Chapter 8 Overdue Encounter #2
Unlike their Stetson-wearing family, they wore pinky rings and pressed shirts beneath their white lab coats; and their dental clinic had undergone a recent facelift.
The old picture windows and flower boxes in the front had been replaced with an antiseptic wall of glass.
The classic red brick was now covered with white paint, and a flat metal roof had been installed.
It slanted down on one side in a way that was probably considered trendy and chic.
The sight of it made Bear’s stomach tighten.
Here goes nothing.
He reached the glass front door, wishing he had on a bulletproof vest. For all he knew, his sister had died for nothing more than stepping into the same building thirty years earlier.
A bell on the door jingled to announce his arrival. It surprised him that the Haywoods had kept such an old-fashioned feature intact.
Behind the tall receptionist’s booth, a platinum blonde flipped back a handful of hair and cocked her head at him like a perky robin. “Good morn—” Her words froze mid-greeting.
He found himself face-to-face with Verity Haywood, his sister’s nemesis. The woman who’d pretended to be her friend, while constantly knifing her in the back.
“What are you doing here?” She bit out the words in a low voice that wasn’t designed to carry to the two patients seated in the waiting area. Anger and an underlying hint of fear twisted her carefully painted features.
Her expression surprised him. He hadn’t expected his presence to incite fear.
“I’d like to speak with Dr. Haywood.” Unlike she’d done, he spoke loud enough to be heard. He closed the distance between them on the vinyl hardwood floor and leaned his elbows conversationally on the countertop. At a quick glance, a passer-by might assume they were friends. They were anything but.
She flinched and rolled her chair back a few inches. “Do you have an appointment?”
She already knew the answer to that. Bear gave the security camera above them a pointed look. It was trained on the receptionist’s desk. He resisted the temptation to wave at it.
“Dr. Haywood is expecting me.” It wasn’t exactly true, and he didn’t specify whether he was referring to the senior Dr. Haywood or the junior Dr. Haywood, but her expression told him she knew exactly whom he was requesting to see.
He sensed that he’d gotten her husband’s attention, as well. The next move was up to Benjie.
The sudden buzz of hushed conversation behind him told him that their audience had finally seen past his new haircut. A Dakota in the same room as a Haywood was bound to stir a little gossip, which he’d been counting on.
Rumors were flying about the set of bones that had been dug up at Haywood Ranch.
Everyone was speculating who they belonged to and what sort of backlash the identity of the bones might stir between their two families.
A press release from the Heart Lake Police Department was expected any day now, stating that the long-lost Tiana Dakota had finally been found.
No doubt the patients in the Haywood Dental Clinic’s waiting room were wondering why else a Dakota would be seeking an audience with a Haywood. And not just any Haywood. The man who might’ve married Tiana if she’d lived.
The silence between Bear and Verity stretched to an uncomfortable point. Then the door behind her desk opened.
Benjie Haywood appeared, looking pale and grave. “Mr. Dakota, if you’ll come with me.”
Verity sent her husband a desperate look. It was accompanied by a head shake that he either didn’t see or chose to ignore.
Bear made a big show of inclining his head respectfully to her. “Thank you, ma’am. It’s nice to see you again.” She knew it wasn’t true, but Bear was getting what he came for. He could afford to keep the veneer of politeness turned on.
She said nothing in return, staring in impotent fury and mute despair at him. She brought to mind a dud firecracker, the kind that sizzled in the jar without ever going off. Dud firecrackers were dangerous. Sometimes they went off when a person least expected them to.
She reached up in agitation to smooth back a strand of her perfectly styled hair.
The movement drew his gaze to the puckered pink scars mottling the top of her hand and wrist. She’d been badly burned at some point.
That she hadn’t invested in a skin graft procedure to cover it was a bit surprising.
The only other scars Bear had seen like that were on the side of Luke Hawling’s face.
Seeing his expression, Verity Haywood swiftly lowered her hand and tucked it out of sight.
Looking oblivious to the short byplay between Bear and his wife, Benjie Haywood motioned for Bear to follow him down a long hallway.
The only thing breaking up the monotonous splash of white walls and tile was a handful of black-and-white framed photos.
Not family photos or anything related to clean teeth or perfect smiles.
They were aerial photos of Heart Lake — zoomed-out parcels of rolling farmland.
Bear muffled a snort at the odds that he was looking at trophies mounted on the wall, not unlike the heads of deer or bison.
He would alert the authorities about them as soon as he left the building.
Wouldn’t it be something if the photographs matched some of the dirty land deeds they were currently investigating?
A drone of voices in one of the exam rooms sounded like Benjie’s son was speaking with a patient. As expected, Ben was working alongside his father this morning. Bear was glad to avoid an encounter with him. Ben wasn’t the one he’d come to see.
“Please forgive my wife’s behavior.” Benjie spoke quietly. “I’m sure it was a shock for her to see you here.”
Your wife’s behavior? It was an odd choice of words. Not once during Bear’s marriage to Lula had he ever apologized for his “wife’s behavior.” It sounded demeaning, although nothing in Benjie’s tone or expression suggested he was being disrespectful.
Bear wasn’t a hundred percent sure how to respond, but Benjie seemed to be expecting him to say something. He settled for a middle-of-the-road-sounding question.
“Why’s that?” For all Verity had known when Bear had walked up to her counter was that he’d finally swallowed his pride and come to beg for an appointment. Unlike Kaya, Bear typically drove forty to fifty miles away from Heart Lake for his cleanings and the one cavity he’d needed filled.
Benjie’s mouth twisted wryly. “You know why.” He was a few years older than Bear and a tad on the emaciated side, as if he didn’t get enough to eat.
There was no way that was the case since the guy could buy and sell most folks in town.
Maybe the white lab coat he was wearing over his suit trousers was making him look more washed out than he really was.
Benjie’s words felt like a loaded statement to Bear. “Pretend I don’t.”
“If you insist,” the dentist sighed. “Verity and your sister were close, so her disappearance was as hard on her as it was on me.” There was a heaviness in his voice that almost sounded like he was still feeling Tiana’s loss. Was he?
Though Bear didn’t agree that Verity and Tiana had been friends, he found a strange sort of comfort in Benjie’s show of sadness. Was he for real?
“Dr. Haywood,” he drawled, “the reason I’m here—”
“Benjie,” Benjamin Haywood cut in. “We’ve known each other all our lives, for pity’s sake.”
It was true; and if Tiana were still around, they might’ve ended up as brothers-in-law. Even so, Bear hadn’t expected such a congenial reception from the man.
They reached his office, and Benjie waved him toward a chrome and glass conference table.
Bear preferred to remain standing, but he forced himself to sit.
Their conversation had already lasted longer than he’d expected.
He waved away Benjie’s offer of a beverage.
“What makes you think my sister and your wife were close?” The expensive-looking, high-backed chair was surprisingly comfortable.
An indescribable emotion flashed across Benjamin Haywood’s drawn features. “Verity said so herself.” It might’ve been confusion. It might’ve been something else.
“And if anyone claimed otherwise?” Bear asked slowly.
Benjie’s face turned red. “She cried harder than I’ve ever seen a woman cry that day.” He swung his head away from Bear so that Bear couldn’t see his face. “I’m telling you, her heart was breaking.” He sounded fiercely uncertain, as if he were trying to convince himself or his listener. Maybe both.
That day.
Bear didn’t have to ask which day they were speaking about. He knew Benjie was referring to the day Tiana had disappeared. The day her mangled bike had been found beside the rocky embankment along the old highway, with no sign of its owner. The authorities had searched for days and weeks afterward.
“Verity was driving toward downtown.” The distraught edge to Benjie’s voice sounded raw and real. “I was on the lake path getting some exercise during my lunch break. Actually, I was waiting for Tiana to join me on my lunch break, but…” He faced Bear again, shaking his head sadly.
Once upon a time, the pathway around the lake had been a beaten dirt path, then a gravel path, and now it was a paved one.
When Benjie started speaking again, heartache bruised his eyes. “It started raining during my walk, making it difficult to see. Verity almost ran into me,” he admitted with a faint cackle. “I’ll admit it distracted me from my other worries for a minute or two.”
Bear’s eyebrows rose. “You find that funny?” He couldn’t fathom laughing over nearly being run over.