well, no wonder you don’t want to meet your two best friends for dinner.”
“Hardly.” Terra would rather be with them. She knew what to expect from the two women who’d been her closest friends since eighth grade, who’d seen her through the deaths of her parents and her grandfather, and had been there for her immediately upon hearing about Harris last night.
“…pretty sad.”
“What’s that?” Terra snapped back to Robin’s conversation.
“His wife. She was murdered by one of her social work cases.”
“Murdered? How awful.” An image of Jack’s impenetrable blue gaze flashed in her mind. Was the loss of his wife the reason his eyes were so hard, so old? “When was this?”
“Three or four years ago, I think. He hasn’t dated since then. At least not that anyone knows about.”
“Can’t say I blame him.” Terra’s divorce had left her raw and skittish. The only reason she dated was to keep Robin and Meredith from pulling any matchmaking stunts. She made sure to date men who were interested in temporary fun, just like she was. The instincts she’d honed over the years told her Jack Spencer would be no casual dinner or last-minute movie.
At the sound of a masculine voice, Terra straightened. “Here comes the detective now. Gotta go.”
“Call me when you get home,” Robin said.
“Okay.” Terra disconnected and clipped the phone to the waistband of her jeans.
The light from Cecily’s porch haloed Jack from behind, a hazy outline of broad shoulders and long legs. He moved down the sidewalk toward her, shadows shading the hollows of his cheeks, making his eyes dark and intense.
As he rounded the hood of his truck and opened the driver’s side door, Terra glanced back at Cecily. The woman stood in the doorway. Even from here, Terra could feel the heat of her glare.
Terra climbed into Jack’s truck. Only then did Cecily go inside and close her front door. Terra looked at Jack, jolted by the penetrating stare he aimed past her. “What did you find out?”
“She has my favorite alibi.” That laser-sharp gaze shifted to Terra and she was glad she had nothing to hide. “She was home alone all night.”
“So, we’ll check out her story about her last meeting with Harris.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“No, but hopefully his neighbors do.”
“We can go there now, if that’s all right.”
“Yes.”
He turned out of the subdivision and headed north on Keller Avenue.
“What else did you learn?”
“Just like you said, she was obsessed with the man.”
“Do you consider her a suspect?”
He paused. “I got a definite read of ‘if I can’t have him, no one can.’ Do you agree?”
“Yes, but do you think she’d kill him?”
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” he said in a weary voice.
Terra now understood the bleakness in his eyes. The loss. Knowing what had happened to his wife tangled something deep inside her.
Keeping things professional was going to be a lot harder than she’d thought. He rattled her and she couldn’t pretend otherwise.
A cell phone chirped and Jack slid it out of his jacket pocket. “Spencer. Hi, Lieutenant.”
After a brief conversation, he hung up. “We just got a call that there’s a homicide about three blocks from here, just south of Tenth.”
“I thought you were off duty.”
“I am, but the other detective on call just started a case on the east side of town by the water tower. I’m next on the on-call list. I really need to check this out. Do you mind?”
She wasn’t about to tell him that she’d welcome anything that got him out of the truck and farther away than the foot that separated them right now. “No, not at all.”
“Thanks.”
As they made a U-turn in the middle of Keller and headed through the light at Tenth, Terra shifted her gaze out the window.
Two police cruisers, lights flashing, marked the apartment complex’s parking lot where Jack parked his pickup truck. Terra got out when he did, wanting some fresh air and some distance between her and the warm scent of him lingering in the cab.
The news vans were already parked a few yards away and setting up. From the corner of her eye, Terra saw Dane Reynolds head for her. Brother.
Jack moved in front of her, paused. “If it looks like I’m going to be a while, one of the patrolmen can take you back to your office.”
“Thanks.” She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the cool night air. Reynolds moved up next to Jack, who cut him a sharp look.
The news reporter kept on moving and Terra bit back a smile. T. J. Coontz settled a large camera on his shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up as he hustled to catch Reynolds.
Jack’s gaze bored deep into hers. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” Was that concern in his eyes? “I don’t mind.”
“I meant about Cecily Vaughn. She was brutal back there.”
Taken aback, Terra found herself unable to look away. “I’m all right. Thanks for asking.”
“He was your friend. I can only imagine how hard this is,” he murmured.
The connection she had felt to him snapped tight. Was he thinking about his own experience when his wife had died? How difficult not only to lose her, but to be a cop and not be able to prevent something like that.
“I just want to find whoever killed him.” A shiver shot up Terra’s spine and she hugged herself tighter. “If I have to deal with Cecily, so be it.”
Jack nodded, taking off his khaki jacket. Surprising her again, he slipped it around her shoulders. “Here, wear this.”
“I’m okay. Really.” The jacket smelled of him, clean and male and mysterious. She reached to take it off.
His hands covered hers, keeping the jacket in place. “It’s starting to get cold out here. Wear it, okay?”
She nodded, blinking at the slow spread of warmth in her belly. She wanted to tell him to stop touching her, but she couldn’t get her voice to work. Or anything else, for that matter.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Sure.”
