IN THE SHORT DISTANCE between the police station and the Cowboy Corral, painful memories cascaded through Nick’s head. His chest tightened with thoughts of the three days that he’d been unable to get in contact with Danielle. His body remembered intimately the alarm it had felt when he’d realized nobody had seen her during that time and the horror of ultimately finding her dead in that motel room.
His stomach clenched and a slight nausea rose up in him as the memories continued to play in his head. He’d known something was wrong—that something was terribly wrong.
It had taken him months to finally accept that she’d committed suicide, but before coming to that acceptance he’d gone around and around with Wendall.
The chief of police had dismissed Nick’s concerns and refused to begin any kind of investigation into Danielle’s disappearance despite Nick pressing for one. There was part of Nick that had never quite forgiven Gary Wendall for that.
He consciously shoved the memories aside as Lexie parked in front of the café. There was absolutely no reason to believe Lauren’s disappearance was in any way connected to Danielle’s tragic death, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lexie was destined for the same kind of heartbreak he’d suffered.
Still suffered.
He willed away all thoughts of Danielle as they got out of the car. Lexie appeared small and achingly vulnerable as she hesitated outside the door to wait for him to catch up with her.
A surge of unexpected protectiveness filled Nick’s chest. It was crazy, he scarcely knew Lexie except for what Lauren had told him about her. There was no reason for him to be emotionally vested in the drama going on in her life, and yet for some reason he was definitely involved.
He told himself it had nothing to do with the beauty of her long-lashed green eyes behind those ridiculously large glasses, nothing to do with the fact that she intrigued him more than a little bit. Rather he tried to convince himself his interest in all this had everything to do with finding a woman who had become a good friend.
The minute they stepped into the café, every head in the place turned to look at them. “I guess pink streaks in a person’s hair isn’t that common here,” Lexie muttered beneath her breath as she sidled closer to him.
“Don’t worry, the only ones who bite have no teeth,” he replied.
She looked up at him and smiled. It was the first real smile he’d seen from her and it nearly stole his breath away. Bright and beautiful, it transformed her features into something more than pretty, something warm and inviting.
“Come on, I’m hankering for some of Mabel’s fried potatoes and eggs.” He took her beneath her elbow and led her to a booth, surprised to realize she was shaking slightly.
Lauren had told him that her sister didn’t do well in crowds. He knew the effort she was putting forth was because of her love and concern for her sister. It only made him more determined to support her through whatever happened next.
She paused before sitting down and looked around at the other diners. “I thought we’d just ask some questions. I didn’t plan on actually having a meal.”
“Did you eat breakfast this morning?” he asked.
“I never eat breakfast,” she replied.
“And you’ve never had a missing sister before,” he said and pointed to the booth. “Besides, you’ll get more answers to questions if we finesse them out of people.”
She frowned as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but slid into the booth and picked up the menu. She stared at it only a minute and then tossed it aside. “I feel like I’m wasting time here. Breakfast isn’t important. Finding Lauren is all that matters.” Her voice held a wealth of frustration and impatience.
“You have to eat,” he replied, understanding the urgency that was racing through her. “And you have to trust me.” He looked up as the waitress appeared at their table. “Hey, Marge, how’s it going?” he asked the older woman who had been waitressing at the café since he’d been a little boy.
“Like it’s always gone. My feet hurt, my back is killing me and nobody tips worth a damn in this place.” She flashed him a grin that set the deep wrinkles in her face dancing.
“Has Bo been in today?” he asked.
“Bo? No, in fact, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.” Her gaze slid to Lexie. “Why? Is there a problem?”
“No, no problem,” he replied hurriedly. “Marge, this is Lauren Forbes’s sister, Lexie.”
Marge nodded. “I can see the resemblance.”
“When was the last time you saw Lauren?” Lexie asked.
Marge looked back at Nick, her eyes narrowed. “What’s going on, Nick?”
Nick could feel Lexie’s frustration growing by the second, but he ignored her. “Lexie’s in town to visit her sister, but Lauren seems to have gone missing and we’re trying to hunt her down. Has she been in lately?”
Marge frowned. “I think she was in Monday for lunch, but I haven’t seen her since then. Now, what can I get for the two of you?”
They ordered and once Marge left the table Lexie released a deep sigh. “That was no help. We need to question everyone in here, see who saw Lauren when.”
“Just sit tight. Trust me when I tell you before we finish our breakfast you’ll have spoken to everyone in this place.” He could tell that she didn’t believe him but she settled back in the booth, took her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes. “Not much sleep last night?” he asked sympathetically.
Her eyes were the most amazing shade of green with just enough shadow in them to be slightly mysterious. “I don’t think I slept much more than an hour through the whole night.” She slid the glasses back on. “I just can’t wrap my head around this.” Her gaze held a hint of vulnerability as she looked at him. “I’m scared.”
He could tell what the confession cost her by the way her gaze skittered away from his and from the telltale pulse of a delicate vein in her neck. Before he could respond Jim Caskie ambled by the table to say hello to Nick.
It was just as he’d suspected—as they ate their breakfast almost everyone who was dining in the café found a reason to stop by and say hello. Lexie merely picked at her eggs and nibbled on toast, more interested in what people had to say than in the meal in front of her.
Nick knew the people of Widow Creek were leery of strangers, but he also knew they were a curious bunch. And Lexie, with the pink streak in her hair and her pink sequined blouse definitely sparked plenty of curiosity.
The one thing that didn’t happen was answers. Nobody had seen Lauren since Monday, at least nobody who would admit to it. And nobody had seen Bo for the past couple of days. This information eased some of Nick’s concern.
Even the most levelheaded women occasionally went crazy over a man. It was possible the two had gone off together for a romantic tryst and Lauren had just forgotten to make arrangements for her dogs or had wound up being gone longer than she’d initially planned.
“Do you know where Bo lives?” Lexie asked the minute they were back in her car.
“Yeah, you want to go by there?” He wasn’t surprised when she nodded her head.
After giving her directions, he tried to think of something, anything, he could tell her that might ease some of the tension that rode her slender shoulders and darkened her eyes.
“So, Lauren told me you’re something of a computer geek,” he finally said, wanting to connect with her on a more personal level. “What exactly is it that you do?”
“I work for the cybercrime unit for the FBI. Mostly I hunt