Chapter Three
Dominique stared at him in surprise. He was the very last person on earth she’d expected to see this evening. “Are you going to let me in?” he asked.
“Oh, of course.” She opened her door wider and as he swept past her, she caught a whiff of his delicious scent. “Would you like anything to drink?” She gestured him toward the sofa.
“No thanks, I’m good.”
He certainly looked good. His jeans fit his long legs perfectly and his navy-blue T-shirt stretched taut across his broad shoulders and chest. His black hair was shiny and his green eyes were bright and alert. The shoulder holster and gun he wore made him look hot and slightly dangerous.
“Am I interrupting your dinner time?” he asked.
“I don’t really have a specific dinner time and no, you aren’t interrupting anything.” She sank down in the chair facing him, still surprised by his presence. “So, are you really here to help me?”
“That’s the plan. Daniel thought it was a good idea that I make sure you don’t get yourself killed and I agreed with him.”
“By the way, thanks a lot for getting Daniel involved in this,” she said with a touch of irritation. “My sisters paid me a visit this afternoon and practically took my head off. They couldn’t believe what I intended to do, and tried their best to talk me out of it.”
“Were they successful?” he asked, an obvious hope in his tone.
“No. Nothing and nobody is going to deter me from doing what I believe will prove that Pierre killed my mother.” A wild grief shot through her.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to know somebody is guilty and yet see them walking around freely and continuing to enjoy their life while the person they killed is dead and gone forever. ”
“I’m sorry, Dominique. I’m really sorry we haven’t been able to get the justice you need for your mother.
” His gaze was so soft, and she wanted to fall into the green depths.
He definitely had beautiful eyes. And for just a brief moment she wanted to be held in his big, strong arms as she grieved for the mother she had loved…
the woman she had lost to a heinous crime.
“But we will get that justice for your mother and for you, if you could just be patient a little longer.”
“I’ve been patient long enough,” she replied and swallowed hard against her grief. “I know how diligently you all have been working on this, but you have to admit the investigation is going nowhere now.”
“We are at a standstill at the moment,” he slowly admitted. “But have you considered the possibility that maybe Pierre isn’t guilty?”
“Yeah, I considered it and then completely dismissed it,” she replied. “Pierre being the killer is the only thing that makes sense, and I know that he’s your number one suspect, too.”
“What if you follow him for days and days and he never digs up the missing book?” He leaned forward, his gaze once again intent on her.
“Then the only thing I’ll lose is time and time is something I’ve got plenty of.” She was aware of her chin shooting up in a tenacious fashion.
His gaze appeared to attempt to pierce through to her very soul. “Have you always been so stubborn?”
A small laugh escaped her. “If you asked my sisters, they would probably tell you yes. But I’m not stubborn, I’m determined—and there’s a difference.” She pushed a strand of errant hair behind her ear.
“I would beg to differ,” he said.
“What would you know? You don’t know anything about me or my life,” she replied.
“Then tell me about you,” he said.
She looked toward the window where twilight was falling, then looked back at Luke. Was one of his goals to distract her enough with conversation that she would miss the time to go out to tail Pierre? Well, that certainly wasn’t going to happen.
There was no question he could be a big distraction if she allowed him to be. She couldn’t remember when she’d last spent any time with a man, especially one as handsome as Luke.
“Do you have a special somebody in your life?” he asked.
“No…what about you?” If he was going to be her backup, then it wouldn’t hurt for her to know a little bit more about him. Or so she tried to tell herself this was her only reason for asking.
“No, there’s nobody in my life at the moment,” he replied.
For some crazy reason that pleased her. Surely it was just because it meant he would be available every night without having to answer to anyone at home.
“I know you waitress at the café. Do you like your job?” he asked.
“I love it. I really enjoy people and working at the café gives me an opportunity to visit with a lot of the townspeople I wouldn’t ordinarily get to know.”
“How are you going to be able to be awake for half the night and still work at the café?”
“I’ll manage,” she replied. Thankfully, there were many days when she worked the mid-shift, allowing her to sleep in a little bit in the mornings. “What about you? Why did you go into law enforcement?”
“A large part of the reason was Daniel. We’ve been friends since he and his dad moved here when Daniel was about eight years old.
When he got the job as chief of police, he urged me to join the force.
At the time I was kind of drifting and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I wound up becoming a cop and I love it.
It was the best thing I could have done for myself.
I love the structure of the job and knowing the rules that need to be followed. ”
He sat back and frowned. “Sorry, that was probably way more information than you needed or wanted to know.”
“Please don’t apologize,” she replied. “You know I have two sisters. What about you? Do you have any siblings?”
“Yeah, I have two younger brothers. They’ve both moved away from Dark Waters, but we’re still very close,” he said. “We talk to each other on the phone at least once a week.”
“That’s nice. Even though there are times they drive me crazy, I don’t know what I’d do without my sisters. The three of us are very close.” Once again, she looked toward the window, aware of time ticking by.
“You three are very close in age. Was there ever any sibling rivalry?” he asked.
She wondered if he was really curious or simply trying to pass the time. “Never,” she answered. “We have always been best friends and there was never any sibling rivalry between us. What about you and your brothers?”
“No, but I’m quite a bit older than them. I pretty much raised them when we were all growing up,” he replied.
“Why is that? Where were your parents?”
“Oh, it’s a long story and not all that interesting,” he replied, obviously not wanting to share. “I’ve learned a lot about your mother during our investigation. Where is your father?” he asked, obviously changing the subject.
“The real question would be who is my father and I don’t know. My mother never wanted to discuss the subject with us. We don’t even know if the same man fathered all three of us, not that it ever mattered to us.”
It had never really bothered Dominique that she didn’t have a father in her life. “My mother was such a huge presence we never missed having a father.”
She might be enjoying her conversation with Luke, but she remained aware of two things. The first was that he wasn’t here to socialize with her. He was here because Daniel had probably ordered him to be here. This was a job to him and nothing more.
The second thing she remained aware of was that she wanted nothing more than for him to keep her safe as she hunted down the man who killed her mother.
“Even though a lot of people were frightened of your mother, I have spoken to a lot who sang her praises,” he said. “From what we’ve learned, she helped a lot of people with her spells and chants and the natural medicines she gave them,” Luke continued.
Dominique smiled, her heart greatly warmed by his words. “That’s all Mama ever wanted to do. Despite the fact that a lot of people believed she used black magic and could curse people, they came to her because they needed some kind of help they weren’t getting from anyplace else.”
The warmth his words had evoked inside her faded away as the familiar emotion of grief and anger took over. She stood. “It’s time to go.”
Luke looked at her with obvious disappointment. “Oh, and we were having such a nice conversation. Why can’t we just stay here and continue to get to know each other better?”
“Officer Madison, this isn’t a date. It isn’t a social visit at all,” she said. “You can either sit here and talk to yourself or you can come with me. The chitchat was nice, but it doesn’t change my plans.”
He stood as well. “I know from experience that I can be quite boring when I talk to myself, so I guess I’m going with you…and make it Luke.”
She gave him a curt nod as her heartbeat quickened with thoughts of following Pierre. They left her shanty and stepped out into the bright moonlight. She turned to face him. “I’m going to be moving fast, so try to keep up—and for God’s sake, try to be as quiet as possible.”
With that, she turned back around and then took off down the narrow path.
LUKE FOLLOWED HER, grateful for the moonlight that illuminated the path they traveled. She hadn’t lied—she moved quickly and with a confidence he certainly didn’t feel. It was obvious she was quite comfortable traversing through the wooded junglelike landscape.
Tension kept his muscles taut as adrenaline rushed through his body. He kept his eyes on her black-clad body and tried to move as quietly as she was. Still, he couldn’t help but notice that she looked very hot in the skintight jeans and black T-shirt.
It wasn’t in his job description to enjoy her company, but he had enjoyed the conversation they’d been having before they’d left the shanty. She’d waited on him often at the café and he’d always found her pleasant, but tonight she had revealed a lot more of herself to him.