Chapter Five
What Nick hoped to do by taking her out to Clay’s was ease some of the anxiety he felt rolling off her. As they passed Lauren’s place he saw her look, maybe hoping to see Lauren standing out by the dog pen or mowing the lawn.
He heard the faint sigh of disappointment that released from her as they passed on by and he wished he could say something to ease her worries.
He liked the idea that she’d felt threatened and had come to his place. It meant she trusted him. He was surprised by how much he wanted her to trust him, to depend on him if she was scared.
“I feel bad taking up so much of your time,” she finally said, breaking the silence that had descended between them from the moment they’d gotten into his car.
“Over the last year I’ve had way too much time on my hands,” he replied. It was true, since Danielle’s death he’d come precariously close to falling into a depression, into wallowing in self-pity. If nothing else Lexie had forced him to look outside of himself, outside of his own heartache, and no matter what happened between them from here on out he would forever be grateful to her for that.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know what had happened to Lauren. He couldn’t give her a happy ending where her sister was concerned, and it was a fact that his optimism about finding her alive and well was beginning to fade away.
He could only hope that Lexie was strong enough to survive whatever the future held for her. And if she couldn’t be strong enough on her own, then he hoped he could be strong for her.
“What did Gary have to say about the case?” he asked.
A frown of irritation crept across her forehead. “Nothing much. He’s got his men asking questions and he’d checked the hospital and morgue. He’s supposed to be at Lauren’s at around four to take a look around there.”
“What’s he hope to find?”
She shrugged her slender shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe something I missed. Maybe a clue that I’ve overlooked.” She clenched her fingers together in her lap. “I just want him to be doing something.” She flashed him a quick glance. “I want everyone to be doing something to help find her.”
How well Nick knew that feeling. “In the days that Danielle was missing I felt as if I was the only person on earth who cared about her, the only person who was worried about her. I’ve never felt as alone as I did in those three long days.”
He glanced at Lexie and she smiled at him, that warm open smile that made his heart do a crazy dance in his chest. “I’d feel like that now if it wasn’t for you.”
She broke the eye contact and cast her gaze out the side window and once again Nick wished he could say something that would take the sadness out of her eyes.
He had no idea why Clay would have been staring at Lexie enough to make her feel uncomfortable. He couldn’t imagine why Clay would have followed her out of town, but he intended to find out. He hadn’t forgotten that somebody had been outside of Lauren’s place in the middle of the night.
Had it been Clay? And if so, what had he been doing out there? What had he wanted? Nick had known Clay almost all his life, the two had gone to school together from kindergarten to graduation from high school.
Clay wasn’t the brightest bulb in the package; he had a reputation for being lazy and liked his beer more than most. But Nick couldn’t imagine why he’d have any reason to make Lexie uncomfortable or why he might follow her.
When they pulled up in front of Clay’s sad-looking ranch house his truck was parked in the driveway, letting them know he was home.
Nick didn’t expect any trouble, but he could feel Lexie’s tension as they got out of the car. Clay had definitely spooked her and Nick wanted to know why. It made no sense and Nick wasn’t comfortable with things that didn’t make sense.
Clay’s house didn’t breathe of prosperity, but rather, like many of the businesses in town, gave the impression of just barely hanging on.
The white paint had weathered to a dull gray and wood rot was evident around all of the windows. What had once been dark blue shutters were faded and hung askance.
There were several outbuildings in the distance, a barn that looked as tired as the house and a metal gardening shed that looked fairly new and sturdy.
Clay answered on the second knock and was obviously surprised to see them. “Hey, Nick, what’s up?”
“Mind if we come in and speak with you?” Nick asked.
“Course not.” Clay opened the screen door to allow them into the house.
Nick had never been inside Clay’s home before and he was surprised by the lush living room and all that it contained. A rich leather sofa and recliner chair made the perfect place to sit to watch the flat-screen television, which was the biggest Nick had ever seen.
Several of the latest game systems sat on the floor next to the wall where the television was mounted and a state-of-the-art computer was on a nearby desk. Clay might not be putting any money into the outside of his place, but it was obvious he was spending it for his own entertainment and comfort.
“Clay, this is Lauren Forbes’s sister, Lexie,” Nick said.
“And I want to know why you were staring at me earlier when I was in town.” Lexie said without preamble. So much for finesse, Nick thought. Lexie was nothing if not direct.
Clay rocked back on his heels and grinned at her. “You noticed that, huh? To be honest, I ain’t never seen nobody with pink hair before. Besides, I think you’re kinda cute.”
Lexie’s cheeks flamed with color and Nick had a sudden impulse to throw his arm around Lexie’s shoulder and say, “mine,” which was ridiculous. She wasn’t his and he had no intention of making her his.
“You made her nervous, Clay,” he said. “She’s here in town looking for her sister.”
“And nothing else,” Lexie said, a hint of pink lingering on her cheeks.
“Yeah, I heard Lauren had gone missing and you two have been in town asking questions about her,” Clay said. “I guess you haven’t found her yet?”
“Do you know my sister?” Lexie asked.
“Sure, I’ve seen her around town,” Clay replied. “But I didn’t really talk to her or nothing like that. I heard through the grapevine that she was seeing Bo Richards.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, we’ve talked to Bo, but he doesn’t know what happened to her.”
Clay shrugged his massive shoulders. “Sorry I can’t help you.” He looked at Lexie and raised a hand to run a finger down his scar. “And sorry I made you nervous. I didn’t know it was a crime to gawk at a pretty lady.”
“Well, thanks for your time,” Nick said. He could tell that Clay was making Lexie uncomfortable even now and Nick wanted nothing more than to get her out of there. He grabbed Lexie by the arm and drew her back to the door.
“Let me know if I can do anything to help,” Clay said.
“Don’t hold your breath,” Lexie muttered as they walked toward the car.
“He’s a piece of work,” Nick said to Lexie as he backed out of the driveway.
She nibbled on her lower lip, as if trying to work out something in her mind. “Occasionally I’ve seen a man look at me with what I thought was interest, but that’s definitely not how I felt when Clay looked at me.” She turned and gazed at him. “The looks from Clay felt darker, filled with a malevolence of some kind.” She released a small, embarrassed laugh. “Maybe I’m going crazy. Maybe I’m just imagining things and starting to see boogeymen everywhere.”
Nick started the engine with a smile. “Somehow you don’t strike me as the type of woman to go that crazy.”
“The ranching business must be really lucrative,” she said as Nick pulled away from the house. “Did you see all the toys he had inside?”
“Yeah, I’d like to know how a rancher who never seems to get his hands dirty makes the kind of money to afford all that,” Nick replied.
“Maybe he’s got family money.”
Nick laughed and shook his head. “I knew Clay’s parent
s. His father was a drunk and his mother worked long hours at the café. There’s no way there was any big money in that family.”
“Maybe he works harder than you think he does.”
“Maybe,” Nick conceded. There was no way he could know what exactly Clay did to earn money or to judge how he spent what he had. He also couldn’t really know just how many hours Clay spent actually working his land.
“The main thing is I never heard Lauren mention anything about Clay. He has no dogs so I can’t imagine that they would have interacted in any way.”
“If that’s the way he comes on to women, then it’s no wonder he’s single,” Lexie said with a touch of disdain. “There’s just something a little creepy about him.”
“I’m glad that you don’t think there’s anything creepy about me,” he replied. Was he actually flirting with her?
“Nothing creepy that I’ve noticed yet,” she returned with a smile.
“You have plans for dinner?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she admitted. “It probably depends on how thorough Gary and his men are at Lauren’s house. If they’re there late, then I’ll just grab a sandwich or something.”
He was surprised by the little wave of disappointment that fluttered through him. He wouldn’t have minded sharing another meal with her, spending more time with her.
It wasn’t like she was an arrow to his heart, he told himself. She was just a distraction from his own loneliness, a woman he enjoyed spending time with for now.
As they started past Lauren’s place she sat up straight in the seat. “Turn in,” she exclaimed.
He whirled the steering wheel to make the turn into the driveway and saw what had grabbed her attention. Gary Wendall’s official car was there, along with several other vehicles.
“He must have decided to come early,” she said with a glance at her wristwatch.
As they drew closer Nick felt a tightness spring to his chest. He recognized one of the men who stood next to Wendall. It was Roger Wiley, the town coroner.
There would be only one reason for Roger to be here. No. The word whispered inside his brain as he pulled the car to a halt and glanced over at Lexie.
She didn’t know Roger but she must have seen something on Gary’s grim face for she released a little gasp as she got out of the car. Nick hurried after her, instinctively not wanting her to face the next few minutes alone.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Her voice sounded tight, as if she needed to cough. Nick’s heart constricted tight in his chest as he took her hand in his and stared at Gary, dreading what was about to come.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” he began.
Her hand squeezed Nick’s painfully tight. “No.” The word was a faint whisper of denial from her lips.
At that moment several officers appeared on the edge of the wooded area in the distance. They stood as if awaiting further orders and it was at that moment that Nick realized they must have found Lauren somewhere in the woods.
Lexie must have noticed the officers as well. “No,” she said, this time louder and more firmly, as if by that single word alone she could change the course of fate.
“It looks like she must have slipped on the bank of the stream and hit her head,” Gary began.
Before he could say another word Lexie yanked her hand from Nick’s and took off running.
LEXIE RACED TOWARD the woods, her heart pounding so fast it ached in her chest and she couldn’t catch her breath. It had to be a mistake. It couldn’t be Lauren. Gary Wendall was wrong. Somehow, someway he had to be wrong!
Even as those thoughts shot through her brain, tears blurred her vision and denial surged up inside her. Not Lauren. Oh God, please not Lauren.
There was no ambulance. If she’d been hurt then shouldn’t there have been some emergency vehicles standing by? This thought caused the pressure in her chest to intensify.
She flew by the officers, somehow feeling that if she got to Lauren quickly enough she could make everything okay. She had to make everything okay. Anything else was unacceptable.
However, in the depths of her soul she knew it wasn’t going to be okay. Nothing would ever be okay again. She saw another officer in the distance and she ran toward him, her heart pounding so fast, so loud she could hear nothing else.
Make it be a mistake. Please, make it be a mistake, a voice screamed inside her head. She saw her then, Lauren, on her back on the bank of the little stream. It was obvious she was dead and the grief that sliced through Lexie at the sight of her sister crashed her down to her knees.
A high, keening cry escaped from her as she buried her face in her hands and began to weep. There was nothing else in the world but her grief. She was lost in it, immersed to the point that nothing else mattered, nothing else existed.
Lauren was gone. She would never fulfill all the dreams she’d had. She’d never train her working dogs. She’d never get married and have children.
They’d had a plan, the two of them. Lexie was supposed to be Lauren’s maid of honor at her wedding and Lauren was going to be Lexie’s. They’d planned it since they were little girls, had talked about how their husbands would have to be best friends and their children would grow up as loving, caring cousins.
Now none of it would happen. Lauren was gone.
And Lexie would never hear her twin’s voice again. She’d never have that special close relationship with anyone. She was alone…alone in the world and this thought only made her cry harder.
By the time Nick’s hand gently touched her shoulder her tears were all spent and she was blessedly numb. He pulled her up and into his arms and she stood in his embrace in an endless fog that kept everything at bay.
She had no idea how long they stood together. It seemed like a minute. It seemed like an eternity. “Come on,” he finally said softly. “I’ll take you back to the house.”
Yes, she needed to leave this place. She didn’t want to look at her sister again. She didn’t want to remember Lauren broken and lifeless.
Like an obedient child she nodded, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep and wake up to realize this had all been a dream, a terrible nightmare, and Lauren was still alive and was going to appear any minute now laughing and joking about the silly trick she’d played on them all.
As they reached the house Wendall approached her, his face somber. “My condolences,” he said.
The words meant nothing to her. She had retreated to a place inside her mind where nothing was real, nothing could hurt her. She nodded vaguely to the chief and then Nick took her into the house where Zeus greeted them with a happy bark.
The dogs. Oh God, who was going to love Lauren’s dogs? Who was going to take care of them now that Lauren was gone? The grief surged up once again, threatening to bring her out of her cocoon of numbness.
She shoved the thoughts and the emotions away and allowed Nick to lead her into the guest bedroom. Gently he maneuvered her so that she was seated on the edge of the bed. He knelt down and took off her shoes and her only feeling was a vague gratefulness that, at least for now, somebody else was in charge.
He forced her to her feet once again, but only long enough to pull down the covers on the bed. She crawled in and closed her eyes, wanting the sweet escape of sleep. Nick’s lips pressed softly against her forehead at the same time he took off her glasses and set them on the nightstand.
“Rest,” he whispered and then he was gone.
Gone. Lauren was gone forever. She’d slipped and fallen on the bank of the stream and hit her head. Vaguely Lexie remembered the excruciating pain that had lanced through her skull on the day she’d gotten into her car and decided to drive to Widow Creek.
Had it been at that precise moment that Lauren had fallen, that her spirit had left her body? Had she felt her sister’s death and not realized it at the time?
Something niggled at the back of Lexie’s brain, something she couldn’t quite bring into focus
but knew was important. What was it?
She squeezed her eyes more tightly closed and tried to focus on what it was that bothered her, but the gut-wrenching sorrow got in the way. She finally fell asleep and found the sweet oblivion she wanted.
She came awake with a small gasp, her heart pounding furiously. She’d been dreaming and in her dream Lauren had been telling her goodbye and Lexie had been begging her sister not to leave her.
Tears burned at her eyes and she quickly squeezed them closed again, wanting to reclaim the dream, to have just one more minute with her sister.
But as the last of the dream filtered away and her heartbeat slowed to a more natural rhythm, she knew she wouldn’t go back to sleep. The pain of her loss crashed back in. Her heart cried her sister’s name. Her grief tasted bitter in the back of her throat and she knew the taste would be with her for a long time to come.
She realized it was quite late. The room was dark and the house was quiet. She rolled over on her side and looked at the illuminated hands on the clock. After one.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she realized she wasn’t alone. In the faint moonlight that drifted in through the window she saw Nick asleep in the chair in the corner of the room.
Her heart expanded as she remembered his gentle kiss as she’d drifted off to sleep, as she realized he hadn’t left her alone while she’d slept. He’d been right there with her through the dark hours.
She had no idea what kind wind of fate had blown him into her life, but at the moment she was grateful that he was here with her. Unfortunately his presence did nothing to lessen the grief that spiked through her.
She wanted to go back to sleep again and dream of Lauren and this time she wanted to convince her sister not to go. But of course she knew this was a foolish wish that would never come true.
Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek Page 7