Virtually Yours: A Virtual Match Anthology

by Kait Nolan

  Shelby wasn’t about to go into details of how she, Asa, and Dallas had set up elaborate pranks on their entire senior class, and perpetrated them throughout the school year. Each prank more outrageous than the last. Funny how Asa had become a cop. She’d always seen him as a little outside the law rather than following it.

  She shook her head as she walked into the station and mumbled, “I can’t believe Asa’s a cop.”

  The building that housed the Suwannee Grove Police Department was new—a far cry from the one used by the local force for years. That building had been the first one-room schoolhouse in Suwannee Grove.

  Asa stood behind a desk on a dais. He looked up when she approached. Surprise morphed to sympathy, and he left his post, coming around the end of the desk to enfold her in a tight embrace.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

  Shelby choked back emotions too big to let out. So far she’d done a good job of keeping it together, but hearing condolences from such an old and dear friend cut through all the barricades she’d erected in order to survive the trip home.

  Her arms came around him, and she hugged him back. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’m going to do without her.”

  Asa took her to arm’s length. “You’ll do like you’ve always done and get through it.” He wiped a thumb under her eye. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “It’s fine. I suspect I’ll be doing that a lot over the next…who knows how long.” She gave him the consolation knowing it would probably never be all right again. How could it be when she’d failed Lana in so many basic ways? If she’d only been here, made herself more available.

  She choked off the thought before it crippled her.

  “I’m sorry I missed the viewing. I tried to get out of desk duty, but I’ve already switched with half the department in the past couple months. I think they’re onto me.”

  Shelby gave him a sad smile. “I take it this isn’t your idea of fun.”

  “Not even a little bit.”

  She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “Were you on the night Lana died?”

  Asa shook his dark head. His mouth tightened. “No. I was off that day. As a matter of fact I went to Georgia to go fishing with Jae and Farris.”

  Shelby nodded. She remembered both men. Jae Stark and Farris Dalton. When all hell had broken loose over the prank fiasco, Jae and Farris had been accused of being Asa’s accomplices. No one had been more surprised of Shelby’s involvement than her own family. Steeles didn’t do things like paint an entire bus to resemble a giant breast or fill lockers with water balloons.

  “Do you know if I can get her personal belongings back? I need to get some contacts off her phone.”

  Asa frowned. “I don’t see why not. As far as I know the investigation didn’t show anything as being suspect from that end.”

  Her belly tightened. Being a cop, Asa probably knew the entire story. However, she wasn’t about to ask him. That wouldn’t stop her from finding out if he could shed light on Lana’s state of mind.

  She placed her hand on Asa’s arm when he would have turned away. “Have you talked to Lana much in the last few years?”

  “Not anything close to regular and not more than a quick hello and to ask after you.” An expression came to his eyes—the cop hedging, trying to glean information before he gave any away. “What do you know?”

  “Only that the cause of death was self inflicted, but not the why. I want the why.”

  “Ah.” He gave a nod and slid his arm around her shoulder. “If she were my sister, I’d want it, too.”

  “Did you ever run into her boyfriend? I’m wondering if he even knows what happened.”

  Asa shook his head. “Never met him.”

  “Apparently his name is Rhys and he’s been nothing more than a text date, according to Whitney.” Shelby rested her hands on her hips. “If you’re seeing someone don’t you want to talk to them, hear their voice?”

  “I’ve never liked talking on the phone or texting. If I want to have a conversation with someone, I like to do it in person, but that’s just me.”

  “Whitney said it was an odd relationship. None of Lana’s friends had ever met Rhys or talked to him.”

  “Just because no one saw him, doesn’t mean he had bad intentions toward your sister. Maybe he’s shy or doesn’t live here. Maybe it was just casual.”

  “Was the number local?”

  Asa had the good sense to blush. “Yes. But that doesn’t stand to reason that he still lives here. People move all the time now and keep their cell phone numbers from the area they are from.”

  “I’m not suggesting he did. I just want to know if Lana told him anything that might explain why she did it.”

  “He didn’t.” Asa walked her back to the desk. “Everything we were given was gone over and we found nothing.”

  She loved Asa like a brother and didn’t doubt he’d do a thorough job if he’d been the investigating officer, but he’d been away and having a close relationship with the family, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the case in the first place. However, since Lana had called Max and told him what she intended, the police were not going to expend much energy in investigating a death that occurred as it appeared.

  “Do you think I can get her phone?”

  “Let me check with Graves. He’s the investigating officer on the case.”

  Shelby nodded and played with her purse strap. Realizing her nervous tic manifested, she rubbed her hands down her pant legs and tried to exude an air of calm.

  Asa pulled his phone out and thumbed through his contact list. “I’ll have an answer for you in just a few minutes.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate this.”

  “What are old friends for?”

  The distinction was there—subtle, but Shelby heard it and made note. She’d been relegated to the place in his memory where old friends were housed. Not current ones, not lifetime friends, but those who left and had little contact with their hometown. A kick to the gut with a steel-toed boot would hurt less than knowing her place in the lives of her friends and family had been reduced to a memory.

  Asa walked a few feet away to have his conversation. There were a few items discussed which Shelby thought for sure had nothing to do with her or her sister’s accident. As a matter of fact it sounded more like plans for a rather large and involved BBQ. It was then she realized they were discussing Lana’s after funeral luncheon.

  Lana had always said she wanted a big send off when she died, not a small dignified affair, but a good old country BBQ complete with pig roast.

  Asa glanced up and nodded, giving her the signal she’d gotten what she wanted. He ended the call and walked up on the dais behind the desk. “I’m just going to call the evidence room and have it brought up here for you. I’d do it myself, but I’m not supposed to leave the desk unattended, and I really can’t afford to get another reprimand.”

  Shelby let a slow smile curve the corner of her mouth. “You? Get a reprimand? I don’t even believe that for a moment.”

  He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “Yeah, well. I’ve been told my body language says everything my mouth doesn’t.”

  “You’ve gotten in trouble for body language?”

  “Apparently it speaks volumes and has quite a lot to say.”

  Shelby rubbed his arm in comfort. He really was a great guy, always had been. If anyone had been a champion of the underdog it was Asa Swan. She imagined if his body language was offensive and he’d been silent it was because he’d been raging at some injustice and knew enough not to spout off to his superiors.

  His expression turned serious. He cupped her shoulder. “Hey, I did switch days so I can come to the funeral. I wouldn’t have missed paying my respects to you and your family.”

  “Thank you.” Already she felt the comfort of his presence.

  A door buzzed open and a short lady of indeterminate years, dressed in a uniform, came out holding a large envelope. “You
the family member?”

  “Yes. I’m Lana Steele’s sister, Shelby.”

  “I need to see two forms of ID and sign here, and initial there.”

  Asa made a face. “I can vouch for her identity. Just sign the paper, sweetheart.”

  The female officer made a face. “How do I know she is who she says she is?”

  “Because I’ve known her all my life and I said so. Even Capri knows her.”

  Shelby glanced up. “Fast Eddie Capri?”

  Asa laughed. “No. Fast Eddie’s brother, Tobias. He’s the chief of police now.”

  Shelby shook her head. “Toby Capri who gave me my first grown up kiss and groped me in the back of his father’s pickup truck?”

  Asa laughed. “The same. He goes by Tobias now and is married with three daughters.”

  “Serves him right.”

  Asa handed Shelby the envelope, ignoring the sour look on his colleague’s face. “Look through this as I read off the list of items.”

  “Okay.”

  There really wasn’t much in the envelope. Mostly items like her phone and what looked like a bottle opener, some anti-bacteria hand gel, three rolls of Lifesavers, a pack of gum, and a couple of thumb drives. “This was in the car? Not in her purse?”

  Asa nodded. “Says on the report it was found on the front passenger seat. Her purse and the contents of that went to the hospital with her.”

  Suddenly her legs didn’t feel so sturdy. “So she was alive initially?”

  Asa helped her to a chair. “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

  He went down on his knees in front of her, squatting to be eye level as she sat down. He took her hands between both of his. “They did have a pulse on-scene but she was DOA at the hospital. They never got her back.”

  “Oh.” Shelby covered her mouth with a hand. “I was told she was dead when the paramedics arrived.”

  “I don’t have an answer as to why you were told that. Maybe that’s the way your family understood it, or they wanted to spare you the details.”

  Out of her entire family, Max would have been the most likely candidate to want to spare her feelings. Just imagining Lana alive and possibly knowing what she was going through—the pain, the fear—it was too much to bear.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked. Even squeezing her hands into fists and closing her eyes as tightly as possible couldn’t keep them at bay.

  “Oh, God. Why did she do this?”

  “I wish I could answer that for you.”

  Shelby stayed in the police station a while longer, feeling like a complete idiot for asking questions she knew no one could answer. She drove across town and let herself into Lana’s apartment.

  It stood in complete stillness. Perfume lingered on the air, remnants of some long forgotten date. From the foyer everything seemed perfectly in its place. Not one pillow on the overstuffed sofa had been moved, not one fiber of the rug turned in the wrong direction. No dust lingered on top of the upright piano.

  Glancing through the living room to the kitchen showed even that space free from clutter. Lana was nothing if not meticulous. It looked as if she had stepped out for a moment and might be back to cook a meal or rumple the sofa cushions.

  A lump formed in Shelby’s throat, too painful to choke down.

  Lana wasn’t ever coming back.

  She sat down on the sofa and pulled Lana’s phone from the evidence bag. They’d been told searching it had been part of the investigation because, even though Lana had taken pills with the intent to overdose, the actual death came as a result of a traffic accident. The authorities believed she’d had second thoughts and tried to drive herself to the hospital. It had taken some time before the entire time line of events had been sorted out. Luckily the accident had ended in a single vehicle incident and no others were harmed.

  So irresponsible.

  Not like Lana at all. She had to be hurting bad, not thinking straight to do something so desperate.

  Shelby scrolled through the texts, finding the ones from Rhys. A quick read revealed nothing impressive or even intimate. It all read pretty benign. Code? No, now she was reaching.

  Most of the texts were about her job, hobbies, nothing about family or anything too personal. Rhys never shared much at all. Movies, television shows, and favorite bands. The conversations were all very wholesome, and kind of sweet in a getting-to-know-you kind of way. There might have been some potential there…if only.

  The last text was the day Lana died, but earlier in the day. Then nothing. Rhys hadn’t tried to contact her or find out why there had been radio silence for the past few days. Odd. Strange. Downright offensive.

  Shelby bit the bullet and texted him.

  Hello. This is Shelby, Lana’s sister. Can we meet for a drink? I need to speak with you and don’t want to do it over a text.

  She waited for a few minutes and the phone buzzed. She looked down on the text.

  RHYS: I heard. My condolences.

  Shelby let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Another text came through.

  RHYS: Is there anything I can do?

  Her fingers flew over the tiny keys as she composed. Yes. I need to ask you a few questions. Can we meet for a drink?

  A longer pause this time. Did he need to consider it that hard? If he lived out of town, he could have just said so and been done with it. Hell, even if he didn’t, he could have always said he did and she’d never be the wiser.

  Finally another text came through.

  RHYS: Yes. Where and what time?

  Thank God.

  SHELBY: Do you know Sutter’s Mill and Tavern? Meet me there at 7.

  A longer pause from him this time. See you then.

  ~*~

  Dallas threw his work cell down on the bedside table and all but fell onto the bed. He put his arm up to shield his eyes. God it had been a long, damn day under the hot sun. A distress call from his Uncle T.C. that morning had sent him hauling ass back to Orlando to lend him a hand before turning back around and heading home to get cleaned up and to the funeral home to attend Lana’s viewing. Only the family had already left for the day and he’d missed Shelby. Now here she was buzzing his work cell to meet her for drinks at Sutter’s, thinking he was Rhys.

  When the opportunity to work for the app company, Virtual Match, came up he had no idea he’d ever connect with someone he knew. Let alone Lana Steele. Why would someone as seemingly together and successful as Lana need to pretend she had a boyfriend? He’d known Lana all his life, and there had always been men lining up to date her.

  However, their texts never went beyond benign conversations. She never mentioned family or friends or what had gone on during her day. Nothing too personal. That seemed odd as well, but then it was her money. If she wanted to spend it on texts that could have very well been generated by a computer, so be it. That knowledge didn’t make him any less uncomfortable around Shelby. Adding to the burden was the non-disclosure agreement he’d signed when he hired on. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t tell Shelby about being Lana’s phone buddy. And he’d not read the contract close enough to know if the agreement ended when one of the parties died.

  He didn’t want to be Rhys anymore. Didn’t have to be. Rhys was the name Lana had decided to call him when she’d signed her contract. He’d just gone with the flow and let her take the lead. It was part of the job after all. And if he hadn’t needed something he could do while working odd jobs and side repairs, he’d have chucked his phone on the front desk at the office and told them to keep their app.

  How was he supposed to sit across the table from Shelby at Sutter’s—a pub that had a real special place in his heart in regards to her—and pretend he knew nothing about Rhys? He’d never been a good liar or poker player. His face told all kinds of stories, and his heart was forever on his sleeve.

  Shit, he could have just told her Rhys lived out of town and ended it right there and then. But no, his selfish side reared its ugly Cre
ature from the Black Lagoon face and made him agree to meet her, if only to know where she’d be at a given time. Because damn it, while she was here, he really wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

  And that was so wrong when she was grieving. Oh, yeah he justified it by telling himself he didn’t know when he’d have another opportunity to see her again. That he didn’t want to waste it. Had to pack as much as he could in the next few days and not seem as if he was encroaching, intruding, or a creeper. A tough balancing act for anyone.

  A knock sounded on his back door.

  Who was coming over at this time of day? Usually he was still out on a job site until the sun went down.

  He rose from the bed and walked to the back door to see Jae Stark standing there, dressed in a suit.

  Dallas opened the door. “You just come from work?”

  “Stopped by the funeral home to pay my respects. The family wasn’t there, so I signed the guest book and left.”

  Dallas looked down at his own clothing. “Same here.”

  He let Jae in and grabbed them both a beer from the fridge.

  “You holding up all right, man?”

  That seemed to be the question of the week. He’d been pretty broken up when Shelby left town. It didn’t take rocket science to know he’d be full of mixed emotions having her back for a few days.

  Dallas gave a subtle shrug. “I’m good.”

  “No you aren’t.” Jae smirked and took a sip of the beer.

  Nope, he wasn’t, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that to Jae or anyone else. Not out loud anyway.

  “You come over here to pick at scabs or did you have a point?”

  “Just wanted to check up on you and make sure you were still in your head to pitch in the tourney on Saturday.”

  He should have known this had more to do with the softball team than anything else. Jae lived and breathed the damn team, and anything that interfered with a game was considered the enemy.

  “I’ll be there.”

  “You sure? I don’t want you punking out on me and the team. We need you there and focused.”

  “Have you ever known me to punk out before?”

  Jae raised a brow and lowered his beer. “Yeah. About thirteen years ago when a certain girl left town to move to New York.”