She poked his side. “I am not scantily clad. I’m wearing shorts and a T-shirt. There’s nothing scanty about my clothing.”
His eyes remained closed, but he was grinning now. “But I happen to know that you’re not wearing anything underneath that T-shirt and shorts.”
She quickly looked down at her chest. Nothing showed through the fabric, thank God. “Only you would think about that.”
“Any man would.”
“I don’t believe that,” she scoffed.
He laughed. “It’s what we do.”
She tried to pull up the sheet, but it was trapped under his legs. “Why don’t you just not think about it.”
He opened one eye. “Don’t think about it?”
“Do you want to hear another story or not?”
“Huh.”
She sighed. “Huh what?”
“You didn’t argue with me about needing a little action.”
He had her there. “I didn’t feel it was necessary to respond to such an incorrect assumption. What story would you like to hear?”
He’d gotten her all riled up again. He didn’t know why he got such a kick out of her indignation, but he did. “Am I rubbing you the wrong way, Sugar?”
She rolled her eyes. Oh, brother. “You’re not rubbing me at all. I’m putting these papers away,” she warned.
“Sorry. It’s just that you’re real easy—”
She interrupted. “That’s what all the boys tell me,” she joked.
“Yeah? But are you any good?”
Her eyes sparkled playfully. “What do you think?”
Noah didn’t answer at first. He stared into her incredible blue eyes and lost his train of thought. Sexual banter had always come as second nature to him, but suddenly he had no reply. An image of Jordan—sans T-shirt, sans shorts, making love—whizzed through his head and rendered him speechless.
He grabbed the beer bottles on the nightstand and headed for his room. His words were gruff when he finally answered her. “I think I’d better get out of here.”
TWO PHONES RANG SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Jordan woke to the sounds coming from Noah’s room. She rolled over in bed and opened her eyes a crack as she listened to Noah answer the ring that sounded like his cell phone. She heard him ask “Darlin’” to hold on a minute, and then he answered the other ring. He obviously didn’t like whatever the caller was saying to him because his voice turned hard. Then he began to snap out orders. She heard him explain in his don’t-mess-with-me tone that he expected results by noon.
A few minutes later he strolled through the door. “That was Joe Davis on the line…” he began.
“Before you tell me what he has to say, you might want to talk to Darlin’ if she’s still holding on.”
“Ah, hell…” he said as he hurried back into his room.
She could hear him apologizing to the caller as he returned. He dropped down on Jordan’s bed, grabbed the edge of her T-shirt when she tried to get up, and said, “Hold on. She’s right here.” He handed his cell phone to her. “Sidney wants to talk to you.”
She didn’t believe her sister was on the line until she said hello.
“How come you have Noah’s phone number?” Jordan asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve always known it. That isn’t important now. Theo told me what happened. Did you know about the body when we talked before?”
“Before what? I don’t remember,” she said. “Does everyone know what happened?”
“Dylan and Kate don’t know, but then they’re on their honeymoon, so Alec didn’t think we should bother them with any worries. Jordan, tell me, are you okay?”
“Yes,” she assured her sister. “The police sorted it all out, and I’m coming home tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything then. I promise. Sidney…” she began.
“Yes?”
“Do Mom and Dad know what happened?”
“Nick called and talked to both of them.”
“He shouldn’t have,” she said. “They’ll worry, and they both have enough to think about now, what with the trial and all.”
“They would have found out. Zack would have let it slip.”
“Who told Zack?”
There was a long pause, and then Sidney said, “I might have mentioned it to him.”
Jordan didn’t want to argue. She talked to her sister for a few more minutes to reassure her and ended the call. As she handed the cell phone to Noah, she said, “When I found that body, I should have called Dylan.”
“Why? Because Nick told your family?”
She nodded. “Sidney insists they would have found out…”
“They would have.”
“Maybe,” she allowed.
After she had dressed and packed her things, she zipped her bag shut and went to the connecting door. Noah was snapping his gun holster closed.
“You were about to tell me what Chief Davis had to say,” she said.
“Right. He told me Sheriff Randy has no idea where his brother is. He said he has people looking for him.”
“Do you believe that story?”
“No,” he answered. “The sheriff knows exactly where J. D. is. He probably wants to sit down with Chief Davis and work something out before J. D. comes in. That’s my guess anyway.”
“Would the sheriff of Grady County usually handle a murder investigation?’
“Yes, but Davis told me he’s on vacation.”
“Hawaii,” she volunteered. “Why doesn’t the FBI help the chief?”
“Davis seems to think he can handle this without the FBI’s interference.”
“What about Lloyd? Has Davis spoken to him yet?”
“No,” he answered. “No one can find him. His garage was unlocked, but Davis says that’s not unusual. A lot of people in this town don’t lock their doors.”
“I’ll bet they do now. After all, one of their own was murdered.”
“Except Professor MacKenna wasn’t one of them. He didn’t own the house. He rented it, and he kept to himself. Very antisocial. No one really knew him.”
“I think Lloyd knows what happened. If he didn’t kill the professor, I’ll bet he knows who did. He was so nervous when I picked up the car. I think he knew the body was in the trunk.”
“I’d say he’s the primary suspect.”
“He couldn’t wait for me to leave,” she said. “And that was peculiar because when I first drove the car in, he hit on me and kept trying to get me to go out with him. He tried to keep me in town.”
“Did he continue to try to get you to go out with him after you threatened him?”
“I did not…oh, okay, I guess I did. But it was all so stupid. He asked me what I would do if my car wasn’t ready when I came back the second time, and before I could answer, he asked me if I would hurt him. I believe I agreed that I would.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t see. Lloyd happens to be a very big man. I would have to stand on a chair to hit him.”
“A chair, huh?”
She was irritated that he was making fun of her. “I went over all of this with Chief Davis, and I believe you were standing right there. Weren’t you paying attention?”
“Lloyd will turn up,” he predicted.
She nodded. “When do we meet Chief Davis at the professor’s house?”
He checked the time. “In an hour.”
“Would you mind if we stopped at the grocery store first? I’d like to photocopy the rest of the research papers. It shouldn’t take long, I promise.”
“All of those boxes need to go to Davis?” he said.
“Copies don’t have to go to him. I’m going to ask Candy if she’ll mail them to Boston for me.”
Candy was working at the front desk and was all in favor of helping out and making some extra spending money. Jordan filled out a form with the necessary mailing information, told Candy she would bring her the boxes to be mailed, paid her in advance, and headed back to her room.
&nbs
p; Noah was leaning against his door talking to Amelia Ann when she returned. Amelia Ann had brought him coffee and a basket of homemade cinnamon rolls. Jordan noticed that she had put on makeup. The blouse she wore was tucked into her slacks, and the top three buttons were undone. Ten to one she was wearing a push-up bra. Amelia Ann’s nervous laughter followed her as Jordan walked into Noah’s room, grabbed the car keys from the desk, and said, “I’m going to start loading these boxes in the car.”
“I’m right behind you,” he answered.
Sure you are, she thought to herself, just as soon as Amelia Ann finishes flirting.
She carried one box outside, rounded the corner of the building, and immediately noticed their car’s right rear tire was riding low.
“Great,” she whispered. The tire was either going flat or needed air, and the way her luck had been going, she’d wager it was flat. She dropped the box on the pavement, slipped the key into the trunk lock, and stepped back as the lid popped open.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She couldn’t move. She shut her eyes, opened them, and nothing had changed.
“Oh, come on,” she whispered.
She slammed the trunk lid down and ran as fast as she could back to Noah’s room. His door was closed. She pounded on it with her fist.
He knew something was wrong the second he looked at her face. “Jordan? What’s the matter?”
She grabbed his shirt and panted to get the words out. “There’s a dead body in the trunk of our car.”
LLOYD WAS FOLDED UP LIKE A CONTORTIONIST. ONE LEG WAS bent underneath him, and the other was pressed against the back of his head. He died with the most startled look on his face, not pained, just startled, like a big glassy-eyed carp on the end of a fishhook. Jordan didn’t think she was going to be able to get his expression out of her head for a long, long time.
“You’re right, Jordan. Lloyd was a big man.” Noah stood in front of the open trunk, peering down at the body. He glanced over his shoulder to look at her.
She sat on a stone wall, waiting for him to finish his inspection of the body. She refused to look at poor Lloyd a second longer.
“He’s not in a Ziploc bag,” she commented weakly. She couldn’t imagine why that was important to her, but at the moment it was.
“No, he isn’t,” Noah agreed.
Chief Joe Davis stood beside him. The two men were now on a first-name basis. Murder had a way of cutting through formalities. Davis leaned into the trunk and then said, “So we agree? One blow, back of the head. Then he was stuffed into the trunk, right?”
Noah nodded. “Looks that way, Joe.”
“The blow cracked his skull,” Joe concluded. “Had to be someone strong. Someone real strong.”
In unison the two men turned and looked at Jordan. Were they wondering if she were strong enough to kill Lloyd? She folded her arms and frowned at Noah. He’d better not be thinking such a crazy thought.
Joe looked at Lloyd again. “What’s going on?” he asked in frustration. “Two bodies in what? Two days? Three?”
“Is this your first homicide?” Noah asked.
“Second if you count Professor MacKenna,” he said. “Though I didn’t see the body, the investigation is on my shoulders now. This is the second murder Serenity’s ever had. We’re a peaceful community. That is, we were until your girlfriend hit town and men started dropping like flies.”
Noah let Joe’s assumption that Jordan was his girlfriend slide. “You know she didn’t do this. She didn’t kill either one of them.”
“Lloyd was my primary suspect. He had her car in his garage, so he had the opportunity.”
“What about motive?” Noah asked.
Joe shook his head. “I hadn’t figured that out yet. I’m gonna get some help. I’ve got two sheriff’s deputies driving over, and they both have more experience.”
“With homicides?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve also got detectives from Bourbon on their way too.”
“Where’s the coroner?” Noah asked as he checked the time. “We’ve been waiting for forty-five minutes now. And where are the lab techs?”
“Things move considerably slower in small towns, you know that. Everyone has to come in to Serenity from other places. They’re all on their way,” Joe assured him.
“You know I’ve got friends who can help.”
Joe nodded. “I know, and if I need the FBI’s help, I’ll ask.”
“What about Sheriff Randy?”
“I’ll be meeting with him this afternoon. We were gonna meet this morning. He called last night,” he explained. “But now that I’ve got to deal with this situation,” he said, nodding to Lloyd, “I had to push his meeting back and the meeting you and I have at MacKenna’s house.”
“I want to go with you,” Noah said.
Joe shook his head. “No. Randy knows me. He’ll clam up about his brother around you.”
“Where’s his brother? And don’t try to tell me I won’t be talking to him.”
“I don’t know where J. D. is, but Randy will tell me. Then we’ll decide what to do.”
What was there to decide? J. D. had assaulted Jordan. He should be dragged into jail and locked up. Nothing much to decide about that.
“If you don’t bring J. D. in, I will.”
Joe cocked his head and frowned. “Is that a threat?”
Noah snapped. “Damn right it is.”
Joe put his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. “Okay, okay. I hear you. But please, let me talk to Randy alone. I live in this town,” he reminded him. “I’ve got to try to do this the right way, so let me take this one step at a time.”
Unlike Joe, Noah didn’t care or need to get along with anyone. He was about to tell him that he wasn’t going to be patient and that, one way or another, he would be talking to both Dickey brothers, but Jordan drew his attention.
Jordan scooted off the wall and walked over to him. She brushed her hand down his arm, and said, “Joe, Noah and I would like to help any way we can. Isn’t that right, Noah?” He glanced down at her. When he didn’t respond, she leaned into his side and repeated, “Isn’t that right?”
“Sure,” Noah finally answered. This was one of the most absurd situations he’d ever encountered. There was a dead man in the trunk, an inexperienced and possibly inept policeman running the investigation, and a woman who was slowly driving him nuts and now wanted him to be nice.
“I guess you two will be staying on in Serenity a while longer,” Joe stated. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, we will,” Noah said. “So far Jordan’s the only connection between the professor and Lloyd.”
“I’ll go tell Amelia Ann we’ll need the rooms again tonight,” Jordan offered.
Noah grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “You stay close to me.”
“I’m going to—”
“She already knows,” Noah said as he tilted his head toward the window behind the wall. Amelia Ann and Candy were both watching, wide-eyed. Fortunately, from their angle they couldn’t see inside the trunk of the car.
Joe suggested they both go back into the motel. “You two don’t have to wait with me. I’ll call you as soon as I’m finished here and finished talking to Randy.”
Noah put his arm around Jordan and headed inside.
“Noah?” Joe called.
“Yes?”
“You’ll be needing another car.”
“Looks that way.” Noah felt Jordan’s shoulders slump under his arm. “You okay, Sugar?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she answered with a sigh. “But I’m beginning to think this friendly little town isn’t so friendly after all.”
ALTHOUGH AGENTS CHADDICK AND STREET FROM THE FBI’s regional office hadn’t officially been assigned to the investigation, they were doing as much as they could to help Noah figure out what was going on.
The two men brought Noah and Jordan yet another car, a Toyota Camry. Jordan, who was beyond spooked at thi
s point, insisted that one of them open the trunk and have a look inside before she got into the car. Agent Street had a rather warped sense of what was funny. He thought it was humorous that Nick’s sister had found another body and laughingly called her a corpse magnet.
Chaddick handed Noah a large manila envelope. “Everything you asked for is in there,” he said. “There are copies of MacKenna’s bank statements for the past year, but I’ll go back further if you want.”
“MacKenna was into something all right,” Street said. “For eight months he’s only made cash deposits. Five thousand dollars every couple of weeks.”
“And he drove all the way to Austin to make those deposits,” Chaddick added. “He also purchased a new car eight months ago, and the mileage indicates he’s done some serious driving since then. One of the assistants at the college where he taught told me the professor received an inheritance.”
“Strange inheritance,” Street said. “Cash every couple of weeks that can’t be traced back to anyone.”
“What about his phone records?” Noah asked.
“They’re in the envelope too,” Chaddick said. “In the six months that he lived in that house he only received a couple of telemarketing calls. No calls made out either, except for one very short call someone made a half hour before J. D. Dickey says he got a tip that there was a body in Jordan’s car.”
“Are you telling me someone called J. D. from inside MacKenna’s house?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“But I called the professor,” Jordan interjected. “When I got to Serenity. He had given me his number. That call has to show somewhere.”
“Then what about cell phone records?” Noah asked the agents.
Street answered. “We can’t find any record of a cell phone listed in MacKenna’s name. Jordan, if you’ll give me the number you called, we’ll check it out.”
“We went ahead and had a couple of our people process MacKenna’s car. I’m betting the only prints they find are his,” Chaddick said. “Joe Davis is in way over his head, but he won’t ask for help from us. You want us to push our way in? We could take over and get you two out of here.”