Bird pressed his lips into a thin line. “Thanks for that.”
“Hey. I call ’em like I see ’em.” Stanton tapped her pen against her pad of paper. “You need bait. You need a lure. You’re a handsome guy, but something tells me you aren’t Sheriff Orson’s idea of a good time.”
Cole leaned back against the wall and crossed his legs at the ankle. “What’d you have in mind?”
“If you do an internet image search for the guy, you get a lot of pictures of him with women, and they are never the same. We’re talking a real revolving cast of characters. I think we need to send you with a female. A damn good-looking one.” Stanton rubbed her round belly. “I’d do it myself if I wasn’t carrying around a baby disguised as a bowling ball.”
For a split second, Cole had an idea, but it was crazy. Maybe it was the mention of a “damn good-looking” woman that had him thinking of Dani. But she was a mom with two small kids. That was too crazy to make any sense. He couldn’t put her in that kind of danger.
“Sheriff, you have any female deputies right now?”
Sheriff Battle shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. We had one last year but she moved away.”
Stanton eyed Cole, but he could see that the gears in her head were churning. “I doubt the bureau will let me steal an extra agent right now. But I can look into it. Otherwise, you might have to find someone, Sullivan.”
“You really think it’s necessary?” Cole was truly drawing a blank on who he should ask. His brain just wanted to circle back to Dani.
“Honestly? I think it’s essential. I don’t see you catching this guy without a beautiful woman on your arm.”
* * *
Dani had really been looking forward to going out to lunch with Megan. Between getting settled in the new house and navigating the landscape of her new job at the Glass House, Dani hadn’t had nearly enough time for her best friend. They were supposed to meet up at the Labor Day celebration, but Megan had decided she couldn’t deal with questions from well-meaning folks about her husband, the man she’dthoughtwas Will Sanders but turned out to be Richard Lowell. Dani still couldn’t comprehend the betrayal Megan must be feeling, having built a life with a man who had been lying to her all along. As bad as that was, the death of her brother Jason was worse. Megan knew that he was dead, but most residents of Royal had no idea. Because of the investigation, it had to stay a secret.
Dani pulled into the circular drive in front of Megan’s gorgeous French chateau–style home on the edge of town. There had been a time when Dani might’ve been a little envious of her friend, living in a big beautiful house like this, from the lush landscaping softening the hard edges of the stone facade, all the way up to its grand arched windows peeking out from beneath the roofline. But Dani had made her own strides since she’d first moved to Royal as a teen, and Megan, the beautiful spark plug with deep roots in town, had inexplicably befriended the girl who’d had almost nothing.
Megan came outside, wearing curve-hugging jeans, cowboy boots and a cute black-and-white gingham blouse, along with oversize sunglasses. She had her black designer handbag in the crook of her arm and carried a small soft-sided case in the other hand. “Nice,” Megan called out as she approached the car. “You not only brought the convertible, the top’s down.”
“The minivan makes it hard to pick up guys.”
Megan laughed. “Maybe we just keep it to the two of us today. Men are not my favorite people in the world right now.” She leaned over and gave Dani a big hug. “I’m so damn happy to see you.”
“Me, too. This was half of the reason to move to Royal—to be able to hang out.”
“Not that I didn’t enjoy coming to visit you in New York every now and then. That was fun, too.”
“What’s in the bag?” Dani asked as she pulled out of the driveway.
“You up for a little shooting before we go to lunch? I bought a .380 and I could use some practice. I just joined the Royal Gun Club.”
Dani hadn’t been to a firing range since her dad had taken her when she was a teenager. “Yeah, sure. Just tell me which way to go.”
Dani followed Megan’s direction, taking back roads. “The boys and I missed seeing you on Labor Day.” Dani raised her voice a bit since the top was down.
“I missed seeing you, too. I ended up holing up in my office and working on new shoe designs. Did I miss any excitement?”
“I ran into Cole. With the boys.”
“It was going to happen. I told you.”
“I know you did. I just didn’t think it was going to happen so soon.”
“What happened?”
Whathadhappened? Everything had whizzed by so fast, Dani was hardly able to keep up. She’d known that day would come, but just like she hadn’t been fully prepared to deal with Cole on her own, she hadn’t been ready to see him with the boys. “He’s suspicious. I could see it in his eyes.” She stopped at a red light. “He asked the boys if they like horses, which of course got them all riled up. I’m supposed to take them out to the ranch tomorrow.”
“Great idea. Since your last visit to the ranch went so well.” Megan knew that Dani had nearly ended up in Cole’s bed the other night and did not hold back on the sarcasm.
“What was I supposed to say to them when Cole offered? I’d already gone and filled their little heads with how much fun we were going to have when we moved to Texas. Getting to ride horses and spend time on a ranch are high on the list of things they want to do.” The light turned green, and Dani shifted and sped away. Talking about the visit to see Cole tomorrow had her all tied up in knots. She hated the way she acted around him, almost like she was a different person, casting aside her normally rational thoughts.
