A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (21 page)

“Not and live to tell about it, why?”

“Your son found us on the mountain last night—”

“Oh, that’s right. How the hell did he find you all the way up there?”

“My rotten luck, of course. He saw our Jeep parked on the side of the road and figured we were up to no good. Which, by the way, we were not, but try telling that to him,” I complained.

“And when he didn’t get his way he threw her over his shoulder like a Neanderthal, which was hot,” Jess laughed, “then he hauled her off into the woods and made passionate love to her under the stars.”

“Jesus, Jess, don’t tell her that.”

Maxine just chuckled and patted my shoulder if you can believe it, and replied, “About time, he’s been in a foul mood since you arrived. Maybe he’ll cool his heels now that you’ve given in to him.”

“Oh, no, it’s not gonna happen again. We may be attracted to each other, but we have nothing in common. I need to focus on clearing my name and getting my job back.”

“Right, good luck with that,” she mumbled as she pulled out vibrators and edible undies.

“You don’t think I can resist your son?”

“I think he’s just like his father. Irresistible,” she remarked.

“But we have nothing in common, it’s just pheromones at work. Once I’ve gone home, he’ll see we don’t work.”

“We’ll, see,” she replied just like Max had. The family resemblance was starting to annoy me, and I was just about to argue why we didn’t work when Jess jumped in and pulled me out of the room by the arm.

“Time to get you changed,” she announced, “I have the perfect outfit that will keep the men occupied while I search.”

“Stop dragging me. Do you want me on my ass?”

Ignoring my protest Jess looked back at Maxine and then whispered, “Look, don’t listen to me and don’t listen to Maxine. You have to do what is right for you where Max is concerned. I’m the last person you should listen to when it comes to relationship advice. If you feel a connection, that means something. Just forget about what I said this morning, okay?”

“Jess, we barely know each other and have nothing in common, just like you said. I need to focus all my energy on clearing my name and securing my job.”

“You’re right, of course. Just, make sure you know exactly what you want before you make any rash decisions, Mia. I think I may have steered you wrong this morning. I don’t think I had a clear picture of what was happening.”

“Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. I’ve known him five days, who turns their life upside down for a man they’ve known five days?”
I would and that’s what scares me the most.

“It’s happened, but you do what’s right for you. I just wanted you to know that I’d support anything you decided, okay?”

“Right, you’d support any crazy ideas I may have concerning falling in love with Max.

“You’re in love with him?”

“What? NO!”

“You just said—”

“Are we selling vibrators or what?”

“Mia . . .”

“It’s only been five days,” I whispered in an attempted to convince myself and Jess that it couldn’t happen.

Jess, sensing my panic, whispered back, “Okay,” as she grabbed my hand in support.

“Let’s clear my name and then I’ll worry about how I feel about Max, okay?” I begged.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jess agreed.

“Then doll me up and let’s go find a killer.”

Maxine divided the suspect list into least likely and most likely suspects. Then she’d narrowed it down by age. Those who were too old in her opinion went to the bottom and the younger men went to the top. Which, of course, made sense; Donald had been in good shape and could have easily handled an older man. Then she narrowed the suspects down by disposition. Those who had a known temper made it to the top and so on. She narrowed
those
down further by who was married and who wasn’t. Maxine argued a married man wouldn’t be able to hide what he’d done from his wife. In her mind, the killer was single. Again, that made sense to me, so the list was narrowed down again. After all that finagling, she’d finally come up with the “ten most likely” from those pictures and I hoped like hell the killer was on that list. However, now that it was time to knock on doors, I realized I hadn’t taken into account how dangerous this all could be until we’d pulled up in front of the first house. Fortunately, after meeting our first suspect, it was clear the only thing he seemed guilty of was being lazy—and wandering hands.

Jason Allen was forty and divorced due to his drinking. He was currently unemployed and at the top of the list. He was a rough looking man with a beer belly and smelly feet. He lived in a ramshackle cabin on the outskirts of town that needed a good cleaning. We’d knocked on his door, given our speech about expanding door-to-door sales and he’d let us inside once he got a good look at Jess and me.

Jess had pulled out all the stops coiffing me. My hair was a sleek veil of black down my back, which drove me nuts. I lived in ponytails, but she insisted I needed sex hair to set the right mood. To go with the sex hair I had on a low-cut red top that left nothing to the imagination, and ripped stonewashed jeans that sat low on my hips. They were tucked into stiletto boots that took my clumsy from comical to dangerous, so I stayed seated as much as possible. Which is where I was currently as I helped Maxine “stall” while Jess “used the bathroom.”

I’d written a receipt for the Passion Princess Inflatable Doll Jason had just purchased all while dodging his wandering hands. I’d tried to keep him distracted, not that it mattered, he’d been too busy salivating over the catalog and accidentally grabbing my ass to realize Jess had been gone longer than five minutes.

Perched on the side of the couch, I handed Mr. Allen his purchase order just as his hand landed on my thigh. Thankfully, Jess returned with a quick shake of her head, which let us know her search was a bust. Seeing that, I jumped up and away from his hands.

“Here you go, Mr. Allen, sign here and we’ll make sure your order is filled and on its way shortly.”

Ignoring the receipt, he scanned my body, licked his lips, and then asked, “Maybe you’d like to get a drink later.”

Oh, boy!

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be too busy with my son, Jason,” Maxine replied as she packed her bag.

“She’s Max’s woman?”

“Seems like,” Maxine answered.

His eyes shot to me and he immediately replied, “Then forget I ever mentioned it, okay?”

I wasn’t technically anything where Max was concerned other than confused and in way over my head. But it got me out of that situation so I nodded, grabbed Maxine’s bag and headed for the door. Once outside and the front door had closed, I looked at Maxine and rolled my eyes.

“Does Max put the fear of God in everyone or something?”

“Nope, he’s the biggest employer in this town and everyone likes him. You won’t find a man, woman, or child who will do anything to upset my son.”

“Except Stetson,” I pointed out.

“Except Stetson,” she agreed.

We had three more stops for the day, but only cleared one more suspect. The other two worked for Max so we decided to hit the local diner for lunch, then we’d wait for quitting time to approach the other two.

The local diner, also a log style building, was decorated in a 1950’s soda fountain theme and aptly named “Timber’s Soda Fountain.” It had red and black chrome throughout with booths on the walls, tables scattered here and there, and a long soda fountain bar in the middle. It seemed to be the hub of the town at midday and when we walked in, everyone turned their heads and looked at me.

“Me thinks you need a K stitched to your chest like a scarlet letter,” Jess whispered as eyes followed us.

“These same people cheered me on when they thought I’d killed Donald. Now that one of their own is dead I’m a plague upon the town I guess.”

“Ignore them,” Maxine mumbled, “no one I’ve talked to believes you did it. However, the knee to Stetson’s nuts, they loved.”

A waitress named Marscha Weda, a Dutch spelling she told us, placed us in the back, which gave me a great view of the diner. This also meant I had a great view of all the eyes that kept looking my way. After Marscha brought our water and took our orders, we’d settled in to wait.

Maxine was still convinced we’d find the killer with our current plan, but I was as doubtful now as I was in the beginning. There was no way of knowing if the killer was even in those pictures and it could take weeks going door-to-door. Even if we do find the right shirt, assuming he hasn’t thrown it away, would Stetson believe us when we took him the evidence or would he lock us up for obstructing justice?

I was just about to voice this concern when I looked out the window and saw Max leaving Johnson’s hardware and he wasn’t alone. Annie was with him and they’d stopped near his truck talking. Jealousy reached up and choked me and I tuned out Jess and Maxine as they discussed the next two men on our list.

Max seemed deep in thought as Annie kept talking, her hands darting out to touch him, to cup his face. Then one hand came up and covered her mouth as she began to cry. Max’s brows pinched together as a look of sadness crossed his face. Then he reached out, hooked her behind the neck, and hugged her to his chest. Once there, she wrapped her arms around his waist and continued to cry as they stood next to the street. Guilt replaced my jealousy as I watched Annie sob, so I glanced away for a moment.
The peroxide twins were right; she was in love with him.
Turning back, a glutton for punishment, I watched the scene play out like a bad soap opera. Girl loves guy, guy leaves girl, and then . . . and then the guy . . . what
does
the guy do?

Unease hit me square in the chest. Something had been nagging me about their relationship since I’d heard about it. How does a man sleep with a woman for two years and not have feelings for her? In my opinion, they can’t. If Annie was in love with Max, then wasn’t it possible that Max was harboring feelings for her yet never explored them? But, why wouldn’t he?
Oh, God, unless he thought her feelings were casual, so why rock the boat?

“That doesn’t look good,” Jess mumbled as she peered out the window. Then Maxine twisted in her seat and looked as well.

“Annie’s a good woman, came here about five years ago slinging beer to avoid a messy past. She and Max hooked up after Kelly took off, but he kept her at arm’s length, casual.”

“Kelly?” I asked.

“Kelly Whalen, pretty thing with dreams that she’d never find in this town. They dated for a few years, I thought they’d get married, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wanted out of this small town so she left. I don’t think Max would admit it, but he was burned badly when she left. I think that’s why he never put much emotion into his relationship with Annie.”

“How did Kelly burn him?”

“Oh, you know men and their egos. He thought he should have been enough that this town should have been enough for her if she loved him. The fact that she cared more about malls, and a nightlife that didn’t include Karaoke as the main attraction made no sense to him. She’d grown up here and Max thought she wanted the same things as him. Turned out Max was just something to do while she saved her money to get the hell out of town. When she left, he washed his hands of her, never tried to bring her back.”

“And Annie?” Jess asked.

“What about her?”

“Could he have buried his feelings for her because of Kelly?” I inquired as I looked out the window. When Max let Annie go, and kissed her cheek, my unease increased and jealousy returned.

“I don’t know. I think he’s been so focused on the company he doesn’t think much about that type of stuff.”

“So what you’re saying is you don’t know.”

“I’m saying it’s doubtful. Annie went out with other men to make Max jealous, get his attention, but he was either too busy to notice or not emotionally invested in their relationship to care.”

“Did she ever let on that she loved him?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

“Nope! I think she figured if she bided her time Max would come around sooner or later.”

“So, if he didn’t know how she felt and she told him, he might reassess his feelings?” Jess threw out catching my drift.