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“I’m going out on a limb and thinkingColeson Hollow.It was on the back of that photo right there. Keep flipping.”
“Holy hell. Talk about seeing ghosts. She looks just like you.”
“I know. It freaked me out a bit.”
“Just as gorgeous, but she has lighter hair.”
Zoey put the real love of her life down on what used to be her old desk. Peachy jumped in the chair and settled down in the loaf position. He spent a great deal of time in the sheriff’s office.
It was how he’d gotten “The Fuzz” added to his name. Murdoch had added that part. She’d called the cat Peachy. Murdoch had said Peachy wasn’t “police-y” enough for a police cat.
“I’m just…going to go poking around. See if anything stands out. After I load my Jeep. Combine trips, and take the back way into Value.”
“It’s your lucky day, then. I am excellent at loading hot lady’s Jeeps. And, you can just drop me off at my baby brother’s in Value on your way. Anthony can have custody of me for the night.”
“Don’t you have things to do around here?”
“Nope. Day off. I’m only here to check in with Neilie boy. And, well, he called me to rescue him from this damned cat. I think Peach the Fuzz might just scare that guy a little.”
“A former army special forces guy like Neil Lockwood isn’t the least bit afraid of your cat.”
“He’s not my damned cat. He just…we understand each other, that’s all. We’re both in love with the same woman, you know. And she abandoned us both to go play with the fancy boys in Finley Creek.”
“I’m sure you’ll both survive.”
“You are a cruel, cruel woman.”
* * *
Her little storageshed was almost empty, Murdoch saw. As was her house. Only a few things remained. Her bed. Pen’s. She had him loading boxes, too. Until the Jeep was practically filled to the top.
It stabbed him in the gut a little. Whenever he saw the signs she was leaving for good.
Their next stop was the library. It was only open three hours, two times a week. It was run by volunteers. It would eventually close for good. It was just a matter of time.
Garrity was drying up. A little more each year. It made a man sad to see it.
“Text me copies of that pretty lady and those weird redheaded people you have there, babe. I’ll start on this wall.” Some of the photos hanging on the wall at the library were captioned. Most weren’t. Or were a bit incomplete. She might find what she was looking for—but it was just as likely that she wouldn’t. That was the nature of the investigative game they played.
Fifteen minutes later, she called his name. Murdoch hurried over like the good boy he would always be for her. “What have you found?”
She leaned forward. “I’m not sure.”
Murdoch practically wrapped himself around her shoulder—she smelled perfect, he couldn’t resist—and looked at the photo in front of her.
She shot him a look. One he’d seen her give her kid sister countless times before. “Personal space mean anything to you?”
“Excuse me. I can’t see. I can’t see.” But that was all he was going to say. Technically, they were on the job, after all. Even if this was a personal quest for the love of his life. And…his day off, anyway.
“Sure.” She leaned back, pressed right against him. Deliberately. Her fingers squeezed his thigh—in warning.
Oh, she wastauntinghim. Murdoch stepped back—fast.
He was a gentleman, after all.
“Is this the same guy?” She had a photocopy of those photos on her phone. Color copies. “This photo is black and white, but…he looks a lot like Luc. Or am I just imagining it?”
Murdoch got serious. He took the printed photo, held it up to the framed black-and-white in front of them. “He definitely looks like billy bubby. But…the guy in your photo here is a lot younger than this one. I can’t say for certain.” He checked the placard on the photo. All it said wasGarrity, circa…and a year. A year more than eighty years in the past. No one in the photo was identified. But… “That’s the town square.”
