Cooper Vengeance. Пола Грейвс

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      For a Wednesday mid-afternoon, the place was doing decent business. Some of the customers were farmers taking a beer break during the heat of the day, while others were workers coming off a seven-to-three shift at the chicken-processing plant a couple of miles away. No police had dropped by yet.

      None but Natalie Becker.

      Her wandering gaze finally drifted J.D.’s way. Her clear green eyes met his and she gave a start of surprise.

      What would she do? he wondered, seeing a flicker of indecision in those pretty eyes. Pretend she hadn’t seen him before? Come over and ask him his business?

      Since he was trying to keep a low profile while he was here in Terrebonne, he should be hoping for the former. But Natalie Becker had information he needed—more information, probably, than anyone else on the police force—given her relationship to Carrie Gray. So he felt a thrill of satisfaction when she got up from her stool at the bar and walked slowly in his direction.

      He stood as she came near, his sudden movement catching her off guard, halting her forward movement. Her watchful gaze made J.D. reconsider his earlier comparison to a thoroughbred. This Natalie Becker was a feral cat, all wary green eyes and sinewy-muscles bunched, ready for flight.

      “Who are you?” Her low, cultured voice rose over the twang of a George Strait ballad on the corner jukebox.

      “J. D. Cooper.” He extended his hand politely.

      She ignored his outstretched hand, moving forward slowly until she was even with his table. “You were at the cemetery.”

      “Yes.”

      “Why?”

      “Visiting a grave.”

      “Mary Beth Geddie?”

      He frowned, confused. “Who?”

      “That’s the name on the gravestone where you were standing.”

      “Oh.”

      “You weren’t visiting her grave?”

      “No. I was visiting your sister’s.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you?”

      “J. D. Cooper.”

      She winced with frustration. “Is that supposed to mean something to me? What did you want? Why were you visiting my sister’s grave?”

      He cocked his head, wondering why she hadn’t jumped to the obvious conclusion. “You aren’t wondering if I’m the one who killed her?”

      Her mouth dropped open, but she didn’t speak for a moment as if he’d rendered her speechless. Finally, she asked in a strangled voice, “Did you kill my sister?”

      “No,” J.D. answered. “But I think I know who did.”

      Natalie closed her hand over the back of an empty chair nearby and pulled it around so she could sit down.

      J.D. scooted his chair closer to her and sat as well. Reaching across, he placed his hand over hers where it lay on the table. “Are you okay?”

      She jerked her hand from beneath his. “I’m fine.”

      He raised both hands to reassure her he meant no harm. “I could get you some water—”

      “I said I’m fine.” The words came out in a sharp snap. She flushed, looking embarrassed. He guessed Beckers didn’t make scenes in bars. “Thank you,” she added.

      He saw her studying him closely, as if trying to take his measure. He wondered what she saw. At a distance, he knew he looked younger than his forty-four years, thanks to keeping up with his Navy fitness regime even after he retired. But up close, the years of grief and obsession showed around his eyes and mouth. Someone had once told him he had old eyes.

      “What do you know about my sister’s murder?” she asked. “How do you even know about it? Where are you from?”

      He reached into his pocket. She tensed immediately, her hand automatically sliding down to her waist, as if she expected to find a weapon there. Her lips flattened with anger.

      J. D. Cooper finished pulling out his wallet to give her his Cooper Cove Marina business card.

      “You work as a boat mechanic?” she asked.

      “My folks own a marina up in Gossamer Ridge,” he said. “It’s a little place in the northeastern part of the state. When I got out of the Navy, I went to work for them doing boat repair and maintenance.”

      She flashed a quick smile. He wondered why.

      She laid the card in the middle of the table between them. “That doesn’t explain how you know about Carrie’s murder. Did it make the news up there or something?”

      “You’re from a rich, influential family. One of you gets murdered, it makes news everywhere in the state.” He folded his wallet shut and put it back into his pocket. “The Gossamer Ridge paper didn’t give many details about the murder. Neither did The Birmingham News. But I know some folks around here, so I did a little digging.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I think the man who killed your sister is the same man who killed my wife.”

      Chapter Two

      Natalie sat back in her chair, watching him through narrowed eyes. “Your wife?”

      He nodded. “She was murdered twelve-and-a-half years ago. Late at night while working alone at a secluded office building. Nothing else around for at least a half mile.”

      The air in the bar seemed to grow chill. Natalie hugged her jacket more tightly around her. “Late at night—”

      “Just like your sister.”

      She swallowed hard. “What do you want?”

      “Do you know anyone named Alex?”

      The question threw her. “Alex?”

      “That’s the name he uses. I don’t think it’s his real name, but it could be a nickname.”

      “You know his name but you don’t know what he looks like?”

      J. D. Cooper’s only answer was to pick up the business card and pull a pen from his shirt pocket. He wrote something on the back of the card and shoved it back toward her. “I’m going to be hanging around town a few days. Here’s where I’m staying. My cell number’s on the front of the card. I figure you’ll want to look into what I’m telling you, so I’ll leave you to do that.”

      He unfolded his long legs until he towered over her like a giant tree, casting a shadow across the table. “I’m going to keep looking into your sister’s murder, whatever you decide. I just think it’ll be easier if we didn’t butt heads about it.”

      He СКАЧАТЬ