Runaway Heiress

by Jennifer Morey

  “What are you making?”

  “We are making caramel stacks.”

  He noticed her begin to relax and smothered a smile.

  She retrieved another pan and began melting chocolate, moving like an expert chef.

  “Why do you like baking?” No one could fake this. Someone other than Sadie Moreno had learned to make candy.

  “I don’t know. I just did.”

  Vague response. Lie. He buried his initial disappointment.

  Pouring the melted chocolate over the caramel layer, she spread an even layer on top of the caramel.

  He handed her the nuts from the bag and she sprinkled them over the chocolate.

  With a peaceful, content smile, she bent over and smelled the still warm chocolate and caramel, a true lover of sweets.

  “Now we let them sit awhile.” Sadie cleaned her mess while Jasper watched her. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders and her striking brown eyes needed no liner. Making candy was something she really enjoyed. A hobby? She seemed so experienced.

  After a few minutes she went to the pan of candy and lifted the foil with candies and placed them on the counter. Next she found a knife and began cutting the chocolate caramel into squares.

  When she finished, she picked one up and offered it to him on the palm of her hand, all with careful love, eyes admiring the piece and then rising to his.

  He took the candy and met her eyes as he took the whole thing into his mouth. Simple but good.

  “If I had a better equipped kitchen, I’d make you something really spectacular.”

  “You’ve had a better equipped kitchen before?”

  That almost tripped her up. The love for candy creation left her face. “At home.”

  He wondered. Did her kitchen in Wyoming match whatever kitchen she’d had prior to becoming the mysterious Sadie Moreno? Like the one she’d grown up in?

  She lifted a square and put it into her mouth. After chewing with her eyes closed, she said, “It’s been so long since I’ve made chocolate.”

  “What’s the last thing you made?”

  “Caramel-filled chocolate. Gooey and good.”

  “When was that?” He thought he’d test her out with a few probing questions.

  “A long time ago.”

  “More than five years?”

  She lifted a second piece of candy and popped it into her mouth with less love than the first time. “Are you fishing for information, Detective Roesch?”

  “Yes.” He grinned, pleased with her sharp mind.

  She smiled back. “They say the devil is charming.”

  “You should think of me as more of a guardian angel.”

  She handed him another chocolate caramel stack, wariness in her eyes.

  “I’m on your side.” He took the candy and popped it into his mouth.

  Without responding, she took two more chocolates and wandered out of the kitchen.

  “Isn’t this better with champagne?” he asked, going to the wine cooler and choosing a bottle.

  While Sadie eyed him with her candy in hand from the living area, he took out a plate and piled up several more squares. Then he carried the bottle of champagne and plate with flute stems between his fingers and joined her before the sofa. She took the plate from him and placed it on the coffee table. While he righted the flutes and put them next to the plate, she sat down. He uncorked the bottle of bubbly.

  “Are you going to try to get me drunk so I’ll talk?” she asked.

  “That could be exciting.” He poured champagne into one glass and then the other.

  She laughed briefly and then opened the file he’d put on the table earlier.

  “You highlighted a few things in here,” she said, flipping the copied pages until she came to the one where he’d highlighted the note that Bernie had a lot of cash in his wallet.

  “Bernie was going to buy a new car the next day,” she said.

  He nodded. “Whoever killed him wasn’t after money.”

  “Why do you think his murder is related to those men who attacked?” she asked.

  She’d carefully avoided mentioning her past and Jasper let that go. “The location of the body. It was moved there on purpose.”

  She sat back as he stepped around the table and took a seat beside her.

  She flipped to another page. “Why did you highlight this witness? He said he didn’t see anything.”

  “He saw Bernie leave the Center and go to the parking lot.”

  “But he didn’t see Bernie go into the apartment building.”

  “The witness noticed a woman walking toward Bernie. He described her in great detail, right down to her Fossil purse and two-inch heel boots.”

  “So?”

  “With that level of detail, the questioning officer may have missed writing something else down.”

  “Ah, very good.” She crossed her legs and sipped her champagne.

  Those long, slender beauties drew his eye, the black material of the pants tightening along the slope of her thigh and rear. She’d removed the jacket after they’d arrived.

  Very good indeed.

  Sitting this close to her, smelling her, heating up with the sight of her, Jasper had to take a couple of seconds to remind himself she might not be forthcoming about her past, what had brought her to Wyoming. Who was she? He knew only what she’d revealed, and he had serious doubts about how much she withheld. Hell, maybe everything she had told him was a lie. He had to be careful not to put his heart too much at risk.

  Chapter 7

  Chad Long lounged back in his newly purchased supercenter chair with a content smile that lit his bright green eyes. He always smiled with his lips pressed together and laughed for no apparent reason, not an outburst kind of laugh, just a little laugh after he spoke sometimes. Chad had a mental instability he now treated with medication and could function normally in society.

  Sitting beside Jasper on a black microfiber sofa, Sadie noticed the other touches Chad had added since she’d last been here. While the apartment lacked decorative adornments, he did a fine job of putting together a home with discount center furniture. Like Bernie, he was about to move from the Revive Center’s living quarters into his own place. While he’d come along after Bernie, he was another special case to her.

  “I got a job at HomeGoods Center,” he said, flashing some of his teeth briefly. “I start Monday.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Sadie said, noticing through glimpses that he must have been to the dentist. “Your teeth look great. You should show them when you smile.”

  He did show them this time. “I’m so used to hiding them I forget I can now.” He chuckled a little. “Doc has me on a gradual plan to get the rest of them fixed up.”

  “That’s truly wonderful,” Sadie said, feeling Jasper watch her.

  “Where have you been?” he asked. “We’ve missed seeing you at the Center.”

  She caught Jasper’s anticipatory look and could see he waited to hear what she’d say. She’d always worked remotely but hadn’t maintained her regular visits since Bernie’s murder. “Something kept me away. It is good to see everyone again, and I’m so happy to see how well you’re doing.” She did get great joy when people succeeded. When she’d first opened the center, she didn’t anticipate caring so much. Her main goal had been to do something good and not for money, something that would epitomize the antithesis of corporate greed. Helping the homeless reclaim their lives did that in abundance.

  He looked at Jasper as though catching his scrutiny. “I never thought I’d find a way off the streets. I didn’t think I could. Usual shelters have capacities and don’t let you stay indefinitely. They also don’t treat disabilities. That’s why Sadie’s center is such a miracle.”

 
She heard that a lot. While she wouldn’t attach a word like miracle to what she did, she understood what her facility did. Jasper said nothing in response but Sadie could tell that he saw her with new eyes. That much she hadn’t withheld from him, her passion to do something good, to be what her father wasn’t and never could be. Chad made him see that.

  As he continued to meet her gaze, the moment shifted, warming and gravitating back to that instinctual level where their hearts navigated the path forward.

  “It’s a big part of who I am now,” she said to him, but for Chad, too. “It was always in me, I just didn’t have the chance to explore until I moved to Wyoming.”

  Jasper’s eyes moved away as he digested her words. Then he seemed to gather himself and zero in on why they’d come here.

  “Chad, I’m Jasper Roesch. I’m a private investigator Sadie hired to help solve the case. We came here today to talk to you about the last time you saw Bernie King.”

  “All right. I’m not sure how much I can help but ask away. One of our own was killed.”

  Jasper relaxed against the back of the sofa with one arm stretched along the back and one ankle propped on his knee. “I’d like you to revisit what you saw that day. Don’t leave out any detail even if it doesn’t seem related to Bernie, like the woman you saw with the Fossil purse.”

  “The only reason I knew she had that kind of purse is I saw a girl in the mall once who was looking at them. They stood out because they were so colorful. I remembered thinking how I wanted my life to be that colorful again.”

  Jasper nodded. “It’s that kind of detail I need. Walk me through everything from the time you left the Revive Center.”

  Chad crossed his legs and put his thumb beneath his chin with his forefinger up along his cheek. “Well, I’d just finished a Back to Work Module and was going to come back here for dinner. I remember it was a beautiful day. No clouds and warm, a slight breeze. It tickled my hair right here.” He laughed a little.

  Sadie checked on Jasper to see if he noticed the funny quirk. He simply waited, listening and not judging. She loved that about him, how he stayed straight and true.

  “There weren’t many people out. It was late for dinner. My module was an evening course. Bernie must have had one, too. I saw him leave the building ahead of me and followed him to the parking lot. Not on purpose. He walked through the middle of the lot and I walked on the sidewalk like I always do.”

  “What about other people or cars?” Jasper asked.

  “Yeah. There were other people and cars. People walking on the sidewalk and cars driving by, some parked on the street.”

  “Did any of them stand out like the woman with the purse?”

  He thought a moment. “There was a slicked-up white Mercedes parked in front of the building. It stood out because nobody living there had anything that nice. I thought maybe it was Sadie or someone she knew paying a visit.”

  “Is there anything you can tell us about the Mercedes?” Jasper asked.

  Chad thought a moment. “It was a Maybach S600. Long body. V12 engine. Sweet machine. Told the cops but they didn’t think anything of it.”

  Probably because they’d assumed the same as Chad.

  “Did you see anyone inside the car?” Jasper asked.

  “No. Windows were tinted.”

  “What about the license plate?”

  Chad tipped his head up as he thought. “I don’t think they were local. Most of the plates here are red and blue. There was no red on these. Might have had blue writing. I can’t be sure.” He thought some more. “I think there was only one sticker on it, too. In the upper right corner.”

  “How far away were you?” Jasper asked, sounding eager.

  “Maybe a hundred feet?”

  Close enough to see the level of detail he had, but he hadn’t retained the numbers. He hadn’t had a reason to remember them.

  “Where did you last see Bernie?” Jasper asked. “What was he doing?”

  “It was a nice day, so I decided to go for a longer walk. I passed the lot and kept going on the sidewalk. I didn’t look at Bernie again. He must have been somewhere in the parking lot, heading for the entrance to the apartment building.”

  “Was anyone else in the parking lot?”

  Chad shook his head. “There was a couple across the street. They were close and into each other.” He laughed a little. “And they passed the parking lot about the same time I did.”

  Bernie must have reached the sedan by that point. Had someone forced him inside?

  “No one else in the parking lot?” Jasper asked.

  Chad again shook his head. “No one.”

  No one from the apartments facing the parking lot had seen anything, either. No one had looked out the windows at that time, and the building hadn’t been very full at that time.

  “Thank you.” Jasper stood. “You’ve been very helpful.”

  Sadie stood with him.

  “It was good to see you again.” Chad leaned in and hugged Sadie.

  “Keep doing well,” she said.

  Jasper led the way to the door. After saying farewell, they took the stairs to the entrance. Outside, Sadie walked with Jasper past the tree-and-shrub-lined sidewalk and then around a janitorial supply delivery truck. Clearing that, she spotted another formerly homeless man approaching from the small parking lot. Sadie recognized him from an initiation session she’d provided several months earlier.

  A tall, lanky man with wiry gray-blond hair and light blue eyes, Eddy Anderson smiled big white teeth when he saw her.

  “Hello, Eddy. How are you doing?”

  “Hey, Miss Moreno. Going good. Just finished my rehab and now I qualify for a place here.” He nodded up at the apartment building.

  “Good for you.”

  “Hey, I heard about Bernie. Been meaning to tell you how sorry I am. It was clear to all of us how much he meant to you.”

  “Thanks, Eddy.”

  Eddy turned to Jasper. “Never met anyone with as much warmth in her heart as Sadie. I hope you’re taking good care of her.”

  “Jasper is the investigator helping the police look into Bernie’s murder,” Sadie said by way of introduction.

  “Pleased to meet you.” He bowed his head to Sadie. “Best of luck finding Bernie’s killer.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Well...good to see you.” Eddy held his hand up as a farewell.

  “Bye, Eddy.” Sadie watched him walk away.

  “How does everyone know you so well if you work remotely?”

  Ever the detective, Jasper would ask that question. “I make a point to meet every client and when I traveled here, I met with them to see their progress for myself. There are too many to spend one-on-one time with all, but I find the meetings benefit the newer clients.” She walked a few steps with him beside her before she added, the Revive Center. “I was a lot more interactive before Bernie’s murder.” Bernie’s murder made her realize how vulnerable she was, and how much of a risk she took being so visible. As with Jasper, the location of his body really set her off. It was as though the killer had tried to send her some kind of message. But what message was it?

  Before they reached the sidewalk, Jasper took her hand and tugged her into a small courtyard beside the building. Trees partially concealed them from the road and a bench offered a moment of relaxation among a curving bed of early spring flowers.

  “Sit with me.” Jasper gently pulled her along with him and sat.

  She sat beside him. “What are you doing?” Did he plan on romancing her—now?

  He used two fingers to move her head so she faced his. “Don’t look. There’s a car parked on the street with two men inside. I saw it park there on our way into the apartment building.”

  He had? She hadn’t noti
ced him observing their surroundings that closely. “Did they follow us from the hotel?”

  “No. They were waiting down the street and saw us park. Do you recognize them?”

  He’d seen them parked there and hadn’t said anything. Sadie looked at the car. The tree branches made it difficult to see. The driver was bald and probably stocky in shape, but that was all she could tell. She couldn’t see the passenger other than in silhouette. “Did they see us leave the apartment building?”

  “I don’t think so. There are trees outside the entrance and a delivery van was parked in front. That kept us hidden until we ran into Eddy, and then a big SUV parked in the lot might have blocked their view.”

  She watched him glance toward the street. “You’re sure?”

  “They don’t seem to notice us. If they saw us they’d be looking at us now and they aren’t.”

  “If they can see us.” Even if they couldn’t, they might have seen them walking through the parking lot. Maybe they’d noticed Jasper’s alert vigil and now feigned nonchalance.

  “Do you recognize them?” he asked again.

  She glanced back toward the car, squinting in an effort to see better. Then she finally shook her head, giving up. “I can’t be sure but I don’t think it’s anyone I recognize.” Darien wouldn’t come in person anyway. He probably had countless henchmen working for him.

  As the driver’s head began to turn toward them, Jasper stunned her by twisting a little more and bringing his face very close to hers. He did this to both block the men’s view of them and put on a show, but Sadie experienced a surge of sexual awareness nonetheless.

  His blue eyes lowered to her mouth and then came back to her eyes with the glimmer of fire. Sadie caught her breath. She wanted to run her hands into his blond hair and pull his head to her, make him kiss her. She soon discovered she didn’t have to. He put his hand on the side of her head and brought his mouth to hers, satisfying her intense craving.

  She ran her hand up his arm, feeling the hard muscle of his biceps beneath his jacket, and then moving inside to his chest. She opened her mouth as he began to devour her, igniting the craving into something far more lethal.