Divorced, Desperate and Dead (Divorced and Desperate Book 5) (41 page)

“And I’ll bet you would love to be the one in charge of her, too!” Cox slapped his chubby, fisted hand down on his desk. “Damn it, Turner. If this case is in any jeopardy, it’ll be due to you fraternizing with Ms. Morris. If Harper’s lawyer suspects you and the witness were dirtying up the sheets, her testimony won’t mean shit. Then all we’ll have is her criminal brother.”

In spite of what his boss and a few other officers thought, he hadn’t had sex with Reese. The fact that he’d been tempted as hell, and had come painfully close—meaning for the first time in his life, he understood the meaning of “blue balls”—it wasn’t any of their damn business.

“Look—” Turner said.

“No, you look. Don’t think I don’t know what you did by talking to the DA and getting Rick Morris put away on a lesser charge.”

“He thought he was working for a nickel-and-dime dealer. He never was present during the big drops.”

“It was your job to put him away, not get him off.”

Turner leaned both palms on Cox’s desk. “Get Rick Morris and his sister some protection, or I swear if something happens to them, I’ll go to the press, sing like a canary, and say you were fully warned.”

Cox’s bushy brows puckered and his chubby cheeks turned red. “You know, son, if your daddy hadn’t taken a bullet for me before God took his sorry ass, I’d be asking for your badge right now. Hell, I’d have asked for it a long time ago. Since your divorce, you’ve gone off the ledge. And for what? A woman? I know you want to compare yourself to your ol’ man, but he just got lucky in love. Most cops go through wives like cheap wallets. Get yourself right, or even my debt to your daddy won’t stop me from doing my job and taking yours from you. You got that?”

He got it alright.

The temptation to reach in his pocket and slam his gold shield on the desk bit so strong, his hands shook. The only reason he didn’t was because since Cox wasn’t going to do his job, Turner would have to do it for him. And that badge, he might need it. But he would get the damn job done. He owed Reese that much. Even if he had to turn his badge in afterward. The look in her sky blue eyes when she’d learned he’d been undercover and was behind her brother’s arrest hadn’t stopped flashing in his head for the last two months. And by damn, he wasn’t going to let some goon of Harper’s lay one finger on Reese. Or her brother, for that matter.

He’d have to find a way to get to the warden. And he’d find Reese. Just because his boss wanted to stick his head up his own ass and not see the truth, didn’t mean Turner had to.

He shot out of Cox’s office. Grabbing his phone, he dialed her number again. It went right to voicemail. He left his third message.

“Reese, it’s me, Turner. I know I’m the last guy in the world you want to talk to, but . . .” He paused. He hadn’t told her his fears in the other messages. He didn’t want to scare her to death. But damn it, she had a reason to be scared. And if she wasn’t going to take his calls, she needed to know.

“Look, Harper might be locked up, but he still has clout on the outside. And two of the other witnesses have wound up dead. Call me, please!”

• • •

Reese sat on the opposite side of the booth and met Casey’s soft brown eyes. She looked about ten years younger than Granny, her gray hair and wrinkles around her eyes told her age, but her slim and trim stature made her appear younger.

“I should say thank you,” Casey said.

“You’re welcome.” Reese smiled, feeling confident for the first time, and ignoring her phone vibrating against her right butt cheek.

“I said I
should
say it, I wasn’t saying it.”

“Oh.” So maybe Casey was as difficult as Granny.

“Tell me the only reason you did this today was because you want a free meal and I’ll fix you anything you want. Blueberry pancakes and even some whipped cream. Then I’ll say thank you.”

“Actually, I was hoping for a job.”

“Hells bells! That’s what I was afraid you’d say.” Casey leaned back in the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. “My blueberry pancakes are really good, you should take ‘em while they’re still on the table.”

Reese didn’t blink. “I need a job. Not pancakes.”

Casey shook her head and frowned. “Sorry. It’s nothing personal, but I only hire locals.”

Think fast. Think fast.
“Uh, well, it appears you don’t have enough locals to get you through the morning rush.”

“Yeah, well, that’s because a couple of my gals took up modeling and another two got some job acting in a movie that’s being filmed close by. But they are all good girls, and they’ll realize what their calling really is, and they’ll come back begging for their jobs. They always do.”

“Great,” Reese said, “But until then, hire me. I’m only looking for temporary work. A couple of months.”

Casey let out a deep sigh. “I don’t even like serving out-of-towners, I can’t hire one.”

“I did a good job, didn’t I?” Reese gave her the look her granny called ‘puppy dog eyes.’

“Now, don’t you go looking at me like that!” Casey said. “If you’re hard-up for money, I can give you a few bucks for your work today.”

“I’m not completely an out-of-towner.”

“You’re not?” Casey leaned forward as if to study Reese’s face.

“My family and I came here practically every summer.” One summer, well, make that three weeks, but that didn’t sound as impressive. But to Reese, it meant the world. Those were some of her last memories of her parents. A week later, they’d been killed in a car crash.

“Now you’re lying to me, Child.”

Damn it, Granny always said Reese couldn’t lie worth a flying flip. “Okay, one summer.”

Casey’s eyes tightened. “Try again.”

“Three weeks—but it was a really good three weeks and we ate here almost every day. I remember it like it was yesterday. The pictures are the same and the swordfish still has his broken nose. And it was called Casey’s Honkytonk Diner back then, so I’m sure you were here, too.”

The diner’s owner continued to study her. “So, why are you here now?”

“I’m a teacher and wanted to do something different for the summer.” That was partly true.

“What part of Texas are you from?”

She hadn’t said anything about Texas, but she guessed her twangy accent gave her away. “Glencoe, right outside Houston.”

“You’re here for the treasure, aren’t you?” Casey asked, with an accusing tone. “Damn treasure hunters, nothin’ but trouble, that’s what you are.”

“Treasure? What treasure?”

“All you out-of-towners are the same. You flood in here hoping to find it every year.”

Reese vaguely recalled the town’s legend of a pirate burying some treasure. It also included something about werewolves, but Reese wasn’t looking for those either. “I’m not here for the treasure.”

“Then what are you here for? And don’t make up no shit. I’m just like a human lie detector.”

Reese swallowed and spoke with honesty. “Peace. I’m here to find some peace.”

Casey leaned back in the booth again. “Some guy break your heart?”

More than one
. Reese nodded. “Two years ago, my fiancé, my one and only soul mate, died the day before our wedding.”

“And?” Casey asked as her eyes went to the front of the diner, where an older gentleman walked in. Reese noted the woman’s gaze lingered on the customer.

“I didn’t say ‘and,’” Reese said when Casey refocused on her.

“I heard an ‘and,’” Casey insisted and leaned forward. “Lookie here, young lady, the good Lord blessed me with three things: cooking, reading people, and a nice pair of tits that’ve only lost some of their bounce.”

Reese didn’t let her eyes lower to the woman’s boobs. It just wasn’t polite. Neither was bragging about your girls to a stranger! Reese took a second to ask herself if she really wanted to work for this bat-shit crazy lady.

The question hadn’t made a lap around her mind when the warm, homey smell of bacon filled her nose and she saw a family of four sit in the booth where she and her parents had sat all those years ago. The answer shot back. She wanted this job. Wanted to be here. Besides, Casey kind of reminded Reese of Granny. She got along just fine with bat-shit crazy.

Casey’s gray eyes never wavered as she repeated, “And . . . ?”

“And . . . after two years, I met another guy who made me question the ‘only one’ soul mate theory. He made me laugh. He made me want to love again. Then I learned he’d been lying to me all along. And for some crazy reason, my broken heart led me back here.”
To remember a time before I had my very first heartbreak—losing my parents.

Yup, there were things Reese wasn’t about to own up to. Things Casey didn’t need to know. Like her parents’ accident—Reese didn’t need pity—and her being a witness to a murder, and her brother being in jail for inadvertently working for said murderer.

Reese held her breath, hoping the truth she’d offered passed Casey’s lie detector test. Then she pushed the past where it needed to go, in her mental compost heap. Letting out a bit of air, she didn’t look away from Casey’s intense scrutiny.

“I hate broken heart stories,” the woman said, and her gaze appeared lured back to the man in the booth. “Unfortunately, out-of-towners don’t get my customers. And my customers don’t get out-of-towners.”

The woman had no more glanced back at her, when in the corner of Reese’s eye, she saw the older man lower his paper and give Casey a once-over.

Remembering her objective, Reese focused back on the diner’s owner. “I get your customers. I know what they want. Food. Service. A good time. Hot coffee. I . . . I make people smile, and your clientele will have a good time. They’ll enjoy your cooking even more. You’ll have happy customers.”

“You can make people smile?” the woman asked and frowned.

“Yup. I’m just likable. It’s the Texas charm.” That might be some Lone Star bullshit, but her desperation called for it.

“You seem awful sure of yourself,” Casey said.

“I am. Give me a job and I’ll prove it.”

“No, you prove it then I’ll give you a job.” She crossed her arms over her ample chest and her gaze shifted again back to the gentleman behind the paper. Her expression softened and saddened. Then she refocused on Reese and continued, “But if you fail to prove yourself, you’ll eat my blueberry pancakes, take a little compensation for your work, and be on your way. Fair?”

“Fair enough. How do I prove it?” Casey asked.

“Take your Texas charm over there and make Frank smile.”

“Who?”

“Frank. The man in booth one, reading the paper. He lost his wife a year ago. He comes in here every day wearing that same sad face. The only thing he says is ‘give me the special.’”

Casey heard the challenge in the older woman’s voice, but she heard something else, too. The woman cared about Frank—and not just because he was a local.

“You make that grumpy, grief-stricken man smile, and you’ve got a job.”

A challenge. Reese looked back at the long lost puppy face Frank wore. Not just a challenge, but a tough one. But she’d faced worse in the last two months. She’d faced watching a man get shot. She’d faced watching her brother get arrested. She’d faced Trey Freedman . . . or she should say, Turner Calder, and all his lies. Surely, she could make one sourpuss of an old man smile.

Read on for an exciting preview

of the first book in C. C. Hunter’s

Shadow Falls: After Dark series,

Reborn
!

Available now!

Enter Shadow Falls: After Dark, and meet a vampire named Della, who’s about to discover what her own story is meant to be . . .

Della had the perfect life—the family, a boyfriend, and a bright future—until she was turned and abandoned by everyone she loves. She takes refuge at Shadow Falls, a camp for teens with paranormal powers. It’s where she and her best friends, Kylie and Miranda, heal their heartbreak with laughter, and where Della is training to be a paranormal investigator—and she refuses to be distracted. That means there’s no time for romance with Steve, a gorgeous shapeshifter whose kisses melt her heart.