Arouse Suspicion by Maureen McKade

her. I tried to help, but I was busy teaching up until ten years ago, about the same time Danielle graduated."
    Although Nick was there to learn more about the night Paddy died, he couldn't help being curious about Danni. "With all the kids Paddy worked with in the youth center, you'd think he'd be the last person to have trouble with his own."
    Mrs. Countryman straightened her thin shoulders. "Maybe that's the reason he did have trouble with his own daughter. He was too busy with those others."
    Shit. It'd been staring him in the face all along. He'd sensed Danni's initial animosity toward him, but he'd put it off as her abrasive personality. But if she had been jealous of her father's attentions to him and other kids like him, it was no wonder she was bitter. It would also explain the rift between father and daughter.
    It didn't, however, explain why someone would murder Paddy.
    "Did you see or hear anything the night Paddy died?" Nick asked.
    She tilted her head to the side, eyeing him shrewdly. "The officer I spoke to that night told me he committed suicide."
    "Did you believe him?"
    "Why would he lie?"
    Nick gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "No reason." He spotted a blue-and-white cab coming down the street. "It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Countryman."
    "Good-bye, Mr. Sirocco." Her expression was thoughtful as she returned to her house.
    Nick wondered if she knew anything useful. Maybe he could speak with her later, after he talked some sense into Danni, if that were possible. He slid into the taxi's backseat and gave the driver the restaurant's address.

    "I don't know, Danni," Sam Richmond said. "The rain was pretty heavy. It would've been easy for a driver to miss seeing you."
    Danni counted to ten as she took a sip of her coffee liberally laced with cream and artificial sweetener. "I heard a squeal of tires, then it was almost on top of us."
    "Us?" Sam squinted at her, his craggy face drawn in a scowl. "Who was with you?"
    Hearing the bell above the door, Danni glanced at the entrance and spotted a familiar face, but his angry expression wasn't even in the same universe as the look he'd given her last night when they'd— She cut the memory off before it could take substance. That had been a mistake— both hers and his.
    "Hello, Hawkins," Nick said to Danni, his voice so cold the words froze in the air.
    Sam stood. "Rocky, what're you doing here?"
    "Sam." Nick shook his hand. "Danni promised me breakfast, then skipped out."
    Danni's cheeks flushed hotly. "I did no such thing, Sirocco. I left you a note and told you to stay put until I got back."
    "Maybe I should leave," Sam said, nabbing his ball cap from the tabletop.
    "Stay." Nick and Danni spoke at the same time.
    Sighing, Sam lowered himself back into his chair. Nick sat in the seat next to Danni. She tried to inch away from him, but he grabbed her chair and held it in place.
    "You're not getting away from me again, Hawkins," Nick warned.
    "Cut the macho crap, Sirocco," she growled back.
    Sam's eyes twinkled. "You two obviously know each other well."
    "Apparently not well enough," Nick said.
    Danni picked up her coffee cup and was tempted to dump the contents in Nick's lap. One glance at him told her he knew what she was thinking, and she damned well better not follow through.
    "So you were the one who almost got run down with Danni girl, huh?" Sam asked, breaking the tension.
    Nick shot Danni a look she couldn't translate but answered the question. "Yes. Hard to say if it was accidental or intentional, though."
    "Danni thinks it was intentional."
    "She also has an overactive imagination," Nick said in a patronizing tone.
    To hell with just a cup of coffee; Danni was going to dump the whole carafe in his lap. "She is sitting right beside you, and she thought you were certain it was intentional, too."
    Nick shrugged. "I tend to see things clearer the morning after."
    Danni tensed, reading his layered meaning. She didn't need this complication, but it