me. I spent the next several years fighting for my rights in court just to see her.”
“She kept Meghan from you?”
It had been a difficult time in his life, a time when he’d believed everyone and everything was against him. “She did. My family wasn’t exactly known to be upstanding members of the community. Bridgette and her parents fought to keep Meghan from me. In fact, if Cassidy hadn’t written to me telling me about her, I might not have ever known I had a daughter.”
“Cassidy? That was your friend at the hospital?”
“Yes. We grew up together before her folks moved out of town when she was ten. She came back to live with her grandparents and finish high school, and we became friends again. She was probably the only friend I had growing up.” He didn’t know why he was opening up to Lucy this way. He had friends in the military who never knew about his struggles. He was used to keeping things to himself, but something about Lucy made him want to open up and know that he wouldn’t be judged.
“We didn’t have an easy childhood and, I’m sorry to say, I got into a lot of trouble growing up. After my dad died, my mom worked three jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, but that also meant she wasn’t around much.”
“That sounds like a lonely way to live.”
“I guess it’s true what they say about negative attention being better than no attention. I made sure I received plenty of negative attention. Clint followed every move I made...except when it came to joining the military. He wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, he got into drugs and stealing cars and ended up spending three years in prison, all while I was overseas.”
She reached over and covered his hand with hers. “Well, it looks like you’re doing well enough now. Meghan is a wonderful girl, and I’m sure that’s your influence. You said her mother died?”
“She died in a car crash three years ago. After that, I was able to get sole custody and I worked out a deal with her grandparents. She would stay with them while I was on assignment, and they wouldn’t interfere any longer with my relationship with my daughter. It’s worked out well so far. Only, I’m not sure what will happen now. I don’t know if I’m going back overseas.”
“Because of your brother?”
“No. I’ve been working covert security overseas. A few months ago, my unit was involved in a rescue mission of an American embassy. We were ordered to stand down, but we went in anyway.”
“I heard about that incident. According to the news, you’re all heroes.”
“Well, according to the federal government, we disobeyed orders. Especially now that there’s been so much media coverage about it, I doubt the agency will be offering me another contract assignment.” He surprised himself sharing so much with her. Usually, he was closemouthed about his life and his feelings, but something about Lucy engendered trust in him.
He shook his head, trying to remember that she was part of the government and therefore part of the problem. He’d been burned too many times before, and besides, her hand on his was just a little too appealing to him.
“I should go now,” he said, standing. “It’s getting late and Meghan will be waiting for me.”
He didn’t want to go or leave Lucy, and that bothered him too. He’d grown protective of her in a short time, but he had responsibilities to his daughter too.
“Good night,” he said as he walked out.
He had to keep his emotions under control. Lucy was only here to do a job. Prove his brother innocent—and Bryce wasn’t going to do anything that would jeopardize that.
Lucy yawned and decided to call it a night. She stacked up the files and placed them back into the boxes, wishing she’d asked Bryce to carry them upstairs for her. She could at least take a few files in case she couldn’t sleep, so she wouldn’t have to come back downstairs and disturb Mrs. Ferguson.
The older lady stopped her before she went upstairs. “Is Bryce gone? I was going to offer him some of this lasagna we had for supper to take home to Meghan.”
“I’m sure he’ll be sorry. He just left. It was delicious, by the way. You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.”
“Nonsense. Why do you think I opened this bed-and-breakfast? I enjoy taking care of people. I’ll put the remainder in the refrigerator in case you want some more later.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Ferguson, but I think this day is catching up to me. I’m going to take a shower then turn in for the night.”
“Rest well, Lucy. I’m going to finish cleaning up the kitchen then turn in myself. See you in the morning.”
Lucy walked upstairs. She was tired through and through, but at least today she felt like she’d accomplished something. The flower shop was more than likely a dead end for information about the threatening note, but learning more about the murdered women had helped her get a grip on what was going on in this town.
She knew now why Bryce had reached out to her. It was obvious the police were focusing all their attention on his brother because of his relationship with the missing girl, but after examining all the evidence, she couldn’t find anything to link her disappearance with the murdered women.
She was glad she was here. She was glad to still be able to help people by identifying a killer and aiding in bringing safety back to a community. So kids like Meghan didn’t have to be afraid to go out with her friends.
Why was she thinking about Meghan? Sure, it was for the girl’s sake, but she felt it had more to do with Meghan’s blue-eyed, former marine father and the way his touch had sent sparks through her. But how would Bryce Tippitt feel if her profile didn’t exonerate his brother as the killer? If it gave the local police more leverage against him? She couldn’t worry about that. Her job was to create a behavioral profile based on the evidence collected from each of the crime scenes and victim etiology. And she was good at her job. Or she had been before Danny anyway, before her confidence had taken a nosedive. She couldn’t let someone else, another man no less, disrupt her concentration because she was mildly attracted to his broad shoulders and warm smile.
Stop it, she told herself. She couldn’t go there. Romance was out of the question. She didn’t deserve a second chance at love, and she wasn’t going to risk it again. She took a shower and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt to sleep in.
Suddenly, a large crash from downstairs caught her attention.
Lucy grabbed her gun from the nightstand and hurried downstairs. She called out to Mrs. Ferguson. “Is everything all right?”
No answer. Not even the hum of the woman as she cleaned the dishes.
Lucy walked down the steps. The first night she’d arrived, before her run, the house had been filled with the sounds of Mrs. Ferguson humming as she did the dishes. Tonight, everything was quiet.
Lucy glanced at her watch. Mrs. Ferguson told her she was usually in her chair in front of the TV by this time every night. The television was still off. “Mrs. Ferguson? Is everything all right?”
She
