It didn’t take long to determine that Gary Bystrom and his wife had deposited over half a million dollars over a period of about fifteen years, distributed over a number of different bank and investment accounts. Many amounts were small enough not to catch anyone’s attention, but there were too many of them. A decent supplemental income. Colin was going to have to ask his boss what the source of that money was, and then bring a forensic accountant in to verify the truth of his answer.
If it turned out a trust account had been paying out, Colin was up shit creek without a paddle—unless Mayor Noah Chandler chose to hand him one.
* * *
DELIGHT BLOSSOMED IN Nell the moment Colin turned into the parking lot of the Wolf Creek Resort that evening. The elevation was higher than the town of Angel Butte, which meant the ground was still white from the last storm. The outdoor ice-skating rink was surrounded by a two-foot bank of snow. More snow weighed down the branches of small evergreen trees scattered throughout the grounds. The ones around the rink were strung with tiny white lights. The restaurant he escorted her into looked out onto the rink.
They were seated by a window, and her gaze kept being drawn to the winter wonderland outside.
“You are planning to take me skating?” she murmured, as she closed her menu, decision made.
Colin laughed. “There’s a reason I told you to wear pants.”
“Oh! That’s going to be so much fun.” Her gaze strayed to the window again, and the sight of a man crashing to the ice made her wince. “I think.”
“You said you knew what to do. I’m counting on you keeping me on my feet.”
She laughed at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
His expression was appropriately surprised. “Why would I be kidding?”
“Because you outweigh me by just a teensy bit. Like sixty, seventy pounds? You do know what would happen if we were holding hands and you started to go down?”
“Huh.” A smile crinkled the skin at the corners of his eyes. “I’d take you down with me.”
“Yes!”
“I’ve never been ice-skating, but I do cross-country ski. How hard can it be?”
Thus spoke a man arrogantly certain of his prowess. Nell rolled her eyes. “Maybe we won’t hold hands.”
His smile deepened. “Oh, we’ll hold hands.” His voice had deepened, too.
She couldn’t look away. The velvety rough tone of his voice gave her quivers and she found herself squeezing her thighs together to try to contain them.
“I’ll sue you for any bruises,” she said lightly.
He chuckled. Both were distracted then by the waitress, who took their orders. When she was gone, he asked Nell about her day.
“It was fun.” She made a face. “First time you’ve ever heard that word out of my mouth, isn’t it? But I really like Felix, and we did have a good time. He told me this was my trip down memory lane. Mostly, it was his memory lane, but that’s okay. I found out where he went skinny-dipping, where teenagers in Angel Butte park to make out—” At Colin’s expression, she mock-glowered at him. “So okay, you could have told me that.” Her voice softened. “He showed me places we rode our bikes, where Mom and Dad took us on picnics. We went out to Arrow Lake. I don’t know if Dad was there or not—we didn’t ask for him. I got to sit on this rock that sticks out into the lake. Wrong time of year, of course, but I remember lying on it for hours at a time watching the minnows and dreaming. When there’s so much I don’t remember, visiting a place I do made me feel...anchored, I guess.” She shrugged, probably a little awkwardly.
“I’m glad.” He reached across the table for her hand. “That you had a good day, and that some of your memories are happy ones.”
She squeezed his hand, hoping he couldn’t tell that her reaction to his touch was a whole lot more than friendly. “Thank you.”
They’d been served their entrees when he became quiet. A couple of lines between his eyebrows made his expression brooding. Beginning to feel apprehensive, Nell waited.
When he met her eyes, he looked troubled. “Something came up today I’d like to talk to you about, see if it awakens any memories. If it does, they probably won’t be good ones. Damn,” he muttered. “What am I thinking? We can do this later.”
The too-familiar band around her chest tightened. “Sure, like I’m going to be able to think about anything else now. Tell me.”
His reluctance was obvious, but finally he dipped his head. “You know some bones turned up in River Park.” He explained how and when it happened, and that the continued search for both evidence and more bones had paused until the freeze let go of the ground. “You heard Detective Vahalik yesterday.”