Kendall was here. His Kendall. Unbelievable.
Cord had visited Eve many times over the last six years but since she lived on the far side of the county he never visited Lost Creek to keep from running into Kendall. But now here she was. Back in his life in a big way for the unforeseeable future. Man, oh, man. That was almost as painful as not knowing where Eve was or what happened to her.
He could do something about Eve by getting to work and finding her, but these feelings for Kendall rolling around his insides like a tumbleweed on the open plains—what did he do about those?
He looked across the room, where she was talking to her sister, Tessa, in the kitchen. As a crime scene investigator, Tessa was gathering a blood sample from the linoleum floor. She’d already bagged the rolling pin, and he’d hoped she would find prints on it, but Kendall dashed that hope when she informed them that the intruder had worn gloves.
“So, you can actually tell how long that blood has been there?” Kendall asked.
“Yes, with reflectance spectroscopy and spectral imaging, hence my equipment.”
“And do you know yet?”
“A little less than three days. And there are signs of the blood spurting here, too, which means this was active bleeding, not postmortem.”
Tessa’s response nearly stopped Cord’s heart. He didn’t want to even contemplate that Eve had died, but he had to accept it was a possibility. And if Tessa was right, the blood was from the day after he’d last talked to Eve. If only he’d gone to see her.
“So Eve was alive three days ago,” Kendall confirmed.
“Honestly,” Tessa replied, “though we can assume this is Eve’s blood, we don’t know that yet. Shoot, I don’t even know if it’s human.”
“But you think it is?”
“Sure, just like you do, but there’s no proof until I get these samples to the lab.” Tessa sighed. “I can tell you the blood isn’t from a gunshot. The spatter pattern suggests a knife wound.”
Had his aunt been knifed, or did she knife her attacker? If so, it wasn’t the guy Cord chased, as that guy didn’t appear to be suffering from a stab wound that would have left a large pool of blood on the floor.
“And you’ll run this for DNA in case this is the intruder’s blood, and we get a hit in the database?” Kendall asked.
“Of course, and I’ll try to get Dad or Matt to move it up in the lab’s priority list.”
When Cord had worked for Lake County, the department didn’t have the capability to process DNA. He thought maybe that would’ve changed with Tessa coming on board, but getting a lab certified for DNA was quite an undertaking, and he doubted they needed to run it often enough to make it worth her effort.
“Let me know if you find anything else,” Kendall said.
“You know it’s going to take all night to do this house and then the outside in the morning, right?” Tessa sounded like she wanted to quit talking and get to work.
“I do.” Kendall turned to stare out the back door, at the deputies engaged in the search for Eve.
He ran his gaze over Kendall. She was tall and lean but curvy in the right places. And she still filled out her navy-blue uniform in a way that made him think of anything except that she was a deputy. She often complained about how hard she had to work to be taken seriously by people she stopped in the course of a day. As a male law enforcement officer, he couldn’t understand that, but he did get it as the guy who couldn’t stop looking at her.
That was how they’d gotten together. She’d caught him watching her all the time at briefings and finally told him off. He apologized, and before he knew it, he was kissing her in the break room—her dad’s office right down the hall. Cord must’ve had a death wish to even think about going against her father’s belief that fellow officers shouldn’t date, as that was the only thing that could explain his actions back then.
And his actions tonight. What could explain how he’d basically run roughshod over her, doubting her abilities and taking over her investigation? His concern for his aunt was the only answer. His gut was filled with concern, but that wasn’t Kendall’s fault.
She deserved an apology. And an explanation.
She turned and caught his focus on her, and their gazes locked. She frowned and marched in his direction. “Still watching, I see. Some things don’t change, do they?”
“Sorry,” he said and left it at that. “I wanted to apologize for taking over here. I just want to help my aunt, and I know I succeeded in making things worse for you.”
Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose as if it helped stem an ache. He had to assume she was exhibiting physical pain and not pain from seeing him again, as she was the one who’d broken up with him. Still, it probably wasn’t any more comfortable for her to run into him than it was for him to see her.
“Look.” He stopped in front of her and caught a hint of vanilla from her shampoo, something else that hadn’t changed in years. “It’s not that I don’t think you’ll be a great detective. I do, especially once you have some experience under your belt. It’s just that we’re talking about my aunt here. She’s always been special to me. Now that my brother and parents are gone…”
He let his words trail off and shrugged. Even six months later, he still couldn’t talk about the loss of his family.
“Your family? All of them.” Her frustration vanished from her expression. “What happened?”
“Plane crash…six months ago,” was all he could get out over the lump in his throat that always came when he talked about them.
“Oh, Cord.” She rested a hand on his arm, and her sympathetic gaze met his, making it even harder to imagine speaking of his loss without losing it. “I’m so sorry. I know you were close to your family and losing them must be so hard.”
Her soft, compassionate tone was nearly his undoing, and feelings he’d fought hard against for months rushed to the surface. He swallowed them down before he started blubbering like a little baby. “It’s harder on my nephew, Lucas. His parents appointed me guardian in their will, and the court approved it. I’m in the process of officially adopting him, but he’s still totally lost. No matter what I do, I can’t reach him or help him.”
She squeezed his arm and released it. “I’m sure if you give him time.”
“Nah, that’s not going to help.” Cord shook his head. “Lucas thinks it’s my fault they died. I was supposed to be on that plane instead of his parents. I caught a big homicide case at the last minute, and Jace went in my place. He took his wife, Annaliese, along for a couples’ weekend.”
“But it isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” He fisted his hands. “You and I always put work first. Before relationships. I didn’t realize what a fool I was until I lost my family. Now I would give anything to have them back.”
She watched him, her eyes dark and appraising. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He really wanted to know, but he wouldn’t ask. Not now. Maybe never, as that would mean they still had some sort of a connection, and she’d ended that when she’d broken things off with him. Besides, now wasn’t the time to get into some deep conversation about their past. Now was the time to focus on locating Eve.
He firmed his resolve. “We need to get to work and find my aunt.”
Kendall nodded but quickly pushed on her nose again, pain racing across her face.
He hated that she was hurting and wished he could do something about it. “You don’t always have to be so tough, you know?”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re in pain. I can see that from the way you keep pressing on your nose, but you won’t admit it. It’s only your sister and me here, so you can let go.”
She lowered her hand and lifted her shoulders. “When you’re a woman in law enforcement, you have to be tough.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s harder for you. But still, it’s just Tessa and me in the house. What can we do to help?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “I’ll grab some aspirin from my car when I get my notepad and supplies. I’m also going to check the mailbox.”
She turned to leave.
“Wait. I’ll do it.”
She sighed and looked back. “Look. It’s going to get annoying pretty fast if you don’t trust me to do anything on my own.”
“No. That’s not it. I was thinking about what your dad said. You saw the intruder’s face. He can’t be too happy about that and could try to take you out again.”
She frowned. “Do you really think that’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve seen it often enough in my job that we have to believe it’s a real possibility.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Even if it is, he’s not going to be out front waiting for me. Not with a law enforcement presence here tonight.”
“I’d agree with you, except I also know that many criminals often aren’t the brightest of people. When they panic, they do stupid things, and this guy has got to be pretty panicked right now.”
She stared ahead as if processing. “Fine. Your point is valid. You can come with me. I’ll grab the things from my car, and you can get the mail.”
He nodded and followed her firm march toward the door. She’d worked hard in her early years on patrol to develop a tough-guy persona. She was so driven to succeed, and he’d always thought it came from being the second born in the family. She had a lot of the same traits as Jace, who was younger than Cord. Correction—had been younger—something Cord still could barely comprehend.
Kendall stopped in the doorway to look around. Good. She was taking the threat to her life seriously. Cord hadn’t wanted to scare her, but the threat was very real.
Her hand on her sidearm, she made her way to her car, and he retrieved the mail. Back in the house, he dropped the stack on the dining table and sat to flip through it. Older postmarked letters mixed with more current ones, and some of the advertising flyers were outdated. Clearly, Eve hadn’t been home in some time. At least not in three days, as the blood would indicate.
“Tell me about Eve,” Kendall said, but didn’t sit. “What kind of things does she like to do away from home?”
“She volunteers at her church, Cumberland Community, and at the animal shelter. She lost her dog a year ago. She didn’t want to commit to a new one just yet but wanted to spend time with them.”
Kendall wrote in her notebook. “Does she have any close friends?”
He nodded. “But I hate to admit I don’t remember their names. I met them at her church once.”
“We should start by interviewing them first thing in the morning.” Kendall sat and added something else to her notebook. She looked up, her expression still pinched. “I saw a computer in the other room.”
Right. Kendall loved working with computers and had attended college part-time to earn her computer forensics degree so, as she said, she could bring her father and the department into this century when it came to the digital age. “About that. Did you finish your degree?”
She started to nod, but then winced and stopped. “Once I make detective, I hope I’ll be able to use that knowledge more.”
She sounded as enthusiastic as she had back in the day. She loved law enforcement and technology but didn’t want to have to choose between them for her career, so she pursued the degree and figured she’d be able to employ both areas at work.
“Do you know if Eve has an online presence?” she asked, keeping them on track.
“Facebook. She emails, too. But I think that’s the extent of her computer activities.”
“Let me see if I can find her last Facebook post.” Kendall picked up her phone and tapped the screen.
“I had a friend make sure Eve had strict privacy settings, so I honestly hope you can’t see it.”
Kendall frowned. “Several Eve Smalleys listed but not your aunt.”
“That’s odd. I’ve never seen her account, because I don’t use Facebook, but I know she uses it regularly. Try adding her maiden name—Watson.”
Kendall started typing. “Yes. Here it is. Eve Watson Smalley.”
Kendall kept tapping the screen but she soon sighed. “Just as you said. Her security is blocking everything but the fact that she has an account.” She looked up at him. “We can ask her friends at church if they’re online friends, too, and we can see her posts that way. Can you think of anyone else who might be her friend?”
He almost said his mother, as he still had moments when he forgot she was gone and he could pick up the phone and call her.
“My mom was friends with Eve, but I had her account closed after she died,” he said and tried not to sound as sad as he felt. “I suppose we could ask Facebook to activate it again, but that would be as complicated as asking for access to Eve’s account.”
“She might be logged in on her computer, but I don’t want to turn it on here. If we’re dealing with foul play, I need to image the hard drive first. I’ll take it into evidence and review the files then.”
She didn’t need to explain her process. If his aunt had come to any harm, the computer could hold evidence. But if Kendall turned it on now and performed a search, it would alter the state of the hard drive, calling every bit of information it held into question in a court of law. So Kendall had to take a sort of snapshot of the hard drive to preserve it, and then she could look at that image.
He could hardly even believe he was having to think about such things regarding his aunt. How could something like this happen?
He stared over Kendall’s shoulder at the black of night outside the window. Was Eve out there? In danger? His gut churned. He couldn’t lose another family member. He just couldn’t. And then there was Lucas. He would totally freak out.
Cord almost sighed but caught himself. He still hadn’t recovered from becoming an instant dad. Much less a dad of a kid who hated him. Cord loved Lucas, and at the same time his heart broke for the boy, but each moment was a struggle with him. Cord wanted at least one thing to go right between them so he could feel some sense of knowing he was doing the right thing by his nephew.
“Cord? Is everything all right?” Kendall rested her hand on his shoulder.
He shook off his thoughts and looked up to find her carefully watching him. He didn’t want to burden her with his struggle. “I’m fine. What’s next?”
“I know the answer to this will be no,” she said. “Or you would’ve already mentioned it. But I have to ask. Do you know of anyone who would want to harm Eve?”
“No. She’s a sweetheart.”
Kendall cast him a skeptical look.
“I get it. You have to doubt my answer. I would too if I was doing the questioning, but she really is just a sweet old lady. Unless she got into some trouble that I don’t know about. Maybe that thing she wanted to talk to me about, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her.”
Kendall tapped her pen on the notepad. “Does she have a cell phone, or do you call the house?”
“The house. She has one of those emergency phones, but she never turns it on.” He gave Kendall the cell and home phone numbers, as she would want to request the call records.
She jotted them down. “Okay, so motive. You said no one wanted to harm her, but does she have a sizeable bank account that someone might try to get their hands on?”
“I don’t know about sizeable, but she didn’t have to worry about money. Her husband, Oliver—Ollie to his friends—passed away three years ago. They never had children of their own. He made a good living in oil and left a generous insurance policy. Plus, she’s a retired teacher and has a nice pension.”
And a wonderful woman he’d spent many weekends with growing up. Hunting and fishing with Ollie and eating Eve’s amazing cookies and playing board games with both of them. And then when Ollie passed, making sure Cord paid her back for everything she’d done for him by just being there for her.
“We need to get a look at her bank account,” Kendall said.
“Won’t be a problem. I have power of attorney. I’ll bring the paperwork back with me in the morning.”
Kendall nodded, a quick, concise tip of her head that ended in a grimace of pain. She started to lift her hand toward her face but caught herself and stopped. “Is there anything else I should know?”
He shook his head. “At least not that I know of.”
She sat down. “Are you familiar enough with Eve’s belongings that you’d know if anything was missing?”
“You thinking a burglary gone wrong?”
“No. That wouldn’t explain why Eve is missing.”
Unless…
Kendall didn’t say the word, but her expression matched his gut feel as a detective. It could be a burglary if the intruder had hurt Eve and got rid of her body, then felt free to search the house because he knew she wasn’t coming home.
It took a callous person to hurt an older woman and then invade her home. Callous and dangerous, making it even more likely that the creep could come after Kendall, and Cord would now have a second job in Lost Creek.
Sure, he needed to find his aunt as much as he needed to breathe, but in addition to that, he would be watching Kendall’s back. Even if she balked at his every move.