Before The Night Is Over (10 page)

“
A woman hit Jeff? I hadn’t heard about that, but I’m sure he deserved it. He’s had a heavy hand for a long time. I’ve seen his wife sporting bruises where there shouldn’t be, even if they get into a little rough sex,” a pretty blonde said as she played with the straw in her cup.

The rough, annoying squeaking sound grated on Laurel’s nerves when the girl pushed the straw in and out of the lid.

“
Well, the woman took him to the ground with one punch. I’ve heard she’s the new cop in town.”

Laurel pulled the cap down on her forehead to shield her face. Having any of these women recognize her would be a bad thing right about now. A reputation as being a badass cop in a little town like this wouldn’t help matters with her sister. Elizabeth would take the brunt of gossip and stares more than she already had to.

“
And Kale Dunn got into the middle of the fray,” the last woman added.

She tilted her head and listened closer when his name spilled into the conversation.

“
Kale? Why him?”

“
Jeff used to work for him.”

“
Used to?”

“
He got fired right then and there.”

“
Wow, but I’m not really surprised. Kale is the type of man who stands up for a woman. Remember a couple of years ago when he and Cade Weston were both dating Natalie?”

“
Oh yeah. I heard there was some interesting stuff going on between the three of them.”

“
Like?”

Laurel saw the apparent leader of the group look around her and then lower her voice, but she could still hear every word.

“
A threesome.”

“
Threesome?” one of the others squeaked.

“
Keep your voice down, Missy,” the blonde snapped. “She’s talking about the two men and Natalie having sex. Together. At the same time.”

“
No shit! Really?” Missy replied.

Heat seeped through Laurel’s veins while she listened. Blood rushed in her ears and a quiver spread through her belly. Her thoughts went haywire when she imagined Kale and another mysterious man pleasuring her at the same time. Threesome’s weren’t something she’d ever experienced, but if Kale was involved, she might jump at the chance—then again, maybe not.

“
Cade and Kale had the reputation for sharing a woman in the past. Why wouldn’t they share Natalie?”

“
But Cade is married to her now. Wouldn’t that be kind of weird, Jan?”

“
Like I know. It’s not like it was me,” Jan snapped.

“
You sound a bit jealous,” the third woman said.

“
Hell yes, I’m jealous,” Jan replied, while she fanned her face like she’d overheated. “Those two are about the hottest thing around here.”

“
You’re married, Jan.”

“
I may be married, but I ain’t dead, Candace. Kale is still a fine looking man and single.”

Yes, he is.

“
Mommy!” Kimmy yelled from the top of the slide, waving madly and then sliding down.

The three women finally seemed to notice her sitting not far away and focused their icy stares on her. She lifted her hand in a small wave before she stood and walked toward her daughter.

When she reached Kimberly, she said, “Let’s go play on the swing, okay?”

“
Kay.”

Kimmy took her hand and they walked toward another part of the park, away from the steely-eyed women still watching them.

The plastic of the swing seared through the butt of her jeans. “Wow.” Laurel wiggled her butt on the seat and then settled down, pulling Kimmy into her lap and pushing against the ground to set into motion.

Off in the distance, a fairly handsome blond man threw a baseball to his young son, who appeared to be about Kimberly’s age. The tightness in Laurel’s chest made her realize how much of Kimberly’s life her father would miss. The influence of a man in her life wouldn’t be there, unless she got married or found a steady man. The day would come when Kimberly would ask questions and her stomach clenched at the thought.

“
Mommy,” Kimberly said, smacking her small hand against Laurel’s cheek.

“
What, sweetie?”

“
Go for walk.” The little girl jumped down once Laurel stopped the swing.

“
Where?”

Kimberly pointed to a jogging path the led back into the woods and wrapped around the back of the park before it came back out on the other side of the skateboard ramps. They had taken the path several times and Kimberly loved to pick up bugs and anything else that moved, along the path.

“
All right, pumpkin, but once we come back around; we need to head for home.”

The pout on her daughter’s face almost made her laugh, but she smiled and took Kimmy’s hand. There would be no dealing with the rambunctious three year old later on, if she didn’t wear her out some before they went back to the apartment.

Leaves rustled above their heads and the canopy of filtered sunlight kept the heat to a minimum down the asphalt path. Kimberly ran ahead several feet and picked up a rock. It skipped off into the bushes surrounding the path with a toss of her hand.

“
Don’t go too far,” she yelled as Kimberly skipped around the bend of the trail and out of sight for a moment. Laurel picked up the pace and rounded the corner. The little girl had stopped not far off the trail near a bush and stood looking down at something on the ground. “You know better than to run ahead, sweetie,” Laurel scolded as got closer. “What’cha got there?”

The sight meeting her gaze sent Laurel into cop mode—an uncovered tennis shoe attached to a foot, leg and probably the rest of what looked like a woman’s body, under the covering of some compost.

“
Move back over here, Kimberly,” she snapped in a non-nonsense tone while she reached into her pocket for her cell phone.

Within moments, blaring of sirens sounded in the distance. Cops came from everywhere. She hadn’t realized there were so many police on the force in the small town of Red Rock, especially on day shift, when probably ten cops arrived on the scene.

The chief of police arrived first. His large, burly body unfolded from the front seat of his cruiser and Laurel winced.
Great. Just the person I need to see today.

“
Officer Hayes. What have we got?”

“
My daughter and I were walking along the path, sir, when I noticed her looking at something off the side. No one has touched anything, but there appears to be a body under the compost to the right side. I saw the bottom of the shoe first and up to the knee of one leg.”

The man’s black eyes pinned her for a moment while he seemed to contemplate something. “Didn’t you work homicide in Los Angeles?”

Laurel shivered with excitement at the question
. Maybe this might work into me being able to use my skills after all.
“Yes, sir.”

“
Do you have someone who can watch your daughter while you dig into this? I'm not sure you heard, Officer Hayes, but we got a report of another body yesterday, outside of town on one of the large ranches. I'm hoping this isn't a serial killer type situation. This could get mighty ugly if we don't get to the bottom of this quickly.”

Damn.

"No sir. I hadn't heard about that." She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “My neighbor usually watches her for me, but she’s at an appointment.”

“
If you can’t, I’ll assign it to someone else.” He turned to head back to his car.

“
Wait! Sir, please. Let me see what I can do. Give me twenty minutes while the guys section this off with tape and see if there are any witnesses around. All right?”

“
Twenty minutes,” the chief replied, his voice gruff and to the point.

Who can I get to watch Kimmy? I don’t know anyone except Teresa and Elizabeth, but I can’t trust my sister if her husband is around.

Laurel reached for her cell and dialed her sister’s number. Jeff answered and she hung up before saying a word.

Think, Laurel.

She paced back and forth near the cruiser sitting in the parking lot. One of the officers had put Kimmy in the back and gave her a cookie from his lunch.

“
You okay, Laurel?” Jim asked.

“
Yeah, Jim. Thanks for asking.” She tapped her finger absently on the cell phone while she tried to think of someone to watch her daughter.

Moments later, her cell phone vibrated in her hand. Glancing at the numbers, she wondered who it could be since not too many people had her number and this one looked local.

“
Hello?”

“
Laurel?”

“
Yes, who’s this?”

“
It’s Kale.”

I gave him my home number, not my cell.

“
How did you get this number?”

“
You have it on your answering machine at home and you gave me that number last night, remember?”

Crap. I forgot about putting it on the answering machine.
“Um, yeah. What can I do for you?”

“
I want to talk about what happened this morning. Can I buy you dinner?”

The ability to talk disappeared while she chewed her lips and contemplated seeing him again. He wanted to know more about her and her life. The thought terrified her and she wasn’t ready to give into the temptation of Kale Dunn for anything other than sex—not yet.

Hesitation and avoidance had to be clear in her voice when she said, “Um, I can’t tonight. I’m working.”

“
I thought you told me you were off tonight?”

“
I was, but something has come up and the department needs me. I’m in the middle of trying to figure out where I can find someone to watch my daughter for me.” Back and forth she walked, not paying attention to the hurry of feet or the blare of police radios. “I’m sorry, Kale. I really can’t talk now.”

“
I’ll do it.”

“
What?”

“
I’ll watch your daughter for a few hours.”

“
You can’t be serious.”

“
Why not?”

“
How much experience do you have watching a three year old?” The pause on the line answered her question. “I appreciate you volunteering, but I think you would be so out of your league with her. I’d probably find you sitting in one of your dining room chairs with one of those ropes you cowboys use, wrapped around you, when I got back.”

A warm chuckle reached her ear through the phone line. She closed her eyes at the sound, reliving it and their rendezvous from this morning, in her mind.

“
All right. I’ll tell you what. Let me make a phone call and see if a friend of mine would be willing to watch her for you. She’s great with kids.”

“
She?” Jealousy raced down Laurel’s back and she chided herself.

“
Yeah. Natalie is married to my best friend and she’s an elementary teacher. Let me call her real quick and I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

Natalie? Isn’t that the name of the woman I heard the ladies at the picnic table talking about?