“Why would someone cover it up?” Jared asked.
“Stupidity.” Jack chuckled. “Seriously, there was a period when it was considered old and outdated. Finding something like this is not all that uncommon.”
Jared studied the logs. This was not only an architectural treasure, but a direct link to Ray’s ancestors. “Ray always said the original structure burned down before his father’s time.”
Jack nodded. “Given the way Ray feels about restoring historical homes, he’d have never let this siding stay up if he’d known. I’m going to go get him.”
The man lived on the periphery of society in this area, yet he knew this intimate detail about Ray. Okay, Jared mused, it was no big secret Ray had restored a couple of older homes—two in ten years. At such a slow rate, he didn’t consider it common knowledge.
He swiped a forearm over his damp forehead. An investigation, even a hint of suspicion, would hurt any person, but Jack was particularly vulnerable. He already had one scandal hanging over his head.
Jared was going to have to take this slowly, carefully. And he would be the one investigating. He may still be on medical leave, but this case belonged to him.
“I hope this isn’t an indication of how it’s going to be once construction starts.” Ray’s grumbling voice carried around the side of the building.
“I think this is worth your time,” Jack chided.
“I’m not going to have time to come look at every little thing. I’ve got a business to run. Renovation is going to be a pain in the butt as it is.”
Jack rounded the corner, his eyes lifted to the heavens as he shook his head. “Just take a look at this, and if you still think I’m wasting your time, tell me.”
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Ray sniped, close on Jack’s heels.
“This.”
Ray’s irritation dissolved into reverent awe.
“Well?” Jack asked after a long silence.
“I thought it was gone,” Ray murmured. “Pop said the fire destroyed everything.”
“Maybe the fire caused enough damage that something needed to be done,” Jack suggested, “and covering it was easier than tearing it down.”
A gleam sparked in Ray’s eyes. “Maybe it was beyond repair back then.” He turned to Jack. “How hard is it to find out if this is salvageable?”
“You’d have to remove the inside wall and check.”
“Dee should see this.”
“This is just one spot,” Jack warned. “We’d need to look at all of it.”
“It’s going to cost more,” Jared added.
Jack glowered.
“A lot more,” Ray agreed, grinning. “’Cause if we can use any of this, I’m going to change the remodel. I want to use the log where we can, and the rest we’ll have to use stone.”
Tiny lines formed around Jack’s eyes. “Can you afford it?”
“There are lots of farms around the area that have bits and pieces of creek stone fence scattered in fields.” Jared said, playing on Ray’s enthusiasm. “Maybe we can find someone who will let you have the stone if you haul it out.”
“It’s going to take a lot of stone,” Jack said.
“Some of those fences run for miles,” Ray answered. “I’ll call around and see what I can find.”
“First, let’s check the viability of using the log walls. Then if we need it, you can look for the creek stone.”
“We.” The man said we like he was already signed on to the project. Like he was taking over.
“We’re going to need to call Zoning right away,” Jack said as he picked up his hammer and crow bar. “We can’t start tearing down stuff without their approval.”
Jack was moving along, cutting Dee out. “I’m going to head out,” Jared said. “I’ll get the rest of these tools to your truck.”
Jack nodded. “Thanks for the help.”
Jared watched the two men walk away as he gathered the rakes and measuring tape. The lug nut was a heavy weight in his pocket. Yesterday afternoon, Jack and Ray had gone outside together, leaving Dee with Frank and himself. Ray returned alone. Opportunity. Was the job a big enough motive? Was it for money or a sign of acceptance? Was the accident meant to eliminate or just frighten off?
His gut wasn’t ready to accept that Jack was guilty, but he couldn’t afford to be wrong.
Dusting himself off, Jared convinced his hip to fold into his black sports car and headed toward Maystown.
He’d call Frank and get permission to run the investigation. Although he wasn’t officially back on the job, he was still an officer. With the number of officers at an all-time low, it shouldn’t take much to convince Frank to let him come back early, even if it was in a limited capacity. He could ask for assistance should he need to move beyond interviews, but he wanted to take it as far as he could alone.
Cognizant of the fact he could keep it quiet for only so long, he planned to begin eliminating suspects immediately. He’d run a token check on Ormsby. Of the five people present, he could only eliminate one with one hundred percent certainty. Himself.
He was on his way to interview the next least likely—Dee.
Chapter Ten
Jared winced. Despite careful navigation, the bottom of his car scraped over a large, flat boulder buried in Dee’s drive. This driveway destroyed any doubt the lug nuts were removed at the bar.
Ed Trumble may have graded the drive and hauled in several loads of smaller rock, but it was still rough as hell. No, if those lug nuts were off before she arrived at the bar, the tire would have come off here.
As his car leveled, Jared hit the brakes and stared in disbelief. Wearing white shorts and a sleeveless, cropped blue shirt, Dee was kneeling in the grass by her front steps.
Unreasonable anger spiked through him. Where was the lonely, pitiful woman who was too sore to get out of bed? The one who was unable to even get a glass of water?
Jared slammed his door with force and marched around the car to stand beside her crouching form. “What are you doing down there?”
In slow increments, Dee swiveled her head to look at him. “Hi, Jared.”
Pain was visible in those jerky movements, in the tiny lines around her eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”
Her left shoulder lifted the tiniest bit. “Hollis just said to take it easy.”
Hollis Danby, a nurse, had taken care of Dee throughout her time in the ER. She and Dee were fast friends by the time he took her home.
Dee made friends easily, he realized. Loyal friends. She’d charmed Ray from the start. Then, if the freshly mowed grass around the house and the repairs to the drive were any indication, she’d charmed the usually cantankerous Ed Trumble.
And Geri in dispatch. He couldn’t forget how eager Geri was to offer Dee assistance. It was a wonder she wasn’t here right now, clucking over Dee like a mother hen.
“Somehow,” he drawled, “I’m not sure the nurse would qualify this as ‘easy.’”
Her grin came in increments, as if the muscles in her face were searching for the least painful way to move. “I got tired of sitting in the house,” she confessed, pushing a small shovel into the soil. “But I’m taking it slow.”
“Slow is probably the only speed you can manage,” he muttered as her slender fingers gently eased a flower from a plastic pot and placed it in the hole. “I can understand being bored, but isn’t all that bending painful?”
“Everything’s painful right now, but the flowers need to be planted. I thought a little work might keep my muscles from tightening.”
“Or they could tighten up in that position.”
Her laughter ended in a breathy grunt of pain.
“Enough.” Leaning over, Jared gently pulled Dee to a standing position. “This can wait.”
“No, it can’t,” she stated with a weak but mutinous pout. “It’s supposed to rain tonight, and I want my flowers in the ground.”
Jared folded his arms
over his chest. Was it just twenty-four hours ago that he’d worried her inner fire was missing? Well, it was back, flaring from her eyes and scorching him. His lips twitched in suppressed laughter. “Planting flowers seems like a long-term commitment.”
Her tense stance eased a fraction. “I’ve never had a house before, dirt of my own. I wanted to see if I could make something grow, do something normal. Something,” she said, “suburban.”
“That would be a change for you,” Jared said.
Her burst of laughter caught and ended abruptly. Her body closed on itself; her teeth dug into her lower lip. A slow second ticked by before she drew in her next breath.
A distant peal of thunder pulled her gaze to the darkening sky. “I’ve got to finish this.”
Jared circled his fingers around her upper arms, studied the clouds, then gazed into her hazel eyes. “If it’s that important, I’ll finish it.”
“I appreciate your offer, but I can do it.”
“I know you can,” he admitted while noting her voice was fading, “but I’m going to. Let me do this for you, Dee,” he said as she started to protest.
She tilted her head as much as stiff muscles would allow while a crease formed between her brows.
He didn’t have any answers to the questions swirling in her eyes.
“How about I bring a chair out and you can sit on the porch and supervise me?” he asked.
“How about I sit on the step?”
“How about you go inside and take something for your pain? Is it time?”
“I don’t want to take anything yet.”
The surliness of her tone triggered an alarm in his head, and Jared subjected her to a close inspection. “When was the last time you took something?
Dee folded her arms over her waist and averted her gaze.
“When?”
“I don’t want to become dependent on pills,” she snapped.
The humid air settled cloyingly on his skin. Why couldn’t this woman ever do anything the easy way? “How about I call Hollis?”
Her jaw dropped. “You can’t call her.”
“Yes, I can. You have her number.”
“Well, I’m not giving it to you.”
“Fine. I’ll call the hospital.”
“Jared…”
He sighed. “She told you to take those pills on a scheduled basis for the first forty-eight hours. She said you’d use less and feel better in the long run if you did. I know. I was there.”
She glared at him, unmoving.
“I thought you liked her.”
“I do,” she said.
“Why would you like someone you don’t trust?”
She blinked. “Okay, I’ll take the pills.”
He watched her struggle up the steps and enter the house. Trust. Wasn’t that the dilemma he had with Dee? He was attracted, he could admit he liked her, but could he trust her?
Did she like him, or was this another set up?
What did she have to gain by sabotaging the truck? How could she have predicted the results of the crash? Had she had the time, did she have the strength to remove the lug nuts?
She walked out the door, two glasses of ice water in her hands. She pointedly glanced at the flowers then up at him. “I can see you’re the type that needs lots of supervision.”
Nothing, not a single newspaper clipping, not a single report cast any shadow on Ormsby. But none of that touched Jared’s reaction to her. Despite everything, she mattered to him.
“Where’s that mutt of yours?” he asked before taking a long drink of water.
“I resent that.”
“He resembles that,” Jared teased. “Where is he? Why isn’t he barking at the stranger in his yard?”
“He’s keeping an eye on you. He’s in the shade under the bush.”
There was only one bush in front of the house. One small, scraggly shrub that had survived the years of neglect. Underneath it, panting in the heat, was Lucky.
“He’s probably not barking because he remembers you.”
Jared snorted. “He doesn’t remember me.”
“Sure he does. He’s a smart dog, aren’t you, Lucky?”
The stubby brown tail began to wag as if he agreed.
Jared shook his head and bent to the task of digging holes. “So,” he said a few minutes later, squinting up through the sweat dripping over his brow, “what are you going to do about a car?”
Dee sat on the top step, her glass beside her on the concrete porch, and rested her hands on her knees. “I’m thinking about buying one. Charlie’s not a fan of the Mustang. He says the motor’s already been replaced and the replacement doesn’t sound good.” She studied him. “How risky would it be to touch my savings account?”
There, right there, was part of his problem. She came across as so sincere, so afraid. How could he answer?
Believing her, pushing an investigation that harmed not just an innocent man but a local hero would do more to damage his return to work than the wreck that put him on the sidelines.
Her question, though, did provide him with some relief. Find the Money was one of the first goals of any investigation. She had nothing to gain by sabotaging the truck, nothing but more inconvenience, more expense.
“There’s no way to be certain, Dee,” he answered. “But honestly, last week he knew your location. Accessing your money won’t change that.”
“Won’t it tell him I’m still here? Wouldn’t that indicate I’m staying?”
“It could suggest you’ve found support,” Jared said, “and that you believe yourself safe.”
“Which he could see as more of a challenge.”
Her golden green gaze met his and held.
“That tire falling off wasn’t an accident,” she stated.
“No, I don’t believe it was.”
“So it’s possible he’s already close.”
“I’ve considered that.”
She sat taller, leaned forward. “You believe me?”
He returned to his digging. “I’m open to the possibility. But you should know that nothing I’ve found so far supports your claims.”
She closed her eyes and sighed, her shoulders slumping.
He drove the shovel into the ground and let it stand, willing her to understand. “Which means I’ve got a lot of angles to cover investigating your accident.”
Hazel eyes peeked beneath golden lashes. “I thought you were on leave.”
“Yeah well, the KSP are always understaffed. The accident won’t get high priority. So I’m going to look at it. I can pull some strings, ask some questions.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “You’re willing to consider the possibility that Carl was involved.”
He had to be straight with her. “And the possibility that someone local tampered with the truck.
“Believe it or not, that’s the hardest angle for me to accept. Someone would have to be seriously pissed with you to do that. You’re not the type to piss people off. You’ve got everyone eating out of your hands.”
Dee angled her head and gave him a doubtful look even as a hint of pink touched her cheeks. “Not everyone,” she said.
Not him. No, she probably thought he ran hot and cold where she was concerned. But she’d be wrong. He’d never been cold. He wanted to be, tried to be, but it was impossible.
“Charlie says not to worry about the truck. He has insurance. He’s glad you walked away with only scrapes and bruises.”
“That makes me feel better.” She paused. “Could it have happened here? Could someone have been up near my house?”
There was a lot more vulnerability attached to an attack at home. He knew it, could see it in her darkening eyes. “No.” The lug nut pressed into his thigh as he squatted in front of the flowerbed. “You’d have never gotten out of the driveway.”
He popped a second purple flower out of its plastic pot. He didn’t want to alarm her or cause her to be afraid of her new friends when nothing was certain.
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“It goes on the other side,” she said.
He glanced at her questioningly. “What?”
“That chrysanthemum you’re holding. It does on the other side of the step. I want one of each color on both sides of the steps.”
He gazed at the flowers in his hand, the pots of flowers waiting for him. Why was he on his knees in the dirt when the investigation was so much more important? The next rumble of thunder was a little louder, a little closer. A reminder that planting time was limited.
Dee started to stand. “I can finish it,” she said.
He had his answer. Because Dee wanted it. And on this sultry August afternoon, just twenty-four hours after an accident that could have taken her life, pleasing her was more important than any investigation. “Stay where you are. I’ve got it.”
Fifteen minutes later the scar on his hip was on fire as he stretched, admiring his completed work. He was breathing hard, more from the oppressive heat than physical exertion. A touch of male pride lifted his lips. As sore as she was, Dee would never have been able to finish this without his help.
She pushed from the step. “Let me see.”
Reaching for her hand, Jared helped her descend, bracing himself in front of the steps, ready should she fall.
It seemed only natural to loop his arm over her shoulders, to have her tucked close beside him.
“It looks great,” she enthused.
Purple, yellow, and white. He’d have never put those colors together. But against the plainness of the dulled siding of the house, she was right. It did look great.
She gave him a big, fat, grin. “You must be hungry. Let me fix you something to eat. It’s the least I can do.”
Jared’s answering grin was spontaneous, the warmth of her appreciation pleasing. “What have you got?”
She batted her golden green eyes. “Peanut butter and jelly, or tuna fish.”
His grin slid right off his face.
“It’ll be a while before I get paid,” she explained. “I’m trying to conserve my resources. Given the wreck, it’s a good thing.”
Jared looked down at his dirt-caked, sweat-stained shirt. “I don’t suppose you have a shirt large enough to fit me,” he said.
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 241