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His lips twisted and he smacked the bar as he emitted a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“What’s funny about that?”
“I wouldn’t call being in Timberline and remembering fond times with my old man and my older brother torture—miserable, but not torture.”
“Figure of speech, I guess.” She waved at the bartender for the check. “Timberline still has a lot of secrets.”
“That’s because the mystery of the Timberline Trio was never solved.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the dining room. “It doesn’t affect the newcomers with their shiny tech jobs and their shiny cars in their shiny homes. But for those of us who were kids here at the time, I think it left its imprint.”
“I think you’re right.”
The bartender dropped two separate checks for them. Jim reached for her check at the same time she did.
“Lunch is on me.”
As his warm hand curled around hers, a shock flashed through her body and a sharp pain knifed the back of her skull. She squeezed her eyes closed and fought off the visions before they engulfed her.
“Scarlett. What’s wrong?”
Her eyelids flew open. Jim’s face, etched with worry, was inches from hers. She’d felt electricity from his touch last night, but nothing like this. This had gone beyond the pleasant sensations of attraction and connection she’d experienced before.
She’d dived straight into his psyche and had been overwhelmed by terror and darkness. His terror and darkness? What had his father done to him?
His nostrils flared as he saw something in her eyes. “What just happened?”
“I—I got dizzy for a minute.” She slipped her hand from beneath his. “I’m okay, and you really don’t have to buy me lunch.”
“I absolutely have to buy you lunch now, since it seems as if my touch made you sick to your stomach.” He pulled out a few bills from his wallet and put the ketchup bottle on top of the checks and the money.
She gave a halfhearted laugh. “It wasn’t that, probably just low blood sugar.”
“Do you need something else to drink? A soda? Orange juice?”
His narrowed eyes told her he wasn’t buying any of it, but she could at least make good on the pretense.
“Some orange juice is probably just what I need.”
When the bartender placed the tall, skinny bar glass full of orange juice in front of her, she downed it. “Ahh, that’s better.”
“Did you have a chance to call someone about the security measures I suggested?”
“No time yet. Spoke to the deputies this morning, went out to visit my granny and then came into town to pick up few things for her.”
“I’m going to that hardware store in the new shopping center out by Evergreen Software. I can pick up a few locks and window rods for you.”
“If you don’t mind.” She snatched a couple of twenties from her wallet. “Use this and let me know if I owe you more.”
He stuffed the money in his pocket. “I can drop by later to set things up for you.”
“I work during the daylight hours, so catch me when the sun goes down.”
They walked out of Sutter’s together with several pairs of eyes following them. Word must’ve gotten around that they’d found Rusty’s body. She preferred keeping a low profile when she was in town working, but she’d been the center of attention on her last visit and this one was shaping up to be the same.
“Thanks for lunch and for offering to get my locks.”
“No problem.” He lifted a helmet from the backrest of his Harley and straddled the bike. “Thanks for not ratting out my tattoo to the cops.”
She parted her lips and then stepped back as he revved the noisy engine of the bike. Of course, he’d realized she had kept that from the sheriff’s deputies since she’d admitted she saw the tattoo on Rusty’s neck and then had seen a replica on Jim’s back.
He revved the Harley’s engine again, and then peeled away from the shoulder of the road.
Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair and tucked the bag of yarn beneath one arm. Time to put Rusty Kelly and Jim Kennedy out of her head and get back to work.
