Lover Beware 03 - After Midnight

come home with me?"
    Warmth welled inside her and she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. She was wet, her hair tangled—
    she must look like she'd been dragged backward through a hedge, but Rider made her feel gorgeous and wanted and so gloriously female she could weep. "Yes."
    Something like relief flared in his eyes. "Good. And you'll marry me."
    Her smile turned into a grin. Yep, he was male. Give him an inch, and he took a mile. "I don't remember being asked."
    "It was in the small print. You should read the contract before you fall in love."

    After Midnight
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    She wound her arms around his neck. "Who said I was in love?"
    "You did. Every time I looked at you." His grin was faintly wicked. "And you did look."
    A faint voice came from her pocket. She retrieved the phone and spoke to the agitated operator. “Tucker's on his way."
    Rider groaned. "Am I supposed to be relieved?"
    She handed him the phone. "You'd better talk to them. I think the Armed Offenders Squad is also on its way, which means we could be under siege at any minute."
    Rider swore beneath his breath, and took the phone, his voice curt as he explained the situation.
    Minutes later, he put the phone down and opened a window. "Tucker's here, along with the AOS. Hang on, while I call them off."
    He leaned out the window and had a brief conversation, then pulled it closed against the wind and rain. It was almost fully light now, the day grey and cool.
    Jane looked at the gun, which was lying on-the floor in the hallway, where she'd left it. "Yuk. I think I handled the murder weapon."
    His arm came around her, tucking her in close against his side. "Don't worry about it. If Tucker can't figure this one out without eliminating your prints, I'll personally feed him that weapon. Then forensics will have a hell of a job getting their evidence."

Epilogue
    BY MIDMORNING, MICHAEL and Jane were finished with statements and interviews. Sooner had been charged on a number of counts including murder, attempted murder, and rape, and had been taken into custody. In a panic, Sooner had tried to lay assault charges against Rider, alleging that Rider had attempted to murder him.
    The crime squad detective from Auckland, who was head-ing up the case, had looked at the faint red marks around Earl's neck and commented that if those marks were his sole evidence he was going to have problems, because from where he was sitting it looked like Sooner had been the victim of a heavy date, not a near-death experience.
    Sooner had sputtered and argued, but they had him cold on the Dillon case. He had nowhere to go but down. His fingerprints matched the ones taken from the Dillons' house, although they couldn't tie him in to any of the other home invasion cases, and in any case the M.O. was different. All of the other home invasions had been carried out by a team of three people, including one woman, not a lone male.
    As it turned out, Earl's crime had been a copycat one, designed to cover up a crime that had been not so much carried Epilogue
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    out as botched in a drunken fit. And the investigation hadn't been helped along by the fact that their primary witness, Carol Dillon, who had been having what could only politely be called a sexual liaison with Sooner, had lied.
    Early in the afternoon, Earl's hidey-hole at the back of Jane's farm was located by a specialist sniffer dog, and Rider and Jane went to look at the haul.
    Tucker and Zane were in their element, cordoning off the area with police tape and helping the crime squad boys cata-logue the evidence.
    They found two televisions and a DVD player, plus a forty-inch, state-of-the-art flat screen. To go with the viewing screens there were video cameras and sound equipment and some seriously good stereo gear, although most of the stuff was ruined, since the limestone cave Sooner had chosen wasn't waterproof, and had partially filled with water during the storm.
    Sooner hadn't limited himself to stealing the expensive chattels, he'd also taken a number of kitchen appliances, including a toaster and a sandwich maker, and what looked like a part of Carol Dillon's blender—minus the motor.
    Zane bagged up the sandwich maker, which was stacked near piles of videos. "Looks like he was planning on snacking while he watched whatever."
    The "whatever" turned out to be homegrown Tayler's Creek porn, starring mostly Carol Dillon and Earl Sooner, and occasionally, just to break the tedium, Aubrey Dillon.
    Once