Noah slowed the car. “That’s Dickey’s place on the corner.”
It was a ranch house, no larger or smaller than any of the other houses on the street, but certainly the nicest. It had recently been painted a dark gray, and the black shutters also had a fresh coat of paint. The roof was new, and the yard was surprisingly well tended. There was even a flower bed with blooming marigolds along the front of the shrubs.
“This can’t be his house. It’s so nice,” Jordan said.
“This is the address Agent Street gave me. It’s Dickey’s house all right. I guess, when he isn’t beating up women, he takes care of his lawn.”
Dickey’s truck wasn’t parked in the gravel drive.
“You didn’t expect to find him home, did you?” she asked.
“No, but I wanted to see where he lived. I’d sure like to look around inside.”
“Me too,” she whispered as though admitting such a thing would get her into trouble. “We can’t even look in the windows because the blinds are down.” She bit her lower lip. “I wonder if my laptop is in there.”
She’d sounded so earnest, he tried not to laugh. “Sugar, you’ve got to let it go.”
“My laptop? I don’t think so. I want it back.”
“You might have to get a new one.”
He didn’t understand. She’d programmed the laptop, changed out all the chips, added a ton of memory. Her life was in there.
“If you lost your gun, how would you feel if I told you to let it go and get a new one?”
Her laptop was obviously a sensitive subject. Noah let it drop.
“Give me directions to Haden’s house,” he said.
They only had to drive a couple of blocks. It was exactly as Jordan expected—stark and uninviting. The yard was a combination of dirt, gravel, and weeds. Like Dickey’s house, Haden’s didn’t have a garage, and there were no cars or trucks in her driveway.
“I don’t have any desire to look inside her house,” he said. “She probably sleeps in a coffin.”
“With my laptop.”
“Jordan, you really need to ease up. The police are looking for it.”
He was right. She was obsessing about it. “Maybe Haden packed up and left town.”
“I doubt she’d leave. No, she won’t give up that quickly. She had too much power to let it go without a fight.”
“She must know she couldn’t possibly get her job back,” said Jordan.
“She’s probably gone off somewhere to think up a strategy to force the council to make her chief again right now.”
Noah turned the next corner and headed back toward the center of town. “Where do you want to eat?”
“There’s only one place we can go. Jaffee’s. There are other restaurants around, but if we eat anywhere else, he’ll hear about it because they all talk to each other about everything.”
“So what if he hears about it? What’s the big deal?”
“His feelings will be hurt.” She wasn’t joking.
“Why do you care…?”
“He’s been so kind to me,” she said, “and I like him. Besides, you enjoyed the food, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Yeah, okay. We’ll go to Jaffee’s.”
He drove back to the motel and parked in the back lot. Jordan carried the envelope Chaddick had given them, as they made their way to the restaurant. When they passed Lloyd’s Garage, she felt a shiver go down her spine.
“For a while there I thought Lloyd killed the professor and put him in my car, and that’s why he was so nervous. I didn’t know what his motive was, but I knew that eventually Chief Davis would find one. Now Lloyd’s dead. Want to hear my new theory?”
He smiled. “Sure.”
“Lloyd must have seen the murderer put the professor’s body in the trunk of my car. Don’t you think that’s what happened?”
“Could be.”
“You don’t sound too enthusiastic, but I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t the murderer kill Lloyd right away? Why did he wait? I think he didn’t know that Lloyd had seen him, but if that’s the case, how did he find out?”
Noah didn’t have to answer any questions. Jordan was doing that all by herself. She’d pose the question, work it out in her mind, and come up with what she considered a plausible explanation.
Jaffee’s place was nearly empty. There were just a few businessmen lingering over iced coffee as they discussed the news of the day. One of them was Kyle Heffermint, the man she had met at the insurance office.
“Do you know any of these men?” Noah asked as they walked past the front window.
“Just one,” she answered. “Kyle Heffermint. He’s what I’d call a name-dropper.”
Noah didn’t have much use for anyone whose claim to fame was that he knew someone famous. “I don’t like name-droppers,” he remarked as he opened the door for her.
The group stopped talking as Jordan and Noah walked past. She smiled at Kyle when he nodded to her, and continued to their table in the corner. Angela greeted them with her usual iced tea as the men continued to watch them. The waitress put her hand on her hip, glanced over her shoulder, and then looked at Jordan again.
“Don’t mind them,” said Angela. “They’re just talking up the news of the day.”
“Why are they staring at me?” Jordan asked.
“First of all,” replied Angela “you’re easy to look at, being so pretty, and second of all, you’re the news of the day. We all heard about you finding Lloyd and all.”
“I’ve brought a blight on Serenity.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. You just have a habit of finding dead people, that’s all. It’s kind of like that movie. You know the one where dead people talk to the kid? Except they don’t talk to you. Either one of you in the mood for beef today? Jaffee’s making beef burgers. He also made a big pot of beef stew.”
Angela had just walked back into the kitchen to place their hamburger orders when Kyle sauntered over. The light reflecting off his belt buckle, as big as a Cadillac grille, signaled his approach.
“Hey, Jordan.”
“Hey, Kyle. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Who’s your friend?”
Jordan introduced Kyle to Noah. He shook his hand and then turned back to her. “I understand you’re going to be staying in town a little longer, Jordan. You think we might have dinner tonight?”
“I’m sorry, no. I have plans with Noah. Thank you for asking though.”
This time he didn’t press. “Jordan, I heard about what happened to you, and I have to tell you, Jordan, I don’t know what I would do if I ever found a body in my car, and look at you. You’ve found two bodies. That’s got to be some kind of a record, Jordan, don’t you think?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
While he talked to her, Noah put his arm around the back of her chair. Each time Kyle said her name, Noah gently tugged on a strand of her hair.
“Agent Clayborne, I might have some information for you. I happened to drive by Lloyd’s Garage the other night, and noticed a light on in his office. I thought to myself that it was mighty odd seeing someone in the office so late, ’cause Lloyd never worked late.”
“Did you see Lloyd?” Jordan asked.
“I saw a shadow of a man, Jordan, but I don’t think it was Lloyd. I only saw him for a second or two. The shadow didn’t seem to be as big or as wide as Lloyd.” He raised both eyebrows as he asked, “Is that information helpful to you, Agent Clayborne?”
“Yes, it is,” he said.
“Jordan, I really would love to see you again. There’s this—”
Noah cut him off before he could say another word. “She has plans with me.”
Jordan tried to soften Noah’s curtness. “Thank you for asking.”
As soon as Kyle walked away, she whispered, “You were rude to him. What came over you?”
“Jordan, nothing at all, Jordan.”
She laughed. “I told you he was a name-dropper.”
“He’s got the hots for you,” he said. He wasn’t smiling. “In fact, it appears that half the men you’ve met since you’ve been in Serenity have the hots for you.” Noah reached across her and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, his fingers gently touching her cheek.
Her breath caught in her throat. He had merely touched her, and she’d reacted. She’d always thought she was immune to his charm, but she was becoming worried that she wasn’t.
“Me?” she answered incredulously. “I’m not the big attraction around here…you are. Carrie at the police station was all but standing on her head to get your attention. And what about Amelia Ann with her bottles of beer and her cinnamon rolls? She’s definitely sweet on you.”
“I know she is,” he admitted with a grin, “but I think you are too.”
She pulled back. “Oh brother. Not every woman drops to her knees in front of you.”
Too late she realized exactly what she’d said. And she knew without a doubt he wouldn’t let it go.
“Yeah?” he laughed. “It’s a nice fantasy. You think you’d ever…”
“Never.”
Jordan’s cheeks turned bright pink. Her blush was lovely, he thought. He enjoyed embarrassing her because that’s when she showed another side of herself, the side that was vulnerable and sweet and innocent. She was beautiful, no doubt about that, and every man in Serenity seemed to notice.
Why did that bother him? He wasn’t the jealous sort. And he certainly had no reason to be jealous. Jordan was a good friend, that’s all. So why did he get an uneasy feeling when he was with her? He didn’t have an answer. How could he explain what he didn’t understand? One thing he knew: he didn’t like the idea of any man getting close to her.
Ah hell, he wanted her.
Chapter Nineteen
JORDAN LOOKED THROUGH THE PROFESSOR’S PHONE STATEMENTS while they ate lunch.
“I thought you were hungry,” he said. “You’ve barely touched your food.”
“This hamburger could feed a family of six. I ate as much as I wanted.” She moved on to more important matters. “I called Professor MacKenna when I got into town. This isn’t the same phone number I called. And I remember Isabel told me that she and the professor often talked about the MacKenna clan. Her phone number isn’t here either.”
“I’ll bet he only used throwaways,” said Noah. “Untraceable.”
“Since he moved to Serenity the professor’s life became untraceable.”
She picked up a french fry and was about to take a bite, then changed her mind. She pointed it at Noah. “And why did he move to Serenity? What made him choose this little town? Because it was so isolated? Or because it was close to something illegal he was involved in? We know whatever he was doing was illegal. Who makes a total of ninety thousand dollars in cash deposits?”
He took the french fry and popped it into his mouth.
She thought about the various possibilities and said, “It’s obvious that whoever killed those two men is determined to keep me here. Don’t you agree?” Before he could answer, she said, “Why else would both bodies be put in my cars?”
He loved watching her face as she thought aloud. She was so animated and eager. Over the past couple of years Noah knew he’d become overly cynical, but in his line of work, it was only a matter of time before the calluses formed. He’d learned not to get too close and not to expect anything, but he still hadn’t quite figured out how to leave the work at work.
“Do you know what we need?” she asked.
He nodded. “A suspect.”
“Of course. Anyone come to mind?”
“J. D. Dickey’s at the top of my list,” said Noah.
“Because he knew the body was in my car.”
“Yes,” he said. “I had Street run his name, and J. D. did some hard time.”
He told her what he’d learned about J. D. When he was finished, Noah said that if Joe Davis didn’t locate J. D. and bring him in for questioning soon, Noah was taking it out of his hands.
“Does that mean you’ll stay on in Serenity?”
“It means Agents Chaddick and Street will take over the investigation. This is their district,” he thought to add. “And you and I will get out of here.”
“Will you go back to work for Doctor Morganstern right away, or will you take a few days off and go home?”
“Nothing to go home to,” he said. “I sold the ranch after my father died.”
“Where do you call home?” she asked.
He smiled. “Here and there.”
“Uh-oh,” she said. “Here come the troops.”
Jaffee and Angela were headed to their table. Jordan knew what they wanted, the gory details about finding Lloyd in the trunk. Fortunately, Noah was saved from having to answer a hundred questions because he got a call from Chief Davis.
“Gotta go,” he said. He quickly paid the bill.
They were leaving the restaurant when Angela caught Jordan’s attention and gave her the thumbs-up.
“She still hasn’t figured out I can see her reflection in the window,” Noah commented, laughing.
“Are we meeting Joe now?” Jordan hurried to catch up.
“He said he’s twenty minutes away. That gives us enough time to get the boxes of research to MacKenna’s house.”
“Why there?”
“That’s where Joe wants them. Probably because the police station is so small. No place to store them until he can go through them.”
“I don’t know what he expects to find,” she said. “It’s just historical research.”
“He still needs to look through them.”
“Would you mind if we made a quick stop at the grocery store on the way to the professor’s house?”
He didn’t object, and while he carried the first two boxes to the car, she stuffed the last two hundred and some pages she needed to copy into her tote bag and carried the empty third box.
She didn’t have to wait in line at the store. As soon as she walked in, shoppers scurried to get away from her. They stood in clusters staring at her while they whispered. She heard one woman say, “She’s the one.”