“Are you all right?” Finn demanded as he hurried toward her.
She cradled her sore arm and nodded. “Just a little bruised up.”
His blue eyes shifted to the destroyed SUV, and he let out a sharp whistle. “Jesus, Jamie, you could have been killed.” Then that gaze landed on Gideon and a scowl graced Finn’s mouth. “What are you doing here, Gideon?”
“I saw the accident and came to help,” the man mumbled. “I was just leaving, though.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “Well, don’t go too far, Joe. I’ll send a deputy over in a bit to take a statement from you.”
“Whatever you say, Sheriff.”
Jamie and Finn watched Gideon amble off, his rifle swinging back and forth as he scurried off the shoulder and disappeared into the trees.
Anna Holt spoke first. “Is it just me, or do you guys think it’s really suspicious that he was first on the scene?”
Jamie sighed. “It’s not just you.” She glanced at Finn. “He checked out the car, said the brake lines might have been cut.”
Finn looked shocked. “Are you serious?”
“That’s what Gideon thinks. But we should probably get a mechanic to look at it.”
“That’s my first priority.” He shook his head. “Scratch that, it’s my second priority. Right now I’m driving you to the clinic to get checked out.”
She groaned in protest. “I’m fine, Finn. I don’t need a doc—”
“No argument,” he interrupted, a ferocious scowl on his face. “Now get in the Jeep so I can take you to the clinic.”
“Jeez, Finn—”
“Get in the damn Jeep, Jamie.”
“Well, it’s not broken,” Dr. Travis Bennett concluded, removing the X-ray he’d taken of Jamie’s arm from the backlit white board. He turned with a reassuring smile, which only irked her even more.
“I knew it wasn’t broken,” she grumbled from her place on the narrow gurney. “I told Finn there was no reason to come to the clinic.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Finn grumbled back, his broad frame filling the doorway.
“The sheriff’s right,” Dr. Bennett agreed. “It’s always prudent to get checked out after an accident.” The tall man stepped to the door. “I’m going to write you up a prescription for painkillers.”
“I don’t need painkillers,” she objected.
He simply offered an indulgent smile. “Trust me, you’ll thank me tonight, when all those scrapes and bruises start throbbing.”
After the doctor left the room, Finn came inside, a frown marring his mouth. “I just got off the phone with the mechanic.”
“And?”
“He did an initial examination of the SUV and confirmed what Gideon said. The brake lines were cut.”
Unhappiness lodged in her chest. “Could it have happened on its own?”
Finn shook his head. “It was a clean cut. Whoever did it left about a quarter of the line intact, so that the brake fluid drained out slowly.”
She furrowed her brows. “So they couldn’t have known when the brakes would stop working. Which means Gideon would have to be a mind reader to know to be on that stretch of the road at the exact moment.”
“Unless he was following you since you left his house, waiting for you to die.”
“But when would he have tampered with my brakes? I was with him the entire time at his house.”
“Did you go anywhere else?” Finn asked. “Park somewhere for a bit?”
Cole’s house. She’d been at Cole’s house. But she couldn’t tell Finn, not when he’d ordered her to stay away from the man. Besides, she’d been with Cole the entire time too. They’d been busy…not sleeping together. No way could he have messed around with her car.
“By the way,” Finn added darkly, “I walked over to the parking lot at the station and saw four puddles of fluid on the pavement.”
“You did?”
“Yep. How the hell didn’t you notice that, Jamie? You shouldn’t have gotten into that car, damn it.”
“I…I was distracted, I guess.”
By Cole Donovan and his potent masculinity.
She wanted to berate herself for being so stupid, for not noticing that her car was leaking brake fluid all over the place. God, she could have died. And all because she hadn’t been firing on all cylinders, all because her confusing feelings for Cole kept spinning around in her head like a damn carousel.
“Steve will go over the car more thoroughly, but I think it’s safe to say that someone intentionally tried to hurt you,” Finn said.
“I think you’re right. But who?” She swallowed. “Gideon tried to imply that it was Cole.”
“Did he say why?”
“He thinks Cole wanted me off the case because he doesn’t like me snooping around.”
Finn didn’t answer.
“Come on, Finn, that’s ridiculous and you know it,” she shot out. “I just backed up Cole’s alibi.”
“But he doesn’t know that. And besides, I’m not convinced the alibi even clears him,” Finn replied. “Maybe Gideon’s right and Cole wanted you out of the way before you got too close to the truth.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she said again.