Page 48 of Threat of Danger
He could see why they’d been tossed. The print was nearly too faint to be legible. The laser printer must have been running out of ink.
He leafed through them, growing more and more interested the further he got. He was holding police reports on all the missing girls, going years back.
Maxwell had rejected Jess’s worries about the cases, publicly and humiliatingly. So why print them? Why now?
Derek shoved the two dozen sheets into his waistband and pulled his shirt over them, then walked out without anyone ever looking at him or asking what he was doing in the cubicle.
As he headed home, he called the shop to see when his new furnace would be in. Two more days.
Could be worse.The house would be all right, inside temps still in the low fifties. At least his pipes weren’t freezing. In truth, he could have had the old furnace serviced and fixed. But getting a new one came with a delay, so he chose to go that route because he wanted an excuse to keep an eye on Jess.
He tacked the police reports to his collage wall in his office, ate leftovers from his fridge for lunch, then headed over to the Taylors’ where he brought Zelda’s bed down from her bedroom. Zelda had vacuumed and mopped the old dining room while everyone had been out. Her new nest was ready for refurnishing.
Jess and Eliot had also returned, so they helped to set up the room. Once they finished, Jess drove into Burlington to see her mother. Derek went into the city too, in his own truck, to see his own parents. He didn’t get back to the Taylor farm until dinner.
“Plans for tomorrow?” Derek asked Eliot over Zelda’s lasagna.
“I’d like to walk the river for a couple of miles in both directions. I’m looking for a good spot where I could train my crew for water stunts. I’m thinking about bringing everyone up here for a two-week training camp this summer. Then, if it works out, maybe start something permanent.”
“I might know a place,” Jess offered, but sounded less than excited. Maybe she didn’t care for water stunts.
Eliot smiled at her as if she was the answer to all his problems. “I want to see as much as I can before we have to run off to catch the red-eye.”
We.So Jess was definitely going with him, hadn’t changed her mind.
Derek shouldn’t have hated the thought as much as he did. Her safety was his first priority, and leaving Taylorvillewouldkeep her safe. He needed to stop resenting the idea of her going back to California.
But later that night, on the couch, unable to fall asleep, he was still thinking about her boarding a plane with Eliot, and what they would be doing when they were back in LA.
Sleep avoided Derek until dawn. Morning came way too fast. He woke to his cell phone ringing on the coffee table.Jared.
“About those bones you dropped off yesterday ...” Jared sounded shaken for the first time since Derek had known him. He wasn’t rugby tough, but he was pretty tough. Jared had been on the high school football team back in the day. “I’m not sure how to say this, but two of them ... the ones in the bag labeled ‘Crow’s Nest’ ...”
Derek bolted straight up on the couch, gripping the phone tightly at his ear.
“I had to notify the police,” Jared went on. “They’re coming to pick up the bones. You might want to come over. They’ll want to talk to you, I’m sure. The bones from the crow’s nest were human.”
Chapter Twelve
Tuesday
BY THE TIMEJess plodded downstairs behind Eliot at eight thirty in the morning, Derek was gone, thank God. The three of them in the same place at the same time made for some seriously awkward moments.
Zelda made omelets, a thoughtful expression on her face as they ate. As Jess and Eliot talked about the day ahead, Zelda kept moving her gaze between them.
Chuck popped his head in after breakfast, saying hi to everyone but saving his best smile for Zelda. Awhooshof cold air pushed in by him, but the warmth of his smile made up for it. “Ready?”
“Almost.” Zelda whipped off her apron. “Just a minute.”
Chuck came in all the way so he could close the front door behind him instead of letting out all the heat.
Zelda patted her hair down as she passed by Jess and Eliot, who were still nursing their coffees at the kitchen table. “I’m goin’ to Carol Fischer’s place to help out with a wedding quilt. Her youngest girl is gettin’ married at the end of spring.”
Chuck stayed on the doormat to avoid dragging in the mud. He could reach Zelda’s coat from there, so he lifted it off the peg and held it out so she could easily slip it on. His gaze cut to Jess. “I’ll drop her off and then go and pick her up when she calls.”
Since Chuck had parked by the side of the house instead of the front, Jess could see through the kitchen window as Chuck opened his pickup’s door for Zelda and the smile she gave him in return. They really were like an old married couple.
The truck drove away, but Jess kept watching the spot where it’d been. An odd sense of melancholy filled her.
