the casual meal, they talked about her brother—Dan’s best friend since adolescence—and their mutual friends in Edstown. She asked about his parents, who were, as usual, spending the winter at an RV park in southern Texas; he assured her they were fine, that he’d spoken to them only the day before.
There were a couple of subjects they carefully avoided, such as the arsonist who’d been eluding the local authorities. And then there was the one topic neither of them ever mentioned—Dan’s bitterly unpleasant divorce two and a half years ago, barely six months before Lindsey had moved back to take care of her father. Even if Lindsey had wanted to bring up his marriage debacle—which she didn’t—Dan would not have cooperated. He’d forbidden everyone to even mention his ex-wife’s name in his presence.
“So, anyway, the noise Mrs. Treadway reported hearing outside her window was nothing more than a broken tree branch tapping against the glass. Unfortunately, by the time we managed to find that out, Jack and I were wet to the bone, covered in mud, half-frozen, and we’d narrowly escaped being midnight snacks for Mrs. Treadway’s rottweiler.”
Lindsey winced even as she laughed at Dan’s wryly told anecdote. “So you had a close encounter with Baby, did you?”
He all but shuddered. “Baby missed biting me in a very sensitive area by an extremely narrow margin. I swear I felt his hot breath right on my—”
“I get the picture,” Lindsey said quickly. There were some mental images she wasn’t prepared to deal with right now—Dan’s “sensitive areas” among them. “Baby’s not as bad as he pretends to be. Around Mrs. Treadway, he’s just a big, dopey puppy.”
“Yeah, well, thanks to Baby I almost had to switch from the bass section of the church choir to the soprano section.”
She smiled and nodded toward his empty plate. “Would you like anything else to eat? I have some leftover birthday cake that Serena insisted I bring home.”
“Cake sounds good, if you have an extra slice.”
“I have plenty,” she assured him and rose to cut him a piece.
“I’m sorry I had to miss your party. I got tied up at the station and didn’t get away until after eleven.”
“Which explains the dark circles under your eyes.” She studied his face as she set the dessert plate in front of him. “You aren’t getting enough rest lately, Dan. Serena thinks you need a vacation.”
“She does, does she?”
“When’s the last time you took more than twenty-four hours off?”
He shrugged. “It’s been a while,” he admitted. “But I won’t be taking a vacation anytime soon—not with some crackpot trying to burn down every building in the damned town.”
“He usually waits a few weeks between hits. You should have time to take a break while the other investigators pursue leads.”
“That’s the thing—we have no leads,” Dan growled. “The guy’s slick, I’ll give him that. He’s not leaving clues.”
“He’ll screw up—and when he does, you’ll catch him.”
“Yeah, but that means he’ll have to strike again first. We’ve had one death because of this guy so far. I don’t want anyone else endangered, including our firefighters.”
“You’ll catch him,” Lindsey predicted again.
“Damn straight. But not if I’m off on a vacation. Besides, who takes vacations this time of year?”
“People who are tired and need a rest?”
Dan only shrugged and filled his mouth with another forkful of cake.
“This has been nice,” he said a few minutes later, when his plate had been cleaned and the last sip of iced tea drained. “You and I haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk much lately—not without you holding a notebook in your hand, anyway.”
“No. You’ve been so busy we’ve hardly seen each other since B.J. was home for Dad’s funeral.”
The mention of her late father made Dan’s smile dim a little. “So, you’ve been doing okay? Living here by yourself, I mean.”
“I’m fine,” she answered gently. “I miss my dad, of course, but he was so ill and so debilitated that I knew he was ready to go. And I’ve been on my own before, you know. I lived alone for three years before I moved back two years ago to take care of Dad.”
“You let me know if you need anything, you hear? I promised B.J. I’d keep an eye on you.”
Her teeth gritted. “Thanks, but I’m quite capable of taking care of myself.”
“Of course you are.” He glanced at his watch, which kept him from seeing the way her brows dipped in response to his slightly patronizing tone. “As much as I’ve enjoyed this, I’ve got to go. I have things to do at the station.”
She walked with him to the door. “Try to go home at a reasonable hour tonight,” she advised him. “You won’t be doing anyone any good if you collapse from exhaustion.”
He chuckled and reached out to ruffle her hair again. “You sound just like my sister.”
“Well, I’m not your sister, and if you do that to my hair one more time, I’m going to sink my teeth into your hand.”
The snarled threat only made him laugh. “Now you really sound like my sister.”
Clenching her teeth tightly together, she opened the door, then forced herself to say pleasantly, “Bye, Dan. Thank you again for the birthday present.”
“You’re welcome.”
Some impulse made her speak, just as Dan started down the front steps. “I’m thinking about selling the house.”
He stopped and turned to look at her in obvious surprise. “No kidding? Why? Is it too much for you to keep up?”
“No. I can handle the maintenance. I’m considering looking for a job in a bigger city. Dallas or Atlanta, maybe.”
“Oh.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking as though he didn’t quite know how to respond. “Well…I can see where you’d have better career prospects in a bigger market, but…you’d be missed here.”
She noted that he didn’t say who would be missing her if she left. “I haven’t really made a final decision yet. I’m just mulling it over.”
“I see. Well, you do what you think is best for your future. I’ve gotta go, okay? See you around.”
“Yeah.” Lindsey leaned against the doorjamb and watched him climb into his car. “See you around, Dan.”
Sometime later she carried the unicorn into her bedroom and set it on the dresser. Her childhood collection had been packed away since she’d left home for college—not that Dan would know that. It had been years since he’d seen the inside of her bedroom.
He
