Against the Tide Read Free Page B

him. Besides, he was still dating Sally, and he wasn’t the kind of guy who cheated on a woman he was involved with.
    Four months ago, Sally had moved on, and Rafe had discovered he was glad. He cared for Sally Henderson, but he wasn’t in love, never had been. He’d told her from the start he wasn’t interested in marriage. At the time, she’d convinced him she wasn’t either. But relationships changed, and Sally was ready to settle down.
    Sally was ready. Rafe wasn’t.
    It wasn’t until after they’d parted that he started to take an interest in Olivia Chandler. Besides her striking looks and porn-star mouth, there was just something about her, something that began to intrigue him. She was always friendly to the other customers, though according to Nell, she had no close friends outside the people she worked with, and no family in the area that anyone knew of.
    At first he’d told himself he just wasn’t the lady’s type, but the more she ignored him, the more intrigued he became. She rarely went to the local pub, he discovered, just kept mostly to herself in the apartment she lived in above the café. She was a runner, he knew, having seen her jogging early in the mornings with the big, black-and-brown German shepherd she called Khan.
    Every time he went into the Pelican, which was often since he was a bachelor and a lousy cook, he watched her, and eventually a funny thing happened. Over the days and weeks that passed, Rafe became more and more certain Olivia Chandler wasn’t avoiding him because she wasn’t attracted to him.
    She was avoiding him because she was.
    Liv Chandler was a beautiful mystery, one Rafe no longer intended to ignore. He meant to unearth her secrets, and in the process, if luck was on his side, maybe he’d discover the fierce attraction he felt for her was returned in equal measure.
    Rafe damned well hoped so.
    Rising from the booth, he tossed a dollar bill on the table for the waitresses’ tip jar and started for the door. Olivia Chandler was a mystery he meant to solve.
    But another mystery needed solving first.
    His jaw hardened. Rafe wasn’t about to let the man who murdered one of his best friends go unpunished.
    Whatever it took, he was going to see justice done.

Chapter Three
    Olivia knocked on the door to the wood-frame house Cassie Webster shared with Scotty Ferris. Cassie’s mother, Lois, opened the door. She was a petite woman, a little too thin, and her narrow face looked ravaged.
    â€œOlivia . . . Please come in. Nell said you were going to stop by. She just left to go back to work a few minutes ago.”
    Liv handed the woman the mac-and-cheese casserole she’d had Wayne put together, figuring there was no better comfort food in the world than mac and cheese.
    Lois took the dish from her hand. “Thank you. I don’t think Cassie could hold anything down at the moment, but sooner or later, she’ll have to eat something.”
    â€œAll of you will,” Olivia said, walking into the living room as Lois closed the front door. Cassie sat on the sofa, her face bone white, her chin-length brown hair still sleep tangled, hazel eyes staring out at nothing. She was petite like her mother, but curvy, the kind of person whose glass was always half-full instead of half-empty.
    â€œCassie, honey, I’m so sorry.” Olivia walked toward her.
    The girl’s head turned toward the sound of Liv’s voice and her eyes filled. “Thank you for coming.”
    Liv sat down beside her, reached over and took hold of her icy hand. “I wish there was something I could do.”
    â€œI know. I just . . . I feel sick all the way to my soul. My heart says Scotty can’t be dead. I tell myself it can’t be true, but I know it is.”
    Liv squeezed her hand. “The police are going to find the man who did it. I know that won’t make the pain you’re feeling go away, but it’s