“Ruth said she thinks he works at a used car lot in Ewing.”

He nodded. “We’ll figure out which one tomorrow.”

“You can’t openly help me with this, Marco,” I said gently. “You yourself said if I get caught doing this, I could be charged with interfering with an investigation.”

He was silent for a moment. “I know.”

And I could tell it was killing him, not only because he was worried about me, but because he loved investigating. The department never gave him much of a chance. They underestimated him, or maybe they knew he was good and they only sidelined him because half the department was in someone’s pocket.

I stood and reached my hand out to him. “Let’s go inside.”

He took my hand and stood, clutching the blanket with his free hand as he looked down at me.

Heat rose up in me as I stared into his eyes. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted him to kiss me back. I wanted to take him to his bed and do more than sleep next to him. But I couldn’t do any of that for a whole host of reasons. Most of all, because every romantic relationship I’d ever been in had been poisoned, and I couldn’t bear to lose Marco.

“What are you thinkin’?” he asked in a careful voice, his face swathed in shadow.

I swallowed the urge to tell him the truth, worried I was lying by omission, but I didn’t want to risk scaring him away. “I’m thinkin’ how grateful I am to have you as my friend. You have filled my life with happiness, Marco. Thank you.”

He grinned. “Hey, you’re not so bad yourself.”

Grabbing his mug, he ushered me inside. “Do you want to watch a movie before we go to sleep?”

I was exhausted, but I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. “Yeah. I’ll even let you pick.”

He must have had mercy on me because he picked a Sandra Bullock rom-com he seemed to like. We settled onto his large sofa with another blanket covering us, sitting side by side, his body heat soaking into me.

You have to accept this, Carly. This has to be enough.

But I was so very tired of settling.

Chapter Nineteen

We fell asleep on the sofa. I was pretty sure I’d only made it about fifteen minutes into the movie before I passed out. When I woke up, Marco had moved to his recliner and I was stretched out on the sofa, covered with a blanket.

I got up and went to the bathroom, then checked the time—it was after seven. I considered trying to sleep longer, but my mind had already started thinking about everything I needed to do before I went into work at noon. I doubted I’d have time to see Dick Stinnett today, because in the light of day I remembered I still needed to pay a visit to Heather’s aunt—and also that I’d left the rest of the tulips in my car.

Marco was still sleeping, so I started a pot of coffee, then slipped my feet into a pair of his slippers and walked out to my car to see if the tulips could be salvaged. I’d just reached the back door of the car when I noticed a pickup truck parked partially down Marco’s long, winding drive. I nearly ran back inside to tell Marco, but then I recognized the truck. It belonged to Wyatt.

He was watching Marco’s house.

I opened the car door and found the limp and wilted flowers on the floor behind the driver’s seat. I picked them up, hoping they might revive if I put them in water, and cast another glance down the drive. Wyatt was sitting behind the steering wheel, watching me.

I decided to ignore him as I went inside to take care of the tulips. After I put them in a pitcher with water, I set them on the table. I’d been quiet, but Marco started to stir.

“Do I smell coffee?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Guilty as charged,” I said. “It’s almost ready.”

“Where’d the flowers come from?”

“I bought some from Emmaline yesterday, and then I forgot about them. I took a bunch to Emily when I went for my visit.”

He laughed. “Emmaline Haskell? Did Emily know that?”

I cringed. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”

“I’m pretty sure they had a spat about flowers a few decades ago. Emily grows her own flowers in her backyard. She’s quite the gardener.”

That might explain her housekeeper’s attitude, although I suspected the woman would have acted that way regardless. “She didn’t mention it.” I pushed out a sigh. “But I got some extra bouquets, one of them for Heather’s aunt, in case you didn’t have a chance to get to a florist.” I’d meant to take one home to Hank, but that was looking doubtful now.

“Lucky for you, I got the daisies,” he said as he walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He pulled out a bouquet of cut daisies and handed them to me.

“You put them in the fridge?”

He shrugged as he pulled out my creamer and put it on the counter. “I don’t know what to do with flowers, and they were in a refrigerated cooler when I bought them. I remembered they were in the car after we started watching the movie, so I went out and brought them in.”

The daisies were still wrapped in their plastic sleeve and looked about a hundred times better than the wilted tulips. “Thanks, Marco.”

“Helpin’ you where I can.” I could hear the guilt in his voice. It was killing him that he couldn’t do more.

“I’m trying to decide if I should go see Hilde before or after I see Bingham. I guess it depends on whether she’s an early riser.” I considered calling Ruth to see if she knew, but she was likely still sleeping herself.

“I’ll call my mom,” Marco said as he grabbed two coffee mugs out of the cabinet and poured coffee into both.

“You never talk about your mom,” I said, taking one of the mugs and pouring creamer into the coffee. I knew his parents had moved away after they got divorced twelve years ago. His mother had moved to North Carolina, and his father was in Knoxville.

“We talk now and again, and I know Mom was friendly with her.”

“Then did you know Heather?”

“Not really. Max and I were several years younger than Wyatt and Heather, and I really didn’t give her any thought. I was in college when she came back and she and Wyatt were together,” he said as he grabbed the creamer and put it back in the fridge, “and she was gone by the time I came back from school. I’ll call Mom in a bit.” He motioned to the door. “Do you want to sit outside while we drink our coffee?” He knew about my morning ritual with Hank.

“Um…before we decide on that, I need to mention something I noticed while I was outside.” I made a face. “Wyatt’s truck is parked at the end of your driveway.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said with a look of resignation.

“You’re not angry?”

“Why would I be angry? I’m not gonna invite him in and serve him breakfast, but if he wants to provide an extra layer of protection for you, I’m not gonna fight it.”

“I don’t need protecting,” I said. “I’ve hardly talked to anyone yet.”

“But if the real killer finds out you’re lookin’, they might try to stop you.”

I still didn’t think I had much to be worried about, but I wasn’t about to argue with a sheriff’s deputy.