To be offered a job without an interview or at least a resume was unorthodox, but she wasn’t about to bite the hand that may feed her. Lora didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with Alice and knew she needed to be honest from the start. To do that, she would have to tell her the whole twisted story of why she came to Hopedale.
“Why don’t you come back to the office with me and we can have a chat.” Alice motioned for her to follow. “I’ll get Kit to bring your sandwich into my office and my sister-in-law Cora will take care of the tables until we finish.”
Lora glanced at the other woman at the end of the counter. Her blue eyes twinkled, and her lips were turned up into a smile. She didn’t look like someone who would be serving in a restaurant or pub. Dressed in a pencil skirt and pink cotton sweater, she was more professional, but she didn’t seem to think twice about grabbing the apron. Lora followed Alice through the swinging doors leading to the kitchen and tried not to get too hopeful.
“My background is in interior design, but I needed to leave the firm." Lora blew out a long breath. "To be honest, I’ve come to Hopedale to get out of St. John’s. Mostly to keep my little girl safe.” Lora explained when Alice closed the door to the office.
“Oh.” Alice’s expression didn’t change as she motioned for Lora to sit next to the desk.
“It was a suggestion from the police in St. John’s.” Lora didn't know any other way to explain her situation.
“Are you in trouble?” The genuine concern on the woman's face warmed Lora's heart.
“Someone’s been harassing me. Stalking me. The police are investigating. I’ve moved several times over the last year, but he finds me. It started after my dad died.” Lora fully expected Alice to retract her offer because nobody wanted that crap in their lives.
“My husband’s the Chief of Police. I could ask him to look into this for you.” Alice reached across the desk and took Lora’s hand.
“That’s not necessary, really. The police were incredible, and it’s an open case. I’ve dealt with the same Investigator since it started.” Lora swallowed the lump that formed in her throat at the woman’s offer.
“Well, if you need Kurt to talk to him, just ask.” Alice squeezed her hand and released it.
“You’d give me a job. Just like that?” Lora didn't want to get her hopes up.
“Honey, my husband, four nephews, the wife of another nephew, and one of my daughters are all police officers. I have another nephew who runs a high-end security firm and they drop in here daily.” Alice chuckled.
“I don’t have a record, and my former boss would have no issues giving you a reference as to my character. She's a dear friend and one of the very few people who know where I am.” Lora bounced in the chair.
“I won’t bother your former boss. My nephew’s wife can find out what you had for dinner last night.” Alice laughed. “She’s a computer hooker.”
“You mean hacker.” Lora giggled.
“My heavens, yes. Sandy would find that hilarious.” Alice snorted and stood up.
“I’m sure she would.” Lora practically jumped to her feet and had to keep herself from lunging at the woman to hug her.
“You can start on Tuesday.” Alice reached out her hand and clasped Lora's.
“Thanks so much, Alice. My name is Lora Norris by the way.” Lora pulled out her license and allowed Alice to photocopy it.
“O’Connor's my last name.” Alice smiled.
“Your family seems to be everywhere in town,” Lora remembered the two men at the grocery store and figured they were probably two of the nephews she'd mentioned.
“We’re expanding more and more.” Alice walked Lora out to the front of the diner. "Come on I'll show you around."
Lora followed Alice as she gave her the tour around the diner. It reminded Lora of the fifties diners that she saw on one of her mother's favorite television shows. The Newfoundland tartan covered the tables. The accents of the colors of the tartan evident in the red seats, gold and green valances above the window and the brown color of the floor. It was perfectly put together.
Lora met some of the family that afternoon, as well as some other residents of the town. When she finally got back home she was cautiously excited.
Alice’s sister-in-law was a little odd, but funny as hell. Lora pressed her lips together to hide the laughter that threatened to escape when Cora announced the love of Lora's life was close. Alice explained that Cora had a reputation as the town Cupid and knew when people belong together. According to Alice, the woman was never wrong.
Small towns certainly had odd beliefs, but this was the strangest she’d ever heard. Cora seemed sensible other than that.
Lora could deal with any unorthodox personalities if it meant a job. She crossed her fingers and prayed that things would be okay, and the police would find her stalker.
He stood outside her apartment and stared at the for-rent sign stuck in the window. She’d moved again and didn’t tell him how to get in touch with her. It angered him but not so much that he would not search for her.
After all, he’d found her three times in the last ten months. She had to know she belonged to him and there was nowhere in the city where he couldn’t find her.
He reached for the envelope in his jacket pocket and pulled out the photos. One at a time he shuffled through them and studied every curve of her body. Putting the camera inside her bathroom in her first apartment was the best thing he ever did. He got to see every inch of her body.
Although, he didn’t need to look at them because the image of her naked body was burned into his brain. The scar across her bikini line from birthing her child didn't take away from her beauty. The two tattoos made him hard at the sight of the ink on her milky skin.
“So, my love, you need to stop leaving me. They can't keep us apart forever. I won't have it. Don’t worry, I’ll find you.” He pulled the collar of his jacket around his neck and walked toward the place where he would bring her as soon as it was time.
Chapter 2
His day of hell finally ended, and Nick O'Connor couldn't be happier. He spent his entire shift up to his neck in coroner reports for the latest of the murdered women. His brother, John, put Nick and three other officers on a task force a little over a month earlier. The team was determined to catch the bastard killing these women and leaving their naked bodies in city parks.
The first woman disappeared just before Christmas, and she was found in Kent’s Park nine days later. In a little less than a month, a second woman vanished. Her body was found in Bannerman Park after ten days.
It was over a month before the third woman was reported missing but her remains were discovered in Virginia Park only five days later. Then the latest woman was found in Pippy Park only three days after she disappeared.
The deaths were awful, but the similarity between the victims, his cousins and his brother Keith’s wife made him uneasy. They also bared a striking resemblance to the pretty waitress who worked at his aunt Alice’s diner. Since the first day he saw her at the grocery store just nine months earlier, she made his heart pound and his pulse race every time she smiled at him.
Nick needed to brighten up his day with a visit to Jack’s Place. He didn’t even go home to change because he didn’t want to miss her. She had no idea Nick was there to see her, because Lora Norris only saw him as one of her boss’s annoying nephews. No, she wasn’t like some women who swooned when he flashed them a smile or a flirty wink. Especially, if he wore his uniform.
Nick wasn’t arrogant. Okay, maybe that did make him a little egotistical, but it almost always worked for him. He had a face and body that turned heads, which he used it to his advantage. It was why his older brothers called him and the youngest of the O’Connor brothers man whores.
Nick pulled open the heavy oak door to the entrance and sighed as he entered the coolly air-conditioned foyer. June wasn’t usually hot in Newfoundland, but over the last three days, it hit the mid-twenties. Of course
, that would seem cold to some people, but it was warmer than usual. It also didn’t help at a crime scene with a decomposing body.
Nick pulled off his cap, turned left, and walked into the quaint diner. The right side of the foyer led to the pub, and it didn't open until after the supper rush. His Aunt Alice and Uncle Kurt owned the business, but Alice was the essence of Jack’s Place. Kurt was the chief of police, which made him more or less a silent owner of the pub.
The combination diner/pub was named after Nick’s grandfather, Jack O’Connor. When Alice wanted to open the place, it was Jack that encouraged her to go for it. His grandfather suggested calling it Jack’s Place, as a joke, but Alice loved the name. On the day it opened, he stood in the entrance with a huge grin on his face, making sure the customers knew the name was his idea. He’d passed away just two years later, but Alice still had a picture of him at the entrance pointing to the pub’s sign.
A counter ran the length of the right side of the restaurant with stools for customers to sit and eat. On the left side, several booths that seated four to six people sat next to the large picture windows. Between the counter and the booths were some smaller tables.
Nick scanned the entire room, but to his disappointment, he didn't see Lora. Instead his cousin Kristy stood behind the counter pouring a cup of coffee for her fiancé who sat on a stool next to the entrance.
“I don’t want a huge wedding, Kitten.” Dean ‘Bull’ Nash groaned as Kristy set the cup in front of him.
“Honey, my family is a huge wedding.” Kristy emphasized the word ‘is.’
“Your cousins got to stop procreating,” Dean grumbled.
“I think it’s going to stop with Mike.” Nick laughed and straddled the stool next to the large bald man.
“It may, but your brothers’ wives are popping them out like Pez dispensers.” Dean picked up the cup and sipped his coffee.
“Oh, stop it.” Kristy rolled her eyes.
“Tell them to stop. Let’s add this up, John has a girl and boy, and they’re trying again. So that’s two and possibly more. James and Marina have three boys and just found out they’re having a girl. That’s six. Ian and Sandy have three girls and a boy, but it seems like they're finished. That’s what?” Dean glanced at Nick.
“Ten.” Nick counted along in amusement.
“Right, ten. Keith and Emily have a boy and another boy on the way. That’s twelve. Right?” Dean glanced at Nick again.
“Yep.” Nick chuckled.
“Mike and Billie’s baby girl isn’t due for another few weeks, and they’re already talking about having more before the baby is too old.” Dean rolled his eyes. “Too old, the kid isn't born yet. Anyway, that’s thirteen.”
“What’s your point, Dean?” Kristy reached out and ran her hand over Dean’s bald head.
“My point is…” Dean stopped. “It’s ….”
“It’s what?” Kristy grinned as she continued to caress her soon-to-be husband’s head.
It was a little uncomfortable with the way his cousin gazed at Dean. Nick was witnessing some kind of intimate secret between the couple, that was obvious.
“Kitten, stop doing that.” The clenched teeth gave it away.
“Yeah, I’m just gonna go over and get my own coffee. I don’t want to know what that is all about.” Nick pointed to Dean’s head, and Kristy laughed when he hopped off the stool.
“Kitten, be prepared when you get home later.” Dean growled as Nick walked behind the counter.
He poured himself a cup of steaming coffee and turned to exit behind the counter when he was almost bowled over by the curvy, auburn-haired beauty with the sapphire-blue eyes.
Lora.
“Oh, God. Sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Lora pulled back as if he’d hit her with his taser.
“It’s okay. I probably shouldn’t be behind here, but I thought Kristy was the only one here.” Nick stepped back so she could squeeze by him.
“I was just in the back…” She stopped. “I need to leave, but I can put in an order if you want something.”
“Nope, just coffee.” Nick held up the cup and moved to the nearest stool on the end of the counter. “Leaving early?”
He didn’t mean anything, but her expression tensed as if he accused her of slacking off on the job. Not that anyone would ever think that because she worked harder than any waitress he’d ever seen.
“Alice said it was okay. I just have some…” Lora snatched her purse from under the counter and scurried around to the other side.
“I was only making conversation. No explanation necessary.” Nick held up his hand.
“Okay… well… bye.” Lora spun around and practically ran out of the diner.
“You’ve really got to stop scaring that woman away.” Nick rolled his eyes when his younger brother plopped on the stool next to him.
“Fuck off, A.J.” Nick wasn’t in the mood for Aaron’s constant digs about Lora.
Aaron or A.J. as everyone called him, figured out Nick's interest in Lora shortly after Nick stopped going to the bars. She wasn’t the real reason he’d stopped, but Nick couldn’t convince Aaron of that. Nick had grown tired of the club scene and the revolving door of women. He was ready for something steady.
“Oh relax. Just so you know, she’s like that with everyone. I can’t even get a smile out of her.” Aaron slapped his hand on the bar. “Kristy, stop harassing Bull. I want a coffee and a blue berry muffin.”
“You sit there and hold your breath while I run and get it.” Kristy gave Bull a quick kiss and sashayed into the kitchen.
“Nah, I’d like to live a little longer,” Aaron called after her.
For the next hour, Nick, Aaron, and Kristy helped serve customers who dropped in for supper. It was amusing that it took three of them to fill in for Lora. His aunt said the woman was like a spin top, and she would refuse to have Alice help when it got busy.
“Well, I’m gonna head home.” Nick was still in his uniform and probably shouldn’t have been serving people, but he did get some great tips. He tossed them in Lora’s tip jar. Aaron and Kristy did the same.
“I’ll see you later. I’m heading over to Mike’s to help him put up bookshelves in Billie’s home office.” Aaron cleared away the last of the dishes on the counter. “Mike said she wants to get everything done before the baby comes.”
“Oh dear.” Alice scurried out from the kitchen.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Kristy asked.
“Lora left in such a hurry she forgot her phone in the kitchen.” Alice held up an old smartphone with a cracked screen.
“I’m sure Nicky can drop that off if you give him her address.” His Aunt Cora’s voice startled him. He hadn’t seen her come in, but she walked out of the kitchen and handed a bag to a woman at the counter.
“I can drop it off.” Aaron wiggled his eyebrows.
“You’ll do no such thing, young man. Go help Mike.” Cora pushed Aaron out through the door.
“Here, Nicky. Alice, write down the address for him.” Cora took the phone from Alice and placed it in Nick’s hand.
“I’m not sure, Cora.” Alice hesitated.
“I am sure.” Cora rested her hand on Alice’s arm.
“She may not appreciate me giving out her address.” Alice still appeared reluctant.
“Mom, she probably needs her phone.” Kristy interjected.
“You’re not sending a stranger to her house. Nicky’s your nephew and you know he’s a good boy.” Cora cupped Nick’s cheek.
It amused him how at almost thirty-two, his aunt still referred to Nick and his six brothers as boys. Of course, he wouldn’t dare correct her which was why he stood with Lora’s phone in his hand.
Nick prayed that Cora’s insistence on him returning the phone didn’t have something to do with her cupid shit. Everyone called her Cora the Cupid, and to his knowledge, she was never wrong. She’d also set her sights on Nick in recent months and told him several times to ask Lora out.
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“Fine.” Alice wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
“This is on my way home anyway.” Nick and Aaron moved into a bunkhouse on their older brother Keith’s property. Since most of Keith’s employees started to buy houses in and around Hopedale, most of the bunkhouses his brother built were empty. Now that Nick and Aaron worked strictly with the Hopedale division of the Newfoundland Police Department, it was more convenient to move back to their hometown.
“She lives on Knob Lane. That’s a pretty secluded road,” Kristy said.
“It’s very close to Nicky too.” Cora smiled.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go now.” Nick shook his head and held the phone up to Alice. “I’ll make sure she gets this before I go home, Aunt Alice.” Nick kissed both his aunts on the cheek and gave Kristy a quick hug.
“Behave yourself with her,” Alice warned.
“I will.” Nick made his way out to the parking lot and got into his cruiser.
Kristy was right about Knob Lane. There were only two houses on the entire stretch of unpaved road. A couple of weeks before, Nick got a call to one of the homes over a possible prowler, but all he found were moose tracks in the mud behind the house.
The elderly man who owned the house lived there as long as Nick could remember. Albert Batten wasn't the most pleasant person in the world, but who would be when you lived alone. As far as Nick knew, the man had no family or friends.
Nick pulled into the driveway that he’d almost missed for the second time. Considering he grew up in Hopedale, he should know the roads better, but with the dense shrubs and trees lining the driveway it was easy to miss. It was barely wide enough to drive through, and branches brushed against the side of the car.
“If this car gets scratched up John will shoot me,” Nick grumbled.
John, his oldest brother, and supervisor could be a little OCD when it came to the vehicles. He went through hell to get the six new vehicles for the department and made sure the officers took care of them. If Nick brought the cruiser back with scratches, John would have a meltdown.
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