AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, thanks for your time, Sheriff.”
He grunted an unintelligible response as he turned back to his raking, but now there was a stiffness to his back that hadn’t been there before.
One of the things Clay had said kept playing through her mind, clashing with every memory she had of her father. Of course, a man who’s liquored up will say things he doesn’t mean.
She’d been just a second-grader when her father died, but she clearly remembered his earlier comment after seeing Earl stumble out of a tavern. “Only a fool drinks like that,” he’d said. “Alcohol is a terrible thing.”
Could her teetotaler father truly have been drunk the night of the murder? It just didn’t seem possible.
* * * *
SARA STOPPED by her apartment to pick up the cell phone she’d forgotten on her kitchen table. When she stepped outside again, she wished she hadn’t.
Nathan had pulled in behind her SUV and was leaning against the front fender of his cruiser with his arms folded and one boot cocked over the other ankle, as if he had all the time in the world.
Her heart fell.
“I hear you’ve been busy today,” he called out as she approached. “Now I’ve got one riled undertaker and a grumpy retired sheriff on my hands. They’re asking if I’ve hired an assistant investigator.”
She stopped at her car door and opened it. “Maybe you need to.”
His grin widened. “Are you applying?”
“Me? What would I know about law enforcement?”
“You seem to have a knack for asking questions—and that’s a good first step.”
Slamming the car door shut again, she strode over to him and looked up at the twinkle in his eyes. “You think it’s funny.”
“No. I think it’s interesting. They must do a lot of assertiveness training down in—where are you from?”
“Dallas. Did you know that poor Earl has been cremated already?”
The twinkle in Nathan’s eyes faded. “I just heard.”
“Since finding him, I’ve thought about little else. When I called the mortuary, the guy said there hadn’t been an autopsy.”
“The coroner ruled it a natural death, given Earl’s health history. The mortuary just went ahead.”
“How could they do that?”
“Autopsies are pretty rare around here if someone dies in a nursing home or is elderly and has serious health problems.”
“But Earl was well enough to live independently and still run his own business. That doesn’t sound like someone who was at death’s door.”
Nathan sighed heavily. “The crime-scene unit found nothing unusual. The coroner checked with the cardiologist who’d attended him in the hospital ER when he had a mild attack last year. Earl was told that he wasn’t likely to survive if he didn’t agree to surgery, and he basically walked out of the hospital against medical advice.”
“So then it’s all over. No one cares, and no one will look any further.”
He looked down at her, his eyes filled with concern. “Look, I know this has been stressful for you. What would you say to just getting away for an hour or so?”
She’d been so focused on Earl that she hadn’t been fully aware of just how close she stood to Nathan or how keenly he was studying her. “Getting away?” she repeated.
“Come with me,” he said, catching her hand in his. “There’s a restaurant on Hidden Lake, just past Newbrook, that has the best orange roughy you’ll ever taste.”
Maybe he was just being friendly, offering comfort. But her body read that contact in an entirely different way. “The best ever?”
“Absolutely.”
