she assured him. “I promise. He was just fine.”
That seemed to ease Mr. Liston’s mind a bit. She gave Mrs. Liston a brief hug then moved away, determined to get out of here.
Enough, she thought, her eyes starting to prickle unwontedly. The smell of flowers, the peculiar odor of this funeral home, was starting to get to her. The last time…no, she didn’t want to think about the last time, when she’d been the one standing there in Mrs. Liston’s place, accepting condolences from kind people, few of whom would ever understand, not really, how much her mother’s death hurt, or what a relief it was after all that suffering.
Of course, she heard all the platitudes, and they were all true, but none of them could possibly ease the pain and confusion. Not one.
She had become motherless at twenty-three, after a descent into hell that had lasted more than five years. Inside she’d felt hollowed out, except for the grief. No platitude for that.
She was almost at the door when she heard her name. “Haley.”
She froze a moment, then turned reluctantly. Buck Devlin stood there, clad in a tan work shirt and jeans. He’d have looked out of place among all the locals dressed in their Sunday best if it hadn’t been for the few remaining truckers.
“Buck,” she said cautiously.
“I wanted to apologize. Can you give me a minute? Just a minute out front. Plenty of people, so you don’t have to be scared.”
He looked earnest enough, but that wasn’t what grabbed her. Scared? She didn’t like that. Maybe she had felt a momentary fear the night before, but she wasn’t feeling it now. She wasn’t a naturally scared sort of person, and it irritated her that he might think she was.
“Sure. Just a few minutes, though.”
Outside, they stepped off the sidewalk a few paces so they wouldn’t block the people who were coming and going. Dusk was just settling over the world.
She just looked at him, waiting, reluctant to give him an inch.
“I’m sorry I made you uneasy,” he said. “So maybe I should explain a few things.”
“That might help.”
“For starters, I’m not exactly on vacation.”
She folded her arms tightly beneath her breasts, her guard slamming into place. “So you’re a liar?”
“No.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his dark hair, cut high and tight, almost military style. “I’m on vacation in one sense. Legitimately. That’s how my company has me listed right now.”
“So what’s the not exactly part?”
“My company also asked me to look into what happened to Ray and what might have been going on in your parking lot that night. We’re having problems with shipments.”
She looked at him, her jaw dropping. “I’m supposed to believe that? You’re a truck driver, Buck Devlin. Why would they ask you?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Could you hold it down? I don’t want the whole world to know.”
“That you’re a storyteller? Got any more tall tales for me?”
“It’s not a tall tale. Yes, I’m a driver now. But before that, I was a military cop. That’s why the company asked me to look into this. They don’t want to bring the feds in because it could kill business.”
“Prove it,” she said shortly. What kind of idiot did he take her for? Angry about being lied to, she stormed toward her car. Damn, he wasn’t even a good liar.
“Haley.”
She didn’t stop. Not that it made any difference. He was beside her before she reached her car.
“Just listen,” he said. “Please.”
“I may be a small-town girl, but I’m not stupid. I think I’ve heard enough.”
He caught her arm, and when she tried to pull free, he didn’t let go. That made her even madder. “I’ll scream.”
“Dammit, Haley, just let me finish. My company’s been having problems with our shipments. You saw something happening with Ray’s truck that night. You recognized him in the diner. You talked to him. Less than an hour later he’s dead. If Ray’s death wasn’t an accident, then you’re the proverbial loose end.”
That froze her. Her ears buzzed and the world seemed to rock beneath her. Haley leaned against her car, waiting for it to settle down again. What the hell was going on?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But there’s no easy way to tell you. Is there some place we can talk where you’ll feel safe but half the town won’t hear me?”
She might have laughed if she wasn’t still feeling so shaken. Anger had turned to shock in an instant, and her brain was having trouble making the adjustment. “Around here? Anybody who wants a private conversation here has it at home.” And that was the truth.
He let go of her arm. “Are you okay?”
“I will be. I always am.” She knew that for a fact. Still leaning against her car, she closed her eyes and tried to take it all in. What if he wasn’t lying? And what if what she had seen, or thought she had seen, had something to do with Ray’s death? How many people knew? Two cops. Claire and Hasty. And that other driver she had never seen before, the one who had come in for coffee with Ray. The one who, now that she thought about it, had probably been driving the other truck when the cargo had been transferred. God!
She opened her eyes and saw Buck watching her with evident concern.
“I’m sure,” he said, “you don’t want to come to the La-Z-Rest with me. I’m equally certain you don’t want me to know where you live. So where else will you feel safe while we talk?”
Haley nodded as her mind stopped reeling. The whole town was going to be talking if she and Buck stood here any longer. “Do you know where the college campus is?”
“Yeah. I walked around some today.”
“I’ll see you there in fifteen minutes.” She didn’t offer him a ride. That would make people talk, too. But over on the college campus there were people who weren’t local. A stranger wouldn’t stick out and tongues wouldn’t start wagging. “There are some benches in the center of the quad.” And there’d still be plenty of students and faculty around at this hour, even if it was summer.
“Fifteen minutes,” he agreed.
She drove off, glancing at him in her rearview mirror, and wondering what the heck she had just gotten into.
Buck had spent the day wandering. A need to know the physical territory was ingrained in him. He’d hit a surplus shop and found a decent pair of lace-up boots he could run in, and added some extra jeans and some shirts that would fit in around here, although he didn’t go for anything approaching the perennially popular Western look. A ball cap suited him better than a cowboy hat, and he wasn’t putting anything on
