“I don’t talk about my family,” she said evenly. Calmly she removed her hand and folded her arms across her chest. Out of his reach. “Detective Iberville believes me?”

“Where did you go just then? When I asked you about your family?”

“Did you tell her about the second note?” Erin replied stubbornly.

“Erin Abbott as Athena.” At her quizzical look, he went on, “Popped into the world fully formed. No parents, no past. Except that a killer wants you dead and I know you came from somewhere.”

“For tonight, Gabriel, please just leave it alone.”

He watched the road ahead with his mouth thinned. “I’ve taken a great deal on faith here, Erin.”

“I didn’t ask—”

He cut her off, anger boiling over. “No, you wouldn’t ask, would you? But you do need. You need friends, you need protection, and you need help. And I don’t have any choice but to give it to you. Because he will kill you if we don’t find him first.”

The truth hung between them, and he decided she would have all of it.

“I’m falling in love with a woman I barely know. A woman with a secret in her past so terrible, she can’t allow herself to live.” He skimmed his eyes over her profile for an instant, hoping to see some response. Some sign that he wasn’t falling alone.

Through the windows that never quite shut, he could hear the first beats of the nightly party unfolding on Bourbon Street. Sultry trumpets dared hard percussion to perform the rhythms that coursed through human veins like heady wine. The same rhythms called out to him from Erin, he knew with absolute confidence, but she was having none of it.

“I have nothing to offer you, Gabriel. That is the truth.”

Methodically, he curled his fingers around the steering wheel, easing the violence coursing through him. Because beneath her icy rejection, he heard the longing. It was reflected in the way her muscles melted like wax beneath his touch, the way her husky voice caught.

But, regardless of their connection, a more sinister song played its cadence to her.

He had every intention of learning its history.

In silence, they rode the remainder of the distance to the station, each occupied by thoughts of the other. Gabriel parked in the police officers’ lot and killed the engine.

“This lot is restricted,” Erin felt compelled to point out. “Police only.”

Gabriel shrugged. “They won’t tow me. They know my car.” He led her inside the station and was greeted by the on-duty desk clerk. The young man pointed to the secured entryway.

“Jeep’s out back, Calvin. Make sure it stays, will you?”

“Sure thing, Gabe. Detective Iberville said to send you on back.”