“I picked you up a couple of times here when we dated,” he finally said.
So, no worm-can-opening today. Good. Because Nicky thought that maybe talking about it would be the same skin-cutting experience as being inside the place. It’d been a mistake to come here, and like the other times she’d felt this way, she wanted to run. Not to just any ordinary place but to Z.T.’s old house.
Fifteen minutes. That’s all it would take her to run there if she cut through the old ranch trails and the pastures. Fifteen minutes before she could hide in a safe, quiet place with no drunk fathers calling her names.
Of course, she couldn’t go there. Not only because of the investigation but also because Garrett likely wouldn’t let her start running without expecting her to explain what the heck was going on.
“The dust got to me,” she lied, wiping her eyes. Nicky stepped around him and went into the yard. It helped. She could catch her breath, could try to tamp down all these stupid emotions.
She could leave.
And that’s what she started to do, but Garrett stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Judging from the look on his face, he was getting that opener ready for the worm can.
* * *
GARRETT WASN’T SURE that stopping Nicky was the smartest idea he’d ever had. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about what was going on in her head. But that stark look in her eyes tugged at him.
Because he was likely the reason for it.
Not just his attitude about the lease but also their past. He couldn’t undo the past and couldn’t pretend to be happy about the lease so Garrett just chose another topic. One that might get her mind on something else. In turn that something else might get that look off her face.
“Why are you here anyway?” he asked.
“I was on my way into town to sign a report for Clay, and I couldn’t resist a trip down memory lane.”
He glanced around the place. “Sometimes memory lane is best forgotten.”
That got the reaction he wanted. She smiled. It didn’t last and probably wasn’t genuine, but he’d take it.
“Your folks moved right around the time you left to go to college,” he commented. “Where are they now? And what about your brother? Where did he end up?”
She glanced away again, and he wanted to curse himself for the nerve that he’d obviously hit. “Kyle’s in San Antonio. My mother moved to Virginia to be closer to her sister. And my dad passed away.” She paused only the span of a breath. “What about you? Why are you here?”
“I’m on my way to sign a report, too. If I’d known you had to come in, I could have given you a ride.” Man, she probably thought he had multiple personalities or something. One minute he was trying to give her the boot. The next, trying to give her a ride.
She shook her head. “I had some errands to do, too.”
He got the feeling that was a lie, but he didn’t call her on it. “How’d your visit with Roman go?”
“Great.” No smile, but she seemed relieved with not only the topic but the result. “He’s letting us stay in the house, and I’m sure you saw the RV he brought.”
Garrett nodded. He saw it and approved. Well, as much as he could approve of any of this. It would get Nicky off his desk.
“Should I ask why Roman doesn’t live at home?” she said.
“No.” He paused, looked away. Since that was rude, he felt the need to explain a little. “He owns a rodeo business in San Antonio and has a house there. But he also owns the Granger Ranch.”
“Yes. I heard your mom mention something about that last night. And she said your cousins still own all the land north of here and are trying to buy more. Pretty soon Wrangler’s Creek isn’t going to be big enough for the Grangers.”
It already wasn’t big enough. The only saving grace right now was that his cousins didn’t have a working ranch on their land. They had a large spread just one county over. That was in part why Lawson worked for him in Wrangler’s Creek. Also in part because there was some feuding going on between him and his brothers. A feud Garrett didn’t want to know anything about.
“How was your visit with Lady?” she asked.
Well, it hadn’t been great, as Nicky had no doubt witnessed from the window. “Lady doesn’t seem to be grief stricken.”
“How so?” But it was a question meant to poke fun at him. Because she knew that Lady had been all over him.
“As my mother would say, she wants to get in my pants. That won’t happen. So, I told her I wasn’t interested.” Of course, he’d had to say variations of that not interested several times before the woman got the message.
The silence came, and it wasn’t a good silence, either. It was the awkward kind so he stepped to the side in case she wanted to leave. She did. Nicky immediately headed for her SUV and got in. She couldn’t leave, though, because Garrett was parked behind her so he went to his truck and drove away. But not before giving the old house one last look.
What the hell had gone on here?
Because he was no longer certain that he was the one responsible for those tears he’d seen in Nicky’s eyes.
Garrett drove into town and parked in front of the Wrangler’s Creek Police Station. Nicky didn’t, though. She drove past him, no doubt to run those errands she’d mentioned. Probably to avoid him, as well. Since he’d been avoiding her, Garrett couldn’t fault her for that.
He went inside and made a beeline for Clay’s office at the back of the building. Not a long walk since, like everything else in the town of Wrangler’s Creek, it wasn’t that big. He found his soon-to-be brother-in-law seated at his desk.
“Anything new on the John Doe?” Garrett immediately asked him.
“Not really.” Clay stood, poured Garrett and himself some coffee. “It might be a week before the CSIs can go through the whole place. Did you know there were secret rooms?”
“Yeah. There’s one off the library. Another in the master bedroom.” Garrett was about to take a sip of the coffee, but he got a bad feeling. “Please don’t tell me you found another body.”
“No, but it just means there are more places the CSIs will have to examine and maybe process.”
“Process? You’re not talking about collecting fingerprints, DNA and things like that?” Garrett’s mind went straight to a bad place.
He’d obviously seen too many crime shows, and a little porn, because he thought of all the possible DNA in the place. His DNA and Nicky’s. Of course, it wasn’t as if everyone didn’t already know that Nicky and he had been together like that. Still, he doubted she would want that old water, old bridge brought up again.
“They’re looking for the John Doe’s clothes and anything else that will help us identify him,” Clay explained. He lifted his eyebrow as if he’d known what Garrett was thinking. “If he was murdered, the killer could have removed them. But if something else happened, the clothes might still be around.”
“Right. Of course.” And Garrett hated that he sounded relieved about it.
“They’ll collect DNA from the body. From his boxers, hat and wedding ring, as well. And his clothes, if they’re found. Here’s the report,” he added.
Clay slid it in front of Garrett, and Garrett sat down so he could look it over. Everything was there. Everything that they knew so far, that is.
“By the way, Nicky seemed upset when I mentioned the guy might be married,”