Page 13 of Targeted at Christmas

A grin played on his lips, as Cooper took that as a good sign that she was at least interested on some level in him, as he certainly was in her.

Chapter Five

Lexi sat in the booth across from Cooper at the Marmots Lounge on East McDowell Road, having followed him there in her car. She was still processing the notion that he, too, had lost a spouse tragically. What were the odds? She suspected that he hadn’t mentioned it when she brought up losing her husband during the interview of her yesterday because it may have seemed inappropriate when he was in his FBI special agent mode.

But now, Cooper had insisted she refer to him by his first name, having let down his guard as a widower—something Lexi suspected didn’t come easily for him. As a result, she couldn’t help but feel a kinship with him, given their shared bond in being single again—and not by choice. Beyond that, she felt drawn to Cooper for his sexy good looks and strong character that she was able to perceive in no time flat.

“It was nice of you to volunteer to take Eleanor’s place at the support group meeting,” Cooper broke into Lexi’s musings.

She met his gaze across the square table, where their Phoenix cocktails sat, and smiled. “I was happy to since Eleanor wasn’t feeling well and asked me to sit in for her.” Lexi tasted the drink. “Truthfully, I have a strong suspicion that my dear neighbor played on my heartstrings to get me to go to the support group for widows and widowers—which she had been trying to do for a while now—in believing it would be good for me.”

Cooper chuckled. “I suppose I could see Eleanor being clever like that, having gotten to know her a bit at the meetings.” He lifted his glass. “In any event, I’m glad you came. It’s always good to see a new face there, though I completely understand how difficult it is to open oneself up when losing a partner to death can feel so personal.”

He gets it, Lexi told herself, though not at all surprised, given their shared experience. “Yes, it has definitely been challenging in coming to terms with a new reality through no fault of your own,” she said, pushing away the pain that came from an unexpected life-altering change in her marital status. “But I’m getting there, just as I suspect you are.”

“Yeah, I’m getting there.” Cooper gave a nod and sipped his cocktail. “No one ever said this would be easy. It’s been anything but. Still, time is doing its part to heal the wounds felt throughout your body when a spouse—her name’s Melanie—is snatched away in practically the blink of an eye. Guess I’m taking it one day, one week, one month and one year at a time—”

“Same here,” Lexi admitted, while also agreeing with him that learning to cope was getting easier, the more distance that passed from the deadly moment where everything changed for her. “It’s what Jonathan, my late husband, would have wanted—me not dwelling on the past and opening myself up to the future and whatever it may entail.”

“Melanie would definitely have sung the same tune,” Cooper stated in earnest. He looked at his hand—or ring finger—and back at Lexi. “I stopped wearing my wedding band. Painful as it was, I knew it was time to open myself up again.”

“I felt like that, too,” Lexi confessed. She glanced self-consciously at the finger where her own wedding ring used to be—before her decision to remove it and put it away, knowing that clinging to the ring was like never letting go of something she no longer had in a husband and partner.

Cooper nodded as he met her eyes movingly. “Life is always for the living—no matter the circuitous path we have to take to get there…”

“Right?” Lexi sipped more of the Phoenix drink, while contented having this deep conversation where their late spouses had essentially given them permission to move on. Still, with the heaviness of their tragedies, she thought it might be best to switch subjects, though unsettling as well on a different level. “How’s the investigation going into Horace’s death?”

Cooper sat back thoughtfully. “It’s coming along,” he said succinctly. “We’re working with the Phoenix PD trying to solve it—”

“So, no arrests…or soon-to-be arrests of anyone?” she questioned.

“Not yet.” He drew a breath. “But you can rest assured that it’s only a matter of time before the killers are brought to justice.”

Lexi took solace in that, even if her interest in the case was largely professional from working with Horace. “Are you still looking at this as a carjacking that resulted in a murder?” she wondered, wide-eyed. “Or was Horace’s death related to the alleged public corruption?”

“Maybe both.” Cooper rubbed his jawline. “His car was definitely stolen—likely under duress, as far as Eckhart was concerned. And there’s ample reason to believe that his death is related to money he was taking under the table in relation to his official duties.”

Lexi contemplated this and then asked curiously, “Who do you think he was taking bribes from?” She assumed it was from developers or other critical people in the building process—including architects, such as herself.

Cooper leaned forward and said, as if reading her thoughts, “I’m not after you, Lexi, I promise. That ship has sailed—if it ever left the harbor in the first place,” he quipped.

She colored, while sighing. “That’s good to know.”

“As for others within the sphere of architecture and real estate development, we’re looking at anyone whom Eckhart might have worked with that he may have reached out to, or been offered money, for a desirable means to an end with their projects.”

“I see.” Lexi sipped the cocktail. She considered people in the business that she knew and if any could have offered Horace a bribe. Though the competition was fierce, she hated to think that any of her own clients would commit crimes to keep a competitive edge.

Cooper jutted his chin. “Of course, the assumption is that most developers and such are on the up-and-up where it concerns building. But the Bureau is obligated to go after anyone who steps over the line. Especially if doing so results in taking a person’s life.”

Lexi nodded her head. “I understand.” He had every right to pursue the case—and was expected to do so—particularly if it meant unmasking whoever was responsible for Horace dying.

Cooper picked up his glass, took a sip, regarded her and asked with interest, “Where are you from, Lexi? I’m picking up a slight Midwestern accent there.”

“Good deduction.” She grinned, in spite of trying hard to keep her intonation region neutral. “I’m from Muskegon, Michigan.”

“Muskegon, huh? Long ways from home.”

“Just a phone call away,” she countered, while missing her relatives.