Crybaby Falls. Пола Грейвс

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      “And you didn’t volunteer the information?”

      “The cops thought she was dating me. Secretly, of course.” He laughed, though the sound held little in the way of mirth. “Because Renee Lindsey wouldn’t dare date a Dennison in the open.”

      “But the two of you spent a lot of time together.”

      “We were friends.”

      “And I’m supposed to believe that was enough for you?”

      He shot her a narrow-eyed look. “Did your daddy send you to interrogate me, Detective Lindsey?”

      “My daddy doesn’t tell me what to do. And, by the way, it’s just plain Mrs. Lindsey now.”

      One dark eyebrow arched over a pale gray eye. “Since when?”

      “I turned in my badge last week.”

      “Your decision?”

      The decision had nominally been hers, but she knew it had been a matter of time before her bosses let her go. She hadn’t been able to throw herself into her work the way she’d needed to. Donnie had haunted every inch of the town they’d once called their home, until he was almost all she could think about. Donnie, her questions about his death and her own guilty fear that whatever had happened had been her fault.

      “Close enough,” she answered.

      He cocked his head, his gaze sliding over her slowly, as if to adjust his assessment of her now that he had this new piece of information. “What are you going to do now?”

      She shrugged. “I have some savings that didn’t get eaten by the medical bills. Donnie had some life insurance. I’ve got a little time and space to decide.”

      “And you came back here to do your thinkin’?”

      She smiled at the first hint of his mountain accent coming into play. He’d been gone from the mountains awhile, just as she had, but highlanders like the two of them could never completely escape their roots.

      “My granddaddy died last winter. He left me his cabin. My dad says there’s a lot of work to be done on it, and I should probably just sell it. But I don’t have to decide right away.” She wasn’t sure why she was telling Cain even this much about her plans. He might as well be a stranger to her, and what little she did know about him and his past didn’t exactly paint him as a trustworthy confidante.

      “And you figure it’s as good a place to do your thinkin’ as any?”

      “Something like that.”

      He nodded slowly. “Looks like we’re both back for a while, then.”

      “So this isn’t a short visit for you?” She felt a flicker of unease. Purgatory, Tennessee, was a place with a long memory, and there were a whole lot of people in this town who still believed Cain Dennison had gotten away with murder.

      Her father included.

      Carl Dunkirk had never been happy about the sheriff’s decision not to pursue Cain as a suspect in Renee’s murder. He’d seen Renee’s pregnancy by another man to be a damned good motive for murder rather than exculpatory evidence.

      If Cain planned to stay here long, he might come to regret it.

      “I have a job,” he said after a moment, not looking at her.

      “Doing what?”

      He glanced at her. “This and that.”

      “Are ‘this and that’ legal?”

      His mouth curved, the first hint of a smile since she’d confronted him. The twitch of his lips carved a dimple in his cheek, sending an odd flutter through the center of her chest. “You think I’d tell you if they weren’t?”

      She tried a different tack. “I heard you joined the Army when you left town.”

      “You heard that, did you?”

      “It’s not true?”

      “I didn’t say that.”

      “Did you like the service?”

      “Liked isn’t exactly the word I’d use,” he said after a pause. “I guess you could say I found satisfaction in serving my country.”

      “How long were you in?”

      He made a show of looking at his watch. “Fifteen years, two months and three days.”

      Now she was really surprised. The Cain Dennison she knew—through rumors and stories, anyway—couldn’t have lasted a week in the Army. “That’s a career.”

      “I thought it would be, yeah.”

      “What happened?”

      He blew out a long breath. “I guess you could say I didn’t see eye to eye with the brass, and I knew it was a battle I couldn’t win.”

      Now that sounded more like the Cain Dennison she remembered.

      He lifted his face to the wind, narrowing his eyes. “Looks like the rain’s about to pick up again.”

      She knew a dismissal when she heard one. Cain was done with the conversation.

      As she started back up the incline to where she’d parked her truck, she thought over what he’d let slip during their brief encounter. He hadn’t exactly been forthcoming, but at least he’d given her a place to start looking.

      Renee had been seeing someone secretly, and Cain had known about it, even if he didn’t know who. Which meant it was possible someone else knew something about Renee’s clandestine affair as well, right?

      But who?

      Buckling herself in behind the steering wheel, she watched the woods, wondering if Cain would follow. Or did he plan to brave the rain that was already pelting her windshield with increasing fury in order to pay his respects to Renee?

      When he didn’t appear after a few minutes, she cranked the truck. But before she could change gears, her cell phone rang. Glancing at the display, she saw her mother’s number.

      She could imagine what her mother would have to say. She’d probably attended the memorial for Donnie, hoping to see Sara there, as well.

      Bracing herself, she answered. “Hi, Mom.”

      Ann Dunkirk’s voice held a hint of anxiety when she spoke. “Did you get caught in traffic? You didn’t have an accident, did you?”

      She closed her eyes, feeling guilty about giving her mother more to worry about. “No. No accident. I just decided to visit the memorial on Black Creek Road instead of going to the cemetery.”

      “Oh.” Ann’s pause extended so long that Sara almost began to squirm. “I wish you’d СКАЧАТЬ