Dangerous Inheritance by Barbara Warren

why she was upset? Hilda was a nice person most of the time, if a little outspoken. So what had she said or done that had riled Macy? “Hilda was a close friend of Opal’s.”
    “That’s what she told me.”
    He waited while she took a drink of Pepsi before looking at him. “She said my grandmother Lassiter tried to stay in touch with me, but my grandmother Douglas blocked her calls and returned her letters unopened.”
    Okay, this wasn’t what he had expected. He had assumed someone, Hilda maybe, had said something about her being in town and living in the house, or maybe mouthed off about her father. “So, what do you think?”
    “I tried to deny her accusations, of course. But she just turned her back and walked out.”
    “How sure are you that it didn’t happen?”
    “I’m positive. My grandmother Douglas would never have done something like that, but I’m just beginning to realize how little I really know about what happened to my parents and how it damaged every member of my family.”
    He hadn’t seen that before, but he was starting to understand how she felt. A violent crime didn’t just destroy the victim; it ruined the lives of everyone who loved him or her.
    He shoved his plate aside and leaned his arms on the table. “How did it go last night? Everything all right?”
    She looked at him, and he knew something bad had happened. “Well, I had a phone call.”
    Nick took a drink of Pepsi, trying to act casual, even though he braced himself for what she had to say. “Who was it?”
    “It was a man. He asked if I was enjoying myself, then he told me to get out while I could if I wanted to live.”
    Nick choked, sputtering Pepsi over the table. He grabbed a napkin to clean up the mess he’d made, stunned at what he’d heard. “He said what ?”
    She repeated the threat, looking lost, while Nick stared at her. What was going on here? Someone had threatened to kill her if she stayed in this house. So what was hidden here that someone wanted enough to pull something like this? Or did the person just want to get her out of town before she found out something better left secret?
    He wanted to reach across the table and take her hand, tell her it would be all right, but she’d know he was lying. Nothing would be all right until they found the truth about Megan Douglas’s death and learned for certain who had killed her. Most important, he had to find the jerk harassing Macy before the situation turned deadly.
    “Is that all? Don’t hold anything back. If I’m going to help you I have to know everything.” He burned with the need to do something, anything, to make this threat go away. She had to talk to him, give him details, descriptions, anything that would help him.
    She raised her eyebrows. “Everything?”
    “Every threat, all of your fears, every bit of information that applies to this house and your parents. I need to know, and I’m depending on you to tell me.”
    She sat there staring at him, looking as if she might rebel. It wouldn’t surprise him if she did, and that worried him. He was learning that Macy Douglas wasn’t quick to rely on anyone. Somehow he had to convince her to trust him.
    Her eyes were narrowed, her lips tight; this woman was as stubborn as she was beautiful. A fascinating combination, or it would be if he weren’t so worried about that phone call. As a cop, he’d learned to take all threats seriously. Besides, right now he had too much to worry about to be concerned with anything personal. All right, he knew that wasn’t true and it was one of his problems. From the moment he’d met her, his feelings toward Macy Douglas had been more personal than he liked or understood. Somehow he had to ignore the way just being with her affected him and focus on who was harassing her. Do his job as a police officer.
    “Look Macy, I’m not trying to pry into your life, I just want to help you. How can I do that if I don’t know what’s going on? Work with me on this,