself off the case?”
“I must.”
“So you’re just handing me over to your partner, who will take me to talk to agents who don’t know me, who don’t understand me like you do? What are they going to do to me when they find out I was at Candace’s place the night she was murdered? I told you, Lex, because I trust you. I need you on my side now.”
“Jenna, this way I can be there for—”
She shook her head. “I was a total fool, wasn’t I? You were using me, just like my dad and Rebecca Lynn said you were. You were baiting me, setting me up to betray my family.”
“That’s not true!”
“Isn’t it?”
He hesitated. “Look, Jenna, it might have started out that way—”
She glared at him, then swore and made for the stairs.
“Jenna!” he called after her. “Can you honestly tell me you weren’t setting me up at that bachelor auction? Can you swear your father had nothing to do with that?”
She wavered on the bottom stair but didn’t turn around.
“See? We both started out on the wrong foot, Jenna. But things have changed.”
“Have they really, Lex?” she said softly, turning to face him, her big dark eyes hollow. “Because the way I see it, you’re still a cop first.” And with that she disappeared up the stairs.