saw that she hadn’t known Madeline’s last name any more than he had until earlier. “My brother thinks that might have been her last name. The DNA report hasn’t come back for a positive ID yet.”
She raised a brow and leaned toward him. That she looked beautiful tonight in the candlelight was definitely a distraction. But once you’ve been taken advantage of by one woman, you can’t help but be gun-shy of all of them—especially one who smelled like sunshine after a rain.
“Since you know I work for a newspaper in New York City, maybe I’m doing a freelance story on the case.”
He raised a brow.
“I admit I might have gotten a little emotional down at the creek earlier. It’s a horrible thing for a young woman that age to drown and not be found for so many years.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“What other possible reason could I have?” she asked with an innocent twinkle in those big green eyes.
“That’s what I’m hoping to find out tonight.”
“Strange,” she said, her smile tempting him to do more than raise his wineglass to clink against hers. “I was hoping to find out more about you tonight, as well.”
He fought the urge to dive into all that deep sea green and just swim around for a while. As leery as he was of this woman—and with good reason—he was also enjoying himself.
In the years he’d been gone, he hadn’t dated. All his encounters had been in passing. But none of the women he’d met were like this one. That alone put him on guard.
Kate carefully touched her wineglass to his like a quick kiss. “To discovering all kinds of things about each other tonight.”
There was daring in her gaze. He’d never been able to back down from a challenge. He suspected she had the same problem. “To unlocking all your secrets,” he said, making her eyes widen a little before she laughed.
“Okay, cowboy. Why don’t we start with Madeline and why you were on that bridge earlier? Remembering one special night, were you?”
His hand holding the glass jerked, almost spilling his wine. Kate’s smile widened. “Am I moving too fast for you?”
Tucker felt his head swim. “You sent the package.”
WITH TUCKER ON a date tonight, there was no reason Flint couldn’t just enjoy an evening at home with Maggie. He still couldn’t believe that Tucker was back. Back safe and sound. So why was he still worried about him?
Tuck was out with a reporter. That was worry enough. But it was more than that. He remembered what his brother had said about being in love with Madeline Ross aka Madeline Dunn. If that was her name.
The tentative ID the coroner had gotten was based on a dentist’s memory of a woman’s teeth from twenty-three years ago. The woman had paid with a check from Madeline Dunn’s account, but that didn’t mean she was Madeline Dunn.
He’d been in law enforcement long enough to know better than jumping to conclusions until he had the facts. Once they had the DNA, then he could track down the Dunns and see if it was a match. Tucker had said that Madeline had a brother. If they could find him or their father...
But what he didn’t know was worrying him. Not that he believed for a minute that Tuck might have had something to do with the woman’s death. He knew his brother. Well, he’d known the Tucker he’d grown up with, but there were nineteen years that hadn’t been accounted for yet.
Flint shook his head, hating where his thoughts had gone. The woman had jumped, just as Tuck had said. The woman had been trying to con money out of his brother by pretending she was pregnant. Worse, she wanted him to believe that she was willing to kill herself and their baby if he didn’t pay up.
Flint realized that he’d balled up his hands into fists at the thought of Madeline. How would his brother have reacted if he’d found out that night on the bridge that it had all been a huge lie?
“You’re just tired,” he told himself. His day had been filled with phone calls, problems with traffic and two DUIs that Harp had picked up. Most days, there were barking dog complaints, checks on elderly relatives, shoplifting kids and endless paperwork. Sometimes Flint wondered why he’d gotten into law enforcement.
Earlier, before he’d spoken with the coroner, he’d gone through missing-persons reports looking for a woman of about the age of the skeletal remains found in the creek, surprised there was none. He’d called around to the other towns. No missing-persons report on the woman during that time. That seemed strange unless she had no family in the state.
Now he hesitated. Why hadn’t he considered earlier that his brother would be considered a suspect if anyone else was sheriff? It hadn’t crossed his mind because he knew Tucker. Or at least thought he did.
He swore as he glanced over at the package with that damned doll in it. Someone knew Tucker would come back to Gilt Edge. The same person who’d been waiting for Madeline downstream? Or someone with an even darker ulterior motive?
He picked up his phone, dialed 411 and asked the operator for a family with the last name Dunn in Clawson Creek.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m not showing any by that name. Could it be listed under another name or perhaps another town?”
He had no idea. Apparently the Dunns had left Clawson Creek. “That’s all right. Thank you.” Hanging up, he glanced at his watch. He was late and there were leftover barbecued short ribs from lunch that Maggie had promised to heat up for dinner. Mostly, he was anxious to see his wife.
Tracking down the family would have to wait until tomorrow. Another twelve hours wouldn’t make that much of a difference after nineteen years.
* * *
KATE TOOK A sip of her wine, giving herself a moment. She’d let Tucker get to her. This was not the way she’d planned for the night to go. But he’d given her no choice, she told herself. He wanted to cut to the chase? Fine.
She could tell that she’d caught him flat-footed with the package she’d sent, which had been her intention. Just as his had been when he’d called her on why she was interested in the remains from the creek.
“I wasn’t sure the discovery in the creek was enough to bring you home. I thought the package might,” she said.
Tucker blinked, clearly taken aback. “Where did you get...? Why would you send me something like that? How do you know me and that I’ve been gone, let alone know what Madeline put me through?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” she said and picked up her menu. “Is the steak good here?”
He leaned over to take the menu from her hand. “If you tell me you were the one working with Madeline—”
“Don’t be absurd,” she said, taking back her menu.
“If all you wanted to do was get my attention, we could
