by Gina LaManna
“My grumbling stomach dragged me into this mess,” I said. “If I didn’t mooch so much food off you, I wouldn’t have been around. Hopefully, it helps.”
“Helps?”
“I was there. I’m a witness. You didn’t do anything.”
“You didn’t see the murder.”
“No,” I admitted. “But I know you couldn’t have done it.”
“You said that before you found out me and Shania had a history.”
I shuffled up my front steps. “Everyone has a history. It’s not like I assumed you’d just come out of the convent or something.”
“You do know that convents are for women only.”
“You get the gist of it,” I said, waving a hand as I unlocked my front door. “Please, make yourself at home. Can I get you some food?”
Matt took a single step inside the door. “I’m not staying, Jenna. I just walked over to piss Cooper off. And to thank you.”
“Me?”
“For believing in me.”
Matt looked both impossibly handsome and impossibly sad standing in my doorway. His eyes, which had seemed to twinkle from the moment I met him, suddenly appeared dull. His shoulders sagged with the weight of the day. He seemed older, his energy sapped by the heavy dose of reality that had hit in the quaint little town of Blueberry Lake.
“I’m sorry, Matt,” I said. “You probably still cared about her.”
He didn’t have to comment for me to see the hurt in his eyes. All I could do was lean forward, open my arms, and lean against him. I let my head rest on his chest, felt the weight of his sadness. I ached for him.
We stood that way for some time. Finally, Matt pulled back. I couldn’t tell if I’d imagined it, or if he’d brushed his lips against my hair in a tender moment. I decided not to dwell on it. Either way, it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was getting Matt through the next few days.
“Hey, look at the bright side,” I said. “I’ve got experience in murder investigations. And I’m not talking about television. We’re going to prove you didn’t do this, okay?”
He gave an unconvinced shake of his head. “I’d prefer you stay out of this, Jenna. This isn’t your problem.”
“It’s not yours either.”
Matt just gave me another puppy dog expression that added heaviness to my heart. “I promise you, Jenna. It’s best if you stay away from me. At least, for now.”
“But—”
“I’m going to head to June’s,” Matt said. “Thank you again for everything. I’ll see you around, okay?”
“Stay here for a bit.”
“You have to get to work, and I have to...” He shrugged. “I have to figure some things out.”
“Okay,” I murmured, watching him as he turned and walked back toward his house.
He didn’t pause as he climbed into his truck. When he pulled out of his driveway, he gave me a wave and a half smile. I stood in the doorway for some time after he’d gone.
I didn’t hear the footsteps approach.
“Jenna.” Cooper’s voice startled me.
I glanced at him. He’d walked over from Matt’s.
“Cooper, what are you doing here?”
“Do you mind if I come inside?” he said. “I think we should talk.”
Chapter 3
“I wish I had coffee to offer you,” I said. “But I don’t. Would you like tap water?”
“If you made your own coffee, you’d never be in this mess,” Cooper said. “But I’m starting to get the inkling that Jenna McGovern is a magnet for trouble.”
I scowled at him. “You can’t possibly think I had anything to do with that woman’s murder.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything. But you did stumble onto a crime scene.”
“The universe doesn’t throw anything at me that I can’t handle,” I said. “I guess the universe knows I’m tough enough to handle multiple murder investigations per year.”
“Did you read that on the back of one of your little self-help books?”
I tilted my chin higher. “What does it matter?”
He gave a soft laugh. “I love your optimism.”
“Speaking of optimism, you could have had a little more this morning.”
“What do you mean?”
I scrounged up a kettle that was decorated in beautiful lilacs from one of the cupboards, and then filled it with water and popped it on the stove. “You really went after Matt.”
“He was found standing over the lifeless body of his ex-girlfriend,” Cooper said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure in your extensive NCIS training you learned to pay attention to tiny details like that.”
“Yeah, but it’s too obvious. Plus, you know Matt. It’s not him.”
“I can’t let personal biases affect my suspect list.”
“I’m proof of that,” I said. “You came after me with no mercy. Last time, and this time.”
“I didn’t come after you, Jenna. There are questions I needed to ask for my job, answers I needed in order to put the killer behind bars.”
“I thought you trusted me,” I said. “It didn’t feel like you trusted me back there. Lots of pointed questions. And Matt... poor Matt. You’ve known him longer than I have. Firefighter, good guy—”
“Excellent neighbor,” he said easily. “Yes, I know. But ‘good guys’ have done a lot worse.”
“That’s not the point. The point is that—”
“Trust. Right,” Cooper said, his voice hardening. “I thought you trusted me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve got a job to do. I was on duty this morning. If you trusted me to do my job, the questions wouldn’t have bothered you,” he said. “I want one thing: justice. I have to ask some uncomfortable, sometimes downright unpleasant, questions in order to do my job. It’s work. It’s my passion. It’s part of who I am.”
I grudgingly grabbed two cups from the cupboard. “I know your job is hard. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?”
“For making it harder,” I said. “I know you have things you need to do, and it can’t be easy.”
“It’s not,” he acknowledged. “But it’s work. I have to separate work from my personal life, or I couldn’t do either.”
The teakettle whistled, drawing me back to the stove. I poured the water into the two mugs I’d set out and dunked a tea bag in each before handing one to Cooper.
He took it with a quick nod. “Thanks.”
“Tell me something, Coop.”
“What’s that?”
I lifted the mug to my lips, glanced over the top and through the steam toward the chief. “Are you here because of business or personal stuff?”
Cooper considered for longer than I thought necessary.
“There’s not a right answer,” I said. “It’s a genuine question. Because I’m having a hard time separating the two.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, I barely recognized you earlier today. The look in your eyes was different.”
“I feel as if you want me to apologize, and I’m not sure I can do that. I was just doing my job.”
“I know, but...” I shrugged helplessly. “It makes it difficult for me.”
“How so?” Cooper set his mug down on the counter, then made his way around, stopping a safe distance away from me. Close enough to touch, not close enough to crowd. “What would you like my answer to be as to why I’m here?”
I stared into my tea. “Truthfully? I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve started to get to know you. A tiny bit.”
“Funny. I thought you’d been avoiding me the last few weeks.”
“Not avoiding you,” I said. “Just focusing on myself. I’m sort of high maintenance,” I added with a wry smile. “It takes a lot of time to keep up with myself.”
Cooper laughed. “You’re not so bad.”
I raised an eyebrow, crossed my arms, and gave a frustrated harrumph. “This
is what I’m talking about!”
“What?” He looked genuinely mystified. “What did I do?”
“You’re all normal and nice and funny. It’s confusing. Half an hour ago, you were looking like you wanted to arrest me.”
“I told you, Jenna—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I set my mug down. “I’m trying to deal with it. The work you do is important, and I should be more supportive. But I can’t help the mixed-up feelings. You’ve learned to flip a switch like that.” I snapped my fingers. “I don’t turn my emotions on and off. It takes a while to adjust.”
“I’m sorry?”
“No, don’t apologize.” I sighed. “I’m just telling you what I feel. I thought we were friends. But friends don’t... do that. Get all hard and distant.”
“We are friends. You’ve made that quite clear. I think this would be a different conversation if you were open to something more.”
My cheeks warmed. “I suppose that’s fair. Can we get back to the reason you’re here? Did you need something?”
Cooper’s grin faded. “Maybe not the best time to discuss it.”
“Why?” I threw my hands up. “I don’t understand you.”
He gave a thin smile. “Because you’ve made me see that the reason I’ve come over here is a bad one.”
I frowned. “How bad?”
“You’ve made me break my rules,” he said. “That’s pretty bad.”
“You’ll have to be more specific. I break a lot of rules.”
“I know. I’ve seen you speeding through town.”
“I travel at a quick clip,” I said. “It’s not speeding. Everyone knows you’re allowed to go ten miles over the speed limit if there are no other cars in sight.”
Cooper gave an amused twitch of his lips. “Right.”
I fumbled with my mug for something to do with my hands. I figured the ball was in Cooper’s court. I’d laid out my feelings (awkwardly) and my thoughts (also awkwardly), and it was up to him to determine which Cooper he wanted to be here in my kitchen this morning.
“You’ve somehow got me mixing business and pleasure.” Cooper dragged a hand through his dark hair, his eyes dimming to match. “Damned if I know the reason I came over here this morning. A part of me is trying to convince myself that it was business only.”
He moved closer. I glanced up at him through my lashes.
“But?”
“But...” He inched another step closer. He raised a hand, touched my chin lightly with his thumb. “I’d be lying.”
I froze at his touch, as if my entire body had begun to turn to stone the moment Cooper made contact with my skin. I couldn’t break his gaze, couldn’t shift from my spot. I could only wait, my breath suspended in midair.
“It’s more than that,” he said softly. “I care about you. I worry about you for some odd reason, even though you’ve made it clear you can take care of yourself, and that you aren’t particularly interested in letting someone into your life.”
“Someone?” I spluttered. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t let anyone in.”
“Just not a man. A relationship.”
“Okay, that’s true. I did say that.”
“I came here to ask you to stay away from Matt.”
Matt’s name was like a bucket of cold water dropped on my shoulders. “This is about Matt?” I started, took a step back, forcing Cooper to drop his hand. “Is this about this morning? All of those pointed questions about how often I go over for breakfast?”
“No. That was business.”
“But now this is personal? Do you see my confusion?”
“I’m worried about you. I want you to stay safe. I think it would be best if you kept your distance from Matt until this is all cleared up.”
“You can’t possibly think Matt is a killer.” I stuck a hand on my hip. “Come on, Cooper. If you’re mixing business and personal life, I’d think a little bit of it would drip over onto Matt. You’ve known him for how long? Most of your life?”
“You can only know a person so well. I know one side of Matt. Who’s to say there’s not more behind closed doors?”
“That is ridiculous. That is the paranoid cop in you talking,” I said. “I’ve been in town what—a few weeks? Couple of months? Even I can tell you Matt’s not a killer. He rescues cats from trees. He fights fires. Bakes with his grandma. Let’s his neighbor mooch food from him with no expectations.”
“I’m not sure I agree with that last one,” Cooper muttered. “I’d say there are some expectations.”
“I was clear with him to have no expectations.”
“Expectations, hopes, call it what you want,” Cooper said. “It’s not as innocent for him as you think. Though I’m beginning to think you are just as innocent as you appear to be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s clear as day, Jenna! The man’s in love with you.”
I couldn’t form a sentence for a long minute. “Excuse me? That’s ridiculous.”
“Okay.” Cooper raised his hands. “I didn’t come here to argue with you. I thought you’d have known, and I thought if you were opening up to a relationship, I’d throw my hat into the ring.”
“You’ve made yourself clear,” I said. “And so have I. Matt is nothing more than a friend. You need to trust me on that.”
“I don’t care about Matt. This is about me and you.”
“Then why are you here about Matt?”
“Because I care about you, and you just invited a suspect in a murder investigation to stay the night at your house!”
“He declined!” I snapped. “He’s staying with his grandmother. He didn’t want to involve me in the case. He was worried I’d get dragged into it and put in danger. Does that sound like someone with evil intentions to you?”
Cooper fell silent.
“That’s what I thought,” I said. “Matt is a good friend. Nothing more, nothing less, and I’m going to stick by his side. If you’ve come here to try and keep me away from him, it’s a futile mission.”
“I see that now.” Cooper took another step back. “I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“Coop—”
He raised a hand. “It might be easier if we just keep things business between us. At least for now. That way you don’t have to feel confused, and I know exactly where we stand.”
“That’s not...”
I inhaled, feeling another wave of confusion at the look of disappointment on Cooper’s face. Even worse, the disappointment was rapidly fading to a hardened look that meant the softer side of Cooper I’d come to enjoy was beginning to disappear, sucked away into quicksand, the void left behind to be replaced by the hardened cop.
“If that’s what you want,” I revised, “then that’s fine. I appreciate your concern, Cooper, I really do.”
“Just your friendly neighborhood cop helping out.” Cooper gave a wink that by all accounts looked friendly, but I knew to be hollow. “Take care, Jenna.”
“Come on, Cooper. Don’t pull away like this.”
“What would you like me to do?” he asked, turning when he reached the front door. “You tell me, and I’ll do it. Happily.”
I bit my lip. Considered. “Don’t make me do this.”
“I’m not making you do anything,” Cooper said. He pulled the door open. “I’m going to let myself out. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have more questions on the case for you. I’ll be in touch.”
I squeaked out some sort of argument, but it didn’t deter the chief from stepping outside. He gave one last look over his shoulder, waiting, a hint of curiosity in his gaze, almost pleading with me to say something more.
When I couldn’t, he just nodded and closed the door.
I was left alone in my kitchen with two barely touched cups of tea. I took them both to the sink and dumped them out, tossed the mugs in the dishwasher, and exhaled a gigantic breath. It felt as if I’d been holding it in since the ice ages.
Most of me
wanted to curl up on the couch, thumb through Cosmo again, and repeat the morning’s nap. Today was one day I wouldn’t mind rewinding and trying again. Or better yet, fast-forwarding and forgetting about completely.
However, I knew that wouldn’t solve my problems. I was scheduled to be at my mother’s shop this afternoon and couldn’t blow off my responsibilities, not least of all because I needed the cash. If I wanted to get started breathing life back into Gran’s house the second the ground thawed, I’d need more than three hundred eighty-seven dollars and twenty-one cents in my bank account. Especially when two hundred thirteen of those dollars were owed to my credit card company for some new spring clothes that I really couldn’t live without.
Instead of curling up with Cosmo, I donned my brightest outfit, hoping the mood would wear off on me. I matched a bright pink skirt with adorable kitten heels, tied a pink bow in my ponytail, and added a white, long-sleeved blouse to make it a teeny bit more professional.
I glanced out my front door, saw the crime scene techs finishing up their duties. More than anything else, I knew that no amount of napping or hiding behind Cosmo would make the biggest problem of all go away: the murder of Matt Bridge’s ex-girlfriend.
I slipped on a pair of pink cat-eye sunglasses and set my sights on my mother’s shop. In between repairing my Gran’s house and fending off debt collectors, I’d help Matt find the real murderer. Nobody deserved to be accused of a crime they didn’t commit.
I was certain—pretty certain, at least—that Matt hadn’t had a thing to do with Shania Boot’s murder. So why couldn’t I shake that tiny, niggling question: If Matt was innocent, then who had dumped Shania’s body outside of Matt’s house? And why?
Chapter 4
“Aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes?” Allie stood up when I entered Something Old, my mother’s thrift shop. “You look adorable, all things considered.”
“All things considered?” I parroted. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”
“Sore eyes is right,” my mother said, coming around to lean against the front counter next to Allie. “That shade of pink requires sunglasses.”