Small-Town Secrets

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  “I’m sure there are many people who would enjoy your trip down Memory Lane,” Bree said sarcastically. “But I have things to do. Why don’t we get down to why you’re here?” Her voice turned silky smooth. “Or did you decide you wanted to work up a more comprehensive story about me? Isn’t that what you top investigative reporters do? Gee, I bet that gives the ladies a thrill once they’ve learned they’re with a man who’s interviewed most of our world leaders.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at the silk covering the steely tone. “I prefer to keep a low profile.”

  “Yes, so I’ve learned. So tell me, why is a hotshot reporter such as yourself out here running a small-town newspaper?” Bree asked. “It must be tough for a man with your talent to live in a town where your biggest story is Mattie’s feud with Teresa.”

  “There’s a bigger story here.” He pulled a packet of papers out of his back pocket.

  She looked at them warily. “What are those?”

  The smile left his face.

  “There’s been another questionable death.”

  Chapter 7

  “Tell me why you think this man was murdered,” Bree said, dropping the papers onto the kitchen table in front of Cole after she’d perused them. “He had an allergic reaction, which sadly turned fatal. It happens.”

  “Yeah, it says he died from a bee sting and his Medic Alert bracelet stated his allergy to bee stings. How much do you want to bet the coroner won’t find a bee sting on his body?” Cole’s movements were leisurely as he settled back in the chair with his hands behind his head. “That would be an easy death, wouldn’t it? Just make sure the victim gets hold of bee pollen and no easy access to help.”

  Bree threw up her hands. “You’re thinking way too much like a murderer,” she told him. “Can you give me a good reason why he would have been killed?”

  Cole looked grim as he slowly shook his head.

  “Then let’s wait until I can see an autopsy report,” she suggested.

  He watched her fill two cups with coffee. He smiled his thanks when she handed one of the cups to him.

  He really liked watching her. Not that he’d admit it to her. With his luck, she’d tell him to forget it or even shoot him with that sweet little Glock she carried. Knowing her, she would not only be a crack shot, she’d make sure to shoot something vital.

  Which was another reason why he didn’t ask her if she’d like to borrow his reading glasses. The way she squinted as she looked over the typewritten pages told him she probably used them any other time.

  He settled for studying his surroundings to get more of an idea of the woman Bree Fitzpatrick was when she wasn’t on duty. An idea of what her home life reflected.

  He hadn’t gotten a good look at her kitchen when he was here last. Now he took closer note of his surroundings. The room was warm and homey, with touches of green and white in the wall-paper echoed in the place mats left on the table. Even the dog dishes set in a corner were green. Two drawings sketched with brightly colored crayons were fastened with magnets on the refrigerator door, along with a magnet in the shape of a candy bar with You Can’t Go Wrong with Chocolate printed on top.

  He could hear the tinkling sound of the wind chimes through the open window.

  He noticed the mug she gave him boasted the Los Angeles County sheriff’s insignia, as did the one she drank out of. Her way of reminding him what she did for a living?

  He would have enjoyed watching her more if he didn’t have the uneasy sensation of being under observation himself. Her K-9 partner sat on his haunches, his dark eyes never leaving Cole.

  “He’s looking at me as if I’m the main course on the menu.”

  “He looks at everyone that way.” Bree held up the top page of the report. “Care to tell me what makes you believe this wasn’t an accident?”

  “Gut instinct,” Cole said promptly.

  She looked up. “I see.” Her tone spelled danger for Cole.

  He felt as if she was preparing to sic the dog on him.

  “Even a noncop can have gut instincts,” he added.

  She didn’t blink. “So can award-winning investigative reporters such as yourself.”

  Uh-oh.

  “So your hotshot reporter’s gut instinct told you this man’s death was murder, not an accident,” she said in a sarcastic voice.

  “That was another life.”

  “Funny you never mentioned it.” Her voice was as smooth and deadly as a laser.

  “As I said, another life. I run a small-town newspaper and am content doing just that,” he replied.

  “I came to this town because of its low crime rate and because it seemed so normal. Hell, if I wanted this kind of trouble, I could have stayed in L.A.” Bree got up and refilled her coffee mug. She glanced at Cole and lifted the pot. He nodded and she brought it over to the table.

  “I’m the only one who sees all this, remember,” he pointed out.

  “Let’s wait and see what the autopsy shows,” she said.

  “Deal.” He stared at Jinx, who stared back. “What happens if I don’t agree with you? You’ll sic your dog on me?”

  “And have you claim police brutality? I don’t think so.” She got up and walked over to the sink. She looked out the window.

  From where he sat, Cole could see David pulling weeds with a fierce determination he remembered from his own teenage years. The boy’s movements were economical as he tossed the weeds into the wheelbarrow.

  “Obviously, he’s working off a lot of anger. Who’d he fight to deserve the hard-labor sentence?”

  Her gaze followed his. Frustration crossed her face. “Sheriff Holloway’s son,” she said in a clipped tone.

  Cole winced. “Damn, when he wants to get into trouble, he goes all out, doesn’t he? I can already guess the rest. David’s expelled, while good ole Tim gets disciplined with maybe a couple days detention or an admonition not to do it again. No wonder David’s out there tearing up your backyard. But shouldn’t you tell him to ease up? No reason to do it all in one day when he’s going to have all that free time.”

  “You’re right, five days suspension is a lot of time,” Bree said dryly.

  The look he shot her said he was impressed. “What’d you do to Vickers for him to agree to only five days? He prides himself on his zero tolerance policy.”

  “Let’s just say I pointed out to him that when kids are kept out of school they tend to view that as a reward, not a punishment,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s the parents who are punished. We settled on five days suspension and two months detention.”

  “And Tim Holloway?”

  “The same.”

  Cole didn’t look convinced. “He’ll get the suspension only if you scared Vickers more than Holloway can. Of course, Vickers is scared of anyone wearing a badge. By rights, Tim should be repeating his freshman year for the third time. The way he’s going, he’ll probably graduate valedictorian. Any reason why Tim picked on David?”

  “So you don’t think David started the fight?”

  “If there’s a fight in Tim’s vicinity you can bet the farm he started it. But he always comes out smelling like that old rose. I always felt it had something to do with his name.” Cole leaned back in his chair and surveyed her. “Are you this standoffish with everyone or am I the only lucky one?”

  She ignored the last sentence. “So you’re saying the sheriff knows his son is that way.”

  “Sure he does. I also think he has something to do with all these deaths. I haven’t figured out how or why, but I will.”

  “That’s a heavy accusation, Becker,” she said in a low voice. “I wouldn’t say anything more until you get some proof to stand behind it.”

  He nodded. “Fair enough, but if I find any proof, I expect you to help me nail the man to the wall.”

  “Fair enough,” she echoed.

  “So when are you going to let me take you out to dinner?” he asked in a quick change of subject.

  Bree ope
ned her mouth and suddenly closed it again. Cole grinned widely.

  “Didn’t dare try that when-pigs-fly-again routine, did you? Come on, Fitzpatrick. I’m harmless.”

  “So are flies. But when they’ve been around your face for a few hours, you think about getting out some of that bug spray and doing something to them.”

  “And you figure if I get you off to some nice place with tablecloths and a quiet atmosphere, I’m going to drag along my files and try to pound more theories into you.” Cole shook his head. “Not so. Come on, Bree. Go out with me.” The last four words came out in a husky growl that skittered across Bree’s nerve endings.

  “The only reason you’re pursuing me so ardently is because I keep turning you down. If I accepted, you’d lose interest real fast.”

  “Then say yes and see what happens.” He threw down the verbal challenge.

  Her eyes gleamed brightly. “See what happens,” she repeated, tapping the center of her chin with her forefinger, as if she was giving his challenge a lot of thought. “Let’s see. What you’re saying is if I say yes, we go out to dinner, and before I know it you’re not returning my calls. I’m heartbroken, but gee, you’re such an appealing guy, I decide it’s better to be your friend than lose you altogether. Is that what you’re talking about?” She presented him with a wide-eyed look of innocence.

  “Could be. Or, who knows, maybe you’re the one who could change my mind.” His smile could have been a choirboy’s.

  Bree looked at him and knew she was heading for trouble. She’d known she was on that road the moment she started checking into some of the reports. Damn him, he must have known that sooner or later he’d hit a chord. The man was trouble with a capital T.

  And now she was considering going out with him.

  Maybe it was because she was lonely for the company of a man who looked at her the way a man should look at a woman. As if she was beautiful. Desired.

  Cole Becker looked at her that way. And more.

  Maybe her putting him off for so long was a challenge. But what did that matter? It wasn’t as if she was looking for another husband. Not even a relationship. She’d had a husband and love. She wasn’t going to dare having it again.

  Why not go out to dinner with him? She had been eating with two teenagers and one small boy who weren’t all that happy with her for moving them away from everything they considered necessary: the mall, skateboard parks, multiplex theaters.

  “If I go out with you, we have to have a few ground rules.” She fixed him with a steely eye. “There will be no discussion of the deaths.”

  “Not a word.” He ran his fingers across his lips as if zipping them shut, locking them and throwing away the key. He got up and walked over to her. “Pick you up at seven.”

  She lifted her chin that extra fraction of an inch. “I didn’t say I would go out with you.”

  Cole’s grin was slow in coming, but when it happened, it was heart-stopping.

  “You didn’t have to.” His touch on her cheek was feather-light and shook her all the way down to her toes. “And this time, I didn’t have to worry about finding a flying pig or selling the devil a few snow machines to get you to say yes, either. See you at seven, Detective.”

  Even after he left, Bree still felt the touch of his hand against her cheek. She blew a gust of air between her lips and lightly pressed her hand against her stomach, which was still fluttering.

  “I’m too old for this,” she muttered, looking back out the window at David, who was tearing out weeds as if his very life depended on it.

  “Mom, you have to tell him he cannot keep that—that thing!” Sara entered the kitchen with the haughty aplomb of a drama queen. She flicked her hair away from her face with a motion that Bree had seen her stepdaughter practice for hours in front of the mirror, until she felt it looked as if it was a natural movement.

  “Mom, please, can we keep him?” Cody pleaded, running into the room with what looked like a scrap of fur in his hands. Mangy fur that let out a pitiful meow.

  Jinx lifted his head, eyed the tiny bundle in Cody’s arms and dropped his head back down on his paws.

  “I better not find any fleas in my truck, squirt,” David said, coming in last.

  “Mommy, he needs me.” Cody held up the kitten.

  Bree plucked the gray-and-white animal out of his hands and looked it over.

  “For one thing, he is a she,” she told her son. “Poor thing. You can see every one of her ribs.”

  “She can eat tuna, can’t she?” Cody scrambled onto the counter and opened a cabinet door. “And we can keep her? David almost drove over her, but I saw her and made him stop. Then Sara said she was ugly. She’s not ugly, is she?”

  Bree studied the cat, which was all skin and bones. It had a torn ear and the biggest eyes in history.

  “We’ll have to take her to the vet and make sure she’s all right,” she said.

  “Why does he get to keep a ratty old cat?” Sara demanded. “And what are you doing?” She eyed the hot rollers on Bree’s head.

  “I didn’t say he could keep the cat and I have a date. I ordered pizza for you kids and there’s a salad in the refrigerator. I expect it to be eaten and not thrown down the garbage disposal unit like you’ve done in the past.”

  “You’re going on a date?” Sara asked. “Why?”

  “Because someone asked me,” Bree said.

  “It’s with that reporter guy, isn’t it?” David chimed in. “He was over here this afternoon.”

  Cody took the cat from Bree. “He can sleep with me, can’t he?”

  “She will sleep in a box. You can take a couple of old towels out of the box in the laundry room,” she told him. “I’ll see if we can get her in to the vet’s tomorrow.”

  Cody cradled the kitten in his arms. The cat snuggled down and started purring.

  “We have to name her. I wanna name her after the kitty lady on TV.”

  “Kitty lady?” Bree looked at the other two for help.

  “Cat Woman on Batman,” David explained. “Eartha Kitt.”

  Cody frowned. “No, she was Eartha Katt. I’ll name her Eartha Katt.”

  Bree sighed. Past experience told her that once an animal was named, said animal never left the Fitzpatrick household.

  “All you had to do was pick Cody up at soccer practice,” she said. “And in the process, you managed to come home with a kitten. How?”

  “I took a different route home.” David poured milk into a glass and drank deeply.

  “He was mad because everybody knows he fought with Tim Holloway because Tim said Lacey was using David to get Tim jealous. Then he said some really nasty things about Lacey, which got David mad,” Sara declared. “Everybody knows Tim is a jerk. The only reason he doesn’t get in trouble is because of his dad.”

  Bree turned and stared at her stepson. “You fought him because you were protecting Lacey’s honor?”

  “Sure, I did. I’m dating her and there was no reason for him to say what he did,” he muttered, leaving the glass on the counter and walking out of the room. “Let me know when the pizza is here.”

  “Sara, help Cody make up a bed for the kitten, will you? I think there’s a clean box in the garage that would work. What’s one more animal in the house?” Bree muttered, returning to her bedroom to finish getting ready.

  She was in the bathroom pulling the hot rollers out of her hair when she heard a knock on her open bedroom door. She looked out and saw David standing in the doorway.

  “If the pizza’s here, the money’s on the kitchen table,” she told him.

  “It’s not about the pizza.” He walked in. “While driving home from Cody’s soccer practice, I noticed a truck following us.”

  Bree felt her blood start to chill and the tingle along the back of her neck. It was never a good sign when it happened.

  “Maybe it was someone going in the same direction as you were,” she said casually, not wanting to think the worst.

 
He shook his head. “No, this was a definite tail. When I sped up, the driver did, too. When I slowed down, so did he.”

  “Did you see what kind of truck it was?”

  “It stayed back far enough that I couldn’t see it clearly. I couldn’t even make out the make or color.”

  Her internal alarms started to go off one by one. She slowly set each roller down on the counter with careful precision.

  She should call Cole now and tell him she couldn’t go out.

  “This is a small town with only so many roads going anywhere.” She prayed that was the case, but that sixth sense of hers was saying different.

  David gave her a knowing look that echoed the one Fitz used to give her. “Growing up around an FBI agent and a cop taught me what to look for. The driver kept too much distance between us. It was a tail.”

  “If that was the case, you know what you should have done,” she said, not liking what she was hearing. If anything happened to the kids, she didn’t know what she would do. She’d had one loss. She didn’t want any more.

  “If I thought there was any danger I would have called you while driving straight to the sheriff’s station,” he replied. “I wouldn’t have put the others in danger.”

  “I know that, David,” she assured him. “I guess I had to give the standard warning, anyway. Do you think it was Tim Holloway?”

  “He drives a ’67 Camaro that’s all tricked out. I’ve never seen him in a truck.” David searched her face. “When I was clearing out the backyard, I noticed some faint tire prints out near Cody’s tree house. There’s a connection there, isn’t it? Between those tire prints out there and a truck following me tonight.”

  Bree breathed deeply through her nose. “There was a truck out there once,” she admitted. “By the time I noticed it, he was gone in seconds. I don’t think there’s any danger.”

  “That night I saw you out there you were looking for something,” he said. “It’s because the sheriff didn’t want you here, isn’t it? Tim made that pretty clear while I was cleaning his clock.”

  Bree shot him her fiercest mother’s glare. “You know my views on fighting.”