Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek

by Carla Cassidy

  There was obviously some personal history between the two men, but Lexie didn’t care about that right now. All she cared about was finding her sister.

  “Will you look into this?” she asked Wendall. “Start an official investigation?”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Wendall replied. “Are you staying out at Lauren’s place?”

  Lexie nodded. “I’ll be there until she’s found.” She gave him her cell phone number and then walked toward the door. There was nothing more to be done here. She wanted to get outside and walk the streets, talk to the people in town and see if anyone had seen or spoken to Lauren since Tuesday.

  “I’ll keep in touch,” Chief Wendall said as she and Nick reached the door. “You know your sister always had a bunch of men hanging around her place. Maybe she took off with one of them and didn’t want you knowing about her personal affairs,” Wendall said.

  Lexie stiffened and stared at him. At that moment she decided she didn’t like him very much. He made it sound like Lauren was some kind of a whore. “I’m sure you’re going to question whatever men were hanging out there to see what they know about my sister’s disappearance,” she replied.

  She was surprised when Nick firmly took hold of her elbow, as if to offer support, as they left the office. What equally surprised her was how she responded to his touch—viscerally, like a not-completely-unpleasant punch in the stomach.

  As they left the building he dropped his hand to his side and she drew a breath of relief. She didn’t want some crazy attraction to Nick complicating things. The last thing she wanted in her life was a man. She just wanted to find her sister alive and well, and then get back to her so-called life in Kansas City.

  “I never saw a bunch of men hanging out at Lauren’s,” Nick said when they were back in her car. “And I drove by her place at least once a day going to and from town. But she mentioned to me that she was kind of seeing Bo Richards.”

  “Bo Richards?” Lexie turned in her seat to look at Nick. “Who is he?”

  “He’s a local rancher, a nice guy. He spends a lot of time in the mornings at the café. Maybe we can talk to him there,” Nick replied.

  “And Lauren was seeing him romantically?” Lexie frowned. Her sister hadn’t mentioned anything to her about a romance in her life and they’d always talked about everything, including their love lives.

  “They had just started dating. From what Lauren told me it wasn’t real serious yet. I think they’d met for lunch or dinner a couple of times.”

  Lexie checked her watch and then looked down the street at the café. It was still early. Hopefully they’d find him there. “Then I want to talk to him.” She started the car, but before backing out she turned to look at Nick once again. “There’s some history between you and Wendall?”

  Darkness filled his eyes and his jaw tightened once again. “Yeah, old history.”

  “Want to tell me about it?” she asked.

  “No.” The single word snapped out of him with a finality that brooked no further questions and made Lexie wonder what kind of secrets Nick Walker had in his life.

  IN THE SHORT DISTANCE between the police station and the Cowboy Corral, painful memories cascaded through Nick’s head. His chest tightened with thoughts of the three days that he’d been unable to get in contact with Danielle. His body remembered intimately the alarm it had felt when he’d realized nobody had seen her during that time and the horror of ultimately finding her dead in that motel room.

  His stomach clenched and a slight nausea rose up in him as the memories continued to play in his head. He’d known something was wrong—that something was terribly wrong.

  It had taken him months to finally accept that she’d committed suicide, but before coming to that acceptance he’d gone around and around with Wendall.

  The chief of police had dismissed Nick’s concerns and refused to begin any kind of investigation into Danielle’s disappearance despite Nick pressing for one. There was part of Nick that had never quite forgiven Gary Wendall for that.

  He consciously shoved the memories aside as Lexie parked in front of the café. There was absolutely no reason to believe Lauren’s disappearance was in any way connected to Danielle’s tragic death, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lexie was destined for the same kind of heartbreak he’d suffered.

  Still suffered.

  He willed away all thoughts of Danielle as they got out of the car. Lexie appeared small and achingly vulnerable as she hesitated outside the door to wait for him to catch up with her.

  A surge of unexpected protectiveness filled Nick’s chest. It was crazy, he scarcely knew Lexie except for what Lauren had told him about her. There was no reason for him to be emotionally vested in the drama going on in her life, and yet for some reason he was definitely involved.

  He told himself it had nothing to do with the beauty of her long-lashed green eyes behind those ridiculously large glasses, nothing to do with the fact that she intrigued him more than a little bit. Rather he tried to convince himself his interest in all this had everything to do with finding a woman who had become a good friend.

  The minute they stepped into the café, every head in the place turned to look at them. “I guess pink streaks in a person’s hair isn’t that common here,” Lexie muttered beneath her breath as she sidled closer to him.

  “Don’t worry, the only ones who bite have no teeth,” he replied.

  She looked up at him and smiled. It was the first real smile he’d seen from her and it nearly stole his breath away. Bright and beautiful, it transformed her features into something more than pretty, something warm and inviting.

  “Come on, I’m hankering for some of Mabel’s fried potatoes and eggs.” He took her beneath her elbow and led her to a booth, surprised to realize she was shaking slightly.

  Lauren had told him that her sister didn’t do well in crowds. He knew the effort she was putting forth was because of her love and concern for her sister. It only made him more determined to support her through whatever happened next.

  She paused before sitting down and looked around at the other diners. “I thought we’d just ask some questions. I didn’t plan on actually having a meal.”

  “Did you eat breakfast this morning?” he asked.

  “I never eat breakfast,” she replied.

  “And you’ve never had a missing sister before,” he said and pointed to the booth. “Besides, you’ll get more answers to questions if we finesse them out of people.”

  She frowned as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but slid into the booth and picked up the menu. She stared at it only a minute and then tossed it aside. “I feel like I’m wasting time here. Breakfast isn’t important. Finding Lauren is all that matters.” Her voice held a wealth of frustration and impatience.

  “You have to eat,” he replied, understanding the urgency that was racing through her. “And you have to trust me.” He looked up as the waitress appeared at their table. “Hey, Marge, how’s it going?” he asked the older woman who had been waitressing at the café since he’d been a little boy.

  “Like it’s always gone. My feet hurt, my back is killing me and nobody tips worth a damn in this place.” She flashed him a grin that set the deep wrinkles in her face dancing.

  “Has Bo been in today?” he asked.

  “Bo? No, in fact, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.” Her gaze slid to Lexie. “Why? Is there a problem?”

  “No, no problem,” he replied hurriedly. “Marge, this is Lauren Forbes’s sister, Lexie.”

  Marge nodded. “I can see the resemblance.”

  “When was the last time you saw Lauren?” Lexie asked.

  Marge looked back at Nick, her eyes narrowed. “What’s going on, Nick?”

  Nick could feel Lexie’s frustration growing by the second, but he ignored her. “Lexie’s in town to visit her sister, but Lauren seems to have gone missing and we’re trying to hunt her down. Has she been in lately?”

&
nbsp; Marge frowned. “I think she was in Monday for lunch, but I haven’t seen her since then. Now, what can I get for the two of you?”

  They ordered and once Marge left the table Lexie released a deep sigh. “That was no help. We need to question everyone in here, see who saw Lauren when.”

  “Just sit tight. Trust me when I tell you before we finish our breakfast you’ll have spoken to everyone in this place.” He could tell that she didn’t believe him but she settled back in the booth, took her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes. “Not much sleep last night?” he asked sympathetically.

  Her eyes were the most amazing shade of green with just enough shadow in them to be slightly mysterious. “I don’t think I slept much more than an hour through the whole night.” She slid the glasses back on. “I just can’t wrap my head around this.” Her gaze held a hint of vulnerability as she looked at him. “I’m scared.”

  He could tell what the confession cost her by the way her gaze skittered away from his and from the telltale pulse of a delicate vein in her neck. Before he could respond Jim Caskie ambled by the table to say hello to Nick.

  It was just as he’d suspected—as they ate their breakfast almost everyone who was dining in the café found a reason to stop by and say hello. Lexie merely picked at her eggs and nibbled on toast, more interested in what people had to say than in the meal in front of her.

  Nick knew the people of Widow Creek were leery of strangers, but he also knew they were a curious bunch. And Lexie, with the pink streak in her hair and her pink sequined blouse definitely sparked plenty of curiosity.

  The one thing that didn’t happen was answers. Nobody had seen Lauren since Monday, at least nobody who would admit to it. And nobody had seen Bo for the past couple of days. This information eased some of Nick’s concern.

  Even the most levelheaded women occasionally went crazy over a man. It was possible the two had gone off together for a romantic tryst and Lauren had just forgotten to make arrangements for her dogs or had wound up being gone longer than she’d initially planned.

  “Do you know where Bo lives?” Lexie asked the minute they were back in her car.

  “Yeah, you want to go by there?” He wasn’t surprised when she nodded her head.

  After giving her directions, he tried to think of something, anything, he could tell her that might ease some of the tension that rode her slender shoulders and darkened her eyes.

  “So, Lauren told me you’re something of a computer geek,” he finally said, wanting to connect with her on a more personal level. “What exactly is it that you do?”

  “I work for the cybercrime unit for the FBI. Mostly I hunt down cybercriminals, those who are invading home computers to steal identities, and I try to find the source behind thousands of scams that people receive via email.”

  “Sounds fascinating.”

  She flashed him a quick glance. “Most people would find it pretty boring, but I like it. I’m comfortable working with a computer. It’s predictable. I type in code and I know what’s going to happen.”

  “Unlike people, who can be unpredictable,” he observed.

  “Exactly.” She chewed her bottom lip and for just a minute he wondered what it would be like to taste her mouth with his. The thought flashed in his head with a shock. He had no business even thinking such thoughts. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t entertained such a thought about a woman in years.

  She was here to find her sister and nothing more. In any case, he was mentally and emotionally unavailable to any woman when it came to his heart.

  Still, he grudgingly admitted that perhaps his momentary fantasy about the taste of her mouth meant that he wasn’t quite as dead as he’d believed himself to be.

  They pulled up in front of Bo’s place and she cut the engine as she stared at the neat two-story house before them. The front door was closed and there were no vehicles around. “Looks like nobody is home,” he said.

  “You can wait here. I’ll go find out.” She got out of the car and walked toward the front door.

  Nick remained in the car, his gaze following the slight sway of her hips. Okay, he could admit to himself that he was sexually attracted to her. There was no real explanation for the immediate physical chemistry he felt toward her.

  Of course, it had been almost two years since he’d been with a woman. Maybe this was just his body’s way of reminding him that he was a healthy thirty-three-year-old man who had been alone for too long. In any case, it wasn’t something he intended to act upon, just a curious surprise that reminded him that he was very much alive.

  He watched as Lexie knocked on the front door several times, then moved to peek through the living room windows and finally returned to the car.

  “He’s not here. Maybe she did go off with him for a couple of days,” she said.

  “Women have been known to momentarily lose their minds for love,” he replied.

  “Not me,” she replied darkly. “Not ever.”

  She started the car and pulled out of the driveway. “I’m going back into town to ask more questions, but I’ll be glad to drop you off at your place. I’m sure you have better things to do than spend the day with me.”

  “Actually, I don’t.” There was nothing for him at home except the endless silence and loneliness that had gnawed at his heart for the past year. “If two of us are asking questions then we can get it done in half the time.”

  She eyed him for a long moment and then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  The remainder of the ride back into town was silent. Nick couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking. He didn’t know her well enough, but he was surprised to realize that he wished he did.

  They stayed in town throughout the afternoon, drifting into stores, stopping people on the streets and asking about Lauren. By five o’clock it was clear that Lauren hadn’t been seen by anyone since Tuesday.

  Nick still held out hope that she and Bo had taken off on some sort of romantic connection, but he could see with each minute that passed that Lexie was growing more distraught.

  She nibbled on her lower lip and looked tense enough to shatter if anyone would reach out and touch her. He finally called a halt. “It’s time to go home, Lexie,” he said. “You’ve done all you can do for today and you’re only getting the same answers over and over again.”

  For a moment he thought she was going to protest, but then her shoulders fell and she nodded wearily. “You’re right. It’s been a long day and we aren’t getting anywhere.”

  Once again she was quiet on the ride back to Lauren’s and Nick wished he had some encouraging words to give her. But there was no question that Lauren’s disappearance was troubling. As the day had worn on his hope that she’d gone off with Bo had faded. If that was the case, then why hadn’t she returned Lexie’s phone calls? Why didn’t she answer her cell phone? Surely she’d know that Lexie would be worried sick.

  They had gotten one piece of information from one of Bo’s neighbors who told them that Bo had mentioned visiting some family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If Bo was with family in Oklahoma, then where was Lauren? The whole thing was growing more and more troubling with each minute that passed.

  “Thanks for your help today,” Lexie said as she pulled up next to his truck in Lauren’s driveway. She stared at the house as if dreading going inside.

  “Look, we haven’t eaten since breakfast. Why don’t I take you out to dinner?”

  She turned to look at him. “Why would you want to do that?”

  He shrugged. “Because I need to eat. You need to eat and we might as well eat together. Why don’t I pick you up in an hour?”

  She turned and looked at the house again, a frown pulling together her delicately arched eyebrows. “I have a bad feeling about this, Nick. I don’t think she’s ever coming home.”

  He reached across the seat and took her hand in his. “You can’t lose hope already,” he said softly. “Maybe she took off with Bo and her cell phone went dead. That would expla
in her not answering your calls.” Her hand felt small in his grasp.

  She stared at him as if desperate to believe his words. “Maybe you’re right,” she finally conceded. She pulled her hand from his. “I guess I’ll see you in an hour.”

  They both got out of her car and Nick stood by his truck and watched her walk to the house. There was no question that something about Lexie touched him in a place where nobody had touched him in a very long time.

  There was an awkwardness about her that he found oddly charming. The pink streak in her hair spoke of a woman seeking attention and yet he’d never seen a woman who appeared more uncomfortable with any attention she garnered.

  As he got into his truck he wondered what in the hell he was doing. He’d spent the day with her and now had invited her to dinner, as if he couldn’t get enough of her company.

  And yet he knew nothing could come of his attraction to her. She’d given him no indication that she felt the same kind of attraction to him that he did for her, and even if she did he wouldn’t follow through on it.

  He’d had the one great love of his life and he’d blown it and the consequences had been devastating. He was responsible for his wife’s suicide, and he’d never allow himself to get close to a woman again.

  Chapter Three

  She shouldn’t have agreed to dinner, Lexie thought as she entered the house. She shouldn’t have agreed to dinner with him. Nick Walker definitely made her slightly nervous, although she’d been grateful for his presence during the long day.

  Still, she should have thanked him for his time and let it go at that. She didn’t need the distraction of spending time with a man who made her just a little bit breathless when he gazed at her, a man who made her feel a strange mix of both anxiety and anticipation.

  And yet she didn’t consider calling him to tell him to forget dinner. She had to eat and she’d rather do it someplace else, anyplace else instead of in the horrible quiet of Lauren’s kitchen.

  Before she did anything else she checked the answering machine in Lauren’s office to see if any calls had come in throughout the day. There was only one from somebody who had apparently stopped by for their appointment with Lauren while Lexie and Nick had been out. The woman, who said her name was Anna, only said that Precious had missed seeing Lauren and asked that Lauren call to reschedule the training session.