Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2) (24 page)

Avery was a small-time criminal who dabbled in misdemeanor crimes, like occasionally smacking around Luanne, who gave as good as she got, and he had a couple of possession charges for marijuana. The explosion at Avery’s little farm house had been uncharacteristic, but it could be an indicator that Avery was trying to advance his criminal career to drug manufacturing. Jarod had no earthly idea where the idiot could have found a recipe for cooking meth, or the means to afford the essential ingredients. If Jarod’s theory was correct, Avery had a backer.

He hadn’t heard from anyone on Avery’s whereabouts yet. Usually, the first thing Avery did when he was released from jail was head home for some sleep and some food. But Decatur’s house was still part of an ongoing investigation, so Jarod assumed that Avery had spent the night in a cheap motel. Timbisha had a few of those. He didn’t need to leave town to do that.

So if Avery wasn’t at home and wasn’t in town, where had he gone? The person who had bailed him out of jail obviously had needed something from Avery.

Jarod released a frustrated breath. Whoever bailed out Avery had not done it for philanthropic purposes; he had needed something from the small-time criminal. The pieces were there, right in front of Jarod, but he just couldn’t make them fit together.

As he cruised up Main Street, Jarod spotted a King Construction vehicle parked in front of Molly’s Coffee Shop. Jarod had skipped breakfast this morning, and Molly’s had perfect coffee and even better omelets—something that he would never admit to Julie. He signaled and turned his vehicle into the parking lot, taking the last open spot.

Molly’s had opened as a coffee shop back in the 1930s. It was a typical U-shaped restaurant, with the kitchen and counter in the center of the room and booths lining the outer wall of the building along the windows. Though it had been updated a few times, it still bore a resemblance to its original interior, with chrome and Formica countertops and red vinyl bar stools and booth benches.

As Timbisha had grown into a large mining community, Molly’s had also grown, adding a small casino in the back with four floors of hotel rooms above the gaming hall. It had passed through the hands of a few owners in its day. The newest owner was Derek Lawlor, who had commissioned King Construction to do some renovation work on the hotel portion.

So Jarod wasn’t surprised to see his dad sitting in a booth with Derek. What did surprise him, though, was seeing a third wheel at the table: his deputy, Brad Anderson.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Jarod addressed the group.

“Hey boss.”

“Son.”

“Good morning, Sheriff. Care to join us?” offered Derek, who scooted over in the booth, leaving space for Jarod to sit down next to him. Derek and Brad were now facing each other against the plate-glass window overlooking the sidewalk, and Jarod’s father was to Brad’s left.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Jarod noted everyone’s coffee mugs and asked, “Have you ordered yet?”

“Carrie was just going back to get some menus. Oh, here she is now,” James said.

“Morning Sheriff! Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, juice?” Carrie, always friendly, handed menus to each of them while Jarod gave her his request for black coffee.

“Be right back,” she said with a smile and hurried off behind the counter for the hot carafe.

“How’s married life this morning, Jarod?” Derek asked.

Jarod smiled at his menu, not making eye contact with any of the men.

There were a few masculine chuckles before James said, “Married with children…or child, as the case may be. Camille and I can’t tell you how happy we are that we have a granddaughter as sweet as our Jessica. And Lauren has always been a part of our family. Jarod just did us all a favor by formalizing the relationship and making it legal.”

“Who’ll be taking Lauren’s place in the office, Jarod?” Brad asked quietly, almost too quietly for Jarod’s liking.

He eyed his deputy.

“I’ll be posting the position today and plan on going through the normal procedures. Why? Do you have someone in mind?”

Brad hesitated before he said, “No, just curious is all.” He smiled genially and returned to his menu.

Carrie came back to take their orders, each of them ordering the omelet special, which came with two pancakes, bacon
and
sausage, home fries, and a choice of toast or muffin. Apparently, everyone at the table was as hungry as he was.

“Marrying Lauren left you empty-handed at work, huh?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, I probably won’t find the same quality of help I had with Lauren, but when a woman like her comes along, you have to keep her as close as possible, right gentlemen?”

Jarod eyed each man, knowing that his father would agree. James and Camille King’s romance was almost legend in Timbisha.

Jarod assumed Derek loved his wife, but he was curious about Brad’s reaction.

Brad eyed him briefly and then raised his coffee mug in a toast. “To women you can’t live without.”

“Here, here,” chimed James as they all clinked their mugs together.

Carrie brought their breakfasts, and the conversation turned casual, covering everything from police-blotter incidents to the renovations on the hotel.

“Are you keeping the name the same? Molly’s has been a mainstay in Timbisha for years,” Jarod asked.

“We don’t want to change the name of the restaurant. Too many locals would have a fit, plus regular commuters know of this place and stop in often in their travels across the state. We’re considering renaming the hotel portion, but it’s all up in the air. For now, ‘Molly’s’ will remain.” Derek winked with this pronouncement.

“Well,” James said as he pushed his plate away, “I need to get going. Jason’s got a problem at the shopping center that needs another pair of eyes.” He pulled a twenty out of his wallet and placed it on the table before he stood up to grab his jacket from the coat hook attached to their booth. “Derek, Brad, it’s been a pleasure, as always. Son, I’ll see you at dinner?”

“Of course, Dad.”

“Good,” James said as he patted Jarod on the shoulder and waved goodbye to the other men.

As James left the restaurant, Jarod noticed a man in a corner booth who had been concealed behind James for the duration of the meal. When the man in question put his newspaper down, Jarod recognized him immediately. Dane, James’s head of security, watched closely as his employer left the establishment, but he didn’t bother getting up to follow James out.

Jarod narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment. Ignoring Dane’s presence, Jarod stood up and said, “I’ll be right back,” and headed to the men’s room, which was situated around the counter to the right. Jarod casually nodded at Dane as he passed by, not wanting to bring attention to the man, who was sometimes both a help and a hindrance to Jarod’s investigations. The retired FBI-turned-bodyguard worked under the radar and used methods that were inadmissible in court. Jarod’s dad liked to encourage Dane’s assistance if Jarod was working a difficult case. It was annoying. Jarod liked to do things his way. If he needed help, he’d ask for it.

After taking care of his personal business, Jarod exited the restroom to see that Dane was still sitting in the corner booth, keeping tabs on Derek and Brad, who seemed to be having no trouble making conversation with each other. Strange, Jarod thought, since Brad had said that he didn’t know the Lawlors.

Maybe Brad was trying to convince Derek to let them question Aiden? If that was the case, Jarod would leave his mentor to it. Any information that Aiden could give would get them closer to finding the bastards responsible.

As Jarod rounded the counter to the left to collect his jacket from the coat hook, he noticed that Eli was seated on the other end of the restaurant drinking coffee, his empty plate in front of him.

The coffee shop was crowded, so Jarod decided it was possible that Eli hadn’t noticed them sitting there—until Eli made eye contact with Jarod and continued his surveillance of Brad and Derek.

Interesting
. Jarod nodded his acknowledgment to Eli but didn’t make a fuss about seeing him, either.

“Well, gentlemen, duty calls. Nice seeing you again, Derek. Brad, I’ll catch up with you at the station,” he said, putting his own twenty on the table to help cover the bill.

They returned his goodbyes, but neither was in a rush to vacate the booth.

As Jarod walked through the glass door and onto the sidewalk, the sun didn’t seem as bright and the day was suddenly less shiny than it had been an hour ago.

And he wondered just what the hell was so interesting about Brad and Derek to have two men watching them so intently.

THE BED WAS
warm and cozy, a safe shelter that shielded her from the repercussions of her hasty marriage. Lauren was exhausted thinking of all the things she needed get done today, including writing up a job description for Jarod to post in the paper because, honestly, he didn’t know everything her job entailed.

She needed to get her name changed (still not used to that idea).

She needed to put her townhouse up for sale. Camille would know whom to list with, which reminded Lauren that she needed to pack her personal things and figure out what to do with her furniture and bigger items. Were they going to live at the estate, or did Jarod have something else in mind?

Plus, there was all the other minutiae that she was forgetting, which happened when a woman got married the fly.

Tap, tap, tap
went a finger against her cheek.

“Lorn,” whispered a familiar, sweet voice.

“What?” she whispered back.

“What’re ya doin’ in me and Jar’d’s bed?”

Lauren opened her eyes and smiled. “Sleeping, silly.”

Jessica smiled broadly. “I missed you guys.”

Lauren’s heart swelled. “We missed you too, sweet pea.”

She kissed the little girl’s cheek and gave her a hug before asking, “Should we see what’s for breakfast? I’m starving.”

Jessica gave her a smacking wet kiss back and climbed off the bed in a rush. “I hafta go potty first,” she replied as she ran into the bathroom.

Lauren laughed as she stood from the big bed and stretched before slipping on her robe. She found Jessica in the bathroom standing on a blue stool washing her hands.

“Let’s brush our teeth, too, sweet pea. Where’s your toothbrush?”

Jessica pointed out a blue toothbrush shaped like a puppy, and together they brushed their teeth and washed their faces. Lauren brushed out Jessica’s long black hair before they left the bathroom and headed downstairs, not bothering to change out of their pajamas.

It was Monday morning, so the only person they found in the kitchen was Camille. Jessica ran to her grandmother, who put down the newspaper she’d been reading. Jessica ended up in her lap for kisses and hugs.

“Did you have a good night’s sleep, sweetheart?”

Jessica nodded her head. “Lorn was in Jar’d’s bed,” she informed her grandmother.

“Yes, I suppose she was.” Camille glanced at Lauren, who was now blushing.

Damn it.

“What would you ladies like for breakfast?”

“Pancakes, Nana,” Jessica suggested with her most serious face. Then she added sweetly, “Please?” Her little hands were folded tightly in prayer under her chin.

“How about if I do the cooking this morning, Camille? I feel a bit out of sorts.”

Camille gave her an assessing look and then nodded her agreement. She turned to Jessica, asking, “What do you say? Should Mommy make your pancakes?”

Jessica turned wide eyes to Lauren. Even though Jessica had said it was “okay” with her that Lauren was her mommy now, the child had yet to use the moniker. Lauren held her breath and swallowed, refusing to let the tears that were suddenly flooding her eyes fall down her cheeks.

Jessica nodded her agreement and laid her head down on Camille’s shoulder.

Camille winked at Lauren.

“Okay then,” Lauren said under her breath and went to the cupboards as if she knew what she was doing.

Who was she kidding? The only food she knew how to prepare was spaghetti. This was definitely going to be an interesting morning.