by Sandra Owens
“What’s his name?” Tommy asked, ignoring Chad.
“Chad Perrine. My ex-boyfriend.”
“Mr. Perrine, you have two choices,” said a voice from behind me that sounded familiar. “You can leave now, or you can spend the night in jail.”
I swung my head around and looked into the eyes of Dylan Conrad. Why was he here?
“I knew you were fucking him,” Chad the Even Bigger Idiot said.
I refused to respond to that absurd statement. “Why is he here?” I asked Tommy, eyeing Dylan.
“He’s our new chief of police, and he’s riding along with me tonight.”
That’s where I’d heard the name, from people at the bar talking about the big-city cop the town had hired. So he wasn’t a tourist that I’d probably never see again. My stomach gave a flutter of excitement at that news.
To keep from adding to Chad’s suspicions, I tore my gaze away from Dylan’s. “I’m thinking you should choose door number one and go home, Chad. Your father won’t appreciate having to drive here from Asheville to bail you out.”
That got his attention. His dad owned the brokerage firm where Chad worked. I’d met the man once and had the impression he was cold and ruthless.
“It was just a silly misunderstanding,” Chad said, but resentment radiated from him as he leveled his gaze on the new police chief. “I’m leaving. Talk to you tomorrow, babe.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.” His lips thinned at that, but he headed for his car. The two cops and I watched him until he drove away. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“Wait for me in the car,” Dylan said to Tommy. When we were alone, concerned eyes searched mine. “You okay?”
“As long as I never hear from him again, I am.” Why did this man have to be so gorgeous?
“Want to put a restraining order on him?”
“No, I don’t think he’ll bother me again.” I wasn’t so sure of that, but a restraining order seemed harsh, at least at this point. If Chad decided to cause me more trouble, I’d consider it.
He reached over and tucked a loose curl of hair behind my ear. I froze. Those whiskey-colored eyes captured mine, and I had the wild idea that he was going to kiss me.
Instead he reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet, taking out a card. “My cell number’s on here. If he gives you any more trouble, call me.”
When I stood there like a statue while my brain tried to start up again, he picked up my hand and closed my fingers around the card.
“See you around, Red.” He chuckled as he walked away.
That low chuckle said he knew exactly what was going through my mind. When he reached the door of the cruiser, he paused and shot me one of those killer smiles, accompanied by a wink, across the roof before disappearing inside.
I expected them to drive away, but the car didn’t move, and after a few seconds it dawned on me that they were waiting for me to go inside. Right, I would do just that. Spinning on my heels, I left, not giving them a good-bye wave. As soon as I walked inside, locking the door behind me, my cell started ringing. Chad’s name came up on the screen, and I let it go to voice mail. Pulling up my contacts, I deleted his name and blocked his phone number, then deleted the message without listening to it.
No doubt Chad thought this was just a little bump in our relationship, but when I’m done with someone, I don’t mess around. A quick peek out the window and I saw that the police car was gone.
Was I imagining Dylan was giving off signals that he was interested in me, or was he just a nice cop doing his job? Didn’t really matter either way because I had a vow to my sister to keep, even if being near him made my heart do that pitter-patter thingy.
I needed some girl talk with my bestie. “Hey,” I said when Autumn answered her phone. “You free for some girl time tomorrow?”
Autumn Archer, Savannah Graham, and I had been tight ever since first grade. Savannah was in New York now, fulfilling her dream of becoming a supermodel, otherwise I would have included her, too. Autumn’s fiancé owned a car dealership, and since Saturdays were a busy day for him, I knew she’d be free.
“Sure,” she said without hesitation. “Whatcha got in mind?”
“A day at the beach.” The beach was what, back in high school, the four of us called Skinny Dip Falls, which is a half-mile hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway and easy to get to.
“Awesome! I’m in.”
“I’ll swing by around ten. We can pick up some snacks on the way.” I’d wait until tomorrow to tell her about Chad. If I got into it now, we’d be on the phone all night. After disconnecting, I stared at the opposite wall, but it wasn’t my soon-to-be ex-boyfriend filling my mind. It was a man with whiskey-colored eyes and a killer smile.
4
~ Dylan ~
“Hope she loses the boyfriend,” Tommy said. “The dude’s an ass.”
I hoped she did, too. “She seems like a smart lady.” Not to mention downright sexy with those deep green eyes and long hair that reminded me of red and dark gold autumn leaves. Without thinking, I’d touched her, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear before remembering Tommy was sitting in the cruiser watching us. Not like me to forget my surroundings.
We got back to the station a little after the shift change. Jansen was still at the front, and I’d never seen a grown man pout before. It wasn’t pretty. His bottom lip was sticking out a mile. He lost more points.
“Night, Chief,” Tommy said before disappearing down the hall.
“Later, Tommy.” I wondered how long it would take my cops to figure out if I called you by your first name, it meant I liked you. Or maybe they’d just assume I went with Tommy because he was so young. It was a little game I’d played in Chicago, and only my partner had figured it out. That was back when I still called Jack by his first name, but those times were done. I did my best not to think of my ex-partner by any name these days.
“Who relieves you, Jansen?”
He leaned back in his chair and stuck his thumbs underneath his belt, or tried to. After some thumb fumbling, he finally gave up and crossed his hands over his beer gut. “Payton.”
“And where is Officer Payton?”
“Here, Chief.”
I turned. Kim Payton stood at the end of the hallway. Word had spread that I was here if she was calling me chief without an introduction. Her uniform was perfectly pressed and creased, and I gave her a nod of approval. She was on my list of possible saves.
Yeah, I had a list with two columns. Not that I was going to make any changes immediately. I needed to get the lay of the land, but my instincts were pretty good, and I’d already divided up the department into two groups. Gone and not gone. I’d give the gone ones a chance to change my mind, but so far Jansen wasn’t doing a good job of securing his future with the Blue Ridge Valley Police Department.
“You’re relieved,” I told Jansen, ending his punishment fifteen minutes early. See, I’m not that much of an asshole. I can be generous when the mood strikes.
“Do we lock the front door at night?” I asked Payton after Jansen waddled out.
“Never have.” Eyeing the messy desk, she frowned and began tidying up.
“Then let’s start with the nightly shift change. Too many crazies out there these days, and there’re only two in here after eleven, the duty officer and a dispatcher, right?” She nodded. “We’ll get an intercom installed so if someone comes by at three in the morning, we can check them out before opening up.”
“Good idea, Chief.”
Oh, I’m just full of good ideas. They had no clue. “Post a notice that I want everyone here Monday morning at seven for a brief meeting. Make sure the word gets out.”
“On it.” She pulled a sheet of copy paper from the desk and started writing.
I gave Officer Payton a point for her easy slide into accepting me as her new chief. I had a tendency to operate out of the box, like this points thing. It was something I’d started as the head of vice in Chicago w
hen I’d had a problem child. The kid thought since he was the nephew of the commissioner, he could do as he pleased. I sat him down and told him he had three months to earn thirty points or I was transferring him out of vice and back onto the street. I don’t remember how I came up with the idea, and no one was more surprised than me that it worked. He ended up being one of my better detectives. He was happy. I was happy. The commissioner was happy.
The difference now was that I wasn’t going to tell my new department they were either getting points or losing them. Last thing I wanted was a bunch of cops kissing my ass. Each of my Blue Ridge Valley officers had six months to earn sixty points. How hard could ten points a month be, especially since I planned to be generous at giving them out?
Come time’s up, I planned to sit down with each one and discuss where they stood. Then the problem ones, I’d give another six months to get their act together…except for Moody and Jansen. I was pretty sure they’d be gone before sit-down time.
“See you Monday, if not before,” I told her as I walked out. I didn’t look back, but I slowed my steps until I heard the click of the lock. That earned her another point.
After I got home, I sat at the kitchen counter and pulled out the notebook I’d already created, a page for each of my officers, and entered the first points I’d awarded. Already I was having fun.
Finished with that, I swiveled on the bar stool and eyed the stack of boxes pushed against one wall of the living room. Nah. Not tackling those tonight. I had all day tomorrow and Sunday, having decided I wouldn’t make another appearance at the station until my official start day on Monday. I’d stirred things up enough, so I’d give my cops two days for all the gossip about me to die down.
A quick shower and I was in bed by midnight. The ceiling fan made a clicking noise as the blades turned, something I’d have to fix. I’d rented an apartment on the third floor so I could leave my windows open at night. The sounds here were foreign. No sirens, no cars passing under my window, no arguing or yelling from groups of kids out on the streets at a time when they should be tucked into their beds.
An owl somewhere nearby was asking, Hoo? Hoo? Hoo? That was pretty cool. A strong breeze rustled the needles of what I’d been told were eastern white pines. I grinned and closed my eyes, hoping I’d been successful in leaving my ghost behind, the one who’d paid me nightly visits back in Chicago.
An hour later I turned onto my stomach, put my pillow over my head, and cussed out that damned owl that wouldn’t shut up. This nature business was going to take some getting used to. Since I was determined to adjust to my new environment, I didn’t get up and close the window.
I was finally drifting off when Christine decided to pop in. I was hoping I’d left you behind.
She laughed, a sound I’d once loved hearing. Nice try, Dy. I can find you anywhere.
My therapist told me that I wasn’t going crazy having these conversations with my dead wife. That was a relief, believe me. He said when I was ready to let her go, I would stop hearing her voice in my head. I’d sure as hell hoped starting over somewhere far from our familiar haunts would do the trick. Obviously not. During the day I hardly thought of her anymore or what she’d done. Nights were a bitch, though.
She’d been a beautiful woman—ash-blonde hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and a perfect body that I’d worshipped many nights—and she’d caught my attention the first time I saw her. I’d thought she was my forever. I was sure as hell wrong on that one.
Ah, Dylan, don’t be so mean. You love me. I know you do.
I did once, but I got over you.
Did you really?
I refused to answer because I had a rule about lying to myself. I hoped I was. Prayed I was, but if she was still in my head… I squeezed my eyes tight, shutting out her sapphire-blue ones.
She didn’t show up as often as she had after everything had happened, but I hadn’t been able to put her to rest even though almost two years had passed. It was starting to piss me off. I understood it was because of how the end came, and I carried a ton of guilt that I hadn’t grasped how desperate and depressed she was. I’m a cop, trained to recognize desperation in people. My rage at what she’d done had blinded me, though, and I’d turned a deaf ear to her threats.
My therapist said I’m not responsible for the actions of others, but that’s damn easy for him to say when it wasn’t his wife who put a gun—my gun—in her mouth and pulled the trigger.
To quiet Christine’s voice, I visualized a red-haired, green-eyed, feisty bartender. That did the trick because my wife faded away, and I drifted off thinking of Red.
5
~ Jenny ~
Because I’d blocked Chad’s number, it wouldn’t surprise me if he showed up since it was a Saturday and he was off. I threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, grabbed my straw hat, my camera, a cooler, and hightailed it out of here. It was still an hour before I was supposed to pick up Autumn, so I went ahead and made a stop at the grocery store. I knew what she liked, and by the time I was done, I figured I had about twice what we could eat.
After loading the sandwiches, cheese packages, and bottled waters into the cooler, I headed over to Autumn’s. Although I was twenty minutes early, she was ready to go.
“It’s been too long since we’ve done this,” she said as we drove onto the entrance for the Parkway.
“Well, if a certain someone wasn’t too busy planning her wedding…” I looked pointedly at her.
“Yeah, well, who knew there would be so much to do? We should have just eloped.”
I glanced at my friend. “And give up wearing that amazing wedding dress? I don’t think so.” With her honey-blonde hair, blue eyes, and the toned body she’d dieted and exercised like a fiend to achieve, she was going to be a beautiful bride.
“Too late now, I guess, since all the invitations have gone out.” She leaned over and eyed my speedometer. “You better slow down. I heard they’re cracking down on speeding on the Parkway.”
“No fun.” But I eased off the gas. The only thing I didn’t like about driving the Blue Ridge Parkway was the slow speed limit. My car was a four-year-old silver Mustang GT, and she liked to run. Okay, truth was, I liked to go fast. Probably not the best car for mountain roads with their sharp curves, not giving me much opportunity to test her limits, but I loved her. I should probably sell her before I left, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My dad could take care of her while I was gone. Actually I think he was looking forward to getting his hands on my Mustang.
We were having unusually warm fall weather, and it looked like others had the same idea. I found a parking spot in the almost full gravel lot, locked the doors, and then we hiked down to the bottom of the falls, our totes slung over our shoulders and the cooler between us.
At the end of the easy path down, the space opened up to a large round pool of crystal-clear water. The waterfall wasn’t the biggest in the area, but it was high enough so that the falls cascaded over the rocks and boulders, noisily crashing when it reached the bottom.
People had claimed their spots with coolers and towels. Some were playing in the pool—which I knew from experience was icy cold—while others were basking in the sun. We spied a flat boulder with no one nearby and headed for it.
“I can’t believe how warm it is for October,” Autumn said as we spread out our towels.
“Yeah, we’re going to have a late leaf turning this year.” The sun was warm on my face, but the cool water flowing around our rock kept me from overheating.
For a few minutes we talked about Autumn and Brian’s wedding and what things she had left to do. She was getting married the second Saturday in December, and that would be here before we knew it.
I dropped down onto my back and stared up at the fluffy white clouds floating by. “Do you ever wish you could just drift off on a cloud, go wherever it goes?”
Autumn settled onto her side, facing me, resting on her elbow. “Not even. You’re the one with wanderlust. I pref
er to keep my feet on the ground right here in Blue Ridge Valley.” She studied me for a moment. “So you’re really going?”
I turned my head toward her. “Of course I am. I promised.”
She sighed. “I miss her.”
“God, me, too. Every minute of every hour. I feel like half of me is gone.” Which made sense, I guess, since Natalie was my twin. When she died, she’d taken a part of me with her.
Autumn’s eyes misted. “I don’t want you to go.”
“You know I have to. I promised her I’d go to all the places we’d planned to visit together.” And she’d said one other thing, which I’d never told anyone, including Autumn and Savannah, because even they wouldn’t understand. Natalie had made me a promise, too. She swore she would be right there with me, that I’d feel her in my heart. I needed that, craved feeling her being a part of me again.
My plane ticket to Greece was bought and paid for. I’d be leaving right after Autumn’s wedding. That was as far as I’d planned. Once in Europe, I’d hike my way around some, take buses or trains to wherever I felt drawn to go next. Where I went and when would depend on Natalie. If I felt her with me in some particular place, I’d stay longer. If not, I’d move on.
Before we both started bawling, I decided we needed a change of subject. “So, guess who was such a big jerk last night that the cops had to show up?”
She sat up. “No way.”
“Way.” I told her what had happened. She knew I’d been ready to break up with Chad, even warning me that he wasn’t going away easily.
“What an asshat. You should take out a restraining order on him,” she said when I finished.
“Dylan asked me if I wanted to.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s Dylan?”
Oops. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned his name. Autumn could be relentless in satisfying her curiosity, meaning about a thousand questions were coming my way. “Dylan Conrad. He’s our new police chief.”
“And exactly how did it come to be that you’re familiar enough with him to call him by Dylan? Cool name, by the way.”