Page 44 of K-9 Prime Target

“I’m spending a little more time here,” he said.

The smile faltered. “You need to be out of your hotel room tomorrow morning.”

“I’ve already checked out. But I plan to stick around for a few days.”

She pursed her lips. “Well, I hope you enjoy your time here. It was a pleasure working with you.”

He didn’t think she really meant that. It was the kind of thing people like her said. The correct thing. “I enjoyed the assignment,” he said. True. He would have enjoyed anything that put him back into contact with Nina.

He left the office and headed for his favorite coffee cart. While he was waiting for his order, Renee arrived. “Hey, Liam. How’s it going?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m okay.” She ordered a mocha, then glanced over at him. “Sorry I crashed your meeting with Stevie last night.”

“No big deal. She’s your friend, too.”

She hugged her arms over her chest. “Not really. She’s Raz’s ex. When I heard Raz was going to see her again I guess I overreacted.” She shrugged. “It’s none of my business what Raz does. It’s not like the two of us are involved or anything.”

“Uh-huh.” Liam wasn’t going to point out that the way she said involved made him wonder if her feelings for Raz ran deeper than casual friendship. But that was none of his business.

His order was up, so he took it and moved aside. Renee followed him to the counter where the sweetener, creamer, napkins and lids were kept. “The thing is,” she said, “Raz wants things to be more serious between us, but I’m just not sure I’m ready for that. I really like her. A lot. But a relationship? That makes things complicated.”

“Relationships do that.” He felt a lot of sympathy for Raz, considering his own situation with Nina.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump all this on you,” Renee said. “You’ve got your own problems, what with everything that’s going on with Nina.”

“Has something else happened to Nina?” He tensed.

“When we got to work this morning, there were two photos of Nina tacked to the door of the ski patrol office.”

“What kind of photos?”

“One was a picture of her in a really sexy swimsuit. I mean, really sexy.” Renee blushed. “The other was a really close-up shot of her face, with her mouth wide open. She still looked beautiful.”

He thought of that moment in the parking garage—the flash of a camera, then someone running away. “Was there a note?”

“No. Just the photos. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t, either,” he said. “But it’s upsetting to Nina. And this man tried to hurt her before. He’s dangerous.”

She hesitated. “Is there something else?” Liam asked.

Renee blew out a breath. “I don’t want this to sound wrong, but I’m a little worried about Nina. You know about what happened yesterday, at the terrain park?”

He nodded. “A man dressed all in black skied up to her and wouldn’t leave until she called for help.”

“Yeah. Connor and I got there right away.” She bit her lower lip. “The thing is—there was no one there. No one anywhere near the terrain park at that early hour. There were a couple kids farther down the run. I asked them if they had seen anyone with Nina, and they said they hadn’t.”

He stiffened. “If the kids were at the bottom of the run, they wouldn’t necessarily have been looking back up the run.”

“Yeah, but Connor and I approached from two different directions and we didn’t see anyone, either.”

“I saw the man,” Liam said. “In those photos I took. He was there more than once, staring at Nina.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not accusing Nina of making this up. I know she was really hurt when that guy attacked her before. I read about it online. I’m just…confused. What is he doing here, just hanging around?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “But it can’t be good.”