Nickeled and Dimed to Death

by Denise Swanson

  “So how do we find out?” Boone asked. “That could be important.”

  “Since Colin works at the Shadow Bend Savings and Guaranty Bank and I’m on the board, maybe I should go talk to Max Robinson,” Noah offered. “As bank president and Colin’s boss, he was probably the person Elise contacted if she was trying to have her husband sacked.”

  “That would be great.” Poppy beamed at Noah, then turned to me with a mischievous grin. “I bet Dev would love to go with you.”

  “Of course.” I narrowed my eyes at Poppy, but she had already looked away.

  “Meanwhile, Tryg and I can keep digging around to see what the police are doing,” Poppy proposed. “I’m sure I can convince someone at the PD to spill the beans.”

  “That’s probably not a good idea,” I cautioned. “You don’t want to do anything to upset your dad. That would only make things worse for Boone.”

  “Right,” Poppy mumbled noncommittally.

  “Hey, I almost forgot.” I turned to Boone. “Since Elise found her husband in bed with the pet sitter, I take it the Whitmores have a cat or dog.”

  “Yes.” Boone’s expression was puzzled. “She had a Russian Blue named Tsar.”

  “Do you know where the cat is now?” I asked. “Did the police take it or give it to Colin?”

  “I have no idea.” Boone shrugged. “I don’t recall seeing him that night at all.” He wrinkled his forehead. “Which is odd, because Tsar was usually glued to Elise’s side.”

  I bit my lip. “Then we need to find out what happened to him.”

  While everyone was murmuring in agreement, the timer beeped and we all trouped into the kitchen for pizza. As we ate, the conversation turned to other subjects, and Noah joined in. Observing him, I could see why he was so beloved by his patients. His self-deprecating humor and ability to empathize made it seem as if every word a person uttered to him was important.

  Even Boone appeared to be seeing Noah in a new light, and he joked about doctors and lawyers being natural enemies. Poppy had always liked Noah, and she treated him like an adored older brother. Then when Tryg and Noah discovered a mutual love for travel, they bonded, discussing at length their various excursions and comparing hotels and restaurants in exotic locales.

  We had just polished off the last bites of the luscious pies that Noah had brought when the phone rang. Boone excused himself to take the call in the library. He returned a few minutes later, his smile gone and a defeated look back on his face.

  “Who was it?” Poppy and I asked at the same time.

  “Chief Kincaid,” Boone said. “He requested that I come into the police department first thing in the morning to answer some more questions.” He sighed. “He said they have new information that they’d like me to help them understand.”

  “Do they want you as Elise’s attorney or as a suspect?” I asked.

  “He didn’t say. He just asked me to come in.” Boone glanced at Tryg. “I guess it was a good thing you stuck around.”

  “I presumed the matter wouldn’t be closed until they caught the real killer, so I figured they’d want to talk to you again.” Tryg’s expression was unperturbed, but I detected a flicker in his eyes that might have been worry. “What time should I pick you up tomorrow?”

  “Quarter to eight.” Boone’s tone was morose. “I have a feeling that if we’re late, I’ll be taking another trip in the back of a squad car.”

  I glanced at Poppy and mentally asked her to stay the night with Boone. Someone needed to watch over him, and she knew I didn’t like to leave Gran alone overnight.

  She immediately picked up on my message and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. I need to sack out here tonight, Boone. My apartment is being painted and the fumes are awful.”

  “Sure,” Boone muttered, clearly distracted. “You know you’re always welcome. Tryg prefers to stay at the B and B, because if the cops decide to search my house, he doesn’t want them seeing his notes. He knows my guest room is available if he changes his mind.”

  After the phone call from the police, no one had much left to talk about, and I finally said, “I should be getting home to Gran.”

  Once we helped Boone clean up the kitchen, Tryg, Noah, and I left. Tryg’s rental was parked on the street so we parted at the front door, but Noah followed me. His Jaguar was behind my BMW, and as I walked over to my car, he opened the door for me.

  We stood there silently until Noah cleared his throat and said, “It was really nice being with you and your friends tonight.”

  “It was really nice having you with us.” I blushed at how lame that sounded.

  “I think Boone is okay with me being around,” Noah commented.

  “He did seem fine.” I backed up until my butt was pressed against the inside of the car.

  Noah closed the gap, brushed a stray curl behind my ear, and asked, “Do you know what I was most disappointed about when you left the dance early Saturday night?”

  “No.”

  “This.” He covered my lips with his.

  I meant to give him a light peck, but it quickly turned into much more. He kissed me until my worry about Boone disappeared, then continued until I melted into him. I wound my arms around his neck, hanging on as if I would fall to the ground if I let go.

  His hands slid down my hips, cupping my derrière and pulling me against him. The feel of his mouth, the warmth of his body, and the touch of his hands left me unable to talk myself into pulling away. My eyes drifted shut and I gave myself over to the sensations.

  When Noah finally lifted his mouth from mine, he ran his thumb across my bottom lip. I had never seen him look so passionate. His pearl gray eyes had turned into chips of ebony, and his gaze was locked onto mine. Drawing a ragged breath, he started to say something, then stopped and instead leaned his forehead against mine.

  He stroked the back of my neck with his fingers, cleared his throat, and said hoarsely, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Great.” I forced myself to step away from him. “About going to talk to the bank president?”

  “That, too.” Noah touched my cheek. “And, yes, the kiss was great. But it can be even better. Just give me a chance and I promise not to screw things up this time.”

  Since I didn’t have an answer, I got in my car.

  As Noah closed the door, he whispered, “Sleep tight.”

  CHAPTER 14

  * * *

  Noah backed his Jag out of the driveway and drove off. In his rearview mirror, he watched Dev’s rear lights disappearing in the opposite direction. If only instead of going their separate ways, she was in the passenger’s seat beside him. Better yet, still in his arms.

  Intellectually, Noah knew he shouldn’t have kissed her. Both the timing and the public setting were bad ideas. What if one of St. Onge’s neighbors happened to be out walking his or her dog or taking out his or her trash? All Noah needed was for someone to see him making out with Dev and report back to his mother.

  If, for a second, Noah thought that he would be the one Nadine would target with her wrath, he wouldn’t have cared less if the whole world knew that he and Dev were together. But he was certain his mother would direct her venom at Dev, and that was a problem he needed to solve before word got back to Nadine.

  Since his mother was currently on a cruise in the middle of the Caribbean, Noah hadn’t worried about being seen with Dev at the dance. Nadine didn’t check e-mail and had planned to turn off her cell phone. But once she was back in Shadow Bend, having a long talk with her was high on his to-do list. He intended to convince his mother that the consequences of her upsetting Dev in any way would be his immediate and total withdrawal from Nadine’s life.

  It had taken every ounce of willpower Noah possessed to step back and let Dev go, but until the situation with his mother was resolved, he had no other choice. His appearance at the dance with Dev might raise a few eyebrows, but Nadine’s cronies would wait until she got home to tell her about it. However, if one of his mot
her’s pals caught him necking with Dev, she’d hijack a rowboat, track down Nadine’s ship, and row across the Atlantic Ocean to tell her about that.

  His mother would be home Sunday, so waiting until he’d spoken with Nadine before taking the next step with Dev shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, if that were the case, why had he kissed her? And why was he allowing her to affect him so strongly?

  In most instances, Noah was a man who thought before he acted. He preferred to analyze the circumstances, assess the alternatives, and then find the perfect action to take. He had thought long and hard about what he would do if Dev ever gave him the opportunity to reenter her life.

  The plan had been to take baby steps—first regain her trust, then her friendship, and only then try for her love. But now that he had the chance, it seemed he couldn’t control himself around her.

  At lunch on Sunday, he hadn’t been able to stop from moving to sit beside her. Even though it had been painfully clear she wanted him to keep his distance, he’d felt compelled to get closer—to feel the heat radiating from her body and to touch her hand.

  When he was around Dev, his resolve flew out the window. How had he gone from trying to win her friendship to kissing her silly in St. Onge’s driveway? What had happened to his strategy to take things slowly and not scare her off? He had never been someone who was ruled by his desires, and he didn’t like the sensation. Was he losing his mind?

  When he had seen Dev’s text that afternoon asking him to St. Onge’s, Noah had felt a surge of triumph. She was allowing him into her life and into her friends’ lives, as well. He had seen the invitation as a sign of real progress in their relationship.

  Noah had made some telephone calls earlier in the day and learned that Jake Del Vecchio had left town and gone back to work as a U.S. Marshal. With him out of the picture, Noah had just the opening he needed. This was the perfect time to win Dev back.

  But he had to rein in his passion. If he scared her off, he might never get another opportunity. He had to play it smart. No more kissing her, no more caressing her, and no more fantasizing about her naked beneath him. Shit! Where had that thought come from? Noah whacked his forehead with his palm. Maybe he really was going crazy.

  A rational man wouldn’t have a burning wish to turn his car around and follow Dev home. A reasonable man wouldn’t still be in love with a woman he hadn’t been with in more than thirteen years. And a sane man would be able to stop thinking about laying that women down in the middle of his king-size bed, freeing her hair from its ponytail, and burying his face in the cinnamon gold strands. Since when did he have a thing for women’s hair?

  Noah pounded the steering wheel and reminded himself that for their relationship to work, he had to reestablish her faith in him. He had to stop acting like some lust-driven teenage boy and behave like the analytical man he’d always been.

  Despite everything he’d just told himself, when Noah pulled into his garage and switched off the Jaguar’s engine, instead of getting out of the car, he closed his eyes and savored the memory of Dev’s response to his kisses. The thought of the soft whimper of need she’d uttered when she’d curled her arms around him sent a jolt traveling straight to his groin.

  Something deep in his chest awakened. It had first stirred when he stared down into Dev’s beautiful blue-green eyes, but now his heart clenched with a longing that he’d never experienced for any other woman. And he knew he had to do everything in his power to win Dev and keep her in his arms and in his life.

  The feeling nearly short-circuited his brain. Not good. As a doctor, he knew that acting impetuously could cost people their lives, and personally, the concept of his heart ruling his head scared him to death. So why was he suddenly so out of control?

  Noah scrubbed his face with his fists. He couldn’t allow his feelings for Dev to override his common sense. When they met to talk to the bank president, Noah would treat Dev the same way he did the rest of his women friends. With warmth and affection and nothing more. And if that didn’t work, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

  * * *

  A dusting of snow clung to the blacktop as Noah drove to work the next day. That morning the TV meteorologist had promised that the temperature would reach the mid-fifties, and the negligible accumulation would melt before noon. Noah certainly hoped so. The grueling winter and delayed spring had been hard on everyone. And since he and his staff were the ones who had to deal with the illnesses that it brought, the weather had been especially rough on them.

  Noah had always wanted to be a small-town doctor. He’d attended the combined BA and MD program at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, which had allowed him to graduate in six years. Afterward, he’d done a three-year residency in family medicine, then returned to Shadow Bend and opened the Underwood Clinic. It would celebrate its fourth birthday in September.

  One of the many things Noah loved about his job was the five-minute commute. After parking out back in the employee lot, he let himself in the private entrance. It was seven fifty when he entered the building, and as he walked to his office, he could hear the voices of his head nurse, Eunice Vogel, and her daughter, Madison, the clinic’s receptionist, coming from the waiting room.

  Although he didn’t hear his physician assistant, Yale Gordon, speaking, Noah knew the PA had been on duty since six, dealing with the urgent-care walk-in patients. Yale and Noah alternated covering that early-morning shift.

  Before alerting his staff that he’d arrived, Noah switched on his computer, typed in his password, and opened up Elise Whitmore’s file. With his new knowledge of her personal situation, he wanted to determine if there were any signs that she’d been a battered spouse. He was relieved to discover that he’d never treated her for any kind of injury that would indicate she’d been abused.

  Next, Noah checked the list of the day’s appointments. He liked to take a few minutes to prepare himself before answering questions or dealing with problems. For the most part, he treated acute illnesses and managed chronic medical problems. Anything more serious was referred to a specialist, and emergencies were transported by ambulance to the county hospital.

  Today’s agenda looked fairly typical, starting with Mayor Geoffrey Eggers’s bimonthly blood pressure check and weigh-in. Eggers had exceptionally low blood pressure that hadn’t responded well to changes in diet, increased fluid intake, or decreased consumption of caffeine. Noah suspected that the mayor’s low weight and refusal to exercise contributed to his condition, but the man seemed incapable of putting on any pounds.

  After signing out of the scheduling program, Noah put on his white lab coat and left his office. At the main desk, he greeted Madison, who smiled at him from her perch behind the check-in counter. She was in her early twenties and wore a pale-pink smock. Blond curls framed her heart-shaped face, and a tiny silver locket dangled from a chain around her neck.

  Noah nodded to the full waiting room and asked, “What’s going on?” Generally there were three patients scheduled per hour—one each for Noah and the PA, and one being prepped by the nurse.

  Madison grimaced. “Most of them came in about an hour ago. Apparently, there was too much chlorine in the high school pool, and the six a.m. senior water aerobics class had a bad reaction.”

  “How’s Yale doing?” Noah asked, studying the dozen or so people waiting to be seen. Several were scratching their arms and legs; others were coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their eyes.

  “He’s been with one woman for quite a while.” Madison’s baby-blue eyes were clouded with worry. “She was wheezing and she complained of chest tightness and shortness of breath.”

  “I’ll go see if Yale needs any help with her.” Noah did a quick head count, then mentally scanned the schedule he’d just looked at. “In the meantime, please see how many of this morning’s patients are coming in for routine monitoring. Then try to contact them and postpone their appointments to another day.”

  “Gotcha.” Madison reached for the phone. �
�Mom’s already got the mayor in exam one. Do you want me to ask if he can come back?”

  “No.” Noah was tempted, but it would take less time to see him than to deal with Geoffrey’s petulance if he felt he wasn’t being given his mayoral due. “I’ll take care of him as soon as I check with Yale.”

  The PA assured Noah that the woman’s allergic asthma reaction had responded well to the medication and inhaler she’d been given. He also informed Noah that he’d triaged the others and determined they were suffering from either contact dermatitis or allergic rhinitis—both of which were uncomfortable but not life threatening.

  Promising to help deal with the remaining chlorine victims as soon as he’d finished with the mayor, Noah hurried to where Geoffrey was waiting.

  He was seated on the examination table, but he got off when Noah walked into the room. “I’ve been waiting here for fifteen minutes, Doctor.” The mayor scowled. “And I don’t appreciate the implication that my time isn’t as valuable as yours.”

  At well over six-foot-six and weighting in at a mere one hundred and seventy pounds, Geoffrey looked like a paper doll wearing an expensive suit.

  “I apologize, Geoffrey.” Noah stepped around the tall, gangly man, typed his password into the computer, and peered at the screen. “As you may have noticed when you came in, there was an emergency.”

  “That’s not my problem.” The mayor sat back down, slouching and ducking his head, then muttered, “No one looked as if they were dying.”

  “I see you’ve gained a pound since I saw you last,” Noah noted, ignoring Geoffrey’s whining. He scanned the readings that his nurse had typed into the mayor’s chart. “But your BP is still only sixty-two over forty. Have you been doing the exercises I suggested?”

  “When I have time.” Knitting his scraggly eyebrows together over his beaklike nose, the mayor shook his head and looked self-righteous. “A city like Shadow Bend doesn’t run itself, you know.”