reaction at all. She wanted to believe her son was still alive.”
Officer Cutter continued to watch her closely. Emerald saw the curiosity shining in his light blue eyes. They searched her face like he was trying to read something that wasn’t there. She sensed he was about to say something that had nothing to do with this case.
“Do we know each other from somewhere?” he questioned. “I can’t shake this feeling we’ve met somewhere before. I’m usually pretty good with remembering things like this, but I can’t recall where we could’ve met.”
Emerald’s heart lodged in her throat as she thought of ways to get out of this situation. There was a slim chance that Chance would actually remember who she was. Too many years had passed for him to truly recall their encounter anyways. And besides, she’d taken pains then to disguise herself. Chance wouldn’t ever to be able to place the two of them together.
“I don’t think we do,” Emerald answered. “This is the first time I’ve ever met you. I could just have one of those faces.”
God... let him drop it.
Chance’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “No, I know I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
Emerald glanced around the empty hallway trying to think of something else she could get Chance to talk about and off her back.
“Maybe you’ve seen me out at a crime scene with Dr. David,” she suggested hoping he would believe her.
For a moment, Chance studied her intently like he was going to believe her and the look on his face changed to frustration. “No, I’ve seen you somewhere else that doesn’t involve work. I’m going to stop thinking about it so my mind can pull it up.”
No! She didn’t want any of this to happen right now, but Chance seemed determined not to let it go. So, it meant she would have to move the topic onto something else.
“I need to go back inside and check on the Hamiltons. If they’re ready, I’ll send them back out here to you.”
Moving around Chance’s tall, tempting physique Emerald placed her hand on the door and pushed it open with the palm of her hand. She walked inside without looking back.
Taking a second look at Chance was the thing that had gotten her into trouble with him in the first place. She wasn’t about to repeat the same mistake twice in her life.
Chapter Five
Later on that night after driving the heartbroken Hamiltons home from identifying their son’s body, Chance fixed the driver’s seat of his patrol car as he got ready for the long night ahead of him.
He was hidden from view beside a tree with a radar speed gun attached to his dashboard so he could check for speed demons on this stretch of back road.
Teenagers mixed with a handful of college students were the main ones who decided to use this less than frequented area as their own drag racing strip but they weren’t going to get by with it since he was on patrol tonight.
Actually, he wasn’t supposed to be doing this tonight. He had reports to work on for his captain, but one of his co-workers wanted time off to attend his son’s last college football game, so he’d volunteered to take the guy’s spot tonight.
Besides, Chance would rather be out here in his cruiser than behind a desk any day. This time alone would give him the space to work on two things going on inside of his life. One mistake was a problem he had brought on himself by not knowing how to keep his mouth closed.
He’d tried calling Nash and Brian earlier, but neither one of them answered his phone calls. Honestly, he couldn’t blame either one of them for taking their women’s side over him. He should have never opened his mouth in the first place. Now, his size twelve shoes were shoved so far down his throat that he might not ever find the right words to apologize to his friends.
Both Shauntie and Sapphire never treated him with anything but respect whenever they were around him. He was the one with the problem, not them.
Chance knew his