The Object of His Protection Read Online Free PDF

the sound of Nate’s voice, then breathed in deeply. She hadn’t expected him to return from lunch so soon. She glanced over at him and noticed he was looking at her rather funny. His smile, she noted, didn’t quite reach his eyes. He had caught her snooping in the file drawer containing the cases he had worked and he was probably wondering whose file she had. She saw no reason not to tell him since she was curious as to why he had falsified the information on Dennis’s autopsy report.
    She cleared her throat. “I was reading your final report on Joe Dennis,” she said, placing the report back in the cabinet drawer and then closing and relocking it. She glanced up and saw a frown settle on his features.
    “Why would you concern yourself with Joe Dennis’s autopsy?”
    She heard the tenseness in his voice. She also heard a hardness that had never been there before, except for that one time she had overheard him arguing with some man.
    “Just curious,” she said, refusing to let him know about Drey’s request. He’d seen Drey around but had probably assumed he was dropping by to see her for personal reasons.
    “And you were curious because…” he prompted.
    She met his gaze. “Because I saw the body, Nate, and I know Joe Dennis didn’t die of a heart attack. There was trauma to—”
    “There was no trauma,” he all but snapped. “Are you questioning my findings?”
    Yes, I am, Charlene thought. She was questioning his findings because he knew as well as she did that they were wrong. “All I know, Nate, is what I saw. Someone had hit Dennis over the head.”
    “You are mistaken, Charlene, and that’s the end of it,” he said with a finality in his tone, while coming close to raising his voice. “And I would appreciate it if you never go checking behind me again.”
    “I wasn’t doing that, Nate.”
    “Weren’t you?”
    Charlene really didn’t know what to say. All she knew, all she was definitely sure about was that the report Nate had issued to the police was wrong. Why would he do such a thing? Why was he trying to convince her it was right when she knew what she saw? And what about the key that had been taken out of the man’s stomach? There was no mention of it. She had a funny feeling about this and the intense way Nate was looking at her wasn’t helping. Still, she wasn’t dissuaded by his words. She knew what she saw and she intended to get to the bottom of it.
    “Great,” she muttered as she headed out of the room. “I guess I was mistaken.” But she didn’t mean it. She needed to talk to Drey right away.
    “Charlene.”
    She stopped and turned to Nate before reaching the door. “Yes?”
    “I think you should take some time off. In fact I strongly suggest that you do. You need time to clear your head since you’re imagining things.”
    Charlene held back from telling him all the things that concerned her. She tilted her head and studied him and suddenly felt uneasy. There was a reason he wanted her gone for a while and they both knew it had nothing to do with her imagination.
    “And it will be time off with pay,” he said, as if that meant something.
    It was an effort not to tell him just what he could do with the time off with pay, but she bit her tongue to stop from doing so. Instead she walked out of the room.
    A few minutes later after removing the items from her desk that she wanted to take with her she paused before entering Nate’s office when she saw he was on the phone. She couldn’t help but notice how quickly he ended the call when he saw her.
    “Yes, Charlene?”
    “I transferred my reports to Miller to work while I’m gone just in case someone needs a follow-up.”
    “Okay.”
    She inhaled deeply, then said, “What’s going on, Nate? Why are you—”
    “I don’t want anything about Joe Dennis to go any further. You’re wrong in what you thought you saw,” he said, cutting in.
    Forcing a smile, she said, “Fine. I’ll see you in two weeks.”
    “Make