she said.
“Let ‘em talk.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to live here.”
“Then I’ll drive myself and help search.”
Megan scowled at him. “You don’t know what she looks like.”
“Actually, I do. Hazel eyes, heart-shaped face, dimples, wavy blond hair. It is the computer age, you know.”
Megan pushed past a hibiscus as tall as she was. Droplets of dew sprinkled across her face. “We have plenty of people in town who know her and know where to look.”
“No one knows exactly where to look right now or she’d have been found.” Gerard fell into step beside her.
She brushed past moisture-drenched evergreen shrubs to keep from feeling the warmth of him beside her. She’d be dripping by the time she reached the clinic at this rate. But hadn’t she known she would react this way to his presence? It was why she hadn’t returned his calls. Yet how was she supposed to tell him that? Say, “Sorry, Gerard, but I can’t have you around because when you’re near me I can’t think straight”?
“You didn’t take enough time for closure so you’re avoiding me,” he said.
“I don’t need closure. I need time to reverse about three weeks.”
“So do I, but that’s not going to happen. I have to deal with today just as it is. So do you.”
“I can only deal with one thing at a time.”
“Understood. We’ll focus on Kirstie, but first, would you tell me why I didn’t receive a request for a reference from your new employer?”
Megan gritted her teeth and her footsteps slowed. She saw the glint of steel in Gerard’s gaze and braced herself for yet more arguing. Sometimes she felt there was nothing he liked better.
Gerard bit back a grin as he watched Megan’s eyes flash. By now Tess would’ve blown sky-high at his goading. Megan took a lot more from him.
“Alec didn’t need a reference.” Megan’s words were measured, her voice a little lower than usual. “We’ve known each other since kindergarten. This cottage belongs to his family.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Gerard didn’t like it, but at least it was out in the open. “Of course. Small town, no one’s a stranger. Alec Thompson’s his name, right?”
She pushed aside a branch of a juniper tree and allowed it to slap back into his face. “Don’t you dare tell me you called him about me too.”
“Nope, I just studied him.”
She turned a scowl on Gerard, then stepped ahead of him and continued toward her car. “How?”
“Internet. You really should try it sometime.”
“You’re not really a cop anymore, you know.”
“Megan, I didn’t gather the information to hurt the man.”
“So why were you checking him out?”
“The more a person knows, the better his chances of getting a job done.”
She stopped and turned so quickly he almost stumbled over her. “What job?”
“I have to be able to trust the people I work with. I may not be a cop any longer, but I’m still responsible for the safety of a lot of people who don’t have anyplace else to go. Unlike you, I can’t just quit my job and leave.”
Her grimace told him his words had plunged deeply enough to draw blood. Maybe she’d take the bait.
“You’re right.” Her gold-bronze eyes flashed a few sparks of lightning. “I’m nothing like you. Get used to it. I failed, okay?”
He held up a finger. “First of all, I checked Alec Thompson because it’s helpful for me to know that there’s been a layoff at the casket factory owned by the Thompson family, thus the need for new jobs in the area. Knowing that his father apparently abandoned the family and disappeared from the face of the earth when Alec was in high school tells me more about Alec and the Thompson businesses.”
“Why do you need to know that?”
“I need to know who handles the businesses and has the goodwill of the people.” Gerard held up a second finger. “It’s also nice to get to know the kind of people I might be working with, even hiring, if it comes to that, and knowing the kind of employees hired by the company will help with that.” Three fingers. “Medical care and supportive services, and room for expansion, are vital. I have my work cut out for me if this is where I plan to set up shop.”
Some of the fire left her eyes. Megan was always one to see reason, and though she could get cranky and had a sharp tongue when her patients were in danger, she wasn’t one to hold a grudge over the small things. “The casket factory did have a big layoff,” she mused. “I heard it around town.”
“But not from Alec? He didn’t tell you how hard the economy was hitting his pocketbook?” Gerard found it difficult to keep a thread of satisfaction from his voice. Jealousy didn’t become him. Not that he cared.
Alec Thompson had a clean record, had served four years total in the navy and was legally married, but since his wife had lived in California for at least the past year, he was likely living alone. Amazing how public a person’s life became online these days. The man was a handsome devil too, according to Gerard’s sister. Tess had discerning tastes, but the term devil had appealed more to Gerard.
“I read that he also runs the grocery in town,” Gerard said.
“His family owns it but he doesn’t manage it,” Megan said. “So I guess you can’t believe everything you find online, can you?” she taunted. “He took over the family businesses his parents established twenty-five years ago.” Megan opened her car door then turned to look up at Gerard. “His mother is an astute businesswoman, and the clinic was her idea. They’re nice people, Gerard.”
“I have no doubt of that.”
“They aren’t overworking me and I’m being well-reimbursed. Nora’s letting me stay at the cottage for free. Thanks to their generosity, I may be able to pay off my school loans, after all. You’ll like her. You’ll also like Alec, whether you want to or not.”
Tess might. Gerard definitely did not. “I will meet him, I’m sure.”
Megan slid behind the steering wheel of her Neo, but when she reached to close the door, he caught it.
“You’re out here in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “You wanted to be as far from the city as you could get—even as far from Jolly Mill as you could get.”
“I like the country. I always have.” She started the car. The engine still had that slight rattle Gerard had intended to fix for her.
He didn’t release the door. “What you’re doing isn’t healthy, Megan.”
“What
