A Deadly Reunion (22 page)

No, that wasn’t it. He was the FBI Agent
here; surely, he knew what would come next. He had to question
Nancy, he had to find out if she was the murderer, and he had to
stop her before she struck again.

Blinking at him with surprise, it didn’t
take too long for those rugged eyebrows of his to descend even
closer to his already perfectly narrowed eyes. “You need to stop
before you accuse her,” he said bluntly, “you need a lot more
evidence than that.”

I put my hands up in exasperation. He’d seen
her, right? The little jacket of hysteria she’d shrug into just to
get male attention? He remembered that, right? Or was his memory
too focused on the leopard print cleavage?

I found myself pressing my lips together and
grinding my teeth. This was not how I had imagined this going down.
In my mind, even though I didn’t entirely like Denver, I still
trusted him. And unlike Thorne – as bad as it sounded – I knew
Denver would do his job well.

Well, right now he didn’t appear to be doing
his job well; he didn’t appear to be doing it at all.

“Are you even going to investigate this? Or
are you just going to go back to Nancy and let her fall into your
arms and thank you for all your heroic efforts?” my voice brimmed
with sarcasm.

Even as I said it, I realized it was a
mistake.

You couldn’t tease some men, because there
were some men like Denver Scott – firecrackers dressed up in suits
with jaws hard as steel.

“You want to stop right there,” he spat,
“before you do yourself even more of a disgrace. Do you think
you’re better than everybody else, Patti? Do you think you can run
around casting aspersions on people? Do you think you know more
about this case than the FBI does?”

I reeled back.

It was a combination of what he was saying
and how he was saying it.

“Stop it,” I spat back, “why does everyone
keep on saying that? I have never brought up my wealth. I don’t
care how much you earn. I don’t even want to know. All I want is
not to wind up dead on the front porch of a high school I hated
bitterly. Is that too much to ask?” my voice started to crack.

“Do you have any idea—” he began.

He did not get to finish.

At that moment, someone shrieked his name.
And I do mean shriek. It was the kind of noise that echoed off the
walls and punched its way into your eardrums like the blast of a
jet engine.

“Denver, oh my god, Denver,” Nancy called as
she made her way across the street.

Denver turned faster than I’d ever seen
anyone move before.

“What are you doing out of the police
station?” He ran up to her as she ran over to him.

“I had to find you. So I slipped out the
back,” she waved a hand at her face as crocodile tears slipped down
her smooth, alabaster cheeks and chin.

“What, why?”

As Nancy reached Denver, he willingly placed
an arm around her shoulder for support and that of course elicited
a soft little moan from her.

I rolled my eyes.

Denver saw it, and the look he shot me could
have shattered diamond.

“Why did you leave the police station? Why
did you have to find me?” Denver asked Nancy as he looked down into
her eyes.

“I’m just so scared. I don’t know who to
trust. And I think one of the officers there – oh, this is going to
sound incredible, but he’s acting strangely. I’m almost sure he has
something to do with this,” Nancy managed as her lips wobbled
around her words.

“What? Look, Nancy, you’re just stressed and
scared. I’ll take you back to the police station and look into this
for you,” he added when she gave another whimper.

Okay, so she was allowed to cast aspersions
willy-nilly on law enforcement officials, of all people, but as
soon as I pointed my finger at Nancy, Denver shouted me down.

Right, I understood what was happening
here.

Before I could watch Denver shepherd Nancy
back to his car, I heard several footsteps coming our way.

Then the footsteps stopped, and not
gently.

“What the hell are you doing here? What the
hell is she doing here?” Thorne asked as he took one jerky step
into the mouth of the alleyway, pointing at Nancy as he did.

Light from a nearby streetlamp reflected off
his face, and it made the dark shadows under his thin lips and
narrowed eyes all the more severe.

“Nancy is a little overcome. She got out of
the police station to try to find me, but I’m going to take her
back,” Denver answered directly.

“Why the hell would she go to find you?”
Thorne snapped back, taking a quick and powerful step forward.

“Boys, boys, please, don’t fight over little
old me,” Nancy thumbed her tears off her cheek, “I’m not worth
it.”

Holy crap, I could have fallen over in
uncontrollable laughter at that one. Not worth it?

Nancy was acting, badly. While Thorne and
Denver hadn’t had the displeasure of being with Nancy in drama
class, I had, and I recognized every movement, every lilt of her
voice, and that knowing flicker deep in her eyes.

She was playing them.

But that didn’t matter, because both boys
were obviously distracted by the presence of each other and their
competition over a woman, that they were too busy to notice.

I couldn’t take this anymore.

This town was driving me insane.

I had to get out.

“Denver,” Nancy turned her smile on him as
she sliced her attention ever so briefly towards me, “what are you
doing in this alleyway with Patti?”

“Just leaving,” Denver said directly.

I laughed bitterly.

“That’s a coincidence, because so am I.” I
bit hard into my lip to stem the tide of torrid emotion. “I can’t
do this anymore.”

“You don’t have a car,” Denver turned all of
his attention my way, even though Nancy was patting her hand on his
chest. In that moment she could have been trying to kiss him wildly
and passionately, but I knew he still wouldn’t have turned away
from me.

“So I’ll hitchhike,” I spat between clenched
teeth.

He snorted.

“Hey now, Patti, that’s a terrible idea. I
couldn’t let you do that,” Thorne said honestly.

Denver snorted again. “She isn’t going to
hitchhike. Despite the act, she is not that stupid.”

“How the hell would you know? You didn’t
talk to me in high school, and now you’ve known me again for barely
two-and-a-half days. You have no idea the kinds of risks I take and
the kind of life I lead.”

“Women like you don’t come with any
surprises, just disappointments,” Denver scowled around his
words.

Fuck.

I was going to hit him. No, I was going to
throttle him, drag him into the ditch, and then smack him with my
handbag until I taught him that misogyny and being an arrogant jerk
hadn’t been in favor for the past hundred years.

“Shit, Denver, shut up. What the hell are
you saying?” Thorne waded in.

“You think I can’t get out of this town? You
are dead wrong,” I continued, ignoring Thorne and staring only
Denver. “I will find a car.”

“Hey now, I didn’t mean to interrupt there,”
someone said as they awkwardly walked towards the mouth of the
alleyway, “but your argument there can be heard from across the
street.”

Thorne and Denver stiffened immediately.

“I’m very sorry, sir,” both Thorne and
Denver said at once.

The man put his hands up. “You don’t need to
apologize to me, but I couldn’t help hearing that you there,” the
man – who was fat and balding and had a round, friendly face –
pointed at me, “need a car. Well my name is Harvey Richardson, and
I own the only dealership in town. If you come in tomorrow morning,
I’m sure I can give you a good deal.”

“I will pay you $50,000 to give me a car
tonight. I will double the asking price or triple it if I have to,
but I want one right now,” I said.

Harvey spluttered.

“I’m serious. Where is your car
dealership?”

“Triple the price?” Harvey looked like he
was about to have a heart attack.

“Show me to your dealership, and I’ll show
you to my credit card,” I nodded at him.

I was not the kind of girl who threw her
money around. I was polite and I was private; my parents had taught
me that lesson. I never flashed my cash.

Yet right now it was time to throw my money
around.

I had to get out of Wetlake, anyway I
could.

Denver didn’t say anything. He just looked
at me coldly. I imagine if I’d had the time and inclination, I
would have realized how complicated his expression was.

I didn’t care.

“Patti, what are you doing?” Thorne asked in
disbelief.

“
Leaving before I go insane. Look, thank
you so much for your help, but I can’t... stay here. I just have to
go.” I controlled myself, stemming my tears, but only just. “If you
need my statement or anything like that, I will get in touch with
my local police station. But I can’t stay another second in this
town.”

“All your stuff is in your hire car,” Thorne
pointed out, voice croaking through a clearly dry mouth.

“I don’t care. The hire company can send my
luggage back to me or they can chuck it all in the dumpster.”

Denver still didn’t say a word.

Nancy, on the other hand, watched me
intently.

There was such a strange quality behind her
gaze that it made my back itch.

I turned away quickly.

“
It’s dangerous to drive at night,” Thorne
began, “especially along roads you don’t know, and especially when
you’re not...” he trailed off.

He was likely going to say something polite
like “feeling well.” I’d already driven angry today, and look where
that had gotten me? Lost and alone and climbing over railings to
get away from innocent cars.

Well this was different.

“It’s dangerous to stay in this town,” I
spat back.

It was rude.

But I just had to get away.

“I’m sorry,” I swallowed as bitter emotion
rose through my tight throat. “Please thank Annabelle. I’ll send
her a card or a letter or something. Tell her it’s nothing about
her; I just need to leave.”

I now took several steps forward and nodded
at Harvey.

Harvey’s eyes were wide as he stared around
at everybody. He clearly had no idea what was going on.

“I’m ready,” I placed my hands neatly in
front of myself and nodded at him.

“Ah,” he said, clearly hesitating.

“I’m sure I can offer someone else $50,000
for a car,” I snapped rudely.

There I went again, ignoring all of my
manners.

If my mother had been here, she would have
tutted and reminded me that no one likes arrogant, wealthy
jerks.

“No, no, come this way,” Harvey waved me
forward.

I nodded one last time at Thorne and tried
to ignore the conflicted and hurt look crumpling his features.

I didn’t even turn to look at Denver
though.

Because screw Denver.

It was ten o’clock at night and I was buying
a car in Wetlake. When I say car, I mean enormous pickup truck.
This was a small town, after all, and they didn’t exactly sell
nice, zippy, hatchbacks.

Picking the newest truck in Harvey’s fleet,
it took under an hour to get the finance and papers sorted. When
Harvey realized I was for real, and actually had the money, things
went extremely smoothly.

He also had the dignity not to ask me what
the hell had been going on between me and Denver and Thorne Scott.
He just made me a cup of coffee, asked to see my driver’s license,
and chatted about banal things like the weather as we signed the
papers.

Not once did we mention the reunion and not
once did we mention the murders.

Though I half expected Thorne to drive over
to the dealership to try to get me to stop from leaving again, he
didn’t.

I’d hurt him, hadn’t I?

As for Denver, who knew where he was.
Probably wrapped up snug in Nancy’s arms, I thought snidely. Yet as
soon as I thought it, I quickly chided myself; it was a bitchy
thing to think and it was undoubtedly wrong.

Denver was a lot of things, but he appeared
to be immune to Nancy’s charms.

He was just doing his job.

As I walked out of the car dealership
swinging the keys on my finger and waving at Harvey, I repeated
that to myself.

Denver was just doing his job.

I was the one being the epic bitch here. I
wasn’t cutting him any slack. I wasn’t factoring in that he would
be under immense pressure and responsibility.

I was just snapping, rubbing my money in his
face, and running.

Feeling exceedingly sorry for myself but
still quite angry, I got in the truck and gunned the engine.

I wasn’t used to engines that roared and
made the whole vehicle shake from underneath you, but briefly it
made me smile.

Then I had to start driving the thing, and I
promptly realized that it was a lot bigger than the small cars I
was used to.

Half expecting a roadblock of Scott boys, I
was sure to take a circuitous root out of town.

In fact, as I did, I swore I saw Thorne at
one point, driving around, no doubt looking for me.

Even though I’d hurt him, clearly he still
knew how to do his job. He was just so exceedingly respectful and
diligent. The kind of guy who always lived by his morals and who
always did what was right. Likely, the thought of me paying triple
for a truck I could hardly drive and heading out along the
dangerous, winding roads of Wetlake in the middle of the night
horrified him.

Well I avoided him.

I had to get out of here.

Though I realized how much of a bitch I was
being for leaving Annabelle without a word and Thorne without a
smile and a genuine thank you, I couldn’t stay another second in
this town.