Becoming Three (8 page)

Jace sat at the table, unmoving, as Jasper walked out of the kitchen in fast strides and then out the front door, closing it with a respectful
click
. Jace wanted to take a minute and process the words Jasper had thrown at him, but right now, he could only feel the passion behind them. Jasper was a man who clearly cared as deeply for Sarah as Jace did. In Jace's world, that knowledge turned the young man from a handsome kid to sexy as hell. He would have chased the guy down and exchanged a few more fighting words, for the simple fact that it was exhilarating.

Sarah sat quietly on her side of the diner's table as the deputy mayor, Brian Gates, did his thing and worked Alex over as if the man were one of his own constituents.
“I'm serious now,” Brian said. “The mayor's office wants to assist you with whatever you might need. You come and ask to speak to me, and I'll make sure whatever you need happens. My door is open for any questions or just for conversation.” He slid his hand to the inside of his suit jacket and produced a card. “Maybe we can have a beer sometime soon and talk about this in better detail.”
“We'll do that,” Alex answered as he took the offered business card. “I'll get in touch with you next week.” His gaze slid Sarah's way, though, and held on her.
Brian glanced back and forth between the two of them, and Sarah saw only a hint of frustration slip out in the brief pursing of his lips, which then returned to an open smile. “I'll let you get back to your meal.” He stuck out his hand, and Alex shook it. “It was good to touch base with you again.”
“Absolutely,” Alex agreed.
Brian then turned to Sarah. “Can you please get with my assistant and work out a good time for a daily update with the sheriff regarding that poor girl's murder?” His question held no actual request. “I just went and paid my condolences to the family. The sheriff was there, and we spoke briefly, but obviously I didn't want to talk with him about details and PR in front of them. I want the mayor's office to remain fully informed on the progress of this case every step of the way. We're fielding endless phone calls from media and residents, and I need them to have faith in how this investigation is being handled. The mayor doesn't want a town full of people upset and speculating, and young women too scared to leave their homes.”
Sarah nodded and made a mental note. “I'll speak to the sheriff and call your assistant first thing tomorrow morning to set up something that will work for the both of you.”
“Thank you,” Brian said. “I want to make sure the mayor's office and the sheriff's department are always on the same page.” He walked backward to the door but pointed at Alex again. “Don't forget about that beer.”
“I won't.” Alex waved at Brian's retreating form. After the man exited the diner, Alex turned back to Sarah, his brows raised high. “This is the second time he's given me his card. That guy is aggressive. And I'm being kind using that word.”
“True enough.” Through Sarah's job, she knew Brian Gates's style and persona fairly well. “He moved here a few years ago and quickly became a part of the local political scene. But I will say this: if you need something from the mayor's office, he really is the guy you want looking out for you. He's there working, or out talking to people in this town, all the time.”
“Good to know. See?” Alex smiled and lifted his glass in salute. “I knew you were the right person to show me this town.”
“I didn't—”
A dark-haired young man knocking on the diner's picture window captured Sarah's attention.
Ty Boone waved through the glass and then poked his head in the door, his focus on Sarah. “Don't forget. Meeting on Wednesday to go over any last-minute kinks that might mess with Saturday's event.”
“Don't worry, Ty.” Sarah smiled at her friend. “I'll be there. And you know I'm going to be selling the merits of the youth center all the way. Everything is going to be great.”
“I know. Just gotta stay on top of it.” Ty smiled sheepishly, and then shifted his attention to Alex. “Oh, hi, Mr. Quick. It's good to see you. We hope to see you at the youth center on Saturday too. Both of y'all have a nice day. Bye!” He ducked out of the diner as fast as he'd come in.
“Bye.” Sarah waved, smiling. Through the window, she saw him head across the street and enter the station.
“Ty seems like a nice kid,” Alex said. “He's passionate about his job, I'll give him that.”
Tyler Boone was one of the assistants at the youth center and unofficially headed up the tween programs.
“Yeah, he is,” she replied. “His father is the sheriff. And with Ty coming in and out of the station so much, I don't know, he somehow wrangled me into teaching an art class at the center.” Sarah grinned and lifted her gaze heavenward. “It's pretty funny to see sometimes.”
With their meal finished and the diner now completely cleared of its after-lunch crowd, Alex kicked back in his seat and stretched his legs along the side of the table. “What?” He raised his brows comically. “You mean you're not some great hidden artistic talent in small-town America, waiting to be discovered?”
Sarah laughed and almost choked on a sip of water. “Not even close. I took three years of art in high school, and I did well on the 'study' aspect, where we learned about different mediums and studied the historical greats. I'm awful in practical application, but I still love creating. In Ty's eyes, that's enough to qualify me for the position.”
“Maybe it does. You're there to guide, not necessarily be great yourself.”
“It's a shame there isn't someone better qualified who is willing to do the job. Quinten isn't so 'small town' anymore that Ty's options should be so limited.”
“Relatively speaking, Quinten is still on the small side,” Alex replied. “However, it is growing. From my perspective, it's the perfect time to build. You still haven't had the big corporations come in and crush your homegrown businesses, and God willing, you never will. With that, you have a community here where some of its residents are doing very well and are ready, and in a position, to move into larger homes. What you don't have yet is options.”
“And that's what you want to bring to Quinten?” Sarah asked. “Options? Growth?”
Alex nodded. “In a controlled manner,” he assured. “I don't want to buy up everything and stamp out a bunch of cookie-cutter houses that look like a million other suburbs in America. I'd like to build up the area with a set number of unique houses that are larger than what exists in Quinten right now but that don't oversaturate the needs of the local market.”
“Right.” Fascinated, Sarah pushed her empty plate to the edge of the table. “But you won't do it unless you can get Michaels and Sandavow to each sell you their property too?”
“Correct.”
“See?” Sarah poked her index finger into the table surface, as if to say
aha
. “That's what I don't understand. Mr. Compton's property is by far the largest of the three, and it's not as if he's in between the other two ranches. You wouldn't be stuck with houses surrounded by cattle if you were just to buy and build on his land.”
Alex shifted forward and a spark lit his deep green eyes. “You really want to talk about this in greater detail?”
“Of course,” Sarah replied. “I don't know anything about what you do. I find it all very exciting.”
His mouth lifting with half a smile, Alex said, “I get the feeling you find everything very exciting.”
“Most things, you're right. So tell me about your plan.”
“All right.” Alex reached into his jacket and pulled out a pen; with his other hand, he grabbed a napkin out of the dispenser. “Your town is smack in the center of ranching land.” He clicked his pen, drew an oval in the center of the napkin, and put a
Q
in the middle. “Most of your neighborhoods draw out from the north and south points of Quinten.” Alex created Ushaped lines that jutted from the top and bottom of the oval. “And then one more borders the west side.” He slashed a half dozen lines on the left side of the oval. “There is a state road behind that, and then everything beyond belongs to Hawkins Ranch.” Two more lines were added to the napkin with
S.R.
inked between them. “Hawkins is huge, and they're not gonna sell.”
“Why do you care about them?”
“Hawkins Ranch success is important to
me
because that means they're not going anywhere. That's good for Quinten. It means security for the town, and that is peace of mind for someone who wants to come in and start a huge construction project. You also have a large call center between Quinten and the next county over that employs a decent number of people, and based on the research I've done, they're not going anywhere either.”
“Okay. I get that. What's next?”
Alex flashed another fast smile. “So Compton's land breaks like this”—he cut a diagonal on the napkin that represented the east side of town, also behind a state road—“and then Michaels and Sandavow break down like this.” He drew two more areas on the napkin and initialed them with
M
and
S
, which, when looked at together, created a large square of land. “So you can see where, if I had all three properties, I could slice the land in a way that makes better sense.”
Sarah pulled back and studied the man sitting across from her. “You seem to know the entire area pretty well.”
“I know it on paper. I do my research in every area I want to build before I ever arrive in person. When Compton's land showed up on my radar, I immediately started checking out the whole town.”
“So why did you need me to show you around?”
“You grew up here, you're a friendly face, people are easy around you. Once Ty recommended you, I looked into who you are in this town too. It doesn't hurt that you work with the local law enforcement. The residents of Quinten respect your sheriff and deputies. If I'm seen with you, that's not a bad thing. On a subconscious level, that's going to make the people of this town feel better about me.”
The wheels in Sarah's mind turned as she replayed snippets of the conversations she'd shared with Alex today. “Then you already knew that Ty was Sheriff Boone's son. You also probably knew who Jace and Jasper were before they ever introduced themselves this morning.”
Still not blinking or sweating, Alex answered, “I knew who Jace was, but not Jasper.”
Sarah stared, openly, searching for some twitch or trickle of sweat in this man that might raise the hairs on the back of her neck. She looked him in the eyes, and everything inside her remained steady. “Okay,” she finally told him. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“I'm glad you do. I like how direct you are too.”
She beamed. “Thanks.” Rewinding, Sarah picked up her place of interest in learning about Alex's business. “Let me see if I have this right, then. You see Michaels's and Sandavow's land as an opportunity, not a fight. You plan to approach them, make them a good offer, and are of the belief that they'll look at their situations and see the benefit of selling. But if they don't, you're willing to wipe your hands and walk away from it without any hostility or remorse.”
“Correct. I don't need to build here.” Alex folded his makeshift map and slipped it into his jacket pocket, along with his pen. “Make no mistake. I'd like to, but I don't need it.”
“Fair enough.” Sarah cocked her head and furrowed a serious brow Alex's way. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Well, I don't have professional people doing research for me like I'm sure you do, but I know how to Google, so I know you're on a lot of those 'most wealthy people' lists.” Sarah could barely fathom the fortune Alex possessed. “So tell me the truth: how rich did you get before you just couldn't help it and had to roll around naked in a big old pile of your own money?”
From a deadly serious stare, Alex threw back his head and barked with laughter.

Across the street, Jace missed a step in his stride, his mind too focused on the cozy picture Sarah and Mr. Alexander Quick made through the diner's picture window.
Damn bastard. Talk with her all you want. You won't get her. Not from Jasper, nor from me.
Alex tilted his head back right then, and Jace swore he could hear the man laughing all the way across the road. Jace gnashed his teeth and walked away, entering the station before the urge to go into the diner and put his fist in Mr. Quick's face got the better of him.
Sweat broke out under Jace's uniform shirt, having nothing to do with the warmth outdoors. His skin itched, and his mind started beating with one thought: fuck, I want a drink. He knew there wasn't a drop of alcohol in this building, but he could get back in his truck and be at a liquor store in less than ten minutes. Jace knew right where the nearest one was. He should; he had frequented it with his mom often enough as a kid.
Shaking the memories out of his head, Jace went to his desk, logged on to his computer, and quickly checked his personal e-mail. He needed something, just one small note, to be there. He clicked, scanned the short list, and found nothing but junk mail. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Hunter's last known e-mail address, his fingers jamming every key with aggression as he did it.
Contact me and let me know you're alive, you jackass jerk, or I'm going to tell your sister
everything… I miss you and could use a friend right now. Love, Jace
Jace clicked Send and forcibly put Hunter out of his mind. There wasn't a damn thing he
could do about his troubled friend right now anyway. The whole mess just added to Jace's hunger
for a drink to take the jagged edge off his mood.
Grabbing a notepad, Jace stuffed down everything but work and strode to the small office
that was serving as war room for Ginger's case. Entering, he found Cade and Max already inside. “Any luck?” Max asked.
Jace shook his head as he took a seat. “A lot of strong personalities, but nobody stood out
as too cool or too nervous.” Jace had just come from interviewing the men Jasper had listed for
him. “One guy is out of town for a few days, but they expect him back at work tomorrow. I'll go
talk to him then.”
“He just so happens to be on vacation when a murder takes place on the land where he
works,
and
he just so happens to have had intimate relations with the victim?” Max's mouth
twisted with skepticism. “That's awfully convenient. Might be someone worth looking at twice.” “Jake checked his records and says the kid put the request in a month ago,” Jace shared.