Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek
Page 13
“Maybe,” she agreed, but he had a feeling they both knew that it was doubtful that once she left she’d ever return to Widow Creek, except occasionally to visit her sister’s grave.
“More wine?” he asked as he noticed her glass was empty.
“Maybe just a little.”
He got up from the sofa and returned to the kitchen for the bottle and used the opportunity to attempt to tamp down the desire that seemed to be building to mammoth proportions as the night continued.
He returned to the living room and any efforts he thought he’d made to get control of his hormones vanished. He felt like a nervous teenager out with the prettiest cheerleader, desperate to make a move on her, but afraid at the same time.
He poured her wine and set the bottle on the table, then leaned back and smiled at her. “You look pretty tonight. You should wear green more often.”
She smiled self-consciously and reached for her glasses. “Thanks. You look very nice yourself.” She put her glasses back on, took a sip of her wine and then ran her tongue over her top lip.
The desire that had been simmering inside him all night long exploded into a flame. “Lexie.” Her name escaped his lips of its own volition. He set his glass on the coffee table and then reached out and removed hers from her hand and placed it next to his.
Her eyes widened behind her glasses, as if she knew his intent. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and gently pulled her toward him.
Chapter Ten
His mouth was hot against hers and tasted of wine and a heady intoxication flooded through her veins. He was an assault on every one of her senses. The familiar scent of him filled her head, the heat of his mouth warmed her to her toes and when he reached to embrace her she allowed him to pull her closer…closer still.
She wanted him like she needed her next breath, desperately, viscerally. And ultimately it was the depth of her want of him that forced her away from him and to her feet.
“Nick, we can’t do this anymore.” Her own breathlessness surprised her. “I don’t want you to kiss me anymore.” Her gaze fled to the furthest corner of the room.
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I…I guess I got my signals crossed.”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “No, I’ve probably been giving off mixed signals to you.” She pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes as unexpected tears stung. “I want you, Nick, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be intimate again. I’ll be leaving here as soon as I get some answers and I’ve never been good with casual sex.” Or goodbyes, she thought.
“It didn’t seem casual to me,” he replied, his eyes dark and enigmatic.
“But we both know that’s what it was,” she replied. She hesitated a beat, giving him an opportunity to make her believe otherwise. When he didn’t say anything she released a deep sigh.
“I think I’ll just call it a night,” she said and although she put her glasses back on her eyes didn’t quite meet his. “I’ll just see you in the morning.”
She felt as if this had been a defining moment, that something had happened that had forever changed things between them.
What had changed was that the little bit of hope Lexie hadn’t even realized she’d entertained in her heart about Nick had just died. It had been the hope that his heart might be capable of realizing love for a second time in his life, the hope that he might be falling in love with her.
She had to tell him goodbye.
Lexie sat on the edge of the bed in the guest bedroom and knew she had to get away from Nick. She was in love with him. It had crept upon her insidiously, without warning. It had been fed not only by his warm smile and sense of humor, but also by his seemingly easy acceptance of all that she was as a woman—and of all that she wasn’t.
She had to get out before things went any deeper. Already it was going to pierce her very core to have to tell him goodbye.
With this thought in mind she grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and made a call. When she hung up after having a long conversation with her friend and coworker Amberly Nightsong, she waited for the sense of relief to flood through her. But there was no relief, only sadness as she realized it was time for her to make some changes.
It was just her luck, to fall in love with a man who was emotionally unavailable. First Michael the jerk, and then Nick, a man who had known a love so great it was apparently enough to last him a lifetime despite the fact that the woman he loved was dead.
She couldn’t even be mad at Nick. He’d warned her from the very beginning that he’d had his one arrow shot in the heart and wasn’t looking for another. It was her own fault for being foolish enough to fall in love with him.
She changed into her nightgown and got into bed, her heart as heavy as a stone. In the very depths of her soul she’d always worried that she’d been destined to be alone, to never really know the wonder of a man’s love. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed as tears once again burned.
There had been moments when she’d thought she’d felt love from Nick, when his eyes had glowed with emotion, when his kiss had tasted of not just desire, but of something deeper, something more profound. She’d been a fool.
Time and distance, that what’s she needed. She wasn’t ready to leave Widow Creek, but it was time she left Nick Walker and gave herself time to heal.
The next morning she carried her suitcase down to the kitchen where she found Nick seated at the table eating a muffin and drinking a cup of coffee. As usual both dogs were at his feet, looking perfectly content to relax in the sunshine that drifted in through the window.
“Good morning,” he said and looked pointedly at her suitcase. “Going somewhere?”
“I’m checking into the local motel this morning,” she said.
He looked at her in surprise and got out of his chair. “Lexie, if this is about what happened last night—”
“It is…and it isn’t,” she interrupted him. “Nick, you’ve given me enough of your time and energy. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and all the support you’ve given me, but this really isn’t your battle and it’s time I move on.”
“Lexie, I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t think it’s safe,” he protested.
“I won’t be alone,” she assured him. “An FBI friend of mine is meeting me at the motel this afternoon. She’s going to stay with me for a couple of days. It’s better this way, Nick. Better for both of us.”
He looked as if he wanted to protest but after a moment he simply nodded. “I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind.” She shook her head and he continued, “Then just know that I’m here for you if you need me.”
Although this was exactly what she wanted to hear from him, she couldn’t help the small flutter of disappointment that he hadn’t tried to change her mind, hadn’t insisted that she stay here with him.
“Want to stick around for some breakfast?” he asked.
Again she shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m just going to head on out and get settled in at the motel.”
He walked toward her and she steeled herself for his nearness, afraid that somehow she might fall into the gray depths of his eyes and lose herself forever.
He placed his palms on either side of her face and stared deep into her eyes. “Call me, Lexie. Let me know what’s going on. Let me know that you’re okay. It’s important to me, okay?”
His touch made her ache and she fought against the need to lean into him, to feel his arms embrace her one last time. She stepped back and he dropped his hands to his sides. “I will,” she agreed. “And you’ll take good care of Zeus?”
“Of course, he’s part of my family now.”
She thought about how happy she would be to be part of his family and this propelled her out of the kitchen and toward the front door. She was aware of Nick following right behind her, but when she reached the door she didn’t stop. She didn’t want any long goodbyes. She just wanted to get gone, away from his concerned eyes, away fro
m the scent of him that smelled so much like home.
She didn’t stop walking until she reached her car. She opened the door, threw her suitcase in the backseat and only then did she turn to look at him. “Thanks again, Nick.”
“Keep in touch, Lexie.”
“I will.” She slid into the seat, closed her door and started the engine. She refused to look in her rearview mirror as she pulled away. She was afraid that one more glimpse of him might make her cry, and that would be foolish.
She hadn’t even cried when Michael had left her and they had dated off and on for months. It was crazy that in six days Nick had managed to get so deep into her heart.
But there was no happy ending and she knew the best thing she could do was cast him out of her thoughts and hope that eventually her heart would forget him.
She checked into the Stop and Sleep Motel, the only such establishment of its kind in the small town. The room held two double beds covered in gold spreads and the gold shag rug on the floor was obviously the original. She might have found it depressing, but she knew when Amberly arrived the decor couldn’t matter.
She sat on the bed and thought of the gorgeous Native American woman who would be arriving in the next couple of hours. Amberly worked as a profiler. She was also the single mother of a four-year-old named Max and she and her ex-husband shared custody of the little boy.
Lexie and Amberly had struck up a friendship a little over a year ago. She not only told wonderful stories from her Cherokee grandmother, but she understood all of Lexie’s quirks and seemed to accept them.
Amberly arrived just after noon. Her butt-length black hair was pulled back in a careless chignon and eyes as dark as tar pits snapped with energy as she carried in her suitcase.
“Nothing like a little road trip to get the juices flowing,” she said as she gave Lexie a hug. She stepped back from her and frowned. “You look like you’ve been beaten up with a tired stick.”
Lexie smiled. “It’s good to see you, too.”
“I’m so sorry about Lauren.”
Lexie’s heart constricted in her chest as she nodded. “Sit down and let me tell you about everything that’s happened.”
It took nearly two hours for Lexie to share with Amberly everything that had happened since she’d arrived in Widow Creek. “But I really didn’t invite you here to get involved in my investigation. I just didn’t want to stay here in the motel by myself and I knew I’d enjoy your company for a couple of days.”
“I’m interested in your theory of what’s going on here, but I’m equally interested in this Nick Walker,” Amberly said when Lexie was finished.
“Why?” Lexie asked in surprise.
“Because he obviously means something to you. It’s evident every time you say his name. You get a soft, gooey look in your eyes.”
Lexie felt her face fill with heat. “I do not,” she exclaimed and then released a sigh. “In any case it doesn’t matter. He’s a widower still very much tied to his dead wife.” As she told Amberly about Danielle’s suicide she tried not to allow her emotions full rein.
“My grandmother would say that the moon god has captured his heart and refuses to let it go to find love again.”
“Is that an old Cherokee legend?” Lexie asked.
Amberly flashed a bright smile. “No, that’s a Granny Nightsong legend. She was an expert at making things up to fit any circumstance.”
Lexie grinned at her. “I would have loved your granny. How are things at work?” Lexie asked in an attempt to keep the conversation away from Nick.
“Slow, which is good.”
“And how’s Max?”
Again the beautiful smile swept over Amberly’s features. “He’s the most amazing kid on the face of the earth.”
“And what about men? Are you seeing anyone?”
Amberly shook her head. “Right now I have a good relationship with John, I have Max and I have my work and that’s all I need. Besides, I’ve pretty much decided no dating until Max is older.”
“Have you ever thought about you and John getting back together?” Lexie asked. She knew John and Amberly had been married for three years and had divorced when Max was two, but they seemed to share a special bond that hadn’t been broken by the divorce.
“John and I were meant to be best friends, not lovers,” she replied.
The two women stayed in the motel room catching up with each other until dinnertime, then headed for the café for their evening meal and to check out the locals.
“I give this place another two or three years and it will be a ghost town,” Amberly observed as Lexie drove down Main Street. “It looks like it is already dead and nobody has mentioned it to the people who have remained.”
“Just another victim of the bad economy,” Lexie said as she pulled into a parking place in front of the café.
“Like so many other small towns,” Amberly replied. “It’s sad, isn’t it? Mayberry towns are dying every day and soon there won’t be any left.”
As they walked into the busy café Lexie couldn’t help but remember the meals she’d eaten here with Nick and she mentally cursed herself for allowing him to get too close, for allowing herself to fall so hard for a man so wrong for her.
She saw the table of teenagers as soon as they were seated in a nearby booth. There were four of them, two boys and two girls, and as the waitress took their orders it was evident by the expression on her face that she found them both rude and obnoxious.
What Lexie couldn’t discern from her distance from the four is if it was just normal teenage rebelliousness or something else.
“You know, it’s possible the people using in this town aren’t teenagers at all. Meth use crosses age, economic and social boundaries,” Amberly said softly. “It’s the scourge of the earth as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’m just hoping we find somebody who is using and can get them to answer some questions,” Lexie replied.
Amberly laughed. “You’re going to ask them who their source is and they’re just going to answer you? That’s a little naive, Lexie.”
“I didn’t say I thought they would answer me, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. When I do identify somebody I think is using then I intend to watch them day and night. Eventually they’ll take me to their source,” Lexie explained.
Amberly leaned forward, her eyes coals of intensity. “Lexie, you’re sure what you’re doing here? Are you sure you aren’t seeing boogeymen in an effort to explain a senseless tragedy?”
“It wasn’t imaginary boogeymen who shot up Lauren’s place,” Lexie replied.
“True, but didn’t the chief of police mention that there had been other instances of kids shooting at houses and barns?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t explain that Lauren’s body wasn’t on that rocky shore when I first arrived here and checked.” She released a sigh of frustration. “Amberly, have you ever had a gut instinct that you can’t dismiss? That’s what I feel…that something isn’t right here and Lauren got into somebody’s way. The drug angle is the only thing that halfway makes sense.”
At that moment the waitress arrived to take their orders. When the meal arrived Lexie picked at the food and kept her focus on the four teenagers. One of the males, dark-haired and slightly unkempt, looked spun, as if he’d been up for days. He scratched his belly and picked at his face and a rush of adrenaline filled Lexie as the four got up and headed to the cashier.
“I’ve got a live one. You wait here and I’ll be right back,” she said to Amberly. Before her friend could protest, Lexie slid out of the booth and followed the teens outside.
“Hey,” she called after them. The four of them turned as a unit.
“Hey yourself,” the dark-haired boy said and then snickered as if he’d been remarkably clever. Up close Lexie could see the acnelike sores that covered his jaw and hovered around his mouth. Definitely a meth-head, she thought.
“Cool hair,” one of the girls said with a friendly smile.
“And my name is Jimmy Carter,” meth-head replied.
The girl with him poked him with her elbow. “Don’t be stupid. He’s Jimmy all right, but he’s not Jimmy Carter, he’s Jimmy Morano.” The girl went on to introduce the others and then frowned at Lexie. “Was there something you wanted?”
“I was just wondering what people did for fun around here,” Lexie replied. “Any private clubs where you can find something a little more fun than booze?”
Instantly she knew she’d pushed too fast, too hard. Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. “What are you, some kind of a narc?”
Lexie forced a silly grin. “Duh, do I look like a narc?” she countered. She allowed the grin to fall. “Look, my sister just died and I’m stuck in this small town until I can sell her house. I can party like a rock star in Kansas City, but I need something now to make me feel better.”
“Then go see your doctor,” Jimmy replied. He turned on his heels. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
As he walked away with two of the others, the girl who had been with him looked at Lexie, her eyes dark and slightly frightened. “You’d be better off going back to Kansas City to party. You don’t want to ask too many questions here in Widow Creek.”
Before Lexie could say anything else, the girl whirled around and ran after her friends. As Lexie watched the four head down the sidewalk she knew with a certainty that Jimmy Morano, aka Jimmy Carter, and his girlfriend were her key to solving the mystery of Lauren’s death.
All she had to figure out was how to make them cooperate with her before the people in charge got wind that she was onto them and tried to shut her up permanently.
NICK HAD THOUGHT the silence of the house after Danielle had moved out was bad, but the deafening silence that Lexie had left behind was a hundred times worse.
All day Saturday Nick felt her absence in a way he hadn’t expected. It rang in the hallways of his house, seeped through the living room and into the kitchen like a gray fog.