Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek

She powered up the computer on the desk. Knowing that Lauren used Zeus20 as a password, she checked the email to see if there was anything that might explain her sister’s absence.

Most of the correspondence was business related, emails from potential customers asking about her dogs and her training. Others were from past customers catching Lauren up on news of some of the dogs she’d trained.

She also checked the history to see where Lauren might have gone on the internet, but found nothing that might yield a clue as to what had happened to her.

She drained her coffee cup and then began a search of the desk. A stack of file folders in a plastic holder drew her attention and she pulled them out to see what they contained.

They were contracts signed by the people whose dogs Lauren was training. There was one signed by Nick, who had been bringing his dog for obedience training.

Her head filled with a vision of the man she’d met the night before. Hot body, sensual lips and a hint of compassion in his bedroom eyes—the man could definitely be an unwanted distraction if she allowed it.

She focused back on the folders, surprised to discover that one of them contained a contract for Lauren to provide the Topeka Police Department with two drug-sniffing dogs.

She leaned back in the desk chair as a surge of pride mingled with surprise. She’d known that Lauren had wanted to get into the training of working dogs, especially for law enforcement and handicapped people. From the signed contract, Lexie assumed that Lauren was truly on the way to making a name for herself, on her way to achieving her dreams.

It was almost seven when she finished in Lauren’s office and took a quick shower. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a neon pink blouse decorated with an abundance of sequins and then returned to the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee.

As soon as it was late enough she was heading into town. Her first stop was going to be the police station to file a missing persons report, and then she planned on talking to everyone and anyone to pin down the last time her sister had been seen.

The fear that had been inside her hadn’t dissipated, but rather thrummed like a sick energy inside her chest. Throughout the long night she’d tried calling Lauren’s cell phone over and over again but it had always gone directly to voice mail. Finally by that morning she’d gotten the message that Lauren’s voice mail was full.

Zeus walked over to her and laid his big head on her knee, gazing up at her as if asking her why his mommy wasn’t there. “I know, baby. I miss her, too.”

Zeus barked and raced away from her as a knock fell on the door. Lexie jumped out of her chair and grabbed her gun from her purse. She knew she was probably overreacting, but she had no idea what to expect, was definitely out of her comfort zone.

When she got to the front door she saw Nick standing on the porch. “What are you doing here?” she asked without preamble as she opened the screen door.

“I thought you could use a friendly face when you go into town this morning.” He stepped past her and into the foyer, then turned back to look at her expectantly.

She wouldn’t have thought it possible but the man was better looking in the light of day than he’d been the night before. Once again he wore a pair of jeans that looked custom-made for his long legs and narrow hips. His gray long-sleeved pullover clung to his broad shoulders and perfectly matched the hue of his eyes.

“That’s not necessary,” she said and tried to ignore the ridiculous flutter that went off in the pit of her stomach. This man and her reaction to him were the last things she needed right now. All she wanted, all she needed, was her sister.

“I know Sheriff Wendall. It would probably work to your benefit if I’m with you. And, if you want to ask questions of the people in Widow Creek you’ll find that they don’t take kindly to strangers.”

“Why is that?”

He looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know. I guess because we’re a small town and we’ve always looked after our own. Lexie, I was born and raised here—people know me. They trust me and that means they’ll talk to me. You’re a big-city woman with…uh…” His voice trailed off.

“A pink streak in my hair,” she jumped in to finish his sentence. “And it was purple before that.” She raised her chin as if to challenge him to say anything derogatory.

“And I’m sure it looked as charming as the pink,” he replied.

She eyed him dubiously. What was his story? Why the offer to help her? Was he just a nice guy or had his relationship with Lauren been something deeper than a friendship? She wasn’t sure she trusted him, but what he’d said about getting answers made sense. People would probably talk to him much quicker than they would to her.

“Don’t you have a wife or somebody at home who might not want you wasting your time with me?” she asked.

“No wife, no girlfriend, just livestock,” he replied. “And a little miniature schnauzer puppy who is probably chewing on my best pair of boots as we speak.” He smiled then and the warmth and attractiveness of it fired a crazy flame deep inside Lexie.

She ignored it. Any woman would have to be dead not to find Nick Walker extremely hot, but Lexie had learned about hot men and cold hearts the hard way. And, besides, she had a sister to find.

“If you want to tag along, then I’d appreciate your help,” she finally agreed. “Just let me get my purse and I’ll be ready to go.”

She went back into the guest room where she’d left her things and grabbed her purse. Before leaving the room she checked to make sure her gun was inside. Right now she believed Nick was probably okay, but in her line of work she didn’t take anything for granted. She’d travel with her gun in her purse while she was here in Widow Creek.

Minutes later they were in her car and heading into the heart of the small town. The first thing Lexie noticed when they reached Main Street was that Widow Creek was a town obviously dying a slow death.

Half of the storefronts along the two-block main drag were boarded up. The ones that were still opened looked worn and faded, as if it was nothing more than sheer hope keeping them alive.

A half a dozen cars were parked in front of the Cowboy Corral, either attesting to good food or the fact that there was no place else to go to eat and spend a little time among friends.

“The police station is up ahead,” Nick said, breaking the silence that had filled the car on the drive from Lauren’s place. Lexie wasn’t good at small talk and Nick seemed at ease with the quiet. “It’s that two-story brick building,” he said, pointing to it.

Lexie pulled into a parking spot in front of the station, cut her engine and then turned to look at the man in the passenger seat. “Before we go in there, are you sure you don’t want to tell me anything else about your relationship with Lauren?”

His dark eyebrows rose in surprise. “I already told you about my relationship with her. We had become good friends.”

“And nothing more?”

“Nothing more,” he said firmly.

“Then why are you helping me?”

“I don’t know what kind of world you live in with your FBI work, Lexie, but in my world when a friend goes missing you do whatever you can to help find her.” He opened the car door and got out.

Lexie hurriedly followed and before they got to the door she grabbed him by the arm. “I think it would be best if we don’t mention what I do for a living,” she said. It had been her experience that people didn’t talk freely to an FBI agent, that they would be more likely to talk to a worried sister. Small-town law enforcement was known to be rather hostile to FBI agents. The last thing she wanted was to upset the police chief when she needed his help. “If anybody asks, I do web design for a living.”

He nodded. “Okay, but you know it’s possible Lauren mentioned to others here in town what you do for a living. I knew.”

She considered what he said. “Then we’ll just play it by ear, but I don’t intend to volunteer any information about myself unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

As they walked through the door of the police station Lexie’s fear for her sister spiked nearly out of control. What could have happened to her? Where could she be?

Filing an official missing persons report suddenly made Lauren’s disappearance more real, far more frightening. For the first time since they’d left the house Lexie was grateful that Nick was beside her. Even though she didn’t know him well, his presence made her feel not quite so all alone.

“Hey, Carol,” he greeted the woman behind the receptionist desk.

“Nick!” The pretty blonde looked up from her computer and offered him an inviting smile that definitely spoke of feminine interest. Her gaze slid over Lexie, the calculating look of a woman checking out her competition. She obviously wasn’t concerned by what she saw. She dismissed Lexie with a flick of her false lashes.

Nick returned the smile and gestured toward the closed office door behind her desk. “Is Gary in?”

“Should be on his second donut by now,” she replied wryly. “You can go on in.”

Lexie followed behind Nick as he approached the closed office door and knocked. A deep voice indicated they could come in.

Chief of Police Gary Wendall sat at the desk, but rose as they entered. He looked to be in his early thirties, with blond military-short hair and a fit physique. “Nick, it’s been a while,” he said, and in his words Lexie thought she heard a touch of tension. The two men shook hands and then Wendall looked at Lexie.

“Chief Wendall, I’m Lexie Forbes. I’m here about my sister, Lauren Forbes.”

“Ah, our very own dog whisperer,” Wendall said with a nod. “What about her?”

“She’s missing.” Sudden emotion filled Lexie’s chest and she had to swallow hard against it.

Wendall motioned them into the chairs in front of his desk and then sat down. “What do you mean she’s missing?”

“I spoke to her Tuesday night on the phone, but I couldn’t get hold of her Wednesday or Thursday,” Lexie explained. “Finally yesterday evening I decided to drive out to her place. She’s not there and I don’t think she’s been there since Tuesday. Her dogs were left unattended and that’s not like her. Something has happened. Something is terribly wrong.”

“Whoa, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Wendall exclaimed, lines cutting into his tanned forehead. “She’s a grown woman. There’s no law that says she can’t take off for a couple of days without checking in with anyone.”

Lexie shook her head. “She wouldn’t do that, and even if she did she’d answer my phone calls. We talk to each other every day. This is unusual for her…for us. I want to file a missing persons report. She’s been missing more than forty-eight hours. I need you to investigate her disappearance.”

Wendall’s gaze flickered from Lexie to Nick. “What’s your role in all this?”

“I’m Lauren’s friend and I’m concerned, and I’m here to support Lexie,” Nick replied. His voice held a coolness that definitely chilled the air in the room.

“You aren’t stirring things up because of your own history?” Wendall asked with a lift of one of his blond eyebrows.

Lexie looked at Nick and saw the tightening of his jaw as his eyes went flat. “One thing has nothing to do with the other,” he replied tersely.

There was obviously some personal history between the two men, but Lexie didn’t care about that right now. All she cared about was finding her sister.

“Will you look into this?” she asked Wendall. “Start an official investigation?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Wendall replied. “Are you staying out at Lauren’s place?”

Lexie nodded. “I’ll be there until she’s found.” She gave him her cell phone number and then walked toward the door. There was nothing more to be done here. She wanted to get outside and walk the streets, talk to the people in town and see if anyone had seen or spoken to Lauren since Tuesday.

“I’ll keep in touch,” Chief Wendall said as she and Nick reached the door. “You know your sister always had a bunch of men hanging around her place. Maybe she took off with one of them and didn’t want you knowing about her personal affairs,” Wendall said.

Lexie stiffened and stared at him. At that moment she decided she didn’t like him very much. He made it sound like Lauren was some kind of a whore. “I’m sure you’re going to question whatever men were hanging out there to see what they know about my sister’s disappearance,” she replied.

She was surprised when Nick firmly took hold of her elbow, as if to offer support, as they left the office. What equally surprised her was how she responded to his touch—viscerally, like a not-completely-unpleasant punch in the stomach.

As they left the building he dropped his hand to his side and she drew a breath of relief. She didn’t want some crazy attraction to Nick complicating things. The last thing she wanted in her life was a man. She just wanted to find her sister alive and well, and then get back to her so-called life in Kansas City.

“I never saw a bunch of men hanging out at Lauren’s,” Nick said when they were back in her car. “And I drove by her place at least once a day going to and from town. But she mentioned to me that she was kind of seeing Bo Richards.”

“Bo Richards?” Lexie turned in her seat to look at Nick. “Who is he?”

“He’s a local rancher, a nice guy. He spends a lot of time in the mornings at the café. Maybe we can talk to him there,” Nick replied.

“And Lauren was seeing him romantically?” Lexie frowned. Her sister hadn’t mentioned anything to her about a romance in her life and they’d always talked about everything, including their love lives.

“They had just started dating. From what Lauren told me it wasn’t real serious yet. I think they’d met for lunch or dinner a couple of times.”

Lexie checked her watch and then looked down the street at the café. It was still early. Hopefully they’d find him there. “Then I want to talk to him.” She started the car, but before backing out she turned to look at Nick once again. “There’s some history between you and Wendall?”

Darkness filled his eyes and his jaw tightened once again. “Yeah, old history.”

“Want to tell me about it?” she asked.

“No.” The single word snapped out of him with a finality that brooked no further questions and made Lexie wonder what kind of secrets Nick Walker had in his life.

IN THE SHORT DISTANCE between the police station and the Cowboy Corral, painful memories cascaded through Nick’s head. His chest tightened with thoughts of the three days that he’d been unable to get in contact with Danielle. His body remembered intimately the alarm it had felt when he’d realized nobody had seen her during that time and the horror of ultimately finding her dead in that motel room.

His stomach clenched and a slight nausea rose up in him as the memories continued to play in his head. He’d known something was wrong—that something was terribly wrong.

It had taken him months to finally accept that she’d committed suicide, but before coming to that acceptance he’d gone around and around with Wendall.

The chief of police had dismissed Nick’s concerns and refused to begin any kind of investigation into Danielle’s disappearance despite Nick pressing for one. There was part of Nick that had never quite forgiven Gary Wendall for that.

He consciously shoved the memories aside as Lexie parked in front of the café. There was absolutely no reason to believe Lauren’s disappearance was in any way connected to Danielle’s tragic death, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lexie was destined for the same kind of heartbreak he’d suffered.

Still suffered.

He willed away all thoughts of Danielle as they got out of the car. Lexie appeared small and achingly vulnerable as she hesitated outside the door to wait for him to catch up with her.

A surge of unexpected protectiveness filled Nick’s chest. It was crazy, he scarcely knew Lexie except for what Lauren had told him about her. There was no reason for him to be emotionally vested in the drama going on in her life, and yet for some reason he was definitely involved.

He told himself it had nothing to do with the beauty of her long-lashed green eyes behind those ridiculously large glasses, nothing to do with the fact that she intrigued him more than a little bit. Rather he tried to convince himself his interest in all this had everything to do with finding a woman who had become a good friend.

The minute they stepped into the café, every head in the place turned to look at them. “I guess pink streaks in a person’s hair isn’t that common here,” Lexie muttered beneath her breath as she sidled closer to him.

“Don’t worry, the only ones who bite have no teeth,” he replied.

She looked up at him and smiled. It was the first real smile he’d seen from her and it nearly stole his breath away. Bright and beautiful, it transformed her features into something more than pretty, something warm and inviting.

“Come on, I’m hankering for some of Mabel’s fried potatoes and eggs.” He took her beneath her elbow and led her to a booth, surprised to realize she was shaking slightly.

Lauren had told him that her sister didn’t do well in crowds. He knew the effort she was putting forth was because of her love and concern for her sister. It only made him more determined to support her through whatever happened next.

She paused before sitting down and looked around at the other diners. “I thought we’d just ask some questions. I didn’t plan on actually having a meal.”

“Did you eat breakfast this morning?” he asked.

“I never eat breakfast,” she replied.

“And you’ve never had a missing sister before,” he said and pointed to the booth. “Besides, you’ll get more answers to questions if we finesse them out of people.”

She frowned as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but slid into the booth and picked up the menu. She stared at it only a minute and then tossed it aside. “I feel like I’m wasting time here. Breakfast isn’t important. Finding Lauren is all that matters.” Her voice held a wealth of frustration and impatience.

“You have to eat,” he replied, understanding the urgency that was racing through her. “And you have to trust me.” He looked up as the waitress appeared at their table. “Hey, Marge, how’s it going?” he asked the older woman who had been waitressing at the café since he’d been a little boy.

“Like 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.