she whispered on an exhale, mentally amending, a very good-looking man. Who’d developed muscles to match his height. Muscles she’d itched to run her hands over and explore after their hug.
Good grief! She gave her head a firm shake. Was she seriously ogling Nolan Colton?
Get that out of your system now, Davies. You want to make things awkward with your old friend? Just let him catch you eyeing him like he’s the last slice of Aunt Mimi’s chocolate cake.
Great. Now she wanted Nolan and cake. Huffing her pique with herself, she tracked Nolan’s progress until he disappeared inside the Lone Star Pharma building. Nolan Colton. Here in Whisperwood. Wonders never ceased.
As she turned back to the taped-off area where Patrice Eccleston’s body had been discovered, she sobered. She couldn’t let Nolan’s return distract her from the job at hand. She’d been charged with learning all she could about the monster who’d killed Patrice and why the attractive twenty-year-old had been targeted. If she’d been targeted. Had Patrice’s death been planned, or was it a random act of violence?
As picturesque and homey as it appeared, Whisperwood was no stranger to murder and violent crime. In recent months, the man whom authorities had dubbed the Mummy Killer had been found. The murderer, Horace Corgan, had been on his deathbed and confessed to the crimes when presented with evidence of his guilt. Police had assumed Patrice was another of Corgan’s victims, but the dying man, who had nothing to lose for speaking the truth, had vehemently denied killing Patrice.
In fact, the circumstances and evidence surrounding her murder and burial made her case an outlier. Unsolved. A raw wound for her family…which was what had brought Atticus and Ian to her office in search of answers, justice and peace of mind. Summer stared at the upturned dirt in the narrow ditch at the edge of the sprawling parking lot, and her heart ached. Poor Patrice. If construction workers hadn’t been repairing the buckled pavement left by recent storms, the slain woman might never have been found. Obviously what her killer had hoped for when he—or she—had chosen the location of Patrice’s shallow grave.
“Patrice,” Summer whispered to the wind, “I promise to do everything in my power to find out who did this to you. If there is justice in this world, I will bring your killer in.”
With her vow carrying to the heavens on the autumn breeze, Summer packed up her notes and headed back to town to begin fulfilling her promise.
Summer’s mind whirled as she planned her next step in her investigation. Who should she talk to first? How should she proceed so that she didn’t burn bridges with the police department? What need for perspective had brought Nolan back to Whisperwood after all these years?
She shook her head. Letting Nolan distract her was no way to keep her word to Patrice or solve her first real case. She tucked her notepad under her arm as she fished the keys to her Volkswagen Beetle out of her purse and unlocked her car.
The clank of a metal door opening and the sound of voices drew her attention to the front entrance of Lone Star Pharma. Bellamy Colton, her belly swollen with eight months of pregnancy, held the door as Nolan struggled out the door with a pile of large boxes, stacked so high Summer wasn’t sure how he could see where he was walking. Bellamy led him to a car parked in the employee lot and popped the trunk.
Discarding her purse and notepad on her passenger seat, Summer headed toward them to see if she could lend a hand.
“Need any help?” she called, and Bellamy flashed her a broad grin of greeting.
“Thanks, Summer, but I think Nolan’s got it.”
Summer rushed forward as the top item slid from its perch. She caught the tumbling package and grabbed the next box from the teetering stack, as well. “Are you sure about that?”
Nolan shot her an embarrassed grin. “Thanks. That was close.”
Summer read the label on the pillow-like gift zipped in clear plastic packaging. “Boppy?”
Bellamy’s face glowed. “I know! I’m so excited. I hear they’re a must, and I hadn’t gotten one before now.”
Summer exchanged a curious look with Nolan as he loaded the gifts into Bellamy’s trunk, and she mouthed, What’s a Boppy?
He shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’m just the pack mule.”
Bellamy swatted at his arm. “Oh, hush. It’s not as bad as that. One more trip to get the swing, and we’ll be done.”
Summer added the packages she’d caught to the nooks in Bellamy’s car and faced Nolan as he closed the trunk. “I was just finishing up my business here and thought I could buy you that cup of coffee I owe you now.”
“Now?” He dusted grime from the car off his hands and arched one eyebrow.
“I didn’t want to give you the chance to slip out of town and disappear before I could grill you about your mysterious absence from our lives.”
He scoffed and gaped at her. “I disappeared? You’re one to talk, Ms. No Social Media Presence.”
She cocked her head, blinking. “Huh? I have social media accounts. What are you—”
Bellamy cleared her throat. “Um, I hate to interrupt this lovers’ quarrel, but—”
Both Summer and Nolan jerked their heads toward Bellamy, chiming together, “We’re not—!” and “What! No!”
Bellamy’s grin reflected her skepticism. “Whatever…but my feet are killing me. If you don’t mind grabbing that swing, Nolan? My lunch break is almost over, and I need to prop my feet up.”
“Right.” Nolan aimed a finger at Bellamy. “Lead the way. I’m right behind you.” Then pointing at Summer, he added, “Yes. Now’s good. But let’s make it lunch at the Bluebell Diner. This pack mule is getting hungry.”
Summer’s mood lifted, and butterfly wings flapped in her chest. “Deal.”
As he followed the waddling Bellamy back inside, Nolan motioned to the place Summer was standing. “Stay there. I’ll be right back.”
With a smirk, she saluted him. “Aye, aye, captain. I’ll be right here.”
Nolan returned five minutes later, lugging a large cardboard box. Summer eyed the box then the back seat of Bellamy’s car. “Um, captain? I don’t think there’s room in the hold for that cargo.”
“Not in that ship,” he said, nodding to Bellamy’s sedan. “I told her I’d put it in my car. This way. I’ll drive to lunch.”
Summer pursed her lips, and memories of days spent rambling and relaxing on the Colton Ranch came back to her. Specifically how bossy Nolan could be. Apparently, that hadn’t changed. But she had. She was her own boss now, and she’d learned the hard way not to give any man control of her life.
Nolan started across the pavement, and when she didn’t follow,
