by Donna Grant
“We should start there,” Cooper said as he pointed to the house farthest from the road. Then he looked at Clayton and Danny. “The two of you can’t be near this. Neither can Ryan. No one knows Marlee, so she can get away with going door-to-door. Same with me.”
“Right,” Jace said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “If you think no one knows you, let me be the one to tell you that you’re full of shit.”
Clayton’s lips thinned as he nodded. “Jace is right. None of us can do this.”
“I might not go to the doors, but I’ll be driving Marlee,” Cooper stated.
Marlee steepled her hands on the table. “That is perfect.”
“It’s going to take you forever to do this alone,” Danny said.
Marlee shrugged, smiling. “I’ve always done everything on my own. I’ll be fine.”
“Actually, there might be someone else we can ask,” Jace said.
Cooper’s brows drew together. “What are you concocting?”
“We need someone like Marlee. I’m thinking Maddy would do great.”
“Audrey’s sister?” Clayton asked.
Jace smiled. “The very one.”
Cooper twisted his lips. “Jace has a point. He can be her driver.”
“I’m sure we can come up with at least one more by tomorrow. If there are three teams out there, we’ll cover more ground,” Danny said.
Cooper walked to Marlee. “Looks like we’ve got a plan.”
“Sure does,” she said, linking her fingers with his.
Chapter 32
After spending five hours going door-to-door, Marlee still didn’t have anything. Cooper finally made them break for lunch. She was in a poor mood the entire time. She tried to pull herself out of it, but she wasn’t very successful.
“I’m sorry,” she told him on the ride back to begin working again. “I just feel like time is running out, and every house I visit and find nothing, the more I feel as if everything is slipping through my hands.”
Cooper smiled at her and grabbed her hand as he drove. “I understand. What do you do on other cases when you get like this?”
“Work harder and longer,” she said with a twist of her lips.
He chuckled softly. “Does it work?”
“Rarely,” she admitted. “Most times, I run myself into the ground. It takes me weeks to heal from that. I know better. I should work smarter, not harder. But saying it and implementing it are two different things.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
She turned her hand over so their palms touched. “I’m really glad you are.”
Their gazes briefly met before he turned off the main road and wound his way back on the side roads. His smile said so much. Marlee wished they could have a day for just them. Lying in bed talking, watching a movie, cooking together. Whatever. But she didn’t have those kinds of days often.
Regardless, she was getting to know Cooper quite well. She’d learned early on after the police academy that you could learn a lot about a person under pressure, as they were now. Cooper was levelheaded even when he was angry. He didn’t let his emotions rule him, which was something she really needed to work on.
He’d learned a lot in the military, and it showed. She wanted to work with someone like him. Before she realized it, her lips were parted, the words to ask him if he wanted a job right on the tip of her tongue. But she stopped herself at the last second.
Cooper had a life in Clearview. His mother was here, as well as his very close friends, who were also his family. People didn’t walk away from that easily, if ever. He liked her, cared about her even, but was it enough for them to try their luck as a couple while working together? Marlee had seen such a couple self-destruct when she was still with the force. How in the world would she and Cooper fare any better traveling all over, searching for murderers and kidnappers?
“We’re going to find these assholes,” Cooper said into the silence.
She jerked her head to him and nodded when he looked her way. “I know.”
“Do you?” He parked the vehicle in front of their next house and turned to her. “I know this is frustrating. We could be wrong about our location, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll be with you to help for as long as you want me.”
She looked down at their joined hands. “Leads may take me away from here.”
“I know.”
Marlee had tested the waters with those words, and she was surprised—and pleased—by his response. She lifted her eyes to him. “You’d do that?”
He drew in a breath and looked out the windshield for a moment before turning back to her. “My father’s accidental death left our family with a tidy sum of money, as you well know from your background check on me. I’ve done a multitude of jobs and never found anything that seemed to fit. I’m lucky, I know. The money allows me to be picky. My mother is a master when it comes to investing, and she taught me. I make more with my investments than I do with any job. So, I spend my time helping my friends when they need an extra hand.” His look in his forest green eyes intensified as he removed his Stetson and set it on the dashboard. “When I meet someone like you, I’m able to devote however much time you need. I’m here. And willing.”
She wanted to throw herself against his body. They had spent the night in her motel room, and she had actually slept for the second night in a row. As good as that was, it wasn’t as nice as waking up next to Cooper with his large frame curled around hers in bed.
“I want you so bad right now,” she admitted.
His smile was slow. Seductive. “Woman, you have no idea how much I want you. It was everything I could do last night to allow you to sleep when all I wanted was to taste your body once more.”
“Keep talking like that, and I’ll straddle you.”
He took her hand and brought it across the way to rest on his hard cock. “If there’s any doubt to my words, the proof is right here.”
Marlee scooted closer, hating the center console in the truck that kept them separated. She brought her lips to his and softly kissed him. She laid her free hand on his cheek and sighed. “This, what I’m feeling now, what I’ve felt since I first met you … it terrifies me.”
His hands cupped her face. “There’s nothing to be scared about. I’ve got you.”
She wanted to believe him. It would be so easy to hand her heart to him. Oh, who was she kidding? He already had it. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but it had. Quietly, softly. He had scooped it up as easily as he smiled.
“Trust me,” he urged her. “I won’t hurt you.”
Marlee licked her lips, eager to press her mouth against his again. “You can’t promise that.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t piss you off,” he said with a smile. “I said I wouldn’t hurt you.”
She laughed softly and gave him a brief kiss. “Oh, I’ve no doubt I’ll make you angry.”
“It takes a lot.”
“I have a knack for it,” she stated. “Truly. It’s a gift.”
He shrugged while smiling. “No one is perfect, right?”
“I don’t even know what we’re talking about here.”
“Yes, you do,” he insisted.
Marlee suddenly sat back in her seat and looked forward. “I barely know you.”
“You do know me, though. Do you know everything? No. Just as I don’t know everything about you. That’s the fun part. We get to keep figuring it out.”
“But what if I’m not what you think I am.”
Cooper was silent for a moment. “I think you’re a woman who is dedicated to finding the lost and hunting criminals. I think you’re a woman who forgets to take care of herself because she’s looking out for everyone else. I think you’re a woman who has one of the biggest hearts around. I think you’re a woman who is used to doing things on her own but could use someone with her. I think you’re a woman who doesn’t need anyone. I think you’re special. One-of-a-kind. And you’re the woman I want to be with.”
“Say something,” Cooper urged.
“Nothing has ever felt more right than being with you.” Marlee turned her head to meet his gaze. “These past few days have been the best of my life.”
He smiled widely. “And I wasn’t even on my best game. Just wait.”
“Maybe in another life, this could work.”
His smile died slowly.
She looked away and grabbed her clipboard. “You have deep roots here, ones that have been tended to for decades. My parents are in California and need me more than I can even be there to help. Then there’s my job. I’m all over the place, but never in one location long enough to call it home.”
Silence met her words. She couldn’t look at him because she was afraid of what she’d see in his eyes. Once she did, she knew she’d crumble. She had to stand strong. Because while things might be good now, if he came with her, he would eventually get homesick and return. He’d probably come back to her, but it would be shorter and shorter each time. She didn’t begrudge him that. Her line of work was difficult, and that was on an easy day. And there were very, very few easy days.
Marlee opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. She closed the door and started walking, even as it felt as if her heart were breaking into a million pieces. It had been the right decision. She knew that.
Then why does it feel so wrong?
There wasn’t an answer. The fact was, her real chance at happiness sat in the truck behind her. And she was throwing it away.
To save him. To save myself the heartache that will eventually find its way to me.
Yeah, she was a coward. She didn’t even want to take the chance that everything might turn out fine with Cooper. Because that would mean putting her heart on the line, and she wasn’t strong enough to do that. Everyone thought that she was stronger than most because she did her job alone.
What no one realized was that she was the weakest of all. She was scared of everything, so she closed herself off.
Marlee was nearly to the front door of the house when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw Stephanie’s name. She’d forgotten about the message she’d left earlier that morning. Marlee quickly answered. “Hey. Thanks for returning my call.”
“Not at all. I’m sorry it took so long. It’s crazy in the office today. Not sure how long I can stay on.”
“Understood. Did you happen to do a search on Kate Sommerset? I know it’s a fake name, but I’ve not been able to locate her real one.”
The sound of a can being opened came across the line. “Wish I had better news. I’ve got nothing for you.”
“Nothing?” Now that was just odd. If anyone could find something on a person, it was the FBI.
“Sorry. Things are insane here. What was it about this woman that caught your attention?”
Despite all the years that Marlee had discussed her clients with Stephanie, something made her uncomfortable now. “The fake name. It was easy to find, but not the real one. Usually, that means the government is somehow involved. But if that’s the case, then why make it so easy to pick it out as a fake?”
“I wish I had answers for you.” Stephanie then took several drinks of the beverage that Marlee could hear over the phone.
Maybe it was all the stress of everything, but Marlee felt that the entire conversation was off somehow. Her gaze moved to a window with the blinds open to see someone sitting at a table on the phone with a can in their hands. “Thanks. I won’t keep you.”
“Good luck.”
The line went dead. Marlee returned her phone to her pocket, her gaze never leaving the figure. Was it a coincidence that the person through the window had laid down a phone at the same time Marlee’s call ended? Sure. But she didn’t believe it.
Every instinct she had yelled at her. Marlee looked at the front door before she turned her head to look at Cooper. He stared at her, trying to determine what she was going to do. She motioned with her finger for him to go around to the back of the house.
Without question, Cooper exited the truck and quietly pushed the door closed. He bent low and went around the back of his truck before he ran toward a small cluster of trees near the road. Marlee returned her attention to the house. She knew Cooper could handle himself. She didn’t have a gun on her. She had, however, grabbed two of her knives that morning when getting dressed. She’d put one in her boot and the other in her coat pocket. She gave Cooper her largest knife, and when he indicated that he’d be fine, she didn’t give him an option. She made him take it.
Marlee’s legs were stiff as she turned back to the house and began walking up the path to the door. This house was closer to the road than most, but it had more land surrounding it than those nearest to it.
Her heart pounded slowly like a drum slamming against her rib cage. A chill raced over her the closer she got to the door. She glanced at the window, but the person was gone. It was difficult to tell if it had been a man or a woman. The distance hadn’t helped either. Marlee knew Stephanie. They talked about once a month, but they had also met in person a few times during Macey’s case. Though it had been years since Marlee had seen her.
There was no such thing as coincidence in Marlee’s book. But if it was Stephanie, why was she in town? Why hadn’t she said anything? And why was she at this particular house?
The more Marlee thought about it, the more insane it sounded. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. And it all had to do with this house.
Marlee reached the door and lifted her hand. She saw it shake slightly. She steeled herself and gave a quick knock. She plastered a smile on her face as the door was unlocked and opened.
Chapter 33
Cooper kept low as he made his way to the back of the house. He didn’t know what had set Marlee off, but it was something. He trusted her instincts. And he was going to make damn sure he had her back.
When he flattened himself against the back of the house near the back porch, he pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text to the group, letting them know what was going on. The day had been quiet. Almost too quiet. None of the three groups going door-to-door about the fake census had come across anything. Cooper had been about to chalk it up to another dead end. Then this.
He didn’t want to think about Marlee’s words before she’d gotten out of the truck. He should’ve known that it was too early to talk to her about their relationship. Hell. He wasn’t even sure if she thought of it as a relationship. She felt something for him, that much he knew, but that was all he knew. And he didn’t like the unknown. Never had. Most likely never would.
Cooper palmed the knife she’d given him earlier. He hadn’t wanted to take it. He had one on him at all times. With the knife in hand, he listened. Cooper hated that he couldn’t have eyes on Marlee, but she was smart. She could handle herself. His phone began to vibrate, alerting him to incoming texts. He glanced down at the phone to see that his friends were headed their way before he pocketed the cell.
Jace and Maddy were the nearest to him. Clayton was with … damn. Cooper kept forgetting her name. It was some college-aged girl whose father worked for Clayton. Cooper shook his head to clear it. Names didn’t matter right now. Keeping everyone safe and catching the bad guys was what mattered.
Cooper heard footsteps headed toward him instead of to the front of the dwelling. As he strained to hear, he caught the sound of the front door opening. At least two went inside. He heard a creak and tilted back his head to see the house’s window over his right shoulder. He spotted a shadow there as if someone were leaning back against it.
Slowly and quietly, he made his way from beneath the window to stand beside the back door so that
whoever was at the window couldn’t see him if they looked down. That’s when he heard Marlee’s voice.
* * *
The surprise that flashed in the man’s eyes was hidden quickly enough after he opened the door. Marlee might not know who this older gentleman was, but he knew her. And that made her adrenaline kick up a notch.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m with the county, going house to house in an effort to get a new census in place. I wondered if I could take up a few minutes of your time.”
The man stared at her with dark brown eyes, his brown hair liberally laced with gray. He was clean-shaven, showing a jawline most men would kill for. He had broad shoulders and muscles shown by his tight shirt. No one that age kept in that kind of shape without reason. She immediately thought military. He just had that look about him. The I-can-get-through-anything look.
She swallowed, waiting for him to say something. Tense seconds passed when she thought he might come at her. That’s when she knew that this was the place they had been searching for.
What she needed to do was extract herself and wait until she and Cooper could meet up with everyone else, including Danny and Ryan to bring in the authorities. Of course, she needed actual evidence for that, not just a feeling. But if she went for the proof, there was a very real possibility that she—and Cooper—could be killed.
“Sir?” she pressed when he still didn’t answer. The silence was getting awkward. But that might be better than whatever he chose to say.
Marlee took a step back and held up her hands, one holding the clipboard. “That’s fine. You don’t have to answer the questionnaire. I’ll leave now and make sure that no one visits this house again. Have a good day.”
The moment Marlee turned, she wanted to run. She couldn’t help but think of herself as a sheep with a lion on its tail, ready to pounce. Frankly, it wasn’t a good feeling. It took considerable effort not to run, but Marlee somehow managed it. She glanced at Cooper’s truck but didn’t see him inside. No doubt, he was still around the back. She wanted to reach for her phone to text him, to get him to return to the vehicle immediately, but getting out her phone now wouldn’t be smart. She’d have to wait until she got to the truck.