If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

you’ll get is more nightmares. You don’t need that.”
    She looked at him. “Isn’t it up to me to make that decision?”
    “You can’t undo the damage once it’s there. You can’t take those nightmares away.” He shook his head. “I’m not letting you do it.” Then he moved around her and sealed that nightmare back up.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
     
    T OOLS . R OPES STAINED WITH BLOOD . C HAINS .
    Those were bad enough. But the other things …
    Law’s gut clenched each time the image of the saw blade danced through his mind. The serrated teeth stained with blood. His gut clenched each time. He hadn’t gotten sick, but it had been damn close.
    Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. And Nia wanted that image in her head.
    Shit, no. He had to watch her like a hawk, too, because for most of the afternoon, she’d been ready to take off running. He’d made his call, not necessarily fudging anything. Just leaving out one or two minor details.
    Like that they had been
looking
for the cellar they’d found.
    They’d just gone hiking.
    Remy hadn’t been pleased—Law could tell, but at one point, the lawyer had cornered both of them and snarled, “What are you two trying to do? Get all of us fucked?”
    “Now, Remy … I never outright told you what we were doing,” Ezra said easily. “Just mentioned Nia’s concerns … then that we were going out for a hike.And, to be honest, I didn’t expect to really
find
anything.”
    Remy looked about ready to bust a vein. “You expect me to buy that?”
    “Doesn’t matter if you buy it or not. I can tell you, honestly, I didn’t
think
we’d find anything. I figured our chances of finding anything out there were slim to none.” Ezra shrugged, his green eyes direct. “Reilly and I have been out there before—never saw a damn thing. Didn’t see why we’d expect it to be any different this time.”
    “But you did. And damn it, now what in the fuck happens?” he snarled. “You’re the damn sheriff and you had civilians on what might be a murder scene!”
    “Actually, only one civilian,” Law corrected. “And we were just walking around—researching some old maps of mine. The cellar was on one of them and I wanted to take a look. I moved ahead and was wandering around while I waited for Ezra and Nia to catch up, that’s when I found it.”
    Remy snorted. “Like anybody is going to buy that.”
    Law looked down at his maps, then back at Remy. “Well, I do have the maps. And come on, Remy, look at it logically. If Ezra had thought he’d be finding a murder scene, he’d have his men with him. Right? So logic tells us he wasn’t expecting to find anything of the sort.”
    “Nah, he was just out there because he’s into recreation,” Remy muttered. “And that’s why I had to take a day off of work … without telling anybody why. That’s why
he
took a day off of work. Without telling anybody why. Like that isn’t going to make people suspicious as hell. And by the way … why the big fucking secret?”
    “Because the sheriff isn’t sure just which of the townspeople are involved,” Ezra said, his voice flat. Hard.
    Remy stared at Ezra blankly, not comprehending.
    Law realized the lawyer hadn’t quite arrived at thatconclusion yet, that he hadn’t connected those dots. Too close to it, he guessed—hell, Law hadn’t lived here all his life, wasn’t connected by blood or marriage to nearly thirty percent of the county. Remy was. His roots here, they went deep. More than likely, he would know whoever was behind this—more than likely, he had met the killer—might even be friends with him.
    Shit, wasn’t that a thought to have in your head?
    “You know, for a sharp lawyer, you’re not thinking very clearly here,” he pointed out.
    “Reilly. Shut the fuck up.” Ezra focused on Remy. “Think it through, Jennings. If he’s right, whoever did this is local. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Whoever did it is local … and you know him.”
    “No.” Remy shook his head, spit the word out like it tasted bad. “
Fuck
, no.”
    “Yeah. Which is why I wanted it quiet while I was out there. We couldn’t put it off—Nia was out there yesterday and she’s had some weird shit happen, which tells me somebody is paying too much attention to her. I couldn’t risk
not
taking a look around, don’t you get that?”
    “You’re nuts,” Remy snarled. “There’s no way—”
    “Nothing else makes sense,” Law said softly. “If she’s right, then