Page 26 of Down and Dirty

Chapter 11

Karlee rose from her seat. “Detective Daniels.” Her gaze went from his to mine. “What am I doing here? What areyoudoing here?”

“Your sister is Erin?” I asked. “Why the different last names?”

“Adams is Erin’s married name,” Keaton answered. “Karlee is the person who reported her missing.”

My brows dipped. Hadn’t Keaton said that Erin had only been missing like one week? That was around the same time Karlee had shown up to ask for references. How could she have possibly known that her sister had been in my town?

I clasped my hands in front of me and smiled. “How about we move this to the kitchen to talk and I’ll make us all a cup of coffee. I think it’s safe to say that each of us have questions.”

“I can’t,” Karlee said, grabbing her purse. She dropped some bills on my table and then hurried to the front door.

“Karlee, wait up,” I called out as I followed her outside.

“Thank you for your services,” she said before she climbed into her car.

“Let her go. I’ll track her down.” Keaton appeared by my side. “I’ll take that coffee if you’re still offering.”

I nodded and went to shut the door, only pausing when I spotted Elenore Bell across the street on the phone. She was pacing in the yard, her hands gesturing wildly.

She met my gaze and stilled her movements even if her lips were still moving. She spun around and stomped back inside.

“Spying on your neighbors isn’t nice,” Keaton whispered into my ear.

“Neither is scaring off my clients,” I answered.

“Karlee is hopeful her sister is still alive, although I’m not sure why she’s here in town, considering no one even knows her sister has been found.”

“When did you say Erin’s missing person report was filed?”

“About a week ago,” he said.

I walked to the calendar and flipped back a week. Karlee’s name was written in a box. “Karlee came and asked for references around that time. Why wouldn’t she have sought someone out in her hometown? How in the heck did she even know to come here?”

“That’s not what troubles me,” Keaton said, pouring us both a cup of coffee. He doctored mine up just the way I like it. “What troubles me is why she thinks she needs a medium to contact her sister. It’s as though she already knew her sister was dead.”

I hadn’t thought of that. The geography was still throwing me. There must have been two dozen psychics and mediums between Greenbridge and my town. Why here, and why me?

I took a sip of my coffee, taking a minute to appreciate the fact that he’d gotten my coffee right. “How did you sleep?”

His gaze turned tight. “Fine.”

The look on his face said it had been anything but a good night’s sleep. If anything, even more worry had settled into the fine lines on his face. Maybe it was because of Karlee, but my gut was telling me it was something else entirely.

“Whatever happened to you never lying to me?” I questioned.

He set his coffee down and crossed the room and took my hand. “You’re right. I had a bad dream.”

“Do you need me to scare away the boogeyman? I’ve got a knack for that.”

He leaned in and was about to kiss me when my cell phone rang. I rested my finger on his lips. “Hold that thought.”

I walked into the foyer and grabbed my cell phone off the table. I answered on the third ring. “Hey, Jimbo.”

“I can’t find Keaton, and he’s not answering his phone. Do you know where he is?”

I glanced in the kitchen doorway. “Yeah, he’s here. It was too late for him to drive, so I let him sleep in my spare room.”

---