Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2) (26 page)

He was back to having a gut feeling and nothing to base it on. He decided to start listening to his gut and looking outside the box. Suddenly, Monday morning’s breakfast with Derek flashed through his mind.

Was Derek Lawlor somehow involved? Could it be that Brad had a lead, but, like Eli, he didn’t want to share it until he knew all of the information first? And why the hell hadn’t Brad mentioned the bullet hole that had been so obvious, in the victim’s skull? Was it possible that he just hadn’t seen it?

Jarod had no answers but he sensed that he was getting closer to solving Miranda’s murder. He could feel it in his bones.

H
ow many pumpkins are we carving?” Charlie asked. He was covered head to foot in stringy pumpkin slime. There were some seeds dotting his hair and shoes as well.

“How many do we have so far?” Josh replied with a question of his own. Lauren could almost see the horns growing on that handsome head of his, and the ornery look on his face guaranteed that Charlie was about to get punked.

Charlie looked disgustedly around the yard at all the pumpkins surrounding them.

Lauren had lost count of how many they’d carved so far. Her hand was beginning to cramp a little, but she was enjoying the warm sunshine and the idyllic setting of the fall day. The sky was a brilliant blue, and there was not a cloud to mar its azure perfection. The trees surrounding the main house were in vibrant shades of red, gold, and orange—colors that signified that they had officially reached the other side of summer. The sage and rabbit brush were yellow, their nasty pollen a problem for some people, but not Lauren. There was a crispness to the air that warned that winter wasn’t far away, but, for now, the Old Man still slept.

Charlie, on the other hand, looked like he was getting ready to quit.

“A lot. Where are we putting them all, anyway?”

“Mom wants them lining the drive,” Josh said matter-of-factly.

Lauren groaned. “That driveway is almost a mile long! How far apart are we spacing them?” There was no way that Camille would want that many jack-o’-lanterns.

“Are you kidding me, Josh?” Charlie whined.

“Nope.”

Josh never looked up from the pumpkin he was working on, but then Lauren caught the shake of one shoulder, the telltale sign that Josh was telling a fib.

Charlie’s shoulders sagged. “I’ll go get the next few from the bin.”

When he had gone, Lauren narrowed her eyes. “She doesn’t want them lining the driveway, does she?”

“Hell, no.” Josh was laughing outright now. “She just wants them placed sporadically around the yard this year. I want to see how long he’ll do this before he figures it out.”

“You’re a sick man, Josh King,” Lauren said, shaking her head and finishing up the face she was carving.

“I am not sick,” he said stubbornly. “I just like pumpkin seeds, and I know Julie is going to roast them.”

“Josh, we have like…twenty pumpkins already done. How many seeds do you need, for crying out loud?”

“As many as I can get. Hush now, he’s coming back.”

Lauren shook her head. Charlie would do anything for Camille, and Josh knew it.

Boys.

Charlie placed five more pumpkins on top of the makeshift plywood-and-sawhorse tables and began cutting into another pumpkin. He had a renewed look of determination on his face, the one he wore when he didn’t want to disappoint someone important to him—someone like Camille.

“Holy cow, Josh! I’m going to be roasting seeds ’til Thanksgiving!” Julie had just brought a tray of iced tea to the tables. Jessica was following behind her with a plate of cookies that her little blue eyes never left.

Worried that the child might trip, Lauren reached with sticky hands to help, but before she could intervene, Julie turned to extricate the plate from Jessica’s tiny hands.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Julie said.

“You’re welcome, Joojee,” Jessica said, eyes following the cookies to the table as if they might get away.

Josh scooped her off her tiny feet and began tickling her. Jessica squealed, “Hunkle Josh! Sto-o-o-op!”

“You were eyeing those cookies like a hawk eyes a mouse, princess! Don’t these people feed you around here?”

Julie handed her a cookie before she scolded, “I take insult to that question, Josh. Just look at her. She’s grown a foot in the time she’s been here.”

Josh rotated Jessica in his arms so that she was horizontal to the ground, one of his big hands on her chest and other on her thighs. He began to lift her up over his head and down again, like a barbell.

“I don’t think she’s grown a foot, but she’s definitely put on a pound or two.”

Jessica laughed without fear as Josh lifted her up and down before finally placing her on his shoulders. She grabbed his hair with one hand, keeping a tight hold on the cookie with the other.

“Do it ’gain, Hunkle Josh!”

Lauren’s eyes misted over. It wasn’t that long ago that Jessica had been afraid of everyone and had kept her giggles and smiles to herself. Now, she was blossoming and learning her place as the princess of the Kings.

“Char-lee, you got icky stuff in your hair.”

Charlie put the carving knife down and began to run his pumpkin-smeared fingers around his head. “I do, huh?”

Jessica squealed, “Oh no, you’re makin’ it worse!”

Charlie gave a quizzical look to Josh and then held up his slimy hands. “I am? Maybe you should help get it out.” Then he put his hands up as if he were going to touch Jessica.

Josh laughed before dodging Charlie’s hands, all while holding on to his overhead cargo.

“Don’t let ’im touch me, Hunkle Josh!”

And away they went, Charlie chasing Josh and Jessica around the yard.

“Charlie must’ve figured out that Josh was messing with him. He would never abandon a job for Camille,” Julie grinned.

“You were in on it? What a mean sister you are, Julie Armstrong, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law.” Lauren had her hands on her hips in mock reprimand, with a big grin on her face.

Julie sighed with pleasure. “I cannot wait to be Mrs. Jason King.”

Before Lauren could reply, a gruff male voice said, “Me either.”

Jason, who had suddenly appeared, wrapped his big, tattooed arms around his fiancée and kissed her soundly.

“What are you doing here so early?”

“It’s Nevada Day, Jujifruit. Everyone is off today.” He kissed the tip of her nose and then turned to Lauren. “What’s the plan of attack, Sassy?”

Lauren smiled. “I think Camille has some ideas about the castle this year.”

“Of course she does,” Jason said with a wry smile, while he looked around the yard. “Where’s my idiot brother?”

Julie laughed. “He’s not an idiot! He’s playing with Jessica and Charlie.”

Jason just grunted when the trio ran past them, Jessica squealing and keeping a death grip on Josh’s hair. But when she caught sight of Jason, she screamed, louder, “Hunkle Jason!”

“Hey, Princess.” Jason snatched her from Josh’s shoulders so swiftly that she didn’t have time to let go of Josh’s hair completely, and he let out a yelp.

Josh gave Jason a dirty look. “Watch it, you big oaf,” Josh grumbled, rubbing his battered scalp.

Jason ignored him and gave all his attention to Jessica. “How’s Princess Jessica doing today?” He kissed her on the cheek. Jessica proceeded to explain her day to her hunkle Jason, while Julie and Lauren stared avidly.

“My God, that’s hot,” Julie whispered.

Lauren gave her a knowing look. “Uh huh.”

“There is just something endearingly sexy about a hunky, tattooed man who knows how to talk to little girls,” Julie sighed.

Lauren could only nod. It was amazing to her how such a strong, gruff man could be so gentle with a tiny person.

“Yeah, there really is,” she sighed. “Wait ’til he’s holding his own child. Then you’ll understand how I feel about Jarod.”

She noted Julie’s startled expression right before Jarod’s cruiser pulled into the driveway and parked in its normal spot on the other side of the house.

Suddenly, all Lauren wanted was to be in his arms. She quickly made her way toward him. The moment he caught sight of her, his footsteps picked up their pace as well.

When she reached him, there was no hesitation as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. His strong arms enveloped her, making her feel safe and secure. She pulled back to smile at him, but when she did, he pressed his lips against hers, demanding a more passionate welcome.

She gladly accepted. She felt a little dizzy when he finally ended the kiss with a satisfied smile.

“Hello, my wife.”

“Hello back,” she said, clearing her throat. “Are you done for the rest of the day?”

“With kissing you? Hardly,” he teased and kissed her again.

She laughed and said, “No, are you done playing sheriff for the day? We need help setting up.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then took her hand to lead her to the house. “But I need to get changed first. Maybe you could help me with that?”

From the blue blaze in his beautiful eyes, she knew she’d be helping him with a lot more than a change of clothes. “I’m happy to oblige, Sheriff.”

THE LAWMAN IN
Jarod had never been a fan of his family’s traditional Halloween festivities. He saw the potential for danger everywhere. There were always too many people coming and going, and too many hiding places to count. Normally, he’d set his apprehensions aside because they lived in a small community that was normally non-threatening. But with the recent murders and the case he was working on, he had a bad feeling about the coming night that he just couldn’t shake off.

He eyed Dane, who was situated near James at the other end of the yard. Jarod should have met with the ex-FBI man before the trick-or-treaters had begun to show up, but there hadn’t been time.

He’d been too caught up in Lauren to think clearly.

After absconding with her that afternoon, his mind had been on…other things. It was the first time since his daughter had arrived that he’d put off greeting Jessica in favor of getting reacquainted with his new wife.

Now he was regretting his decision as his home was overtaken by ghosts and goblins. Even some of the adults were in costume.

Shaking off his regret at not insisting on tighter security measures, he surveilled the growing crowd as dusk began to lengthen the shadows across the yard.

The jack-o’-lanterns were lit up, giving the area an eerie glow. White lights had been strung up in the trees, offering enough backlighting for everyone to see where they were going and whom they were talking to, and some security lights had been set up along the makeshift parking lot in the empty field between the house and corn maze, but it still wasn’t enough for Jarod’s peace of mind.

His mother always took into consideration the variety of guests who would show up on Halloween night. She made sure that, from stroller to walker, her guests would be entertained and enjoy themselves. Therefore, she had incorporated the arts-and-crafts hay bales for the littler guests, similar to the arrangement Lauren had made at the parish dinner. It was situated near some folding tables and chairs so that parents could keep their eyes on their children. Near that was the refreshment table, where Julie and Jason were stationed.