by Dana Mentink
He sat across from her and to her surprise, he took her hand to give thanks.
“Lord, thanks for giving us this good food and another day to enjoy it.”
After the “amen” he grinned. “Sorry. I shoulda asked if you wanted to say it.”
“Is that your subtle way of asking if I’m a believer?”
“Are you?”
“Yes. A new one, I’m afraid.”
He laughed. “Doesn’t matter if you’re new or got some miles behind you. Truth is truth, no matter when you arrive at it.”
“Texas wisdom?”
He grimaced in mock affront. “Tennessee, ma’am. We got lots of wisdom there, way more than here in Texas.”
She dug into the fritatta, redolent with red peppers and onions. “You really are a good cook.”
“Yes, ma’am, I am,” he said.
“And humble, too.”
“Upon occasion.”
Kendra laughed. A soft knock sounded on the kitchen door and she was surprised to find a small woman, late thirties maybe, standing on the porch, her long brown hair caught in a ponytail. She held out a plastic bag of cherries. Her blue eyes were wide with alarm as she got a look at Kendra.
“Are you... I mean, are you okay, Jillian? Your face...is a little swollen.”
Kendra snapped herself back into the role she should have been playing all along, thankful for her swollen face. “Oh, yes, I’m okay.” She put a finger to her cheek. “I got tangled up with some wasps.” She turned to Ethan. “Ethan, this is Mindy Zeppler, my next-door neighbor.”
“We’ve only had a chance to say hi in passing,” Mindy said. “You’re so busy, Jillian.”
Another blessing, Kendra realized. Jillian and Mindy hadn’t spent time together, which made her more likely to accept Kendra as Jillian.
“I, uh, I heard you and Ethan were divorced. It’s nice to see you still get along so well.”
In one swift movement, Ethan stepped close to Kendra and looped an arm around her. “Reconciled, ma’am. We’re both thrilled to be together again.” He pressed a kiss to the temple free of stings and her blood raced right up to her face. “Can’t believe we wasted so much time,” he said as he leaned in closer, his breath warm on her neck.
Kendra’s body prickled all over and chills raced up her spine. What was he doing?
Mindy smiled at Ethan. “Your dog is beautiful. Patrol dog?”
“And soon to be cadaver detector,” he said proudly.
Mindy’s mouth dropped open.
Titus’s new skill was a real conversation stopper, Kendra realized.
“I was just bringing by some cherries. Nice to meet you, Ethan. I work for a real estate business in town. I can ask them about a good pest control guy.” She shivered. “Wasps are the worst. They just keep stinging until they’re dead.”
Or their victim is, Kendra thought with a shudder. “We’ll take care of it.” She was not certain how much to tell Mindy, but in her experience as a private investigator, the less information she let spill the better. “Thanks, though, for bringing the cherries.”
“Would you care for some frittata, ma’am?” Ethan was acting the perfect Southern gentleman.
Mindy waved a hand. “Oh, no, thank you, I just came to deliver a message with the cherries.”
“A message?” Kendra felt an inexplicable chill.
“Yes, a man called me yesterday.” She frowned. “I’m not sure how he got my number, now that I think about it. He said he was an old friend of yours and he was trying to find you.”
“Did he leave his name?”
“No. I figured you were US Marine buddies.”
“What made you think that, ma’am?” Ethan’s voice as level and low, but intense.
“Well...” Mindy said, her mouth crimped as she thought about it. “I’m not sure. He was polite, like you, though no accent. Maybe I just imagined the marine thing because I know you’re a pilot,” she said to Kendra.
“Ma’am, would you happen to have that number on your phone?” Ethan asked her.
She shook her head. “It said, ‘Unknown Caller.’ I deleted it. I’m sorry. Is it important?”
Ethan shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“What was the message?” Kendra asked.
“He said to tell you he was looking forward to seeing you again soon and he was going to bring you some roses. I thought it was sweet.”
Roses.
Sullivan.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Soon.
FIVE
Kendra waited until Mindy was safely gone and pest control had cleaned up the nest before she drummed up the courage to face Ethan.
“Ethan, this isn’t going to work.”
“What isn’t?” he said as he fastened a harness on Titus.
“This...pretend marriage thing.”
He stopped and looked at her. “Oh. Did I freak you out?”
Was there a challenge in his voice? “No, you didn’t. It’s just that, I mean, it might be hard to convince people.”
“Not for me. I’m—”
She rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, a great actor? In addition to being a good cook and a top-notch MP?”
His smile was warm and honey-sweet. “I was gonna say I’m not too proud to play the part of a love-struck fella if it will bag us Sullivan. Besides, you smell nice.”
She blinked. “What?”
“You smell nice, like cinnamon or something. I noticed when I kissed you.” He finished clasping on Titus’s harness.
“You...you shouldn’t be kissing me at all,” she snapped out. And I shouldn’t be liking it!
That got his attention. “You don’t think we’d be kissing if we’re gonna get remarried?”
“We’re not going to get remarried, or date, or anything like that.” Her face was now scarlet, she had no doubt.
He got to his feet. “All right, ma’am.” He led Titus to the door, moving closer to her in order to edge around the chairs. “Have it your way, but for the record, you do smell nice.”
Leaving her gaping, he led Titus outside. Thoughts zinging, she followed. Be professional, Kendra. If he can focus on the job, so can you. Obviously the kiss hadn’t meant a thing to Ethan other than giving him a chance to sniff her, just like Titus. Maybe there was truth to the saying that men were dogs.
Ethan did a walk around the outside of the house. It gave her a small measure of comfort to be doing something, even as trivial as securing the yard. The knowledge that Sullivan was closing in sent her skin prickling. Or was it Andy? She didn’t understand why Sullivan would have gone to the trouble to plant a wasp nest in her house, but it made perfect sense for Andy to have done so. She had calls in to check if he had reported for his mandated appointment with his parole officer in northern Texas. If he hadn’t, then he might very well have come hunting for her. The air took on a sudden chill.
The ground around the outside of Jillian’s small house gave up nothing of interest, no footprints, not so much as a blade of grass out of place. The only sign of an intruder was the bedroom window. Scratch marks and chipped paint indicated where the intruder had used a pry bar to force the old lock and gain entry. It must have been awkward, breaking and entering and transporting a wasp nest.
Titus paced around in Ethan’s wake.
“Why is your dog whining?”
“He’s a little off his game. Used to being kenneled at night, so now that he isn’t, he has to be in close proximity to me when the sun goes down or he gets nervous.”
“So you’re a six-foot security blankie for your dog?”
“Six foot four.”
She laughed. “You’re a big baby, Titus.”
The dog gave her a pitiful glance.
“That look usually results in people gi
ving him ear rubs, if I allow it.”
Kendra just shook her head. “Told you I’m not susceptible to canine manipulation.”
“Just feline wiles?”
“Baby is too old to be sneaky. How exactly does this dog function in war conditions?”
“That’s different. We sleep in the same cot when we’re deployed.”
The animal had to be seventy pounds, all legs and chest, wedged brown head and speckled all over with flecks of caramel that matched Ethan’s eyes. “One cot for the two of you? Crowded much?”
“Nah, unless he’s trying to hog the blanket.”
Chuckling, she decided not to admit that Baby slept curled at the foot of her bed every night. Ethan’s gaze went to the jimmied bedroom window and her humor vanished. Back to grim reality. Someone had been in her borrowed house. Someone who wanted to torture her.
Again her thoughts turned to Andy. Could he have violated his parole already? Somehow found her? He would have known from the trial of Jillian’s involvement, perhaps figured Kendra would seek out her old friend. Andy was smart and as focused as a heat-seeking missile.
“Best to loop in the cops,” Ethan said.
“I think it’s better not to involve them at this point. They’re looking into the shooting, that’s enough. We don’t need to bring them in for a bunch of wasps.”
“I say you’re wrong. If it’s the Andy guy, cops can track him.”
“If it’s not,” she countered, “too much cop involvement will scare away Sullivan.”
He didn’t answer and she knew she’d touched the right chord. He wanted Sullivan badly, and he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the capture, even if it meant cozying up to a woman playing the part of his ex-wife.
Do your PI thing. Show him you’re working through it, too. “This was elaborate, a lot of work for Andy, if it was him. How was it done?”
“Got to go at a wasp nest at night, when the insects are inactive. There’s one hole at the bottom so you don’t shine any lights or touch the nest in any way. Raise up a netted bag or something, with a cinch noose around the top, trap everything inside, knock the nest loose. Whoever it was botched the thing. Probably dropped it and retrieved only a small piece of it.”
“Good thing for me,” Kendra said with a shiver. “If it had to happen at night, it must have been harvested pretty recently or the wasps would be dead.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Probably from somewhere close by.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“A lot of work just to freak me out.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do you have anything else to contribute?”
“No, ma’am.”
She huffed. “Will you please call me Kendra? If I promise not to tell anyone about your cowardly dog?”
He cocked his head. “I will consider it.”
“It’ll have to do.”
He eyed the small outbuilding crowding one corner of the yard. “Okay to bunk there?”
She started. “What?”
“I should be on the property.”
To be her personal bodyguard? “I could have handled the shooter and the wasps myself. I don’t need you to—”
He cut her off with a look. “We’re supposed to be reconciling, remember? So unless you want me to bunk inside the house...”
She went completely speechless, picturing the tiny home and him sprawled out on the sofa, long limbs draped over the ends, and her skin prickled all over again. It aggravated her that he appeared completely nonchalant, calmly discussing their fake marriage while she had a herd of elephants thundering around in her stomach. How could she send him packing without compromising the case? She realized the silence had gone on too long.
“Right. Of course. Yes.”
He strode over to the little mother-in-law unit, Titus right at his heels. Pushing open the door, she peered over his shoulder at a minuscule kitchen that opened onto a cramped bedroom and living room. Ethan had to duck his head to enter. She stood on the doorstep as Titus pushed past her.
“It’s kind of small,” she said.
“Plenty bigger than a barrack’s cot, and I’m not sharing it with a bunch of sweaty guys, so that’s a plus.”
She realized she was standing close, so close her shoulder grazed his arm. She edged away. “Do you need... I mean, stuff?” Why was her mouth going on without any consultation with her brain? “Uh, clothes and a toothbrush? I think there’s a store close by.”
He did not seem to notice her babbling.
“Got gear in my truck.”
Of course he did. Her aggravation peaked. “Is that right? So you were planning to stay this whole time, even before you asked me? Isn’t that a little presumptuous?”
He didn’t exactly smile, but his lips quirked. “Always carry a pack, ma’am,” he said. “Never know where you’re going to be billeted. Guy’s gotta have his creature comforts.”
Mortified, her pulse pounding, she figured there was no possible way she could embarrass herself any further. Escape was the only answer. “Great. I guess you’re all set then.”
“One thing, though. Mind if I get myself some water and maybe a PB and J? I saw creamy peanut butter in the pantry. Not as good as crunchy, but I can make do. I’m tough that way.”
“Still hungry?”
“Always hungry, ma’am. Mama says I was born famished and it seems the condition has stuck.” His caramel eyes were soft, sparkling with humor and sincerity. Ethan Webb was confounding, a mixture of cocky and kind, altruistic and chauvinistic, frivolous and ferocious, as if he would fit right on the screen of an old Western one moment and a military thriller the next. It was a heady mix. In short, Ethan Webb made her nervous.
“Help yourself,” she managed.
“Okay. I’ll fix my sandwich, then you can lock up behind me.”
Titus sneaked around Ethan, and in one long jump he was settled in the bed, eyeing his partner as if to say, “I’m tired. Isn’t it bedtime yet?”
“You better tell your dog it’s not quite time for lights out.”
“I could tell him,” Ethan said, shaking his head at his hopeful companion, “but I don’t think he’s gonna believe me.”
* * *
Ethan slept as he always did, like the proverbial log. He awoke at his customary 0500, ready for a sunrise run with Titus, the scent of cinnamon floating through his memory. He really had unsettled her and the thought made him smile for some reason.
A couple of miles would both allow him to stretch out his legs and familiarize himself with the neighborhood. He and Jillian had lived in a roomy apartment closer to Canyon when they’d been married. Somehow it made him feel better that Kendra wasn’t staying in a house where he and Jillian had lived together, battled each other, and where his marriage had exploded into great big messy shrapnel.
The house was still dark and he didn’t figure most civilian women would be up until sunrise. He set off on his run, Titus at his heels, past Mindy Zeppler’s house just as the sky was shifting from black to gray. He was comforted to know there was a good deal of brush-filled space between her property and Jillian’s rental, which meant she would not see Ethan coming and going from the mother-in-law unit. It’d be tough to explain that one.
The street was tree-lined and wide in the way of older developments, and the fresh morning air took him back to his boyhood in Tennessee. Long lazy summers when he and his brother, Luke, sneaked out to go fishing without waking his parents. He could practically taste the squashed sandwiches they’d thrown in their packs, which they’d wash down with warm water. The friendly competition between them led to good-natured wrestling and occasionally a few half-hearted punches. Man, how he missed his brother. Landon Martelli, the K-9 trainer at Canyon, had been the closest he’d ever come to someone besides Luke. He quickened his pac
e, feet pounding over the pavement.
Gonna get you justice, Landon. Gonna bring down Boyd Sullivan.
A car pulled up next to him.
“Did your dog sleep well?” Kendra wore a baseball cap, her hair peeking out from under it.
He stopped so quickly that Titus thunked into his shin and let out a bark of displeasure before he turned his nose toward the stopped car.
“What are you doing out by yourself?” Ethan snapped.
“I took a cab to the all-night rental car place and got myself a loaner. Then I worked out at the gym before I did some internet business at the cafe.”
So much for his theory that she’d been asleep. A bonehead move and a dangerous one, in his opinion. “That is not a good idea,” he managed. “Going out on your own under the present circumstances.”
She waved him off. “I was in public places the whole time.”
“At this hour, how many people are around? Besides, it doesn’t matter.” He lowered his voice and forced a smile as a lone jogger neared. Keeping the smile plastered in place, he bent to her window. “Someone is trying to kill you and they’re not missing by much.” The man jogged closer. “Honey,” he added.
“Well, darling,” she said as she gave him a saccharine smile, “I have a job to do and you’re not my boss, so don’t talk to me like one.”
“I wasn’t,” he said, waving at the runner who offered a friendly nod as he went past.
“Yes, you were.” She was still smiling. “But I brought you some breakfast, pumpkin. A nice muffin.”
Pumpkin? Glowering, he snatched the bag from her fingertips. “Thank you.”
“No problem, pumpkin. See you back at the house.”
She left him there on the sidewalk, holding the bag, grumbling to his dog.
“Pumpkin?” Was that payback for the kiss?
Titus flapped his ears.
Suddenly he did not feel quite so much like he had the upper hand anymore. “This situation is getting a mite tangled.”
Titus sniffed the bag, swiped a tongue around his lips and turned back toward home.
Ethan walked behind, cooling down physically and mentally on the way back. In the kitchen, he found Kendra scribbling on a notepad, a phone pressed to her ear. A pot of coffee steamed on the counter. She waved to him to help himself while she finished her call. He was through his first cup of coffee and half the muffin when she disconnected.
