Page 267 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Fifteen minutes later they were hiking down the dirt path when Sam stopped and stared at her.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“What’s going on with you and Wade?”

“Nothing.”

Sam picked up her pace again. “You’re not interested in Austin again, are you?”

“Not even a little. Why?”

“Then why haven’t you told Wade that you and Austin aren’t an item?”

“Because I’m embarrassed. Okay?”

“I get that,” Sam said.

“I never should’ve let it go on this long, and now it seems like this huge thing. I’m not sure how to approach it, but I know I have to.”

“If you want to be with Wade, you do.”

“On Wednesday, Austin told me if I didn’t tell Wade the truth, he would.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” She forced out a breath. “I haven’t seen Wade since, so I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.”

“Don’t you have his number?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to talk to him in person?”

“It would.”

Emily studied her friend. “Why do you care?”

Sam straightened her ponytail. “I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.” She walked backwards while they were on flat ground. “You like Austin more than you admitted last time we talked about him.”

Emily turned around, so she could see where she was going.

“Fine. I’m crazy about Austin, but he barely knows I exist, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You two would be perfect together. I’ll tell him you think he’s cute.” She giggled.

“Don’t do that! If you want, you can feel him out and see if he’s interested in me.”

Emily had a hop in her step. She was excited her friends might find what they’d both been looking for in each other. “I can’t imagine him not wanting to date you. He’ll be ecstatic when I tell him you like him.”

“Don’t! Just find out whether or not he has any interest in me. Nothing more.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Wade felt like a kid called to the principal’s office as he and Jamie sat in their lieutenant’s office. Mac wanted an update, so they gave him one, but their boss wasn’t thrilled with their lack of progress on the case.

When he returned to his desk, Wade saw a report confirming the identification of the last of their victims. Genevieve Adams. He pulled her missing persons file and learned she was a lawyer from Banks.

Remembering the license plate Pete Cunningham gave him, he did a quick search and found out the 1999 F550 was registered to Lester Parsons. It was a name that kept coming up, and he didn’t believe in coincidences.

---