Taming Deputy Harlow

by Jennifer Morey

  * * *

  Knocking woke Jamie the next morning. Reese began to rouse, one lovely leg bent and sticking out from the covers, arms above her head and covers over her breasts. He couldn’t stop an affectionate smile as her honey-colored eyes opened drowsily.

  “Someone is at the door.” He flung off the covers and stood, putting on his jeans.

  “What time is it?”

  He checked the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. “After ten.”

  “Crap!” She threw the covers off her. “I have to work today.”

  “No, you don’t. Sheriff said you should take the day off, with everything going on. Sorry. I meant to tell you last night.” But things had gone a different way.

  He left the room with her looking at him in mock accusation.

  He made it to the door and opened it, seeing Kadin walking away. Kadin stopped with the sound of the opening door and turned. After pausing while he took in Jamie’s form, apparently recovering from the significance of him staying with Reese, he walked back.

  “Jamie. I tried calling.”

  “Sorry. We had a late night and I didn’t hear my phone ring.” He stepped aside to let the man in.

  As Kadin entered, Reese appeared in the hall in her bathrobe. She sort of froze there, silhouetted by light streaming in from the great room, rumpled hair and all.

  Kadin looked from Jamie to Reese and back at Jamie, clearly questioning. But he walked into the house, down the hall toward Reese, and removed his hat.

  “Sheriff said you’ve had some excitement.” Kadin stopped before Reese and looked into her bedroom. Not all of the bed could be seen from there, but enough could. He pinned a look on Jamie.

  “I had her consent.”

  “What brings you by?” Reese walked rather briskly to the kitchen, going behind the kitchen island.

  Uh-oh. She didn’t welcome Kadin here. That wild spirit of hers kicked back against an imagined fence closing in.

  “The test results from the Neville case are in. The clothes?” Kadin walked through the great room.

  Reese stopped her reach for the coffeepot.

  “They found a well-preserved hair follicle.” Kadin put his hand on the back of one of the island counter chairs, opposite Reese.

  Stunned by that good and unexpected news, Jamie stood beside him. “The clothes were stored correctly.” Incredible. After all this time...

  “Yes. We got lucky, I’d say.” To Reese, Kadin said, “You got lucky. It takes the right humidity to preserve this kind of evidence, among other things.”

  It was her case.

  “Did you run DNA?” Reese asked, excitement in her tone.

  “Yes. And ran it through CODIS. Unfortunately, there was no match.”

  Reese visibly drooped with that news.

  “Did Jeffrey ever give a DNA sample?” Kadin asked.

  More disappointment came through in Reese’s slow blink. “No.”

  There was no DNA testing in the seventies, and no one had thought to get a sample from Jeffrey when they’d begun to be used. Everyone had assumed he was innocent.

  “Is there a body to exhume?” Jamie asked. “Was he cremated?”

  That lightened Reese’s demeanor. “He was buried. I’ll get the process going.”

  No DNA match put them at a distinct disadvantage. And the follicle alone may not be enough to convict someone of the crime. The hair may be from Jeffrey and could have gotten on Ella’s clothes just by her living with him.

  “The test came up with something else,” Kadin said, holding his hat and giving it a tap against his hand. “Something pretty significant.”

  Jamie waited a tense second along with Reese.

  “Another fiber was found on the victim’s dress and it contains a small trace of blood that doesn’t belong to the victim.”

  That, indeed, represented a huge break in the case. The ability to analyze a microscopic stain didn’t become possible until around 2000, and the last time Ella’s case had been revisited had been before that.

  “Is it the killer’s?” Reese asked. “She must have fought him.”

  Kadin nodded. “During the struggle, she may have injured him somehow, probably not much, or you’d see more evidence, more blood. The location of the fiber indicates she could have hit his nose and caused it to bleed. It was found on the shoulder of her dress.”

  “A drop of blood landed somewhere on the killer and then a stained fiber transferred to her clothes,” Reese said.

  “Yes. She was strangled, so it’s possible she hit him with the back of her hand. The killer’s nose bled. A drop landed on his clothes. The victim’s violent struggle for life dislodged the fiber. Two other fibers found match the stained fiber.

  “We’re going to have to find the killer to match DNA,” Kadin said.

  “We?” Reese said, and then seemed to catch herself being rude. “I mean...I mean...I didn’t expect you to work this extensively on the case.”

  “I’ll help as much as I can. You’re my daughter, after all. Long lost or not.” He wasn’t going to back down. He must have picked up on Reese’s weak comment that might be construed as leading him not to help her. Halfhearted, though. They could use Kadin’s expertise.

  Jamie watched Reese register Kadin’s unyielding tone. He spoke calmly, but also asserted his position as her father.

  Seeing her internal struggle to maintain control and independence, Jamie decided to spare her further torment and redirect. “If the DNA belongs to the killer, it says something about the nature of the crime if he’s never been arrested for anything else.”

  Kadin turned to him. “It sure does.” He tapped his hat against his hand again.

  “Like what? He isn’t a typical killer?” Reese said.

  “He could have been an ordinary guy up until something drove him to kill Ella Neville,” Jamie said.

  “Or had never been caught,” Reese said. “He could be a serial killer and meticulous at avoiding detection.”

  “Exactly,” Kadin said, pride for his daughter showing. “Given the money involved, I lean more toward ordinary guy driven to kill over greed.”

  “And resentment,” Reese said. “He hated her for leaving him, marrying Jeffrey. Maybe that’s why he killed her before he got the money. Speaking of money.” Reese looked at Jamie, silently asking him if he’d told Kadin yet.

  “We found more,” Jamie said to Kadin, then explained all about the other items. He led them upstairs and Reese opened a desk drawer to hand Kadin a photo of the man.

  Kadin studied it for a while. “Too bad photos can’t provide DNA. Peculiar that Ella would have kept these.”

  “And hidden them with the money,” Reese said.

  “She obviously hid the photos from Jeffrey.”

  “She must have still loved this man,” Jamie said. “Couldn’t quite let go.”

  Reese folded her arms, rubbing as though chilled in her robe. “She left him for a reason. If she stole the money that explains why she never told anyone here in Never Summer about him.”

  “There’s nothing in her file about an ex-boyfriend,” Kadin said.

  “Maybe he wasn’t her boyfriend,” Reese said. “We’ll show the photo around town—on the off chance anyone remembers seeing him.”

  “Good.” Kadin tucked the photo into a pocket on the inside of his jacket with his free hand. “I’ll let you both get ready for the day, then. Why don’t you both come over for dinner tonight? Penny and I rented a cabin just outside of town.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to go to that trouble. We don’t want to interfere with your vacation.”

  Kadin glanced at Jamie, figuring out he’d already told Reese. He didn’t seem to mind. And Jamie thought Reese’s attempt to avoid facing her biological fath
er was lame and obvious.

  “I insist.”

  Apparently, Kadin had seen through Reese’s evasion tactics, as well.

  “You’re the reason I came here, Reese,” Kadin said when Reese didn’t respond. “You and your case.”

  He cleverly disguised that Reese had been his only reason for coming here. The case was an excuse. He could have helped her from Wyoming. He didn’t have to be here to do that. But Jamie kept his thoughts to himself as he followed the man downstairs to the front door. There, he pointed to the boarded-up window.

  “If you weren’t here, I’d also insist she stay with me.”

  “Now wait a minute.” Reese folded her arms again. “I haven’t needed you before now, what makes you think I need you now?”

  “It’s not only about what you need, my dear.” Kadin put his hat on and met Reese’s defiance head-on.

  She didn’t challenge him further.

  “Six o’clock. The Pinecliff cabins. We’re in number four.”

  When Kadin left and Jamie shut the door, he faced Reese and her threatened control and individualism. “I couldn’t say no to him, either.”

  Her beautiful eyes shifted from the closed door to him. Then she raised her brow with a little cock of her head.

  “Neither could Brycen Cage,” he said.

  “I’m not one of his detectives.”

  “No, you’re worse. You’re his daughter.” He put his hand on her back and guided her toward the bedroom. They weren’t finished in there.

  “That’s not funny.”

  She didn’t resist his guidance. “He’s dealing with his own difficulty in this, Reese. He lost his young daughter. How do you think he feels about learning he’s had another all this time and never knew?”

  In her bedroom, she seemed to face him with growing uncertainty. Her resolve had lost its verve as a result of his reasoning. She had to have sympathy for a man who suffered as much as Kadin had.

  “His losses are what made him a great man. Why not get to know him a little? No harm in that. He won’t force you to live with him.” He unfastened his belt.

  While his talking calmed her, she also noticed what he was doing. Good. Time to get her mind off pushing family away. He removed his jeans and stood naked before her.

  “Jamie?” She took a step back, but he saw the flare of her eyes and how her mouth stayed parted to allow freer airflow.

  “Shower. Let’s go.”

  “I’m not taking a shower with you.”

  He stepped close to her. “No?” Before she could dodge him, he pressed a soft, warm kiss to her parted mouth. Hearing her sharply indrawn breath, he kissed her again.

  “Jamie.” His name came out on a whisper.

  He untied her robe and pushed it off her shoulders. It slid to the floor and she was as naked as him.

  Chapter 8

  Reese got out of Jamie’s new rental truck and walked with him toward the cabin, a bundle of nerves—and not just over spending time with her biological father. She’d thought all the way here and had to ease her mind somehow. She couldn’t make it through this evening with two people vying for a close and personal place in her life. That level of commitment loomed over her, ensnared her with potential obligations she wasn’t sure she could meet. At the door, Jamie reached for the bell and she stopped him with her hand.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  He surveyed her face as though reading her angst. “Now?”

  She nodded. “I need to clear the air before—before I go in there a-a-and spend time with...my father.” Realizing she was talking with her hands and Jamie saw it, she said, “We have to stop. You and me. Have to...stop.”

  Gradually his expression went from absorbing her restlessness to complete understanding, almost smug understanding.

  “I’m not asking you to settle down with me in a long-term relationship, Reese. We’re just testing the waters. Hot spring waters, but waters nonetheless.”

  “Stop making light of this. You made me make love with you. Twice! In less than twenty-four hours!”

  “I made you?” His eyebrows rose slightly. “You climbed onto the kitchen counter.”

  She couldn’t tell if he was teasing. “You kissed me to get me into the shower.”

  “Yes, and you didn’t stop me.”

  She couldn’t and that’s what troubled her. “Please, Jamie.”

  With her sincere tone and genuine plea, he blinked and then relented. “All right. Calm down. Don’t work yourself up into a frenzy. I’ll wait for you to make the next move.”

  That should have comforted her. Instead, she wasn’t any more relaxed than before. She could talk herself into making the next move. Isn’t that what happened when she climbed onto the kitchen counter?

  “Hey.” He put his hands on her upper arms. “We’ll slow it down.”

  That statement relaxed her as much as anything. But his care for her only melted her more.

  Lowering his hands, he held his finger over the doorbell with a silent questioning look at her, seeming to ask if she was ready. She nodded. He rang the bell.

  A vibrant, smiling face with sea-green eyes and wavy auburn hair opened the door. “Hi. You must be Reese.” The tall woman gave her a delighted once-over. “You’re so beautiful!” She stepped aside to allow them to enter.

  Reese led Jamie in and she may as well have been standing on thin ice. Any moment the ground would collapse underneath her feet.

  “Jamie Knox.” Jamie held out his hand.

  “Penny Tandy.”

  The cabin was a decent size, with an open and rustic kitchen and living room. A gold-colored couch and a wood-and-metal coffee table faced a massive moss rock fireplace flanked by two gold leather high-back chairs. Two tall stools served as side tables to the chairs.

  Kadin appeared from the stairs running down from a loft, more moss rock making up the wall underneath the staircase and wood railing.

  “It smells good,” Reese said. Would she talk about the weather next?

  “The sheriff said you liked the chicken enchiladas at Marissa’s. I attempted to emulate the recipe.” Penny leaned toward her with her hand to the side of her mouth as though sharing a secret. “Don’t be too hard on me if I missed the mark.”

  Reese was too taken aback to acknowledge the lighthearted banter. “You called him?”

  “Kadin did.” She turned to her husband and Reese saw her eyes go soft with adoration.

  “I hope you don’t mind.” He indicated for them to go into the living room.

  Reese took one of the chairs by the fireplace. No one could sit next to her that way. Jamie eyed her in a way that said he was on to her and took the other chair.

  “Something to drink?” Kadin offered.

  “Just water,” Reese said.

  “I made iced tea,” Penny said.

  Did the sheriff tell Kadin that, too? “Tea would be wonderful.”

  “Same for me,” Jamie said.

  Kadin went to get the glasses and pitcher, already iced and on a tray. He set everything down on the big rectangular coffee table and sat beside his wife on the couch.

  “The background came back on Ella today. The police report said Ella had no family. That’s what Jeffrey told them, and it matches the background report. At first glance everything looks ordinary, but I ran her name in some different databases and her name came up as a deceased woman from San Diego, California.”

  Reese sat at the edge of her seat. Was he about to say Ella had assumed another person’s identity?

  “I checked into it some more. Her social security number is the same as the deceased woman, but the photographs don’t match.”

  “She did assume a false identity.”

  “Who is Ella?” Jamie aske
d.

  “That may not be easy to find out. We know nothing about her except what we know about her life in Never Summer.”

  “This explains why she hid those photos,” Reese said, thinking back on what they might reveal.

  “She had a secret past,” Jamie added.

  “One of the photos showed her with a man outside a restaurant called Charlie’s,” Reese said.

  Penny got up and went to a computer case on the floor beside the couch. She removed a laptop and handed it to Kadin. He thanked her with another one of those intimate looks and then booted up the machine. Moments later he finished searching the internet and turned the screen to show the results of the images he’d found.

  Reese moved closer, crouching before the screen and scrolling through several pictures. There were a lot of retail places called Charlie’s. But she came to one that made her stop short. It was the same sign she’d seen in the photo. She remembered the front window, with its white trim and the small fenced-in patio.

  “This is it.”

  Kadin leaned to see where she pointed then turned the laptop to face him. “It’s in San Diego.”

  Ella was likely from San Diego, then. She’d stolen the identity of a woman also from San Diego. Had she kept those photos to tie the killer to her?

  “I’ll get searching for a woman who was either reported missing or wanted for a crime,” Kadin said.

  Ella had a reason to flee her hometown. Had she stolen the money?

  “Which means he’ll make flight reservations for tomorrow,” Penny said. “And I’ll have to wait here for him.” She didn’t seem happy about that but complained without acrimony. She supported his decision because she loved him.

  Reese didn’t think she’d ever met a couple like this before, where their love was so obvious.

  “How did you meet Kadin?” The question tumbled from her before she had a chance to think first. She just had to know.

  Penny glanced at Kadin with a smile. “That’s a long story.”