Page 46 of Chasing Dreams
Shaine slipped the locket back into the envelope.
After a long, pensive silence, Austin disappeared into his office and returned, jabbing numbers into his phone. “Ken, Allen here. You know the number. Call me.”
He sat across from her.
“Who’d you call?”
“My detective friend.”
“What for?”
He pointed the cell phone to the folder on the table. “Look at that.”
She hesitated.
He urged her with a flick of his hand. “Go ahead. There aren’t any crime scene photos or anything.”
She picked up the folder, opened it and glanced through the file. “Gloria McCullough, thirty-eight, reported missing July 4, suspected foul play. She had told police on June 12 that she thought she was being stalked.”
“There’s no body yet. Maybe they’ll find it somewhere around that motel.”
The phone rang. He clicked it on. “Allen here. Yeah. The McCullough case. Check on a motel where WMBB, channel 13, is aired.”
“Orange flowered bedspreads,” Shaine interjected.
Austin repeated her description to the man on the phone. “And she was working at a fast-food place where the employees wear dark green aprons.... No, that’s it.... Do that. Yeah.”
He hung up. “He’ll get back to me.”
Shaine gave the room a restless once-over without really seeing anything. “How long do you think it will take?”
He shrugged. “Might be later today. Might not.”
Dreading the wait, she got up and moved to the window. “There’s a moose out there.”
With a skeptical expression, he joined her. “That’s an elk.”
“Oh.” He didn’t touch her, but his body radiated warmth. He had a spicy outdoorsy smell all his own. She wished she could turn and fold herself against him. From experience she knew how comforting his arms were and how nice his kisses could be. From her dream she knew there would be more between them.
If she closed her eyes, she could feel the way he’d made her feel in that dream. See the emotion in his eyes. Feel the tingles along her skin.
“Don’t see a lot of elk near your inn?”
His words contrasted with her thoughts. Regretfully opening her eyes, she shook her head and watched the animal strut through the foliage at the edge of the clearing.
“Tell me about it.”
His voice so close behind her was a distraction. “The inn?”
“Yeah. You’ve done enough work for one day. Aren’t you tired?”
“A little. Not exhausted like after the other visions.”
“Hmm. Well, we can’t just sit and wait for Ken to call.”
The elk disappeared behind Austin’s log garage. “Aren’t you going to run?”
“No. I’ll wait with you,” he said near her ear.
