Mountain of Evidence Read online

  He couldn’t decide if the question was evidence of her faith in him and his team—or an accusation. “I’ll start by getting a crime scene team to go over your house. Maybe they’ll find some sign of a break-in that we missed. I’ll have my tech experts look at the bank security cam footage. Maybe they can enhance the image to make identifying the man in the picture easier.”

  “I could talk to Audra, and maybe Dane’s coworkers,” Eve said. “Maybe one of them knows something.”

  “No.” He didn’t wait for her reaction, merely closed the space between them and took her hand. “Whoever did this, they could be dangerous. You need to go about your regular life and let me handle this. If anyone is watching you, let them believe you don’t even know the key is missing. Don’t get involved.”

  “What do you mean, if someone is watching me?” Instead of pulling away, she leaned into him. “If you’re saying that just to frighten me, it’s working.”

  He forced himself to release his hold on her. It was either that or pull her close and kiss that terrified look away. But that kind of he-man behavior had never been his style, so he took a step back, and kept his expression neutral and professional. He slid a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. “If you see anyone suspicious, or if anything happens to make you feel uncomfortable or uneasy, you call me. Anytime, day or night.”

  She stared at the card. “Do you think I’m in danger?”

  He wanted to reassure her that she would be fine, that he would never let anyone harm her, and there was no need for her to worry. But he respected her too much to lie to her. “You’re probably fine,” he said. “But I like to exercise what we call an abundance of caution. You don’t have to change anything you’re doing now, just be aware and report anything suspicious.”

  She compressed her lips together and nodded, then tucked his card into her purse. “Does this mean I’m going to see you again?” she asked.

  The question caught him off guard. For a flash of an instant, his all-business demeanor slipped and he stared at her. “Would you like that?”

  She very deliberately looked him up and down, that ghost of a smile playing about her full lips again. “If I am in danger, you look like a handy man to have around, that’s all.”

  He knew a challenge when he heard one—and he was more than ready to meet this one. “I plan on sticking close,” he said. He’d leave it up to her how close he could get, but the next few weeks—or months, or maybe even years—with her could prove very interesting.

  Chapter Five

  “There you are. I was beginning to think you’d been arrested.” Sarah greeted Eve from behind the wire frame of an archway she was filling with greenery and fresh flowers when Eve returned to the flower shop that afternoon.

  “Sorry I was gone so long.” Eve stashed her purse under the counter and moved in to help trim the rosebuds, baby’s breath and tree fern Sarah was inserting into test tube vases and wiring to the arch.

  “What happened?” Sarah asked. She didn’t stop working, but she fixed Eve with an expectant gaze.

  “I ended up speaking to the Ranger Brigade commander.” Sarah clipped a broken stem from a branch of baby’s breath, then began separating the branch into smaller pieces.

  “Oh? What was he like?”

  “He was...nice.” Less prickly and much kinder than she had expected. She had thought he would view Dane as a criminal and her as bad by association, and possibly even an accomplice. Instead, he’d been sympathetic. Even understanding, if a little too nosy for her comfort.

  “Nice?” Sarah set aside the coil of florist’s wire and turned to face Eve, hands on hips. “Nice how? Nice charming? Nice looking?”

  “Both, I guess.” Eve poked a stem of fern into one of the test tubes and added a rosebud. Powerful. Sexy.

  “You’re blushing!” Sarah chuckled. “Oh, this has got to be good. Tell me everything. Are you going to go out with him?”

  “What? No!” She gave up on the flowers and set them aside. “I went there to turn over the stuff Dane sent me, not to get a date.” But she’d flirted with him. She hadn’t been able to stop herself.

  “You’re clearly attracted to this guy. I haven’t seen you blush over anyone in months. And the plan was you would go out with anyone eligible.” Sarah’s smile faded. “Or is he not eligible?”

  “He’s even older than Dane and he has two teenage daughters.”

  “So he’s married.”

  “Divorced. But he’s older, with older children. Like Dane.”

  “So you’re attracted to more mature men.” Sarah elbowed her. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Sarah, I’m not going to date this man. I mean, he could end up arresting Dane, and that would be...” She let her voice trail away.

  “Yeah, awkward.” Sarah picked up the wire and clippers once more. “So what happened?”

  “I gave him the letter and he insisted on driving me to my house to retrieve the safety deposit box key Dane gave me that first year we were dating.”

  “I guess he wanted to see if it was a match,” Sarah said.

  “I think he didn’t want me opening the box and taking out anything incriminating before he had a chance to see it.”

  “You wouldn’t do that,” Sarah said. “Would you?”

  “Of course I wouldn’t.”

  “Not in your right mind, of course, but love messes with people’s minds.”

  “I’m not in love with Dane anymore.” That was true. She had cared deeply about him at one time, but over the last six months of their relationship, and in the six months since they had broken up, she had come to see him in a different light. He was a good man, but he kept his emotions too tightly controlled. She needed a man who was able to show her love more, the kind of man who could be silly with a child or sentimental with her. He didn’t have to be just like her, he merely had to be willing to meet her halfway when it came to expressing his feelings.

  “Okay, so you got the key from your house,” Sarah said. “Then what?”

  “We didn’t get the key. It wasn’t there.”

  “You mean you couldn’t find it. Couldn’t you remember where you put it?”

  “I knew I put it in the jewelry box on my dresser. But it wasn’t there.”

  “Maybe you just forgot, or—”

  “I didn’t forget. The commander thinks someone broke into my place and took it.”

  “Someone broke into your place? When?” Sarah put an arm around Eve’s shoulders. “Oh honey, that’s so awful. What else did they take?”

  “They didn’t take anything else, except the key. And they didn’t do any damage. I wouldn’t have suspected anything if not for that missing key.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t interrupt, just listen.”

  Sarah covered her lips with one hand and nodded, eyes wide.

  Eve told her about going to the bank and discovering someone had been there before them—someone who claimed to be Dane Trask. “I watched the security camera footage,” Eve said. “The man was similar to Dane, but it wasn’t Dane. And he had a key to get into the deposit box. I have Dane’s key, so this impersonator must have had mine.”

  “Or he obtained another key somehow.”

  “The bank only issues two. If you lose one, you have to pay a couple hundred dollars to have the lock drilled out and replaced.”

  “Huh.” Sarah clipped a foot-long length of wire and wrapped one end twice around the neck of a flower-filled test tube. “If it wasn’t Dane, who was it?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what the commander and his officers are trying to find out.” She picked up the clippers again and snipped at a cluster of miniature roses. The tension of the day had drained her. All she wanted to do was go home, take a hot shower and go to bed. Alone.

  Liar, her conscience whispered. S
he wanted to go home to a man who loved her, one who would hold her and comfort her and declare his intention to slay dragons if need be to console her.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” Sarah patted Eve’s shoulder. “A man stopped by to see you just before lunch. A really good-looking guy. Early thirties, nice suit, no wedding ring.” Sarah ticked off these points like a bird-watcher listing the identifying features of a rare avian find. Eve knew the genus and species of this particular rarity by heart. Where she was concerned, at least, hominid eligible—the eligible man—was a rare find indeed.

  “What was his name?” Eve asked. “Did he say why he wanted to see me?” Maybe one of the men she had met online decided to come meet her in person—a scary thought, given that information about where she lived and worked was supposed to be kept confidential.

  “He just said he had been hoping to meet you. He asked if he could leave his card on your desk. I was busy putting this thing together.” Sarah indicated the arch. “So I said yes. Then I forgot about it until just now.”

  Eve squeezed around Sarah and headed for her office. She spotted the business card while she was still in the hall, a small rectangle of white card stock in the center of her desk blotter. Her mysterious visitor hadn’t tossed the card onto the desk. He had place it precisely in the center of the desktop.

  “So, who was he?” Sarah crowded into the doorway beside Eve. “Did he say what he wanted?”

  Eve leaned forward and plucked the card from the blotter. “Toby Masterson,” she read. Her heart beat harder as the smaller print under his name registered. “He’s an accountant with TDC Enterprises.” The company Dane had worked for.

  The company that had accused him of serious crimes.

  “Is there a note?” Sarah asked.

  Eve flipped the card over. This side was blank. “Did he say anything else you haven’t told me?” she asked.

  “No, I swear.” Sarah actually crossed herself. “But he seemed really nice. Very friendly.”

  Sarah made friends with everyone. She had a knack for getting a smile or at least a pleasant word out of the surliest customers. But just because Mr. Masterson succumbed to Sarah’s charm didn’t mean he was a nice person. “Did he say anything else?” she asked.

  “Only that he’d stop by again some time.” Sarah’s smile broadened. “Just think, you might have two handsome men pursuing you. Wouldn’t that be a nice change?”

  “I don’t want to be pursued.” Especially by a man she’d never met who sought her out. She frowned at his card again. Was it possible she had met him, and had forgotten? She shook her head and tucked the card in her desk drawer. She didn’t have time to fret over Mr. Masterson. She had work to do. “You can go home as soon as you’re done with that arch,” she told Sarah. “I’ll close up the shop. I’ll probably stay late, working on the order for the Salazar wedding.”

  “Thanks. I was going to ask if I could leave early. Robby is having a mini meltdown over having to pick out a tux for prom at the end of next month. I promised I’d help him out.”

  Eve tried to imagine Sarah’s youngest child, who at sixteen was already six-foot-four-inches and probably weighed all of 120 pounds, in a tuxedo, and failed. Did they even make formal wear with legs that long? “Good luck,” she said. “If you need to leave now, I can finish the arch.”

  “I’m almost done. Manuel promised he’d be by a little before five to pick it up to deliver to the Elks Hall for some kind of ceremony they’re having tonight.”

  Eve settled in to work and was soon absorbed in planning arrangements, calculating flower totals and filling out order forms. Sarah left and Manuel came and went. At six o’clock she switched off the lights in the front room, locked the door and turned the sign to Closed, then returned to her desk. She was on her way back to her desk when her cell phone rang, with a call from Cara Mead, Dane’s administrative assistant.

  “Cara! What is it? Have you heard something about Dane?” Eve answered.

  “Not a thing,” Cara said. “When he does surface again, I’m going to give him what-for for worrying us all so much.”

  Eve pictured the petite brown-haired Cara standing on tiptoe to grab the six-two Dane by the ear to pull him down to her level. “I suppose you’ve seen those horrible reward posters around town,” she said. “When I spotted one in the post office this morning, I felt a little sick. I just can’t believe Dane would do the things he’s accused of.”

  “I don’t believe it either,” Cara said. “I think someone is trying to cover up something and making Dane the scapegoat. That’s sort of why I’m calling.”

  “Oh?” Eve sank into her desk chair once more, the flower order forgotten.

  “I’m not working with TDC anymore,” Cara said. “With Dane gone, it was pretty clear they wanted me out of the way, too. I have a new job, as coordinator for Wilderness Conservation.”

  “Congratulations.” Eve tried to put some enthusiasm behind the words, but this news pained her. Had Cara left her job because she didn’t believe Dane was coming back? “That must be interesting work.”

  “It is. And one of the first things on my agenda when I took on the position was looking into the Mary Lee Mine site. It was one of the last projects Dane worked on and I think he found something wrong up there. I was able to send in some soil and water samples for testing and they came back way out of whack. My group is trying to pressure TDC to do more testing, and to take responsibility for the test results. We’re holding a rally and a press conference at the mine tomorrow and I was hoping you’d agree to be there.”

  “Me? Cara, that really isn’t my thing.”

  “The more people we have present, the bigger impact we’ll make, and the more pressure we’ll put on TDC,” Cara said. “I really think this is what Dane would want us to do. Please? It won’t take much of your time.”

  Eve wavered. She had plenty of work here at the shop, but it wasn’t anything Sarah couldn’t handle. “I’ll think about it,” she hedged.

  “We’re meeting at the grocery store parking lot at eight to drive up to the mine,” Cara said. “I’d really, really appreciate it if you could be there.”

  Eve ended the call and her chair creaked as she leaned back. With her love of flowers and plants, environmental activism seemed a good fit. But she had never been one to make waves or put herself in the spotlight. She preferred to sit back and enjoy the flowers.

  She had to admit that if people didn’t speak out to protect the environment, how long would it be before the flowers she loved disappeared altogether? She could almost hear Dane asking the question. He had a way of puncturing her fantasy balloons with practical reality.

  Still, they had had a lot of good times together. She recalled an outing where they had visited a lavender farm. A farm worker had taken a photo of her and Dane sitting in a field of lavender, all smiles. It was one of her favorite photos and even after they had broken up, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to put it away.

  Her gaze roamed over the office. The small space didn’t have room for much in the way of personalization or decoration, but she had managed to squeeze in a small bookcase, which she filled with a few figurines and pictures that were meaningful to her, including the lavender fields photograph. She scanned the shelves and realized with a jolt it wasn’t there. The space it usually occupied, second shelf down, all the way over to the right, was empty.

  Had Sarah moved it for some reason? No, she wouldn’t do something like that. Had someone else taken it, then?

  But why? Who would want a picture of her and Dane together?

  Fear chilled her. Anxious not to be alone one moment longer, she collected her sweater and purse, and left via the rear entrance. She felt better once she was outside. Plenty of people were out and about this early in the evening: shoppers, diners, other people headed home from work. She waved to a couple she knew and forced herself to walk
calmly to her car. She thought about calling the commander to tell him about the missing picture, but quickly discarded the idea. He’d think she was a nut. First she couldn’t find the safe deposit key. Now she had misplaced a photograph. And who kept a photograph of a man she broke up with six months ago?

  There was probably a good explanation for all of this. She should have looked behind the shelf. Maybe the picture had merely fallen down. Or maybe Sarah did have it. She’d find out tomorrow. Meanwhile, she was going to go home and not think about it. Ignoring problems might not make them vanish, but sometimes it was the best coping mechanism. If only everything in life could be dealt with so simply.

  Chapter Six

  Tuesday morning, Grant dialed his ex-wife’s number and waited for the phone to ring. He would have preferred to call his daughters directly, but he had learned the hard way that they both seldom answered. He could have texted, but communicating that way wasn’t the same as hearing his girls’ voices. Since they were both on spring break, he hoped by calling early he would find them at home.

  “Hello.” Angela’s voice was cool and professional—her telephone voice. Caller ID would have shown her the call was from him, but she always answered as if speaking to a stranger. Perhaps that’s what they had become, in the end.

  “Hello, Angela,” he said. “Are the girls around? I’d like to speak to them.” No small talk, asking how she was doing or what was new in her life. She refused to respond, so he’d given up.

  “I’ll see if they’re available.” As if they were busy executives, not teenagers.

  “Hey, Daddy!” Janie’s greeting made his heart lift. He pictured her, smile full of braces, red-gold hair in a wild tangle, hazel eyes sparkling. “When are you coming to visit?” she asked. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  “I’ve missed you, too, Pumpkin,” he said. He ignored her question about a visit. Taking any kind of leave from a job he had just started was out of the question, but work had kept him away from them all their lives, and he hated repeating himself. One day, when they were adults with jobs and responsibilities, maybe they’d understand. “What have you been up to?”