Harper wiped a tear that escaped her lid and pushed herself back to her feet. She had no intention of crying in front of Gabe Banks. This was all a pretty big shock, and adding a missing family heirloom to the mix was more than she could handle with grace and dignity at the moment.
Gabe rose to his feet, too, and she was struck by the sheer size of him. He’d always been tall, but the past decade had solidified him into steely manhood. This was no longer the lanky, cocky teenager.
“Hey.” His tone softened. “I don’t have a lot to do around here for the next two weeks. I’ll pour all my bad attitude into your case.”
She blinked back her tears. “Would you do that?”
“What else am I supposed to do with my time? I think that’s the idea—give us some peace and quiet to sort out our personal issues.”
“And you want some distraction from that?” she asked with a small smile.
“What can I say—I’m comfortable with my skeletons. That’s why you never liked me much.”
“I liked you fine,” she said with a shake of her head. He raised one eyebrow, and she felt the heat come back to her face. “I just didn’t think you were good for Andrea,” she conceded.
She hadn’t been blind to his charm and good looks back then—she’d just known better than to let herself fall for him, too. All the girls swooned over Gabe Banks. He’d been filled with flirtation and laughter in some moments, and then brooding and distanced in others. What teenage girl could resist such a “complicated” guy? Harper, that’s who.
“Well, you were right about that,” he said. “I wasn’t any good for her. So, no hard feelings.”
At least he recognized that much. Still, she found herself searching his features for Zoey—his eyes, the shape of his ears. Zoey looked a lot like Andrea, but she wasn’t an exact replica of her mother, either. She had dark hair like her dad, and the tiny cleft in her chin was Gabe’s, too. This was Zoey’s father, and she’d have to figure out her next move in that department. So far, she’d been focused on finding her balance as Zoey’s new mother, but she’d never been entirely comfortable with Andrea’s decision to keep Zoey a secret. Zoey would be asking about her father eventually, but Harper was now faced with a dilemma of her own: Should she tell Gabe about his daughter, or should she let it lie?
* * *
Gabe walked around Blessings Bridal collecting evidence and taking notes for the next hour. He’d never been inside this shop in all the years he lived in Comfort Creek, but he’d passed it often enough. Everyone knew the Kemps, and Blessings Bridal serviced all the brides in the surrounding small towns.
Eight other cops arrived to help—far more than needed, obviously, but there wasn’t anything else happening around Comfort Creek, and the temptation to lend a hand was too great for both the other officers and the locals. It took two officers at the outside door to keep curious locals moving along.
From where Gabe stood brushing for prints, he glanced over at Harper. She lingered in the doorway to the back room. Her red curls hung around her shoulders, and her gaze moved from officer to officer, watching them work. Her glasses were off again, and she had the end in her mouth. She was gorgeous, and Gabe pulled his gaze away from her, pushing back the thought.
“Gabe.” Officer Bryce Camden approached, and he rose to his feet, dropping the brush back into a protective plastic bag. He and Bryce knew each other from their days on the Fort Collins force. Gabe met Bryce beside a rack of wedding dresses that appeared to be untouched.
“Any of this look familiar?” Bryce asked.
Gabe glanced around. “It’s definitely not a smash and grab. The phone and security system lines were cut outside. Besides a few display dresses being trashed, these ones are untouched. They knew what they were aiming for. I’m guessing professionals.”
“I had three cases back in Fort Collins that match this MO,” Bryce said. “The cut lines, the small amount of trashing, as if for appearances, and a select amount of highly salable merchandise taken.”
“Anyone caught?” Gabe asked.
Bryce shook his head. “Still at large. But there were other sites hit across Fort Collins—always spread out, and a couple of months between each. They were careful.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Gabe agreed, the details coming back to him. “I had one of those cases—a jewelry store.”
“They may be spreading to smaller communities where people aren’t quite as security conscious,” Bryce suggested.
It was a definite possibility, and Gabe’s mind clicked through what he could remember of those cases. None had been solved, and the first hit on every store hadn’t been too bad. In and out. Quick. A few things taken. The perps were scoping things out more than anything.
“They always came back for a second hit on every location,” Gabe said. “Within days or weeks. And that’s when they cleaned the place out. There was an old man who was shot, trying to defend his store that second time around.”
“I remember that.” Bryce nodded. “So if we’re looking at the same people, they’ll be back. I’m sure the chief will agree that we’ll need to keep a pretty close eye on the place for the next couple of weeks.”
Gabe signed the bottom of a form he was filling out as first on the scene, and glanced over toward Harper.
“I knew her—as kids. Teenagers. I dated her best friend,” Gabe said.
“Yeah?” Bryce nodded. “That might be useful. Why not offer to help out in the cleanup? Just...be here for a bit.”
Back in the day, Gabe would have jumped at the chance. He’d had a thing for Harper Kemp, but she’d been steps above him. She was smart, cute, had a plan for her future... And he’d been a messed-up teenager whose grandmother ran him down on a nightly basis. He’d asked her out once, and she’d turned him down flat. He hadn’t tried again.
Looking at Harper now with those sad green eyes and her arms crossed protectively over her chest, all those old feelings from years ago came flooding back. Harper never acted like she needed him—or any guy—but she still sparked that protective instinct inside of him. He wanted to offer something, and with this uniform—at least for the next two weeks—he could.
“I could go plainclothes and keep an eye out,” Gabe said. “We want to catch these guys, not just scare them off.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Bryce confirmed. “If we can be ready for their next hit, we might be able to take these guys in. Let me check in with the chief, and I’ll confirm if we’ve got a plan.”
Bryce pulled out his cell phone and walked a few feet away to make his call. Gabe shoved the form into his back pocket. He was here to do his time and then head back to Fort Collins. Period. It was humiliating enough to be back under these circumstances. However, catching a robbery gang might make his stay here less agonizing. He’d go back to Fort Collins as a success, instead of chastised.
“What’s going on?” Harper asked, coming up beside Gabe.
“We’re thinking that this looks
