“That edge in your voice when you mention Molly? I heard it the other day, too.”
“Ancient history,” Daniel said, trying to make light of it.
Even so, Joe reacted with dismay. “Why the hell didn’t you say something about having a relationship with Molly when I asked you to go over there? I thought you were just reacting to the fact that the kid was serving chowder in a bar.”
“What would have been the point?” Daniel asked with a shrug “You needed someone to go to Widow’s Cove and check things out. That’s my job. Besides, whatever there was between Molly and me ended a long time ago.” Or at least it had, he acknowledged, silently, if you didn’t count his reaction to seeing her again.
Joe shook his head. “There are other people in the department.”
“But you came to me because Widow’s Cove is my turf. Come on, Joe, we’ve got more important things to worry about than my history with Molly Creighton. Are you ready to pick up Kendra?”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Joe said. “That’s what I ought to do. I ought to call her folks and say I’ve located their daughter and bring on the happy ending.”
Daniel frowned, sensing the unspoken hesitation. “But you’re not going to do that, are you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Gut instinct. Good kids—smart kids—don’t take off from perfect parents just for the thrill of it. I want to know what’s going on. It’s got to be about more than them not letting her wear lipstick or go out on a date with some boy they disapprove of.”
“The department could have your badge for not acting on this sooner.”
“It’s not my case. And I haven’t actually seen Kendra Morrow close enough to ID her beyond a reasonable doubt,” Joe said. “Have you?”
“No,” Daniel admitted. “But we both know it’s her.”
“Do we really?” Joe pressed.
“Come on, Joe, we’re breaking every rule in the book by not reuniting that kid with her family. You know that. Have you even spoken to the investigating officer and told him you think you’ve located her?”
“I’ve told him. He’s willing to let me do some more digging.” Joe leaned forward, his expression intense. “What’s the goal here? Yours and mine? It’s to keep the kid safe, right? She’s not on the streets. She’s with Molly. She’s safe. We don’t know that she would be if we sent her home. I want to know that, in my gut, before I shake things up over in Widow’s Cove. I’m going to see the parents, see what my gut tells me about them. You keep trying to get close to the kid. Go around or through Molly, if you have to. Just see her.”
Daniel chuckled. “You must not know Molly all that well if you think anybody goes ‘around’ or ‘through’ her. That doesn’t happen unless she wants it to.”
“Want to switch roles? You can go talk to the parents, and I’ll work on Molly.”
“No way,” Daniel said quickly. Too quickly.
Joe gave him a knowing grin. “Didn’t think so. Guess that history’s not so ancient, after all.”
“Go to hell.”
“If I’m wrong about this and everything’s peachy keen with the Morrows, I probably will,” Joe said. “But every time I think I might be wrong, I take another look at that picture. That is one unhappy kid. Could be nothing more than hormones and teen angst, but I won’t rest until I know for sure.”
Daniel trusted Joe’s instincts almost as much as he trusted his own. “Then let’s get to work,” he said, rising to his feet, his own half of the tuna sandwich still untouched. He could always eat at Jess’s.
Joe grabbed the sandwich as they headed for the door. “No need to let this go to waste,” he explained.
“You’re gonna owe me lunch when this case is over,” Daniel said.
“Chowder at Jess’s?” Joe suggested slyly.
Daniel shook his head. “I’m thinking a good steak at the fanciest restaurant here in town.”
“Boy, you do have it bad for Molly, don’t you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m never wrong about these things,” Joe insisted.
“You’re a forty-year-old bachelor, for heaven’s sake.”
Joe laughed. “How do you think I’ve stayed that way? Great instincts.”
“Well, you’re wrong about this,” Daniel said defensively. “There’s nothing between Molly and me. Not anymore.”
“Never said there was. I said you had it bad. I’d have to spend a little time around the two of you together to say how she feels.”
“Trust me, she’s not interested in rekindling an old flame.”
And much as he hated himself for giving a damn, the truth of that still stuck in Daniel’s craw.
* * *
Daniel was about to drive Molly right over the edge. He’d been appearing at the bar more regularly than customers who’d been coming in for years. Midmorning, lunchtime, dinnertime...she never knew when she was going to look up and see him sauntering through the door with that grim, determined expression on his handsome face.
He’d been at it for a solid week now, and she was about to scream from the effort of being polite when what she actually wanted to do was throw a mug of beer in his smug face. At this very moment, he was sitting at the bar toying with the same soda he’d been pretending to drink for the past hour. He wouldn’t even touch a real drink.
Molly braced herself and walked behind the bar. “Are you planning to move in? Given the amount of time you’re spending in here, I should charge you rent, since the cost of that soda hardly compensates for the space you’re occupying.”
He leveled a look straight into her eyes. “You could get rid of me easily enough.”
“Oh?”
“All you have to do is produce Kendra Morrow and let me talk to her.”
“Give it a rest, Daniel,” she said, grateful that she’d sent Kendra off for the day with Retta’s daughter. Leslie Sue had taken a liking to the girl, and Kendra enjoyed spending time helping her out baby-sitting several neighborhood children, especially since it meant avoiding Daniel’s impromptu visits to the bar.
“I can’t give it a rest,” he told her.
“Why not?” Molly asked plaintively. Lying to him was beginning to get to her. Honesty and trust were big issues to her, and Daniel knew it. She was violating her
