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“How far from amicable?” Rafe continued pressing.
“Not very. And what wasn’t was on my part.”
There it was, finally, a trace of...something. Pain? Hurt? He felt suddenly guilt that he was glad of it, but he couldn’t deny this cool demeanor was bothering him. Cassie had always been quiet, but never cool. Even back then he’d often suspected she was quiet because inside she was very much not cool.
And sometimes those hazel eyes had been dark with emotion, absolutely stormy. Cory had asked him once how he always seemed to know when she was in a mood. “It’s right there in her eyes,” he’d answered, surprised that it wasn’t obvious to everyone.
“I’ll need names,” Rafe said. At her edgy look he added easily, “Process of elimination.”
“Oh.”
“Who was the most recent?”
“Steve Larsen. He’s a teacher at the middle school.”
“How’d it end?”
“He went back to his ex-wife.” She gave a half shrug. “I understood. They have two young children. They remarried, and I’m happy for him.”
“Who was before that?”
“Tim Sparks.”
Jace gaped at her. “You dated the jock?”
Cassie shifted her gaze to his face. “Says the judo champion of the entire school district?”
“Yeah, but Tim, he was...”
“Yes, he was. But he’s grown up a lot since he used to strut around campus. Having your girlfriend die in a car accident will do that to you.”
He blinked. An image of the girl, the classic cheerleader type who had been the perfect match for the football captain, formed in his head. They’d been the cliché couple, each a star with their own posse, and together the superstars of their little world. “Carly’s...dead?”
She nodded. “Right after their graduation. You’d know that if you ever bothered to keep in touch.”
“Been a little busy,” he said, stung.
“Hmm.”
He lapsed into silence as Rafe continued to ask her questions. He only half listened, because he was trying to picture quiet, clever Cassidy with the outgoing, unserious Tim. But maybe the guy had found her quiet calm soothing after what had happened. When she said he’d gone on to become a successful attorney, he thought maybe that was a clue.
Rafe stopped to make some notes, and Jace blurted out, “Was he driving?”
As usual, Cassie had no trouble following, even though it had been a few minutes since she’d told him.
“No. But it was his car.”
“So he felt responsible.”
She was looking at him rather intently. “No. That would be something you would do.”
He blinked. Her tone had been so neutral he couldn’t tell if it had been compliment or accusation. Knowing Cassie, probably both.
Cutter was suddenly on his feet. He was looking from Cassie to him, then back, his expression oddly puzzled.
Don’t try to figure her out, dog. She goes way too deep.
The animal walked over to her, rested his chin on her knee. She looked bemused but pleased and put a hand on the dark head. He watched her face as she looked down at the dog. Saw the slow smile dawn, wondered if she was feeling what he had felt the first time he had stroked Cutter’s head in the same way. Wondered what it was about the animal, what knack he had.
Wondered when Cassidy Grant had gone from quietly cute to utterly beautiful. And the thought of her in genuine danger made his stomach knot.
“I have a question,” he said abruptly. “About the elephant not in the room.”
Her head came up.
“Where the hell is your brother?”
Chapter 4 (#u5281a46f-a79a-591b-9a97-854d3b05137c)
Cassidy managed not to recoil at the anger in Jace’s tone, but it was a close thing. “Hell if I know,” she retorted.
Jace looked surprised. That she’d echoed his curse? Or that it was about her brother, whom, for all her teasing, she had adored?
A lot has changed since you were here.
It wasn’t that she didn’t still love Cory, but... And then, belatedly, something else occurred to her. “Don’t you know where he is?”
Jace made a face that matched her sour tone. “I haven’t talked to him in...” He trailed off, then finished with a rueful expression after he apparently figured out just how long it had been. “Four years.”
She frowned. “But you two were best friends.”
“Yeah. Funny how that ended once he knew I couldn’t lend him money anymore.”
He looked as if he regretted saying it, so she hastened to say, “I get it. I didn’t hear much from him after the bank of Cassidy closed up, either.”
He frowned. “Are you...in financial trouble? With the shop, and I thought your folks had a little life insurance—”
“Not in trouble, just...tight. The shop’s breaking even, but no more. I cut Cory off after he blew through his half of the insurance money in a few months. It wasn’t that much, only fifty thousand, but...” She waited for the look, the one some people gave her, accusatory. How could she cut off her own brother if he needed help?
Instead he just said softly, “Good for you.” She blinked, surprised. “I know what he likely blew it on,” he explained.
She felt a jab of relief that she wouldn’t have to explain. “Is that why you stopped loaning him money, too?”
“No. I—” He cut himself off, gave a sharp shake of his head. “Never mind. Irrelevant.”
She supposed it wasn’t relevant, but she couldn’t help wondering what had made him say it like that. With such an edge.
“Are we sure of that?”
The inquiry sounded mild compared to Jace’s edge, but Cassidy doubted anything coming from the man who had been sitting so silently yet still was such a presence in the room should be taken lightly.
“What do you mean, Mr. Crawford?”
“Rafe, please. I already feel old enough just getting up in the morning.”
He said it so wryly she couldn’t help but smile. “All right, then, Rafe,” she said. “Are you saying my brother might be connected to this?”
It seemed an impossibility to her, but she kept her tone neutral. She’d learned a lot about self-control when it came to her brother.
“That depends,” the man said, shifting his steady gaze to Jace, “on what exactly he was spending that money on.”
“Not drugs,” Jace said, with a quick glance at Cassidy. “He was never into that, or alcohol. But he was...always looking for the easy way. The big thing that was going to make him really rich.”
“There are many people who would consider having fifty grand in the bank pretty rich,” Rafe said.
Cassidy saw Jace’s head snap around as he stared at the other man rather too pointedly to just be a response to him speaking. “Yes,” he said. “There are.”
There had been something in those words, too, something harsh and...personal? Whatever it was, she didn’t like it. Jace had had enough of that in his life, with his strict, overbearing father. The man had made her feel impossibly inadequate the few times she’d been around him, and Cory had told her tales that had made her shudder, so she could only imagine how he’d made Jace feel.
“I don’t think my brother could be involved in this. I haven’t spoken to him in several weeks, and I haven’t seen him in four months,” she said now. She glanced at Jace. “I did try to call him a few times before I called you. He never called back.”
“Sounds par for the course for him.”
She sighed. “It didn’t used to be.”
“A lot of things didn’t used to be.”
Again that edge had crept into his voice. And this time he was facing her, and she saw him fight it down.
“He’s the one who left me your number and told me...to call you if I couldn’t reach him and needed help. Because you—”
She cut herself off, realizing they were into territory she wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss in front of a complete stranger, even one who was here to help.
“Made him a promise,” Jace finished softly.
“Yes.”
“And that promise,” the man she’d been worried about talking in front of said, “is why Foxworth is involved. Helping good people keep honest promises is high on the list of things we do.”
It seemed impossible to her that such a thing existed, yet here they were, this intimidating man who looked as if he’d have no problem handling any trouble that came at him, and the dog who somehow made him less frightening.
“Speaking of lists,” he added, “I’ll need one, of everyone you see on a regular basis. The personal names first, then business. Include when you last saw or spoke to them, and the circumstances. Don’t try to narrow it down, or leave anyone off that you think is unlikely or impossible. Let us do that.”
“Us?” She glanced at Jace, who hadn’t been in her life for nearly ten years. Never mind that he’d often been in her mind.
“I meant Foxworth,” Rafe said. “We’ve got resources.”
She frowned. “And you’re going to use them to, what? Poke around in the lives of everyone I know?”
“I promise you, they will never know.”
She still didn’t like the idea. “I don’t think so.”
For a brief moment, he didn’t answer. He looked just rueful enough that her entire impression of him changed. In that moment he looked like a man in unknown waters. It echoed in his voice when he said, “I made a big assumption, Ms. Grant, and I shouldn’t have.”
“What big assumption?”
He nodded. “That you wanted our help. I’m not usually the front man for Foxworth, or I wouldn’t have forgotten a crucial step.”
“What are you, usually?”
Surprise flickered in his eyes, but only for an instant. “If I answered that, you might say no when you need to say yes.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of that but guessed he meant that if there was dirty work to be done, he did it. She wasn’t really certain what that would be, but if they got involved in things like this, what else might they deal with? For a moment she questioned whether she did indeed want the help being offered.
The dog at her knee shifted, drawing her gaze. Dark, amber-flecked eyes looked up into hers, and she felt suddenly steadier. And certain that it was all right. How odd.
She looked back at Rafe, who didn’t speak again, didn’t try to persuade her, just let her process. She studied him for a moment longer, then said quietly, “I think whatever the situation, I would want you on my side and not against me.”
Rafe smiled. It was not, she thought, a happy smile.
“Told you she was smart,” Jace said.
Cassidy’s gaze shifted to him as she wondered what else he’d told the man. And she caught him watching her with the oddest expression on his face.
“You still have the scar,” she said, rather inanely. Of course he still had it.
He lifted a hand as if instinctively, to touch the mark below his eye. “My favorite souvenir.”
She felt a faint heat rising in her cheeks. “Something to remind you of a silly girl you had to rescue?”
“You were never silly. And I never needed the scar for that.”
His voice was so soft, so gentle, yet with that rough edge he’d gained somewhere in the last ten years. His words set up a chain reaction of memories, hopes that she’d thought successfully quashed for good. She was afraid the pink in her face would turn to full red if she didn’t look away. So she quickly did, only to find Rafe Crawford watching them both thoughtfully.
But thankfully the man said nothing except, “That list? And a schedule, too. Where you usually are when, and what days might vary and why.”
That, at least she could see the reason for. And so, wondering on several fronts what she’d gotten herself into, she went to the kitchen drawer where she kept stray notepads and began to write.
Chapter 5 (#u5281a46f-a79a-591b-9a97-854d3b05137c)
“You could have mentioned she was more to you than your friend’s sister,” Rafe said casually, quietly.
Jace felt a jolt at the words and with a touch of panic tried to gauge if Cassie could have heard him over there in the kitchen. She never faltered in her writing, so he guessed not. Then he looked back at Rafe and realized this was a man who would know exactly how far his voice would or would not carry.
“She’s not,” he said. At least, she wasn’t. “I mean, I liked her, enough to tease her a lot. Like she was my sister, too. Cory said she...kind of had a crush on me. You know, the kind of thing that happens with teenage girls.”
“She’s not a teenage girl now.”
