The Past Between Us by Kimberly Van Meter

her head. “No way. The last time I started making accusations or even pointing fingers in the direction of Lionel Vissher I lost everything. I needed to gather enough evidence to hang him, not just piss him off further. This man is dangerous. I’ve learned a lot in the past two years. Anyone who crosses him doesn’t live to talk about it.”
    “He can’t be that badass,” Thomas said, a small smile lifting the corner of his mouth, but she just shook her head. “Okay, I see what you’re saying about there being a possible similarity. I’m surprised no one else saw it and questioned him, at the very least insisted on an autopsy for your mother.”
    “That’s just it, Lionel ingratiates himself to the people in his circles. No one believed me because…well, I’d already screwed up before that and I’d lost credibility. I think he planned it that way.”
    “How so?”
    “Well, it’s only a theory, but in the research I’ve done, every woman he’s been connected with had two things in common—first, they were rich and second, they didn’t have a lot of family or the family they did have were black sheep. My mother fit the bill perfectly.”
    He mulled the information around in his head. Cassi would’ve made a good investigator. Without resources, she’d managed to scrounge up this information using nothing more than her wits. But it’d taken its toll, he knew. He glanced back at her and he could see the fatigue pulling at her, painting dark smudges under her eyes and whittling away any extra body fat.
    It was late. There was little they could do at the moment. He hadn’t exactly made up his mind if he believed her but she’d created sufficient question as to whether she was guilty or not. So, for the time being, he figured it couldn’t hurt to investigate things a little further. Besides, keeping her close, even under the guise of helping her, would preclude him from having to chase her all over the eastern seaboard. If the time came and he had to haul her in, after all, she was conveniently already in his possession. He could very well lose his job over this, he realized. But he was going to try to avoid that. He’d see what he could do without his supervisor knowing. He could make calls, make a few inquiries. But in the meantime, he had to make sure Cassi didn’t run off again. He wasn’t so naive—or at least he wasn’t now after she’d made him look like a fool twice already—to think she’d stay put simply because he asked.
    “Let’s call it a night,” he suggested as he pulled out his handcuffs. Her eyes widened and she gave him a hard stare but he had no choice. “We have a ways to go before we’re BFFs, Cassi. You’re in my custody until I say otherwise. I’m going to help you but until I can trust you…you’re staying put.”
    “I promise—”
    “Sorry,” he cut her off, steeling himself against the plaintive look and the wounded tone in her voice. “You seem to suffer from an allergy to the truth. I can’t have you run off again on some misguided attempt to fix this on your own.”
    “I was doing just fine until you came along and screwed everything up,” she reminded him, throwing him a dark look as he clicked the cuff on her right wrist and then the other on his own. She looked at him, surprised. “How are we going to sleep like this?”
    He grinned, and damn if he didn’t enjoy it a little as he answered with a shrug, “Together I guess. I hope you don’t snore. I’m a light sleeper.”

    C ASSI STARED, NOT QUITE able to believe that Tommy had the balls to handcuff her after everything she’d just told him, and that he’d cuffed her to him.
    This was wrong on so many levels. But she hadn’t a choice except to allow him to curl up beside her. He kicked off his shoes but otherwise remained dressed and then tucked her into his side as if they were two spoons in a drawer. He even wrapped his arm around her middle, ostensibly for her comfort and then with his