Close To The Edge (Westen #2) (12 page)

“Then they started with more frequency.” Gage leaned closer. “Last year when Dad was diagnosed with cancer there were two fires, six months apart. Somehow we both missed this.”

“I would imagine you both had more important things on your minds.”

Their gazes met. A deep sadness filled his green eyes. The pain of losing his father still hurt. It was hard to imagine a man this hard hurting so deeply for someone he loved. Her heart softened a bit more for him.

Bobby blinked. She focused on the papers once more. “Of course, Ruby’s super-secret filing system didn’t help matters either. I swear she could give the CIA lessons on hiding secret data.”

“That she could.”

Gage’s deep chuckle rumbled next to Bobby’s ear and sent shivers over her once more. Oh, she really was in over her head right now. The more time she spent with this man, the closer she came to losing what sense she still had.

“So if I read this information correctly,” he said, picking up the five latest reports, “our ratio of fires has nearly tripled in the last two years. Damn.”

“Does that mean you do have a firebug operating in the area?”

“It’s not a conclusion, but it sure seems possible, which isn’t good. Someone who lights fires for fun acts randomly, or can commit a crime of opportunity.”

“Where an arson-for-profit crime is planned and more predictable?”

“Right.” He gave her a brief nod, his face growing serious again. He picked up the pages in the order she’d laid them out. “I’ll have to call Mike, the county arson investigator, and give him the news. He’s not going to like it any more than me.”

“Why don’t you…” She stood and almost slammed into his chest as he turned back around.

“Whoa,” he said as he caught her against him with one arm, the other hand clenching the sheaf of papers. He held her there for a moment, her body pressed close to his. “You okay?”

Sure, if not breathing was okay. If wanting to crawl all over his body was okay then she was just zip-a-dee-doo-da-dandy okay. “I’m…I’m fine.”

“What were you going to say?” He asked as he eased his grasp on her.

“Um.” She took a step back to get some much-needed air between them and collect her thoughts. “Oh, yeah, why don’t you let Cleetus or me add those reports to the login file we started, before you call your friend.”

“Sounds like a plan. Cleetus,” he called over his shoulder, “you want to add these to the program while I take Ms. Roberts to lunch?”

“Lunch?” The man shifted gears faster than a formula-one racer.

“You thought I forgot about our deal, didn’t you?”

Before she could answer, the strains of her ringtone sounded from her purse. She grabbed the purse and fished out her phone.

“Wild Thing?” Gage grinned at her.

She shrugged and pressed her phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, sis. Any news for me?”

Great. Chloe. And she really couldn’t talk to her with Gage standing less than a foot away studying her like some hungry wolf. “Can I get back with you on that in a little bit?”

Gage grasped her elbow and moved her around the desk toward the door. She couldn’t fight him and Chloe at the same time, so she followed his lead.

“I’ll be in court all afternoon and I have a dinner meeting with our client. I really wanted to give him some information.”

“Let me call you later and we can talk about it.”

“Okay, but if I don’t hear something soon, I’ll just file the subpoena for the information.” Her sister sighed into the phone. “I’m thinking this wasn’t a smart idea in the first place.”

“Chloe. I said we could talk about it later. I’m still your older sister and I don’t intend to discuss my decisions with you out in public.” She hated taking the I’m-the-big-sister-and-you’ll-do-what-I-say tone with Chloe, but she had tolerated her attitude long enough. “In fact I’m having a luncheon meeting right now.”

“Oh. If you’re working on the case, I guess that’s something I can tell Mr. Byrd. Can you call me around five?”

“That should work.” She was relieved her sister had given up so easily. One of the reasons Chloe was such a good lawyer was her tenacity when it came to arguing.

“Okay. Talk to you then.”

She closed her phone and realized Gage had led her down the street to the little café. She read the hand-painted print on the front window. “Peaches ‘N Cream, Café?”

“Yeah,” he grinned as he opened the door. “Lorna’s husband named it after her. Said she had a peaches-n-cream complexion just like on the old TV commercials.”

“And I still do,” a short, stout lady with hair as yellow as a crayon piled high on her head said from the other side of the counter. Her voice was loud enough to carry over the din of the lunchtime crowd’s conversation and several old-timers laughed. “Bring that girl right over here and introduce us, Gage.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He grasped Bobby’s elbow and maneuvered her to the counter. “Bobby Roberts, Lorna Doone, maker of the best blue-plate specials this side of the Mississippi.”

“Lorna Doone?” Bobby held out her hand.

Lorna shook it and grinned. “Yep, just like the cookie. My husband Earl wanted me to take his name Smith, but I said, ain’t no one gonna remember Lorna Smith. But Lorna Doone? No one’s gonna ever forget that.”

Bobby instantly liked the jovial woman. “I can see your point.”

“You can have that seat back there, Gage.” Lorna pointed to the corner booth and winked at Bobby. “Now you don’t let that boy con you into buying him lunch. He hasn’t brought a pretty girl in here to eat since he was in high school. And make him buy you dessert, too. My pies are to die for. Aren’t they?” she asked the dining room in general.

“Yes, ma’am,” came the chorus of replies as Gage maneuvered Bobby to the appointed booth. He motioned for her to sit, sliding into the opposite seat with his back against the corner wall of the restaurant.

“So, you have a sister?” he asked once they were seated.

Bobby looked up from her menu. “Two, actually.”

“Younger, I assume?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“The way you told her to mind her own business. Oh yeah, and you reminded her you were the older sister. Sort of hard to miss.” He grinned over his menu at her.

She ignored the little extra beat his grin caused in her pulse. “It’s a habit. I’ve been responsible for them both for a long time. Now that they’re on their own I have a hard time not being their bossy older sister. Especially when they take an attitude with me.”

“What do they do?”

“Chloe’s a lawyer. She’s been in practice almost three years now. Dylan is graduating from OSU’s med school at the end of this month.”

“Your parents must be real proud of you all.”

“I’m sure they would be. They died nineteen years ago.”

There was a pause and she lifted her gaze from the plastic menu to meet his. Tenderness creased the lines at the corners of his eyes, the grin completely gone.

“I’m sorry to hear that. How old were you?”

“Nineteen. I’d just finished my second year of college, but I had enough credits to get my teaching certificate.” She shrugged. She wasn’t looking for sympathy. Never once in all the years since had she felt sorry for herself. Some things in life you just had to deal with. “So I went to work, applied to get custody of my sisters and the rest is history.”

The young waitress came to take their order, saving Bobby any more prying questions. She didn’t talk about her parents’ death and her subsequent responsibility with anyone, not even her sisters. Doing so with Gage dug at emotions better left buried.

When she ordered a salad, he insisted she add French fries on the side.

“They’re the best you’ve ever eaten,” he reassured her.

“I’ll hold you to that evaluation.”

While they sipped their drinks—hers water and his a glass of southern-style sweet tea—and waited for their food, Bobby relaxed into the overstuffed vinyl booth seat and watched the people in the café. The atmosphere was a cross between a 1940’s diner and small town Renaissance restaurants she’d seen cropping up in suburbs throughout the state. Only the people here greeted everyone like they actually knew and cared about each other.

“Different from Cincinnati, isn’t it?”

She blinked and focused on Gage only to find him studying her with a quiet intensity. “I was just thinking how comfortable and peaceful it all seems. People saying hello just because you come inside. A real sense of community.”

Before he could reply a redheaded woman dressed in pale-green scrubs approached their table.

“Hey, Gage.”

“Afternoon, Emma.” He stood and hugged the woman then scooted to the side.

A pang of jealousy knifed through Bobby as she watched him greet the woman with ease and affection, which was stupid. Of course there were other women in his life. Besides, she had no reason to think of him as anything other than a colleague on a case, even if he had nearly kissed the stuffing out of her.

He returned to his seat and grinned at her. “Bobby, this is my cousin, Emma Preston. Emma, Bobby Roberts. Want to join us?”

“Glad to meet you, Bobby.” Emma shook her hand before sitting on the edge of Gage’s seat. “I’m only staying until our food is ready. Clint is knee-deep in physicals today. Summer baseball starts this week for both the pony league and the industrial teams. So we’re having lunch at the clinic. I told him I wasn’t hungry, yet, but he insisted I get us all something to eat.”

“Aren’t pregnant women supposed to eat regularly?” Gage asked.

Emma laughed. “Yes, but my husband seems to think if I’m not eating there is something wrong. That’s what I get for marrying the town doctor.”

“Is this your first?” Bobby asked.

“Oh, no. I had twins seven years ago. But this baby is my husband’s first, and he’s turned into a complete worrywart.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that.” Gage grinned at his cousin as he teased her.

Bobby swallowed hard. When he grinned like that he looked less like the Neanderthal thug who’d trussed her up and put her in a cell yesterday, and more like the small-town hero she’d read and dreamed about in books over the years.

She really was pathetic. Not since she dated the nose tackle on the football team back in high school had she had this much testosterone in her presence. She was succumbing to it like a woman with PMS on a shopping spree in the chocolate store. The more time she spent with Gage, the more she found to indulge.

The waitress brought their food. “Your order will be ready in a few minutes, Em.”

“Thanks, Rachel. Can you toss in some gingersnaps for the boys? You know how much they love your mama’s cookies.”

“Sure thing, Em.” Rachel handed the check slip to Gage. “Mama said she expects you to buy pie, so I added two slices on the tab.”

Gage didn’t argue, just slipped the check far out of Bobby’s reach.

The man’s take-charge attitude aggravated her. She should insist they split the bill. Technically, this would be the first meal a man had bought her in months. And since it wasn’t a date, not paying her own way felt odd.

“So, what brings you to Westen, Bobby?” Emma asked, snatching one of the fries from Gage’s plate.

“I’m here to…” she started to explain.

“…fill in for Ruby and fix the filing system,” Gage finished staring directly at her, daring her to contradict him.

What game was he playing? Even though she didn’t wish to announce her case to the town, he had no reason to keep his cousin from knowing the truth behind her visit.

Emma looked from her cousin to Bobby and back again. “Oh, really? That was quick, wasn’t it?”

Gage grinned. “Yep, I had a need, and Bobby just fell right into the position.”

Heat filled Bobby’s cheeks at the double meaning behind his words, knowing he referred to how they met. Luckily, Rachel waved from the cash register at that exact moment preventing Emma from asking for any more details.

“Food’s ready. Gotta go,” Emma said taking one more fry. “Nice to meet you, Bobby. Good luck with the filing. Maybe you can get this lug to bring you to dinner some night.”

“She seems happy.” Bobby watched Emma wave to almost everyone in the room as she left.

“Em’s had a hard life. I’m glad she’s finally found someone to take care of her.” Gage took a big bite out of his burger.

“Is that why you lied to her about me? To protect her?”

Gage winked at her. “I didn’t lie.”

Bobby stared at him a moment. “You gave her the impression you’d hired me.”

“No. I told her you were filling in for Ruby and working on the filing system. Seems to me, that’s exactly what you were doing before we came to lunch.”

She swallowed the bite of salad in her mouth and pointed her fork at him. “I know, but that’s only because you threat—”

He reached across the table and put his finger to her lips. Leaning close, he whispered. “Look around. See everyone is watching us and half the people in here are listening to every word we say. We’ll talk about your case after lunch. Right now we’re nothing more than a man and a woman enjoying a lunch date. Got it?”

She nodded, trying not to think about how his finger rubbed across her lips as if he were caressing her. It was all a show for their audience.

He winked at her. “Now smile at me like you do when you smile at Cleetus.”

She happily obliged him.

***

An hour later, they sat in his truck parked beneath a budding old oak tree, far from the town’s prying eyes. The rain promised by the spring storm clouds tapped gently on the truck’s hood and windows. The world outside dressed in a cool misty gray made the truck cab’s inside seem cozy and secluded. On their laps sat plastic boxes with a slice of pie in each. Cherry for her, apple for him.

“So tell me why you’re investigating the lien on Gilbert Byrd’s old place.” Gage scooped a bite of pie between his lips.

The man was way too distracting. Bobby focused on eating her own pie and staring out the front window a moment before beginning her tale.

“A client came to my sister with this request to look into his uncle’s estate. The problem was Mr. Byrd’s nephew believed he’d be inheriting the house and land, which he intended to sell for a profit. He was quite surprised when the executor of the estate, a lawyer here in Westen, informed him the local bank had a lien on the estate that had to be paid off before the estate could be settled or he could inherit the land.”