Two nights later, Candy stood inside the gymnasium, watching kids and teens romp, watching parents hand out generous amounts of candy.
Even though Ben Wittes was probably the killer, uneasiness still stalked the area. Besides, it was frigid outside, where the first huge flakes of winter had begun to fall in noticeable quantities. Tomorrow the entire world would be blanketed in a sparkling white coat.
Cleansing, Candy thought.
Steve, who’d come, as well, moved to her side. “Can you talk?”
“Sure.” She nodded to Connie Parish, who nodded back. Connie would take over for a little while.
Outside, away from the door, their breath blew white clouds.
“I want to fill you in,” he said. They hadn’t seen each other since Ben Wittes’s arrest.
“I’d like that.”
“But I want some info in return.”
She smiled into the icy air. “I figured. I can give you at least some.”
“Thanks.” He rocked on his feet a couple of times. “The Castelles are torn between shock, horror and relief.”
“I’d expect that.”
“They want to fill in the tunnel. They’re going to wait, though, until after we film.”
She faced him, surprised. “They still want to do the show?”
“Yup. I’m amazed, too. But Annabelle and Todd said they want the truth out there. To tell people that not everything terrifying is a ghost.”
“Um, wow.” She thought about that. “But isn’t this scarier? Really? Wouldn’t it be better for people to worry about ghosts?”
“They don’t think so, and neither do my producers. Psychologists will probably be thrilled to be dealing with something besides ghosts.”
“Maybe. But what’s more terrifying?”
“Not my decision. Consider how many TV shows deal with real murders. People watch them more than they watch ghosts. If that doesn’t frighten them, this shouldn’t.”
He had a point. People were fascinated by true crime stories and didn’t have nightmares about them. “Well, you’re in line with your principles.” Principles she now believed he had.
“Exactly. No lying to the audience. No pretending that something is real when it’s not.”
“How’s Viv doing?”
“They’re still promising her the mean man is gone, that he’s been arrested by the police. I told her, too. It may take her a while.”
Candy felt truly sorry for Vivian. She didn’t deserve the terrors that would now probably follow her for a long time. “That’s to be expected. That little girl has been scared for nearly a year. Unable to sleep in her own bedroom.”
Steve nodded. Snowflakes had begun to collect on his knit cap. “Buddy seems to be relieved, too. No more sessions growling at the wall. I think his reaction is going to do more for Vivian than anything we tell her.”
“It probably will.”
He tilted his head. “Your turn.”
“Well, it gets complicated. We found a sedative in Ben’s trunk. The same one used on the teens. We also found clothes in his hamper that are covered with dirt and pine needles. Thing is, he claims not to remember any of it. Sadly, I think he’s telling the truth.”
“How could that be?” Steve sounded dubious.
“We can’t detect any lying. Besides, the first time we mentioned the murders, before they became public knowledge, his face turned a ghastly white. Nobody could fake that drop in blood pressure.”
“Unless he was a meditating Buddhist monk anyway. So he killed those kids.”
“We’ve got enough evidence to hold him. We’ll get the rest.”
“And the body in the coffin?”
She sighed. “It’s old. The medical examiner says a female, age around forty. She appears to have been killed in a fall down some stairs.”
Steve rocked again on his feet. “So that Bride guy is cleared?”
“Maybe so. Ben is claiming that Sam told him to take care of her, to talk to her and sing to her. He keeps saying that Samuel Bride didn’t kill her.”
Steve didn’t answer for a long time. “How can Ben not remember the murders? And how can he be so sure that Bride didn’t kill his wife?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. We’re beginning to believe there’s something loose in his head.”
“Maybe.” Steve sighed. “Please get the answers. I really don’t want to start wondering if that guy is truly psychic.”
Despite the circumstances, Candy had to laugh. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Then Steve smiled at her. “You open for coffee after this shindig winds down?”
Her heart leaped. Oh, this was bad. She ought to tell him no, to start distancing herself. Instead she said, “Yes.”
KIDS, STEVE THOUGHT. He got a kick out of watching the youngsters squeal their way through the haunted house that ran along a hallway that opened off the gym.
Candy told him the teens who worked on the party had toned it down so it wouldn’t be too scary for the little ones.
And somebody had even found a copy of “Monster Mash” to play, which had kids of every age dancing all around the gym.
But when midnight came, parents had a difficult time trying to round up everyone. Steve remembered the days when he could stay up into the wee hours having a good time. Remembered. He couldn’t do that easily anymore.
But at last Candy escaped and he followed her home, wondering if he should go by the truck stop to get coffee and a nibble for them. It would be nicer, he decided, than dumping all that on Candy at this hour.
She was waiting when he arrived, looking wide awake. The evening must have stimulated her. For his part, sleepiness stalked the edges of his mind.
But he needed to spend time with her. Needed to talk with her. Hope was slender, but he had to try. Emotions were welling up in him, beyond his ability to control.
She curled up on her couch beneath a warm throw, sipping coffee and eating a jelly-filled doughnut. “I love these doughnuts,” she remarked. “Ever since I was little. I didn’t get them very often. My mama and my abuela—that’s my grandmother—had a whole bunch of desserts they made, from flan to three-milk cake. Empanadas. All good. Excellent in fact. But not jelly doughnuts.”
He hesitated, his own doughnut forgotten. “You don’t talk much about your Latin heritage, do you?”
She sighed and shook her head. “It’s not a popular topic. Besides, I took enough guff about it when I was in school. It was better in the Army.”
Another sign of her growing trust for him. He felt honored. “I don’t think you should have to hide it, Candy.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have to, but life has taught me otherwise. You know, my family has been in California since it was a Spanish colony. People don’t want to know that either. I was frequently told that I should go back to Mexico.” She snorted. “My family was there, too, when the state was part of Mexico.”
“People can be such ignoramuses.”
“I doubt many of their school history classes covered the subject. I try to excuse it now, but back then it really hurt.”
He didn’t answer immediately, seeking the right words. But then there didn’t seem to be any but the bald truth. “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen a lot of it, and it just seems to keep getting uglier. For indigenous peoples, too. Man, they’ve been here for at least twenty-five thousand years.”
“The world is filled with conveniently short memories.”
“Except yours,” he said quietly.
Her head raised. “I need to apologize for that night.”
“No, you don’t. Not ever, not with me. End of discussion.”
The jelly filling was gone from her doughnut. He watched her put it aside. “Hey, that’s not a cop thing to do!”
She laughed. “Maybe not. How’d that get started anyway?”
“Cops work ridiculous hours and there aren’t many places open in the middle of the night. Run in, grab a coffee and a doughnut, then get back on the road. Some places offer it for free.”
She lifted a brow. “Isn’t that a bribe?”
“No. They never asked anything in return. I always figured they just liked the traffic in their parking lots during those hours.”
“Police protection?”
He shook his head. “Police presence for all of four minutes at a time. Like I said, they never asked for a thing, and a dollar cup of coffee and a fifty-cent doughnut hardly classify as a bribe.”
“I wouldn’t do anything in exchange for that.”
“Exactly.” He was having a terrible time coming around to what he most wanted to discuss with her. If his hand grew any tighter around his cup of coffee, he was going to crush it.
“Candy?”
“Yeah?” She appeared to have drifted away a little.
“Am I right in thinking you don’t want to go back to California?”
“Maybe for a visit eventually. But to stay? I like it a whole lot better here.”
“I thought so. So I want to make a proposition.”
He had her full attention now. Putting his coffee down, he crossed to sit beside her curled-up legs on the couch. “How would you feel if I came back to visit you?”
CANDY CAUGHT HER BREATH. Every cell in her being seemed to be reaching out toward Steve, but she held still. Where was this going? “I wouldn’t mind.”
“Good.” He paused, keeping her dangling somewhere near hope, but also near fear.
God, what was he suggesting?”
“Thing is,” he said slowly, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I want to know you better. I wasn’t kidding when I said I want you. Damn me for a boor if you want.”
Her heart was tripping fast now. Heat began to sizzle throughout her body. “You’re not a boor.”
He compressed his lips for a few seconds, then spoke again. “What I want is a relationship. Hell, I want more than that, but you must need time. But if we build something bigger, it’s okay if you don’t want to move to California.”
Now she could barely breathe. “Why not?”
“My home is there, but I’m almost never there anyway. I could come visit you between programs, between seasons. You don’t need to live with me in an empty house for long stretches. Without the job you clearly love, or the friends you’re making here.”
Now there didn’t seem to be any air left in the universe. Her heart and mind had caught on one thing. Live with him? “Steve?”
“I’m a bumbling fool. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve fallen in love with you, and if you eventually see your way to feeling the same about me, then we can make it work.”
It was such a huge prospect that she had trouble absorbing it. A life she’d given up hoping for was now offering her the possibility of it becoming true?
But he’d stayed with her an entire night after her meltdown. He’d never criticized her for it. Instead he’d offered understanding and comfort. Now he wanted to offer her more.
Truth and reality both began to dawn on her, and as they did her heart soared. Honesty caused her to blurt a fact she’d been hiding from herself. “I think I love you, too.”
The biggest smile spread across his face. “You’ve just made me the happiest man alive.”
Then, leaning over, he scooped her up into his arms. “Now for the other part of what I want. If you don’t mind.”
The heat inside her became electric. “Why would I mind? I want you, too.”
Then he carried her off to her bed, the first steps on a road to a new future.
She knew she could handle this. She knew she was going to love every minute.
A new day was creeping into the world, and into her heart.
Don’t miss other romances in Rachel Lee’s thrilling Conard County: The Next Generation series:
Conard County Justice
Stalked in Conard County
Murdered in Conard County
Conard County Watch
Available now from Harlequin Books
Keep reading for an excerpt from His Brand of Justice by Delores Fossen.