Page 69 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Not that anybody else knew that was why she was there. So…no. As long as she was in town, people would be curious about her. Some more than justcurious.

He lifted his water bottle and shook it. “I could use a refill.”

She turned and headed for the kitchen.

He followed and was filling his bottle when he asked, “What happened when you were in town?”

“I spent about an hour reading articles about the bombing.” Standing by the door of the dingy space, she related some of the facts and the evidence against her mother.

“The world seems convinced she did it.” He tried to infuse gentleness in his voice. “Are you?”

She shrugged. “Either she set off that bomb or somebody else did an excellent job of making it look like she did.”

But based on the defeat he saw in Aspen’s eyes, he guessed she wasn’t holding out hope for the second.

And then she told him about a woman who’d accosted her at Cuppa Josie’s, a woman who accused her of knowing where her mother was.

“Who was it?” he asked.

“Rhonda something. The sister of the woman who was killed.”

Dean had mentioned her that morning. “That must have been upsetting.”

“Yeah. I was there to talk to Brent Salcito. He tried to intervene, but she was pretty determined to have her say.”

And then after securing his promise to keep it confidential, she told him about her conversation with Salcito, who’d been having an affair with Jane Kincaid after Aspen’s birth.

As if that hadn’t been distressing enough news, he’d gone on to share his theories about what happened to Jane.

Either the woman had committed suicide, or…

“He actually said that to you?” Garrett didn’t try to temper the anger in his voice. “That he thinks your fathermurderedyour mother?”

Aspen nodded, face ashen.

Garrett tamped down a wave of fierce protectiveness, which had him wanting to hunt down the mayor and give him a piece of his mind, or maybe his fist. Instead, he opened his arms.

She stepped into them, pressing her cheek against his T-shirt.

He held her tight. “Considering Salcito’s relationship with your mother, he’s probably not the best judge of your father or your parents’ marriage.”

She tipped her head back to face him. “That’s true.”

“What did your dad say about your mom and their marriage?”

Aspen stepped away and leaned against the counter, crossing her arms. “Not much, honestly. When I’d ask about her, he’d smile and tell me I looked just like her. He’d tell me things about me that reminded him of her, though they were always the same things. I guess she was outgoing and had a lot of friends, and she was confident and knew her own mind.”

“I can see that in you.”

“Can you?” She shook her head. “In the past, maybe, but it doesn’t seem like that these days. Anyway, he never said anything about their marriage. Today, Brent said that my mother loved me, and I realized that my father never told me that she did, never once.”

Ouch. “Perhaps your father’s definition of love was different from your mother’s. Perhaps he just didn’t understand hers.”

Aspen shrugged.

“Maybe they just didn’t understand each other. Maybe he didn’t trust her love for you because…” He let his words trail before he finished the sentence. But Aspen knew what he was getting at.

“Because Dad didn’t trust her love for him?”

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