Chapter 7 The Unraveling #3
Like a moth to a flame, he found himself leaning closer to soak up the warmth and goodness radiating from her.
“Just tell me when to come over and what to bring.” If she needed tools, he’d have to make a detour to the hardware store on his way there.
Since he moved around a lot, he didn’t keep much on hand in the way of extras.
“I’ll talk to the guys at work and see if any of them would like to join us.
” It felt good to say that. Though he never went out of his way to make friends, Heart Lake was turning out to be the friendliest place he’d ever lived.
Perfect strangers often struck up conversations with him in the grocery line and while pumping gas, and people waved when they drove past him whether they knew him or not.
It was…different. A good kind of different.
“Yes, please! That would be great.” She beamed another sunny smile at him. “How does Tuesday evening sound for our first cleaning session?”
“It’s a date.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he grimaced. He hadn’t intended to call it a date. It had just slipped out. “I’ll, er, be there—”
“There you are, darling!” Elise’s throaty alto filled his ears.
Her tall, spidery figure approached them in a designer suit with her beige trench coat draped over her arm.
Her hair was pulled tightly back as usual, and a diamond choker hugged her throat.
She loved her diamonds. He honestly couldn’t think of an instance when she wasn’t wearing diamonds.
Aaron hid a wince at the cloud of perfume that filled the air as he stood. She reached him and leaned in to kiss his cheek.
Looking apologetic, Maggie hastily slid off the bench on the other side of his booth. “I’ll get out of your hair. It was nice running into you again.” Her lovely lips twisted ruefully. “And thanks for your offer to help.”
Elise’s dark eyebrows rose haughtily as she claimed the bench Maggie had vacated. “What was that all about?”
Aaron didn’t feel like he owed her an explanation for anything in his life, but he was supposed to be pretending to smooth things over with her. It’s only part of the job, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time.
He shrugged offhandedly as he returned to his seat. “I offered to spread the word at the police station to recruit a cleanup crew for them.”
“That was nice of you.” She looked amused. “The ransacking they endured at the bee farm was pretty horrible. I heard all about it on the news.”
He wasn’t sure what she found so funny about it. Reaching for the stack of menus against the wall, he handed her one. “They have the best buttermilk pancakes and made-to-order omelettes here.” He’d eaten there so often that he had most of the menu memorized.
“No to the pancakes. Yes to the eggs if they’ll toss them in a quiche for me.” Her fingers brushed his as she accepted the menu from him. It felt deliberate. Other than that, he felt nothing.
He was convinced the only reason she’d ever dated him was to get her foot in the door at Diamondback.
She’d spent their entire six months together wrangling invitations to dinner parties, fundraisers, and other events where his parents and uncle were likely to be present.
To this day, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure how she’d pulled it off, but she’d convinced his father to retire his aging personal assistant and hire her instead.
“How’s work?” He glanced around impatiently for their waitress.
“Listen to us,” Elise cooed in a sugary-sweet voice that lacked sincerity. “Talking about work like a boring old married couple.”
He was saved the trouble of responding to such a ridiculous statement by the waitress, who arrived to take their orders. He was forced to spend the next several minutes listening to Elise harass the woman for things outside of her control, such as the lack of soy milk in the building.
“You haven’t changed,” he noted blandly after the waitress finally made her escape. Still got the same old superiority complex as before. But he didn’t say what he was thinking aloud. “Still a health nut, I see.”
Her lips twisted into a pout. “Believe me, it’s not easy when I’m on the road, especially in little no-name towns like this, but you’re worth it.” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Also, your uncle didn’t exactly give me a choice.” The irritation in her voice sounded more genuine this time.
“He can be pretty persistent when he wants to be.” Aaron was having a hard time imagining anyone bossing Elise around, but he played along. “For what it’s worth, I appreciate his concern.” He waited a beat before adding, “And yours.”
Her pout faded into something he couldn’t define. “From what it sounded like, you almost died.”
“Hardly,” he scoffed. “As you can see, I’m fine.” Though the gas leak had made him sick, he’d been rescued in plenty of time.
“Gas,” she intoned quietly. “The silent killer.”
He’d forgotten how morbid she could be. He took another sip of his coffee and changed the subject. “Enough about me. How are you doing? How’s work? How’s life? Are you married yet?”
As he’d hoped, his last question drew a shocked gasp out of her. “I can’t tell you all of my secrets in one sitting, Aaron Cannon. What would be the fun in that?”
She made sure she wove in a bunch of intrusive questions of her own before the meal was over. He dodged most of them, making himself sound like the singlest bachelor who’d ever bachelored.
Her air of hauteur faded a few degrees as she listened and barely touched the quiche she’d arm-twisted the waitress into having specially made for her. After he wolfed down his omelette, she set her fork down.
“I miss this,” she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “I miss—”
“So do I,” he breezed, not wanting to let their conversation get too off track. “It’s not ideal handling company business strictly over electronic devices. Sometimes, you’ve gotta have a face-to-face, you know?”
“True.” Her expression grew shuttered. “Is there anything you’d like to run past me?” She glanced at her watch. “I have an hour or so before my next conference call.”
“Actually, there is.” He went into a lengthy explanation about the firewalls in Modello’s security system that Aurora had been struggling to hack through.
Elise muffled a yawn. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Normally, yes.” He tapped his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. “But it doesn’t explain why their alarm was triggered, and that’s what she’s here to figure out—preferably before their next shipment of gems.” He launched into an even more boring topic about the way their system was wired.
To his delight, Elise cut him off mid-sentence, claiming she needed to take off even though he hadn’t come close to using up the allotted hour.
“Thank you.” He forced an extra dose of gratitude into his voice. “It’s nice having someone to talk to who actually understands this stuff.”
“Anytime.” She snatched up her purse and coat.
“We could continue this over dinner later on if you’d like,” he offered.
Since she looked like she was waffling over what answer to give him, he gave her a verbal nudge. “I’m not sure what your schedule is like, but if you’re able to extend a day or two, I could carve out some time to show you around town.”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t imagine there’s much to do in a town this size. I already checked with the front desk at the hotel, and they said there’s no symphony or ballet.”
“Heart Lake has some stunning views,” he assured in his most gracious voice. “Anyone who’s never seen the sun setting over the water is really missing out.”
Bemusement curved her mouth upward. “If you say so.”
I just did. He pushed down his irritation.
“Well, I knew it was a long shot when I asked. My uncle is notorious for not giving us much say in our schedules. If he needs you back on Monday, then so be it.” He was purposely goading her by insinuating her wishes didn’t carry much weight at the home office.
As expected, she bristled. “If you and Aurora need me here longer, I could probably extend a day.”
He nodded vehemently to seal the deal. “I think it’s a good idea.
” It was a terrible idea, but it would give A.J.
and Aurora the time they’d requested to comb through every inch of the home office.
As an unexpected bonus, Uncle Cary was out of town for a few days.
He didn’t say why, and Aaron hadn’t asked.
All he’d done was mention that Aurora might scoot through the area to attend a friend’s wedding, and that she’d likely stop by the office to get a few hours of work done.
Uncle Cary hadn’t said much. He’d sounded distracted and anxious to end their call. Hopefully, he was also too distracted and anxious to inform Elise about Aurora’s presence in New York.
Aaron drove to the Heart Lake Police Department, feeling a tug of something he couldn’t name.
Familiarity? Pride? Belonging? In the short time he’d been in town, the place was starting to grow on him.
The people here were so nice, especially Maggie.
He was really looking forward to seeing her again.
Luke ushered him jovially into his office. “Sounds like Colonel Pike is no longer dead set on having you arrested.”
“That is correct.” Aaron grinned. “It helps that he’s dating my sister.”
Luke burst out laughing. “I bet.”
“Seriously, though.” Aaron waved the rolled-up map he’d brought with him. It was the one A.J. had compiled. “Mind if I show you something?” He angled his head at Luke’s desk, indicating he’d like to roll out the map there.
“Sure.” Luke gestured for him to continue. He even helped him smooth out and hold open the map. “What are we looking at?”
“A possible explanation for the uptick in break-ins around here,” Aaron warned gravely.
“I don’t have a name yet, but I’m hoping to have one soon.
” He described the colorful dots on the map representing the clusters of burglaries everywhere Diamondback’s security consultants traveled.
“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s possible the trouble we’re experiencing in Heart Lake followed my sister and me into town. ”
“It is what it is, Deputy.” Luke squinted at the map. “On the upside, after we bring these hoodlums to justice, you’re going to owe me.”
“Name your price.” Aaron needed his help regardless.
“I was shorthanded when you submitted an application for your transfer,” Luke reminded, “and I’ll be shorthanded again after you leave. I won’t be nearly as shorthanded if you stick around for a while.”
Though Aaron was flattered, he didn’t see how that was possible.
He was usually gone within a few weeks of Aurora wrapping up an assignment.
“My family is pestering me to step into the role of CEO,” he confessed.
“I’ve put it off as long as possible, but my uncle is adamant about retiring soon.
” He could already feel the weight of the responsibilities that would soon be his.
He rolled his shoulders to ease the pressure.
Luke watched his movements. “What about your future brother-in-law? Seems to me he and your sister have the makings of a solid team.”
Aaron snorted. “You say that as if I could serve up the CEO title as a wedding gift to him.”
“Or her.”
“Her,” Aaron repeated, suddenly wondering why she’d never been in the running for the position. He’d never asked why, because she’d never acted like she wanted the job, but maybe he should have.
While he chewed on that, Luke tossed him another question. “Is it possible you’ve been dragging your heels on a career change because you’re already where you’re supposed to be?”
It was a valid question, one that Aaron didn’t have an immediate answer for.
“You and Maggie Meyer seem cozy,” the sheriff added teasingly.
Aaron wasn’t ready to discuss his feelings for the kindhearted nurse. “Maybe we should circle back to how we’re going to protect this town from what’s coming.”
“You mean what’s already here.” Luke sobered. “Are you anticipating more burglaries?”
“Unfortunately.” Aaron broke down what they were looking at on the map. “Each cluster of red dots represents an average of four point five break-ins. We’ve only had three so far.”
The sheriff straightened, allowing his side of the map to roll up. “Guess we’d better come up with a game plan.”
Aaron had already gotten to work on exactly that. “I made a list of every antique store, retail shop, pawnshop, souvenir store, and farmers market in town. That’s where we should start. We’ll interview the owners and see if we can triangulate a pattern for their suppliers and purchasing habits.”
Luke pointed at him with both hands. “That’s what I’m talking about. Nothing beats good old-fashioned police work, which is why I’m going to keep you around for as long as I can.”