“That’s just one, long connected thread that makes up this town. You give me a name and I bet dollars to donuts I can follow it through every person and home in Overlook. That’s how well I know this place.” He paused, trying to keep the flash of anger he felt from showing. “Which is why an arsonist showing up and doing what they did has thrown me off my game. Sure, there’s people here who don’t respect the law—we have our fair share of misconduct and violence like any town or city—but usually I can understand it and why the person did what they did. But this? Destroying the Gentry’s home? Nailing windows shut so my place could burn without interruption? I can’t even guess who it is. That’s rarely happened to me before in this job and it’s gnawing at my gut. Which is exactly what happened to Dad.”
Saying it was like a jolt to his system. Caleb hadn’t meant to say exactly what he was feeling. Not out loud, not to Nina. Yet there was something about her that made him feel comfortable. Or maybe it was his curiosity that had prompted the admission. How could he hope to know more about her if he never opened up about himself?
“He was a detective too,” he explained. “A great one, but there was one case that ate him up. He didn’t understand the why of it and he certainly never got any answers. The stress, well, it killed him.”
Caleb wondered then if Nina knew about the abduction. He was so used to everyone already knowing about it that the possibility that she hadn’t been told hadn’t crossed his mind. It had been years since any of the Nash family had told the story themselves. It seemed to circulate just fine without them, making its way through the locals even all these years later.
But Nina wasn’t local.
If she didn’t know, now would be the perfect time to tell her. To open up to her even more.
However, an old resentment flared to life just beneath his skin. The child in him, the teenager, the young adult... They’d been questioned off and on throughout the years about those three days held captive. He’d been asked to tell the story more times than he could count, bombarded by curiosity that had no business being so curious.
He wanted to open up to Nina—after risking her life to save his, especially—but that resentment at sharing the single worst experience the Nash family had gone through kept the story buried. The weight of pain that pressed into his chest when he spoke again was only for his father.
“He thought he knew this town, these people, and yet he died with nothing but questions.”
Caleb let out a long breath. He was back to the fires. Just like his father, he had so many questions. The most urgent ones being who and why.
Nina’s hand pressed against his shoulder, surprising him. A small smile graced her lips. Her shining pink lips.
“Hoping that we know that our neighbors don’t have bad intentions is like hoping no one ever acts on those bad intentions. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that people are people. They’re complex, confusing, wonderful and terrifying. You can’t beat yourself up because you don’t understand why someone would do something bad. The best any of us can do is continue to struggle to understand. It just shows that we would never do the same things.” She squeezed his arm. “The people who take from us shouldn’t be allowed to keep taking from us. Don’t beat yourself up because someone else finally showed their true colors. Okay?”
Caleb nodded, stunned.
“And I’m sorry about your father,” she added, voice as soft as a feather.
“Thanks.” He meant it.
Nina smiled a bit brighter and then dropped her hand.
“Will you be eating dinner here tonight?” she asked, opening the truck door.
“If that’s okay with you.”
“That works for me. Molly brought in some leftover stew today. There’s plenty for the two of us.” Her eyes turned sharp. Her smile faded. “You’ll figure this out, Caleb. And I’ll do my best to try and help you.”
Caleb didn’t get a chance to say thank you again. He watched as she walked away. The tightness in his chest lessened.
He drove back to Desmond’s house and nodded to Roberto, the Retreat’s cook, who was sitting on Dorothy’s back porch on the phone. He’d been a lifelong friend of the Nashes and had offered to do his planning work at the main house to keep the Nash matriarch company. Caleb had no illusions that Declan hadn’t helped with the arrangement. The department was being stretched thin at the moment. They needed to grab peace of mind where they could.
Desmond’s house was a two-story farm house, with white shiplap, exposed wood and a tin roof that made the rain sound like a song that put Caleb to sleep every single time. It was a nice, solid house, but it wasn’t Caleb’s no matter how much he tried to ignore the reason he was there in the first place.
He bounded up the stairs and into the guest bedroom across from Madi’s room. He’d gone through the ashes of his home, looking to salvage what was left. All that could be saved fit into a plastic container his mother had gotten from Walmart. It was shut and pushed into the corner. Caleb could still smell the smoke.
He fell down onto the edge of the bed. He needed to figure out who the arsonist was and fast. Yet the more he sat there, Caleb realized, the more his thoughts pulled away from him. As the afternoon darkened into night and every phone call and theory hit wall after wall, he finally looked at the only piece of his home that had escaped the fire and smoke unscathed. Thanks to Nina.
Caleb gently picked the framed picture up.
It had been a warm and happy spring. Dorothy and Michael Nash had been happy. So had their children. None of them had had any idea in the world what was going to happen next. The weight of worry, the burden of tragedy. The decline of a detective who couldn’t solve the case that nearly cost him his family. No. Not yet. Instead they were frozen forever in a pure moment of happiness.
And Nina Drake had saved that just for him.
* * *
THE STEW WAS delicious and the night was beautiful. Nina enjoyed both alone. The cowboy detective apologized when he came in late to the Retreat before answering one of several calls that kept him at a distance. It bothered her, if Nina was being honest. She was starting to find that wanting to be alone wasn’t as easy as she’d been pretending it was.
Though maybe that had more to do with the man with steel-blue eyes and an arresting jawline. Not to mention a quiet sweetness she hadn’t expected after their first awkward meeting. She suspected that finding the person who had destroyed his home wasn’t an act of vengeance but of concern. Concern for his family, the ranch that served as their livelihood, the town that was their community and her. Whether that was wishful thinking or not, Nina couldn’t shake the feeling that something was changing between them.
She had meant what she’d said in the truck. When he had revealed how his father had passed away, she had seen the stress and pain pulling him down. Nina was also presumptuous in thinking she saw a struggle there too. A hesitation. The case that Caleb’s father had tried to solve had to have been about the triplets’ abduction.
Molly had said the man behind it was never caught. She could imagine how that might tear apart not only a detective, but a father, as well.
The realization that the abduction had eventually cost Caleb his father too had pulled Nina’s personal experience with her mother’s death to the forefront.
The car accident hadn’t been an accident, yet she kept that detail to herself.
And she made sure to extend the same courtesy to the man who had been vigilant about keeping her safe.
Nina knew it was easier to keep quiet than relive your worst experience over again. She owed him that.
So, she waved goodnight to the detective and put all thoughts of him out of her mind as she showered and got ready for bed. She finally called her father, Trevor, and they spent almost an hour talking about his newest adventure with his wife, Denise. They’d been married for a little under a
year but had been dating for three. Nina had grown to love Denise. It had been easy after seeing how happy she’d made her father. Now they were spending time in Montana with her son and his family. Apparently Nina’s dad had finally found the secret to fishing that had long escaped him on the Florida coast.
“And how are you, mija?” he asked, somehow sounding just as her mom had when she’d used the term of endearment. “How’s the ranch? Make any friends yet?”
“I really like it here, actually,” she answered honestly. “Molly, the Retreat manager, acts like we’ve known each other for years. Her husband is nice, too. I also finally met two of the Nash sons.” Nina was glad she didn’t have to hide the blush that heated her cheeks.
“Oh, really? What are they like?”
“Well, one is the sheriff and the other is a detective, so I feel like you’d really approve of that.”
Her dad let out a whooping laugh. Denise must have asked what he was on about.
“My baby girl is living on a ranch with the top dogs in law enforcement,” he exclaimed. “Talk about a way to make me worry less.”
Nina chuckled and they spent the rest of the conversation talking about his time in Montana. Guilt started to spread through her as the minutes went on. She hadn’t told her father about Daniel Covington and the email and she definitely hadn’t told him about the fire. She should have told him but Nina knew she wouldn’t. Not until the perpetrator was caught. Not until she could ease his mind seconds after she caused it to worry.
They ended their conversation with I love yous and goodnights before Nina finally crawled into bed.
A breeze blew in from the crack left open in the window above her. The ranch at night was starting to become one of her favorite collections of sounds. Sometimes she could hear the horses, other times she heard owls. Always she heard insects. Their chirps reminded her of home. It usually carried her to sleep.
Tonight?
Thinking of home only made her think of her father and the guilt in her stomach. Which led her to her mother and, as it always went, eventually to the trial. Another detail she’d kept to herself. Nina rolled over. She threw the covers over her head, trying to put distance between memories and the present.
But there she was at the trial. Afraid, sad and wishing more than anything she could become invisible. The press had made that almost impossible. She’d been on the front page of the local newspaper almost every day.
Nina tossed the covers off and sat up, mind racing.
“They’re all connected!”
Chapter Nine
A string of surprises had dictated the last week of Caleb’s life. He knew those surprises would continue to change his life from normal to a life he hadn’t plan. Then, eventually, he’d reach a new normal. It was just how life went.
If it was derailed you could either adapt or crash with it.
That simple.
At least, that’s what Caleb was trying to convince himself of as he settled onto the couch that night in the lobby. When that pep talk didn’t work, he went to the makeshift break room in the office portion of the house. The bottle of water he chugged was refreshing. The sound of a door in the main area swinging open and footsteps rushing in was not.
Caleb balled his fists and hurried to meet whoever was flying through the next room. He couldn’t tell which door they’d come in through, whether it was the front door or the one that led to Nina’s apartment. His gun and badge were next to the couch, along with his shirt and pants. If it wasn’t Nina then Caleb had one heck of a fight coming.
Luckily it wasn’t their arsonist deciding to ambush the Retreat. Nina held up her hands in surrender as they met next to the couch. “Whoa there, cowboy!”
Nina’s eyes were wide. She looked him up and down before a red tint came across her face. Caleb might have been only in his boxers but it was Nina who was the distracting one.
Her hair was down and loose, spilling over her shoulders and partially covering her breasts. Caleb was used to seeing her in blouses and jeans—and had no complaints when she wore either—but now she was wearing anything but. Instead, a soft pink silk camisole stole the show, matching a shiny pair of sleep shorts that stopped midthigh. Both gave Caleb a vastly uninhibited view of her smooth, tan skin. It was an arresting image. One he hadn’t expected to see. Not even the thin robe that was loosely held around her shoulders could hide the truth.
Nina wasn’t just beautiful, she was sexy as hell, too.
Just as her gaze had swept over his body, she took a moment to look down at herself. Her face went from a light red to blazing cherry.
“Oh, my gosh, sorry!” she squeaked out, grabbing the robe and pulling it tight to cover herself. “I—uh—I might have been a little too excited and forgotten I was in my pjs.”
“We can say you’re just trying to match me.”
Caleb chuckled and motioned to his bare chest. Nina’s eyes once again traveled down his body before snapping back up. Caleb couldn’t help but grin. He moved to the couch and grabbed his jeans. Nina hugged the robe around her and looked anywhere but at him.
“So, what’s going on?” he asked, trying to land on the reason why she was excited. It felt like it had been a long while since they’d had a reason to be excited. Though, with what Nina had beneath that robe, Caleb could feel the start of some other kind of excitement.
“I found a connection,” Nina exclaimed, demeanor changing so swiftly any lustful thoughts about the woman went to the back burner. “Well, at least I think.” She hurried closer. Her dark eyes were ablaze with enthusiasm.
“You mean the fires?”
A small dose of adrenaline shot through him as she nodded emphatically.
“Three sites for the fires we visited today sounded familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. That’s when I realized I’d seen them...on the front page of the local newspaper.”
Caleb felt his brows knit together as he tried to recall any of the stories. While he was tapped into the community much more than most because of the ranch and his job, he’d never been that much of a reader when it came to their newspaper. It was a small press that had been owned and operated by the wealthy, and mostly absent, Collins family. The patriarch, Arlo, owned several more papers across the south. His setting up a press in small-town Overlook had been an interesting business choice that always perplexed Caleb’s father. Either way, Caleb hadn’t actively read a story from its pages since the top story was Declan Nash being reelected for sheriff.
“Which three?” he asked, giving up on trying to recall anything of note. Nina held up three fingers.
“The woman who runs the nonprofit animal shelter. There was a spotlight on her because she was throwing a fundraiser.”
“Gloria,” he supplied. “I remember that fundraiser. She threw that before she opened her no-kill shelter.” She nodded and ticked one finger off.
“The Overlook Pass was in one issue I found. The mayor was there for some reason. I can’t remember what but I do remember the picture. It took up almost everything above the fold.”
Caleb couldn’t recall that article. Nina ticked off another finger.
“And most recently, an article ran about a couple trying to bring more nightlife activities for the younger residents to Overlook.” She waved him along with her to the office. She went to the recycling trashcan in the corner and rummaged through the papers and empty water bottles until she found what she was looking for. She held the newspaper up, its top story and accompanying picture clear.
“Say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Gentry.” Caleb took the paper from her. Nina continued with her spiel. “When I took this job I wanted to learn as much as I could about what goes on around here while also looking for opportunities for events and good press. I’ve only done a cursory look over issues from the last few years and definitely haven’t read them all but...” She shrugged. “I know that
’s a thin connection, especially for a small town but I thought it might at least be interesting. Three of five places that have experienced fires in the last five years have been showcased as top headline stories in the newspaper. Maybe that’s something that can lead somewhere else. Or am I just reaching?”
A spike of adrenaline followed closely on the heels of a memory. Caleb tightened his grip on the paper, staring down at a smiling Kelso and Maria Gentry.
“Four,” he answered.
Nina took a step closer. She smelled like flowers. Lavender? Either way it was noteworthy.
“Four?” she repeated. “What? Four places?”
He met her dark gaze. Her eyes really did look like dark honey in the right light.
“The restaurant. Its moving onto the main strip was a big deal. It was an above-the-fold story. I remember Mom reading it.”
“So, four out of the five.”
“Five out of six, actually,” he corrected, anger and excitement starting to mix together. “I didn’t have a huge picture or anything, but a case I closed before you got here made it into the paper. Above the fold.”
Caleb gave her the paper back and ran a hand over his chin in thought. On one hand, like she said, Overlook was a small town. The weekly newspaper had done stories on almost every aspect of town since it was first published when Caleb was a kid. It could have been a coincidence, plain and simple.
But what if it wasn’t?
“It’s more than we’ve had to go on so far, but we definitely need more information,” he decided.
Nina went to the computer and turned it on. She must have been too caught up to be self-conscious about her outfit anymore. Her robe opened but she didn’t bother to close it. Her smooth, tan skin and curves in all the right places created a ripple effect that reached out to an urge he was having a hard time denying.
Reining In Trouble (Winding Road Redemption Book 1) Page 8
