Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek. Carla Cassidy

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СКАЧАТЬ it’s always gone. My feet hurt, my back is killing me and nobody tips worth a damn in this place.” She flashed him a grin that set the deep wrinkles in her face dancing.

      “Has Bo been in today?” he asked.

      “Bo? No, in fact, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.” Her gaze slid to Lexie. “Why? Is there a problem?”

      “No, no problem,” he replied hurriedly. “Marge, this is Lauren Forbes’s sister, Lexie.”

      Marge nodded. “I can see the resemblance.”

      “When was the last time you saw Lauren?” Lexie asked.

      Marge looked back at Nick, her eyes narrowed. “What’s going on, Nick?”

      Nick could feel Lexie’s frustration growing by the second, but he ignored her. “Lexie’s in town to visit her sister, but Lauren seems to have gone missing and we’re trying to hunt her down. Has she been in lately?”

      Marge frowned. “I think she was in Monday for lunch, but I haven’t seen her since then. Now, what can I get for the two of you?”

      They ordered and once Marge left the table Lexie released a deep sigh. “That was no help. We need to question everyone in here, see who saw Lauren when.”

      “Just sit tight. Trust me when I tell you before we finish our breakfast you’ll have spoken to everyone in this place.” He could tell that she didn’t believe him but she settled back in the booth, took her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes. “Not much sleep last night?” he asked sympathetically.

      Her eyes were the most amazing shade of green with just enough shadow in them to be slightly mysterious. “I don’t think I slept much more than an hour through the whole night.” She slid the glasses back on. “I just can’t wrap my head around this.” Her gaze held a hint of vulnerability as she looked at him. “I’m scared.”

      He could tell what the confession cost her by the way her gaze skittered away from his and from the telltale pulse of a delicate vein in her neck. Before he could respond Jim Caskie ambled by the table to say hello to Nick.

      It was just as he’d suspected—as they ate their breakfast almost everyone who was dining in the café found a reason to stop by and say hello. Lexie merely picked at her eggs and nibbled on toast, more interested in what people had to say than in the meal in front of her.

      Nick knew the people of Widow Creek were leery of strangers, but he also knew they were a curious bunch. And Lexie, with the pink streak in her hair and her pink sequined blouse definitely sparked plenty of curiosity.

      The one thing that didn’t happen was answers. Nobody had seen Lauren since Monday, at least nobody who would admit to it. And nobody had seen Bo for the past couple of days. This information eased some of Nick’s concern.

      Even the most levelheaded women occasionally went crazy over a man. It was possible the two had gone off together for a romantic tryst and Lauren had just forgotten to make arrangements for her dogs or had wound up being gone longer than she’d initially planned.

      “Do you know where Bo lives?” Lexie asked the minute they were back in her car.

      “Yeah, you want to go by there?” He wasn’t surprised when she nodded her head.

      After giving her directions, he tried to think of something, anything, he could tell her that might ease some of the tension that rode her slender shoulders and darkened her eyes.

      “So, Lauren told me you’re something of a computer geek,” he finally said, wanting to connect with her on a more personal level. “What exactly is it that you do?”

      “I work for the cybercrime unit for the FBI. Mostly I hunt down cybercriminals, those who are invading home computers to steal identities, and I try to find the source behind thousands of scams that people receive via email.”

      “Sounds fascinating.”

      She flashed him a quick glance. “Most people would find it pretty boring, but I like it. I’m comfortable working with a computer. It’s predictable. I type in code and I know what’s going to happen.”

      “Unlike people, who can be unpredictable,” he observed.

      “Exactly.” She chewed her bottom lip and for just a minute he wondered what it would be like to taste her mouth with his. The thought flashed in his head with a shock. He had no business even thinking such thoughts. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t entertained such a thought about a woman in years.

      She was here to find her sister and nothing more. In any case, he was mentally and emotionally unavailable to any woman when it came to his heart.

      Still, he grudgingly admitted that perhaps his momentary fantasy about the taste of her mouth meant that he wasn’t quite as dead as he’d believed himself to be.

      They pulled up in front of Bo’s place and she cut the engine as she stared at the neat two-story house before them. The front door was closed and there were no vehicles around. “Looks like nobody is home,” he said.

      “You can wait here. I’ll go find out.” She got out of the car and walked toward the front door.

      Nick remained in the car, his gaze following the slight sway of her hips. Okay, he could admit to himself that he was sexually attracted to her. There was no real explanation for the immediate physical chemistry he felt toward her.

      Of course, it had been almost two years since he’d been with a woman. Maybe this was just his body’s way of reminding him that he was a healthy thirty-three-year-old man who had been alone for too long. In any case, it wasn’t something he intended to act upon, just a curious surprise that reminded him that he was very much alive.

      He watched as Lexie knocked on the front door several times, then moved to peek through the living room windows and finally returned to the car.

      “He’s not here. Maybe she did go off with him for a couple of days,” she said.

      “Women have been known to momentarily lose their minds for love,” he replied.

      “Not me,” she replied darkly. “Not ever.”

      She started the car and pulled out of the driveway. “I’m going back into town to ask more questions, but I’ll be glad to drop you off at your place. I’m sure you have better things to do than spend the day with me.”

      “Actually, I don’t.” There was nothing for him at home except the endless silence and loneliness that had gnawed at his heart for the past year. “If two of us are asking questions then we can get it done in half the time.”

      She eyed him for a long moment and then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

      The remainder of the ride back into town was silent. Nick couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking. He didn’t know her well enough, but he was surprised to realize that he wished he did.

      They stayed in town throughout the afternoon, drifting into stores, stopping people on the streets and asking about Lauren. By five o’clock it was clear that Lauren hadn’t been seen by anyone since Tuesday.

      Nick СКАЧАТЬ