Page 20 of Dairy and Deadly

Her eyes widened. “It means you have a very nice home. The stair railings alone are probably worth a fortune. The balusters look like they’re original construction, and they don’t make ornate hand railings like that anymore.”

“Balusters?” He gave her a puzzled look.

“The spindles,” she explained.

“Ah. The treads are pretty worn, though.” He pointed at the faded wooden stairs that had once been stained the shade of walnut. Now only the outer edges were brown. The center of each step had been worn down to the original wood. “I’m debating tearing down the stairwell and rebuilding it.”

Her gasp echoed off the two-story ceiling in the foyer. “Please tell me you’re joking!”

“Why? What else would you do with them?” Since she seemed to know what she was talking about, he welcomed her opinion.

“Sand them down and re-stain them, of course,” she snapped, “which I imagine is exactly what you were planning on doing all along. You’re just messing with me, right?”

“What color?” he countered, not wanting to admit he’d truly considered tearing down the antique stairwell.

“The exact same shade as the open beams on the ceiling.” There was no hesitation in her answer. “You don’t want a hodge-podge look to the place when you’re finished. It’s usually best to work with the footprint of the house.”

“I see.” He made a mental note to get her input on more of his home renovation projects. It would be an excuse to invite her over for dinner or coffee or something. “Thanks for weighing in.” He ushered her into his office.

Once again, Can Opener followed her. Before she took a seat, her cell phone started buzzing again.

“Feel free to step into the room across the hallway and take that.” He kept his back to her as he spoke, moving across the room to his desk to rummage for the necessary forms.

“I’m good,” she muttered. “It’s only my ex.”

“Oh?” He pivoted to rake her features with concern. “Everything okay?”

“Peachy.” She raised and lowered her shoulders. “How was I supposed to know that breaking up with the guy would inspire a whole new wave of interest from him?” She didn’t sound too thrilled about it.

Though Johnny was reluctant to pry any further, he wouldn’t be much of an employer if he didn’t ask one more thing. “As long as you don’t feel threatened in any way…”

She shook her head vehemently. “No, it’s nothing like that. I, um…” She looked embarrassed. “Just forget it, please? I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“I asked,” he reminded.

She nodded but remained silent.

It didn’t take long for her to sign all the required paperwork to make his hiring decision official. He tasted disappointment as he watched her drive away. This time, Can Opener was sitting in the passenger seat that Johnny had vacated.Lucky cat!For no particular reason, he wished it was him in the passenger seat.

He returned to his desk and dropped into his chair, feeling restless. He hadn’t taken the time to do much in the way of furnishing or decorating the farmhouse yet. It was one of those tasks that a lot of men left up to their wives. Once upon a time, his dearly departed Cassandra would’ve handled all of that stuff for him. Instead, he’d just finished asking for decorating advice from a new farm hand. Boy, did life deal a person some strange curve balls!

There was built-in cabinetry on the far wall of his office, plus floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. He currently had a double set of monitors and a keyboard perched on a folding table in the center of the room, with one folding chair behind it and a semi-circle of folding chairs facing it. He and the guys had been using them for staff meetings. He’d eventually invest in some office furniture, but he didn’t know where to even start. Decorating had never been his forte.

He pressed a hand to his heart. It still ached to recall how much time his late wife had spent planning their nursery — the wall color, the blankets, and the little die-cut wooden giraffes. She’d painstakingly painted each one by hand and had him mount them on the walls, directly beneath the crown molding. After she’d finished furnishing it, the nursery had been fit for a prince. Unfortunately, neither his queen nor their son had survived the birthing.

Why, God?He’d asked the same question a thousand times. His precious little family hadn’t deserved to have their lives cut short like that. He leaped to his feet to stomp around the near-empty office, knowing he would receive the same answer he always did. Silence. Apparently, God wasn’t a big fan of having His will questioned.

For the first time since the tragedies, however, he didn’t feel the same raw edge of pain. The pain was still there, but it had mellowed down to a more bearable ache. A moment later, he experienced a stab of remorse. Was he starting to forget them? He didn’t want to forget them. In a moment of panic, he hurried back to the built-in cabinet to yank open the center drawer.

There you are.Relief flooded him to see Cassandra’s face smiling up at him from the picture frame he’d tucked there. The only reason it wasn’t on display was because of all the construction dust in the house right now, but he would always love her. Always!

Unfortunately, his bittersweet thoughts about Cassandra didn’t keep another face from drifting across his mind. He tried to push away the image, but she remained there.

Ashley Perkins had taken up way too much real estate inside his head lately. He wasn’t sure why. Did that make him a bad person? A horrible husband? Was he being disloyal to the memory of his late wife and stillborn son?

There was just something about Ashley that drew him to her like a moth to a porch light. Maybe it was curiosity. Or sympathy. Or some combination of the two. He was leaning more toward curiosity at the moment. There was definitely more going on with her presence in Heart Lake than she was admitting.

He sank back into his chair to surf the internet for information about her.What are you hiding, Ashley Perkins?It wasn’t hard to find her professional biography online. She was a decorated police detective, according to the first article he pulled up.Interesting.So was her partner, a guy with several more years of experience in the field. A guy who also happened to be…dead?

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