Page 28 of Over the Edge

“Single?”

“Unknown. But she wasn’t wearing a ring.” Pretending he hadn’t looked would only raise more red flags. Single guys did ring checks on attractive women.

“I can see why you’d be upset.” She bit into her roll and chewed.

He gave her a cautious glance. “You can?”

“Sure. It’s an ego thing with men. You like to think you’re appealing to the opposite sex even if you have no interest in a particular woman. But in this case, I’m thinking you do have an interest.”

“Wrong. I know very little about her.”

“You don’t have to know a lot about someone for sparks to fly.” She hummed a few bars of “Some Enchanted Evening.”

He snorted. “You’re just seeing the world through rose-colored glasses now that romance has entered your life. And for the record, there were no sparks.”

“I’ll concede there may be a rosy hue in my lens at present.” She slathered more butter on her roll with her knife. “But you haven’t convinced me about the lack of sparks. We’ll have to get Cara’s unbiased input at our next Sunday get-together—unless she comes up from Cape Girardeau sooner than that.”

“No, we do not have to get her input. In fact, you can’t mention this conversation to anyone. The witness angle is being kept under wraps.”

Bri made a face. “Spoil sport.”

Their salads arrived, and as they dug in, Jack changed the subject. It was never hard to get Bri to chat about her smokejumper days, or to reminisce with him about the adventures the two of them had shared during his trips out west to visit her during her previous high-risk career.

By the time they finished their shared dessert and walked out to the parking lot, his case—and Lindsey Barnes—had fallen off Bri’s radar.

Yet as he drove away on the unseasonably balmy night, both were front and center on his.

In terms of the case, they needed a break soon or it was going to go cold fast and the perpetrator could walk.

As for Lindsey Barnes, unless he could get a handle on whyher coolness bothered him beyond the ego ding Bri had suggested, he was going to be stuck with two unresolved issues that would eat at his gut until he had answers.

Which did not appear to be forthcoming on either front anytime in the immediate future.

Six

WHERE WAS HER CAR?

Keys in hand, satchel of cooking supplies slung over her shoulder, Lindsey slowed her gait and scanned the parking lot outside the church hall where she’d conducted the fourth Creative Cooking on a Budget class in the current session.

None of the few remaining vehicles in the dimly lit lot were her blue Focus.

How could that be?

She peered again toward the basketball hoop farther down where she’d parked, the closest spot she could find to the hall door thanks to the large turnout for the church’s Tuesday evening Bible study program.

But her Focus wasn’t there now.

Fist on hip, she did a step-by-step replay of her arrival three hours ago.

She’d pulled into the lot. Circled it, hoping to find a spot closer to the door so she wouldn’t have to lug her heavy bag as far. Parked under the basketball hoop. Not ideal, but tucking her car into the narrow spot had been preferable to hoofing it from the far end of the lot. She’d set the brake, eased the door open in the tight space, and squeezed through with her supplies.

Yet the car was nowhere to be—

Wait.

She frowned as a bizarre possibility flashed through her mind.

Could someone have stolen it?

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