It All Falls Down (Rose Gardner Investigations #7) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,2

of the bed. “I have to go to a crime scene,” he said, stopping next to me.

“A murder?” I wasn’t out of line for asking. Not much else would drag him out before the sun rose.

He grimaced. “They found a body.” But he didn’t admit it was a murder, which meant they were still keeping it under wraps.

“Do you think it has anything to do with James or the Collards?”

While the sheriff’s department had arrested Gerard Collard and two of his sons after a standoff, his son Brox, a man who had helped me on more than one occasion, was missing, and I had a hard time believing he’d been part of their scheme. But Gerard must have a lot of money and/or assets, because he and his sons had posted bail. Then again, I knew he’d been dealing in arms.

And Hope’s biological father, James Malcolm, had been supplying them.

Joe hesitated, then said, “It’s too soon to tell.”

My chest tightened, and I sat up, struggling to draw a breath. “Joe, please be careful.”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close. “I will,” he whispered in my ear. “I have too much to lose.”

“But James…”

“Skeeter Malcolm is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. He’s not gonna kill me.”

“But my vision—”

He pulled back slightly. “Have another.”

I sucked in a breath.

“Have another,” he said, cupping the side of my face.

I was scared to try again. I’d had the first vision the day Hope was born…and twice since. Both repeat visions had shown me the same thing: Joe’s murder by James.

Joe pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “Knowledge is power.”

James had told me the same thing what seemed like a lifetime ago. No matter who said it, there was truth in the statement. I nodded. “Okay.”

Leaning my face into his palm, I reached up and covered his hand with mine, then closed my eyes. Does James shoot Joe?

The vision was immediate. James stood about six feet in front of me, his brown eyes full of hate. “You thought you could take what was mine, Simmons?”

“You could never deserve them, Malcolm,” I snarled in Joe’s voice.

“Maybe not, but neither do you.” Then James pulled the trigger, hitting me square in the chest. A white-hot heat spread through my body, and I fell to the ground.

The vision faded, and I found myself staring into Joe’s worried eyes, my heart pounding so hard I was surprised it didn’t burst out of my chest. “He’s gonna kill you.”

He gave me a tight smile. “No. He’s not. Did you see where we were this time?”

I shook my head as tears stung my eyes. “No. It was dark, so it must have been night, but I couldn’t tell if you were outside.”

“I have no intention of forcing a confrontation with Skeeter Malcolm, inside or out. We’ll figure out how to stop it, so try not to worry.” He gave me a lingering kiss, then stood. “I need to get dressed and head out.”

“Okay.”

He made quick work of shaving and putting on his uniform. “You gonna head into the office today?”

“Just for a few hours. Bruce Wayne’s doin’ the best he can, but he’s overwhelmed. His specialty is overseeing installments, not makin’ designs and meetin’ with clients.”

His gaze shifted to Hope.

“We’ll be careful,” I said. “I’ll lock the office door.”

“Okay…” I could tell he wanted to tell me to stay home, but he bit his tongue and trusted me to use my best judgment. He knew I’d never knowingly put our baby in danger. “Check in with me today.”

“And you let me know when you have something you can share.”

“Deal.”

He leaned over and kissed Hope on the forehead. Then he stood, gave me another kiss, and walked out the door.

Chapter 2

I couldn’t go back to sleep after Joe left. I was too worried about him and what he was investigating. So I moved Hope to her bassinet, shocked when she didn’t wake up, and coerced Muffy to come downstairs and go out to pee. Muffy shot out the back door quickly enough that no one would have guessed she’d been hit by a car a month and a half earlier. It was as if having a new purpose—guarding Hope—had given her a burst of energy. As soon as she did her business, she ran back inside and back up the stairs to the bedroom.

Deciding to take advantage of the quiet, I grabbed my laptop and headed back upstairs