Gone to Her Grave (Rogue River Novella Book 2) (8 page)

He waited until the notes faded before climbing the wooden steps to the covered porch. He peered through the screen door. Carly sat on an overstuffed chair, the guitar across her lap as she adjusted a tuner and plucked a string.

He knocked on the doorframe. The notes stopped. Carly got up and came to the door. Instead of letting him in, she joined him on the porch. Crossing ten feet of rough wood, she leaned on the railing and closed her eyes. That cool breeze whipped up again, rustling the tall meadow grass and ruffling Carly’s loose curls. Bare feet and denim shorts showed off long, long legs. The outline of her bra showed through a thin white T. Under those simple clothes was the body he still craved. He’d had no urge to date since Carly had left him. He didn’t want another woman. He wanted her.

But as his life had shown him, he couldn’t always get what he wanted. Personally, he thought Mick Jagger was a liar. Seth getting what he needed wasn’t a guarantee either.

She faced him, leaning her butt against the railing and hooking her thumbs in the front pockets of her shorts. “I texted you to pick Brianna up at my mom’s. You didn’t need to drive back here.”

“I must have missed that message.” Actually he’d ignored it. Carly wanted to make their divorce as easy as possible. Seth wanted the opposite. “It’s no trouble.”

“What time will you bring her back?”

“Is nine all right?”

“There’s no school, so it’s fine.” Carly tilted her head.

For the span of one long minute, he just looked at her, as if he were saving up the sight for later. Her warm brown eyes searched his face, and Seth struggled to find the words to express the pain, the
missing her
, that was lodged in his heart.

But Carly broke the moment. “Why are you here, Seth?”

“I just wanted to see you for two minutes without fighting.”

“All right. You accomplished your goal.” The corner of her mouth turned up. “Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.”

“I was never very good at that.” Thunder cracked. Seth walked to the railing and stared out over the meadow. “I love a good storm. Shame we hardly ever get them.”

“Not me.” Carly shivered. “You’ll be careful with Brianna, right? If the weather looks too bad . . .”

“It’s a thunderstorm, not a—” Seth stopped himself from mocking her fears. He met her gaze. No yelling. No criticizing. No friction. He could do this. “Of course I will. Nothing is more important.”

She blinked away, but not before he saw surprise in her eyes. That was something, he supposed. He could change. Every little thing didn’t have to be a confrontation. Whatever else he’d done wrong, he could stop doing it.

“Carly—”

She raised a hand. “Don’t do this, Seth.”

“You know I still love you.” He moved closer, until he could smell the floral scent of her shampoo. Her eyes filled with sadness.

“Love was never our problem.” She dropped her gaze.

Seth put a finger under her chin and lifted it. Her eyes darkened. He forgot about easing his way back into her heart and dropped his lips to hers. The taste of her overwhelmed him. He pressed closer, his body yearning for more than an appetizer. His hands cupped her jaw as his tongue swept into her mouth. She opened for him, her head turning to give him room.

He slid a hand down her arm and around to her lower back, urging her hips to press against his aching need.

Thunder cracked, the sound rattling the panes in the windows behind them.

Her hands hit his shoulders and pushed him away. “No.”

Seth stepped back. “Why not?”

“Because it won’t solve anything.” Carly wiped the back of her hand across her lips, then pushed her hair off her face.

Desperation clawed its way up Seth’s chest. “Then what will? Tell me. I’ll do anything.”

“Respect.”

Shocked, Seth forgot his self-control. His voice rose. “What?” He reined in his temper. “I mean. How did I disrespect you?”

“You don’t value my job.”

“As that bruise on your chin shows, your job is dangerous. Its value has nothing to do with it.”

“There you go again disregarding what I do. It’s all right for you to risk your life as a cop, but for me to take chances for an equally important task isn’t acceptable.”

“I love you. I want to protect you.” There was nothing civilized about Seth’s urge to keep her safe. The instinct was primitive and animalistic and didn’t listen to reason.

“I’m an intelligent professional. I will take precautions if necessary.” Her cheeks flushed. “When you were a patrol cop, every day when you walked out our door, I had to live with the knowledge that you could be shot or stabbed. I never once asked you not to go. Actually, you never even asked me not to go. You
told
me I shouldn’t go, that I shouldn’t even want to go, and the sheer act of doing my job made me selfish.”

“I never said you were selfish.” But on the rest, he was guilty as sin. He couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to his wife.

“I’ve said all this to you a hundred times, Seth.” Carly crossed her arms and hugged her middle. “There are kids out there who don’t have anyone who cares if they’re fed. No one tucks them in at night. The most attention they might get in the course of a day is a backhand. And you know what’s really sick? They start craving the backhand because at least it’s something.”

Seth should have quit while he was ahead. He was always pushing, wanting more, in a hurry. Patience was a virtue he clearly did not possess.

“I know these kids need help, but why does it have to be you?”

“Because I care.” The gaze she leveled at him was full of determination.

“I know you do.” Seth turned. “I wish you cared about me and Brianna as much as you care about strangers.”

“That’s not fair!” Anger lit her eyes.

So much for having one conversation with no yelling.

“Isn’t it?”

“This is going nowhere, Seth.” She turned away from him. “Go get Brianna. Spend time with her. She misses you.”

But Carly didn’t. She’d made that clear.

“I miss her too,” he said.

“You can drop her off at the main house when you’re done.” Carly fixed her gaze firmly on the meadow. “She wants to sleep over with my mom.”

Seth spun and walked off the porch. The black clouds in the distance hung, ominous and unchanged, in the night sky. The storm needed to let loose and get the violence out of its system. When it blew away, the air would be clearer.

If only his fight with Carly could blow over at the same speed. But it wouldn’t. He was a caveman who would likely never be truly civilized. Neither of them would yield, and the strife between them would linger until there was nothing left but anger and bitterness.

Maybe she was right. They should give up and move on. But while life with Carly was difficult, life without her seemed empty and worthless.

Carly knelt on the grass above her father’s grave. The camp lantern on the ground next to her cast a yellow glow across the smooth granite.

“I really need to talk to you about Seth.” With her forefinger she traced his name engraved into the gray stone. Her eyes welled with tears.

Clouds lingered in the sky, and humidity thickened the air with moisture and insects. In the darkness, below the tall hill of the cemetery, the Rogue River bubbled and rushed over rocks. If the moon had been out, its light would have gleamed on the turbulent current and highlighted the public park sprawled on the other side of the water. The small copse at the water’s edge had been one of Dad’s favorite fishing spots. He’d never cast from that bank again. Maybe it was best that Carly couldn’t see it.

“Why do I love a man I can’t live with?” she asked him. A mosquito buzzed around her face, and she waved it away.

“Am I interrupting?”

“Of course not.” Carly swiped a hand across her cheek and looked up at her sister. In cutoffs, an In-N-Out Burger T-shirt, and flip-flops, Stevie didn’t look like a cop. “It’s not like he’s going to answer me.”

“No,” Stevie said in a soft sigh.

“I know it’s been six weeks, but I can’t get my mind around the fact that he’s never going to be here again.” Carly sniffed. “I could sure use him now.”

“Rough day?”

“Seth came by.”

“I figured.” Stevie dropped on the grass and crossed her legs.

“God, he can still make me feel like I’m eighteen. How do I stop that?”

Stevie shrugged. “I’ve no idea.”

“I’ve loved him since the first time we met.” Carly turned her head to stare at the second half of the stone. “I hate that Mom had her name and birth date engraved on the stone. It’s like she’s all ready to die.”

“I know. I tried to talk her out of it, but she said she felt better knowing the spot next to him was marked for her.”

“That’s all I ever wanted, to have what they had.”

“Everyone wants what they had.”

Carly glanced back at the headstone. She
did
know what it felt like to love someone enough to want it to be forever. Unfortunately she’d fallen for the wrong man. “Let’s blow something up.”

Stevie grinned. “That’s the spirit.”

Carly dried her eyes with the hem of her T-shirt. She dragged her backpack across the ground and opened the zipper.

Stevie looked over her shoulder. “Whatcha bring?”

“Roman candles and bottle rockets.” Carly had already set up Dad’s homemade launcher, a board outfitted with a metal chute, a few feet away.

“I can’t believe we’ll never do this with him again.” Stevie’s voice was wistful.

Since they were little girls, their father had taken his two daughters out on the summer holidays and treated them to small, and illegal, fireworks displays.

“I always felt so wicked when we did this,” Carly said.

“Me too. He was such a stickler for every other law on the books, but fireworks turned him into a kid.”

He’d had other traditions he shared with James and Bruce, but the fireworks had been for Stevie and Carly only. He’d probably thought the boys would blow themselves up too. Carly thought about Bruce dunking her in the lake with all the maturity of a ten-year-old. Dad had been right. Bruce was twenty-three, and Carly wouldn’t trust him with fireworks today.

“We’ll shoot the rockets over the river. Less chance we’ll set something on fire.” Carly angled a bottle rocket into the chute.

Stevie straightened the bronze badge grave decoration that marked her dad as a cop. “I have something to tell you.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Zane asked the medical examiner to look at Dad’s death again.”

Carly froze. “He doesn’t think . . .”

“There’s no evidence Dad’s death was anything other than a heart attack. All we have is some suspicious behavior and Mom’s
feeling
. Reopening the case was her request.”

“Most people in this town would believe one of Patsy Taylor’s feelings over a DNA report,” Carly said.

Stevie snorted. “So true.”

“Didn’t the boy who died in May die from a heart attack?” Carly’s mind spun.

“Yes.” Stevie nodded. “The new drug that’s circulating seems to kill via cardiac arrest.”

“Could be a coincidence.” But Carly didn’t believe it, and Stevie’s silence said neither did she. Carly looked back at the gravestone. “I just can’t believe anyone would hurt Dad. He was such a good guy.”

“Nobody deserved a white hat more than Dad, but even in Solitude, criminals don’t like cops.”

Carly considered another strange event. “Have you heard from Roy?”

Roy Krueger had been their father’s second-in-command in the Solitude PD. After their dad died, Roy had taken over the department for ten days before quitting and leaving town.

“No,” Stevie said. “His house is empty, his car is gone, and his cell is disconnected.”

“I can’t believe he just quit.”

Stevie lifted a shoulder. “He said he didn’t want the stress.”

Thoughts of stress and crime brought Darren Fisher to Carly’s mind. “After the incident with Ted Warner, did you search Darren Fisher’s place?”

“No,” Stevie said. “We know he was associated with Ted, but we didn’t have probable cause for a warrant. There are times when the Fourth Amendment can be a pain in the butt.”

“I hear you.” Carly said. “I went out to the Fisher place today to check on Tammy and the kids. I was trying to get them to apply for assistance. Darren was weird and intimidating.”

Stevie shot her a look. “Next time you go out there, call me. I carry a gun.”

“I will. Mrs. Fisher had taken the kids to visit her sister. With just Darren there, the place had a whole different vibe. I’ve had enough of him, but I worry about those kids.”

“I know you do, but promise me you won’t go out there alone.”

“I won’t. I hate to admit it, but he scared me today.” Carly rubbed her forehead. “But back to Dad. You think someone caused him to have a heart attack?”

“I don’t know what to think.” Stevie got up and paced a few feet away and back. “But something doesn’t feel right. I was wondering if you could ask Seth to help. He’s part of the new task force on this drug investigation.”

“If you want Seth’s help, you’ll have to ask him. We had a huge fight.”

Stevie stopped and pivoted to face her. “Doesn’t matter how much you fight. He’ll do anything for you.”