Cold Case Colton

by Addison Fox

  Silly. He was being silly. Whatever challenges might be headed their way, her visiting Jade was a good thing.

  “I’ll just give her a quick call. I had a stop off at the mercantile and figured I’d say a quick hello.”

  “I’ll also let her know that you stopped by.”

  “Thank you.”

  Evelyn hesitated for the briefest moment before she rushed on. “I look forward to seeing you at the wedding on Saturday.”

  “I’m delighted you can join us.” He had that insane urge to clear his throat once more. “Will you, um, be bringing a guest with you?”

  The words were like spikes on his tongue, but he forced himself to be civil. She no doubt had a string of men she could ask at any time to join her for an evening out and a wedding was one of the occasions when it was so much better to go with someone.

  “It’ll just be me.”

  “Well, then. You be sure to save your first dance for me, Evelyn.”

  Inappropriate and demanding. Yet as the words escaped, he found he couldn’t call them back.

  And then as her pretty brown eyes widened before filling with a smile, he was glad he hadn’t.

  “Why, I’d love to.”

  * * *

  “You were what? Run off the road?”

  “Practically, Hawk. I said I was practically run off the road.” Claudia’s voice was a tart echo in his ear as he slammed the lid down on his laptop and leaped to his feet.

  He’d already showered, had breakfast in his room at the B&B and had been puttering for a short while on a few other cases until it was time to leave and pick up Claudia for the trip to the clinic outside of Austin.

  Damn it.

  He cursed himself as he jotted down Jade’s address and the short list of directions, along with the admonition that her sister was hard to find on GPS, and disconnected.

  He might not know Claudia Colton all that well, but he’d heard the fear layered beneath her words.

  The woman was scared.

  And right about now, so was he.

  He followed the directions, racing through town toward her sister’s ranch. The four-way stop she’d outlined came up about ten minutes later, and he slowed as he went through it, his focus on the final turnoff into Jade’s driveway.

  As he crept along the road, scanning for the entrance, he needn’t have bothered. Claudia’s car was visible at the edge of the Hill Country Farms property the moment he turned the last bend toward Jade’s home.

  The car sat at an odd angle, a front tire hanging off the edge of the driveway, dangling over the ravine that ran the edge of the property. The drop wasn’t steep, but she’d have done some damage to the car if she’d fallen into it.

  She’d have done even more damage to herself if she’d hit the ravine at any rate of speed.

  The helpless rage that had gripped him as he’d cleaned up the mess of dead animals had nothing on that moment as he slowed to look at the car. Scratches and a deep dent lined the bumper, another indicator of what she’d shared on the phone.

  But it was that dangling tire that kept him riveted to the spot, unable to look away.

  Who had done this?

  She hadn’t been planning the trip to her sister’s—their tense and loaded conversation about Jade on the way home from Mac’s had been proof of that. So whoever had tried to run her off the road had followed her.

  Which meant they’d been watching her.

  Hawk drove on past the car and down the long driveway. The stretch was narrow and long, similar to Mac’s but not as smoothed over. In fact, everything about Jade’s property looked a bit like a work in progress.

  Like a business that was in its early days instead of one that was well established. He understood that. Had lived it, building his own business from scratch, case by case. Maybe it was that knowledge that had him looking at the possibilities in Hill Country Farms instead of the work still to be done.

  But even with that rose-colored outlook, it couldn’t diminish the bone-deep fear that gripped him as he pictured the car hanging over the unpaved drive pitching toward the ravine.

  A small, unassuming ranch house sat at the end of the drive and he could see Claudia standing at the kitchen window. She waved at him as he drove up and the breath he’d held all the way to Hill Country Farms finally expelled from where it had lain, pent-up in his lungs.

  She was alright.

  Yes, he’d heard her voice on the phone. And yes, he knew if she had been really hurt they’d have called for help. But as he slammed the car in Park and raced for the house, all he could think about was getting her in his arms.

  A weekend away from her had been torture. But the fear that had kept him company on the drive had simply shredded him.

  “Hawk!”

  She flew out the front door and launched herself at him. He held tight, his heart racing as images of what could have happened to her filled his mind’s eye.

  “You’re okay.” He whispered it over and over, the words part prayer, part reassurance.

  “I’m fine.”

  “What happened? How did it—”

  And then her mouth was on his and there were no more questions. No more worries of what could have been or what might have happened.

  There was only her. Claudia.

  Hawk put all he felt back into his response, his mouth flowing over hers as a waterfall of emotion spilled from deep within him.

  He’d lost someone before. In the most awful, horrible, devastating of ways. He couldn’t do that again.

  Couldn’t live through it again.

  A heart wasn’t made to go through that once, let alone open up and try a second time.

  What was he thinking?

  He was gentle as he held her arms, but pulled back from the kiss. They had an audience, anyway, and it wouldn’t do to give in to something so deep.

  And so very, very needy.

  “Ma’am.” He nodded toward the slim, smiling figure on the porch. The woman was pretty, but there was no mistaking her resemblance to Knox and Leonor. The arc of the cheekbones and the firm set of jaw.

  “I think we’re past the ma’am stage.” She sauntered over, her smile welcoming as she pulled him in for a hug. “You can call me Jade.”

  Chapter 11

  “Do you need to go back to the store or to your apartment?”

  “No.” Claudia’s gaze hung on her car as Hawk maneuvered them out of Jade’s driveway. He’d already called a tow shop in town to come deal with the vehicle, all while instructing her to reach out to Mac and then her siblings.

  She’d resisted at first but when the threat had come down—swiftly—that it was Mac, then her brothers and sisters, or another call to Sheriff Jeffries—she acquiesced.

  And had to admit he was right when it gave her the opportunity to control the story through its telling.

  Mac had struggled the worst with the news, but they managed to reassure him when Hawk got on and relayed the details, as well. He’d also promised to get them out of Shadow Creek for the day for their errand to Austin and Mac had seemed subtly relieved.

  So here they were, heading out of Shadow Creek, on a mission to determine if her life was a complete and total lie.

  The back roads of Shadow Creek gave way to the main drag through town before they were traveling down better-used highways with signs indicated Austin was their next major stop.

  “You know your way around.”

  “You navigate one small Texas town, you can navigate them all.”

  While she’d spent a long time away, she had to admit he was right about that. She’d easily fallen back into small-town living and had found it equally easy to head for the highway into Austin or up to Waco if she needed larger shopping or entertainment oppo
rtunities.

  “I’ve always wondered why my mother chose Shadow Creek. She’s a city girl through and through.”

  “I bet it killed her to know you were in New York. Living it up in the big city.”

  “I don’t know if it did or not. I avoided visiting her once I graduated.”

  Claudia thought back to those early days, shortly after Livia was put away. Mac had dutifully driven her up to Gatesville to visit. Jade hadn’t wanted to go and Mac hadn’t pushed her, but Claudia had felt it was something she should do. The good daughter routine.

  “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “I went the week before I graduated high school. I told her I was going to New York and she’d given me a few pithy remarks about watching out for myself and being careful in the big city. More than anything, she’d seemed distracted, her gaze following the goings-on in the room more than on me.”

  “Setting herself up. Reading the room.”

  Hawk’s words were murmured, but something in them stuck. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Your mother is the quintessential player. She’s always looking for an angle and always on the hunt for the person who can give it to her. You were superfluous by then.”

  “Cheery thought.”

  “Actually, it sort of is. Staying off your mother’s radar is the very best thing you can do.”

  “I guess I never thought about it that way.”

  While it was excellent advice, none of them knew when Livia would decide to make her presence known. Or when one of them would land on her radar for some twisted purpose only she knew. Cody’s kidnapping was a perfect example of that. So was the way she’d watched Leonor from a distance.

  Her mother was still out there. And while it would be wonderful never to see her again, Claudia didn’t think her mother was done with any of them.

  Or if they’d ever be free.

  Regardless of what her DNA said.

  “What happened before?”

  “Before when?”

  Hawk picked up speed as the highway opened up, his acceleration matched to the increased speed limit signs posted on the side of the road.

  “Before, when you got to Jade’s house. I was kissing you and I thought you were kissing me back and then you went somewhere.”

  “I think I was there. Right there with you, as I recall. It was my lips on yours.”

  “Don’t do that. Please don’t do that. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.”

  She knew it the moment she got through to him, by the hard clench of his jaw and the way his gaze narrowed on the road. “Alright.”

  “Did something upset you?”

  “Several things, actually.”

  While she appreciated the honesty, the swift curse before he brought the car to a skidding halt was an awfully large surprise. The car slowed, a carefully controlled motion so at odds with what she’d experienced earlier that morning at Jade’s, and once stopped, he shoved it into Park and turned toward her.

  “I lost my wife. It was every terrible thing you’d think, then about a million more that no one braces you for.”

  She nearly responded, but it was that urgent need to speak that had her keeping quiet. He needed to say this—needed to get it out—and she had to give him the room.

  “You know it would be horrible. Empirically you know losing someone you love will be the worst thing that could ever happen to you, and then it does happen and it’s like your imagination was a child’s, limited by all the things of the world you know nothing about. My wife died and there was nothing I could do or say or try or ask for that would make it better.”

  He stopped at that, a hard sob lodging in his throat.

  “For four years I’ve lived with that. I’ve never gotten used to it, but I’ve lived with it. And then somehow you find your way into my life, first with the picture in that blog post and then you, Claudia. It’s like something happened. And everything—every damn thing—I’d shut down in order to cope, to survive, came rushing back to life.”

  “Hawk—” Emotions of her own lodged in her throat and all she could do was reach for his hand, take it with her own.

  “I’m not ready for this. For whatever it is between us. I can feel it and I want it—you have to believe that I want it. But it scares me. And it has the power to end me. Do you get that?”

  He turned his hand up beneath her palm, linking their fingers. “Do you get that?”

  The tears that lodged in her throat stayed there in a hard lump and all she could do was nod her head.

  But for the moment, there by the side of the road on a pretty summer morning, it was enough.

  * * *

  “That’s really all there is to it?”

  “That’s all there is.”

  “Seems a bit anticlimactic relative to the expected results on the other side.”

  The pale woman Hawk had come upon at Jade’s was nowhere in sight as he and Claudia walked out of the medical clinic. Instead, she’d been replaced with a woman who’d gotten some of the swing back in her step. Or perhaps “clip in her heels” was a better description, based on the summer skirt that currently had his attention. Along with the pretty long legs that peaked out from beneath the hem.

  The DNA test had taken the promised five minutes—the paperwork had taken longer to fill out than the actual test—and they were already on their way.

  Perhaps it was the earlier emotion that had spilled over both of them at the start of the drive. Or maybe it was just the freeing feeling of getting out of Shadow Creek for a few hours, but he felt lighter than he had in days.

  And more prepared for whatever his future held.

  “What’s that look for?” She eyed him sideways as they headed for the car.

  “I was thinking about your shoes.”

  One lone eyebrow rose at his comment. “My shoes?”

  “Less the style and more the volume. Just how many pairs do you own?”

  Her voice was breezy as she slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “I have no idea. I lost track a long time ago.”

  “Come on. It’s not like counting decimal places after Pi.”

  “Oh, it’s far better. But seriously, I don’t keep count. It’s a number that’s always going up and down anyway so why bother?”

  He pulled the passenger door open for her and shook his head as those most excellent legs swung into the passenger seat. “Don’t mistake my message. I’m more than appreciative of their effectiveness. I just don’t understand how you can lose track.”

  She clucked her tongue and laid a hand against his cheek. “Sweet, silly man.”

  He gave those long, smooth legs one last, longing glance before closing the door. Who was he to argue with her logic?

  He climbed into the rental car and hit the ignition. “Do you have to be back to the boutique?”

  “No. Evelyn’s working today and she’s training a part-time associate we just hired, so I’m good for a while.”

  “How about we play hooky from Shadow Creek for another few hours and go get some barbecue in Austin?”

  “I’m in.”

  He headed for the interstate, already imagining the food at one of his favorite places off of Congress Street. They weren’t too far outside of downtown but Austin’s legendary traffic had them at a standstill as they crept toward the city.

  “At the risk of putting a sour taste in your mouth before you eat the food of the gods, why don’t you tell me a bit more about this morning? What happened with the other driver?”

  “It was awful. He came out of nowhere just as I neared Jade’s farm.”

  “You didn’t see anyone before then? Or anyone during your drive?”

  “No. That was the odd part. Once I got off Main Street I saw
no one. Besides, it was early so I think I’d have known if there was anyone else around, but I don’t remember seeing another car. And then this guy just came out of nowhere.”

  “At the four-way stop?”

  “Yes. That’s when I noticed him first. The car was too close while parked behind me at the stop sign. I had that claustrophobic feeling you get when you look in your rearview mirror and the person feels like they’re on top of you.”

  Hawk considered her words as he maneuvered into another lane. “You keep calling the driver a he. Was it a man?”

  “Yes, it had to be. Well, now. Wait.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “That’s the weird part. I did try to see the person. The view’s not perfect, but you can almost always see the person who’s driving behind you when you look out your rearview mirror. And I couldn’t see this person. The visor was pulled down low which was the first block, but then there was this sort of drape up.”

  “What sort of drape? How did the driver see?”

  “That was what was so odd. I could see a slit in it of some sort, but it was like they deliberately concealed their face.” She waved a hand. “That’s not entirely right. I knew there was a person there, but it was like there was just an additional layer of something blocking the view. Almost like a thin material.”

  “Could you describe it?”

  “That’s the problem. I know what I saw, but I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I knew there was someone in there, but the details were just too hazy to define.”

  “We can work with this.”

  “How?”

  “Whoever tried to hurt you followed you this morning. All we need to do is get some film off of any camera in town, on a building or on the streetlights.”

  The heavy indrawn breath had him glancing over, away from the mess of traffic. “Followed me? This person followed me?”

  The sheer insensitivity of his words had him reaching for her hand. “I thought you knew. That you understood that part. That’s why they showed up out of nowhere. Because they followed you to Jade’s.”

  “I didn’t make the connection.”