Page 13 of In Darkness Transformed
Eli looked oddly pleased by her response as they sat down on opposite sides of the table. She set out two paper plates and added two plastic forks. “The pie is peach, my personal favorite.”
Eli slid the pie closer to his side of the table. “I still have to see whether or not you earned a piece.”
“Fine, be that way.” She peeked into the first bag and then handed it across to him. “That one’s yours, the fries still hot as requested.”
He popped one into his mouth, his eyes sparkling with good humor even though his expression remained serious. “Fine, you can have a piece of pie. A big one if the burger is as good as it smells.”
“It is.” She spread her own lunch out on the table. “Also, the shakes are made by hand, not pumped out of some machine. Ronnie, who owns the diner, packs a lot of great flavor into everything he makes, but it comes at a price. I’ll have to run an extra mile, maybe two, to burn off the calories.”
She bit into her cheeseburger and moaned. “It’s worth it, though. I should limit how often I eat there, but I can’t resist his cooking.”
Eli studied his own sandwich. “I can see why. I might even stop back by after I grab what I need at the grocery store and pick up something for dinner tonight. I’m tired of my own cooking.”
There was the opening she’d been waiting for. “So you don’t have any other family?”
Or a girlfriend?
Not that she was going to ask that last question. It was none of her business. Really. Still, maybe he’d volunteer the information. Eli waited until he finished another bite of his sandwich before answering.
“Nope, no other family. I didn’t even know Martin all that well. It had been some time since I’d even seen him. As far as I know, he never left the mountain at all if he could avoid it.”
“So you had visited him at his cabin sometime in the past?”
He nodded and stuffed several fries into his mouth. Was he that hungry, or was he avoiding answering her questions? Maybe her interest didn’t sound as casual as she’d hoped. Time to do some sharing of her own.
“I’ve lived in Ridgewick my entire life except for when I left to get my associate degree in criminology. Even then, the college was less than a hundred miles from here.”
“You never wanted to do any traveling?”
She couldn’t very well tell him that she’d visited another world a bunch of times. “I’ve always wanted to visit Europe someday or maybe the beaches in Mexico, especially when the rainy season hits. I love living here, but I do get tired of gray days.”
After dipping a fry in a puddle of ketchup, she asked, “How about you? Done much traveling?”
His gaze shifted to some point off in the distance as if he was no longer seeing the Cascade Mountains that served as a backdrop for the town. “I’ve seen all the hot spots—Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.”
Looking pretty grim, he sat there in silence for a full minute. Then he blinked and was back with her. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to blank out on you.”
“That’s okay. I’d already figured out that you’d been in the military.” She decided not to press for details about what that had entailed.
Eli pulled out a large pocketknife and flipped open the box that held the peach pie. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for dessert.”
She had to wonder how sanitary the blade was, but at least he wiped it down with a napkin. Considering some of the places he’d been, he’d probably gotten over any squeamishness he might’ve had about germs. Regardless, she wasn’t going to complain. Ronnie’s peach pie was worth the risk of consuming a few cooties.
Her eyes about popped out of her head when she saw the size of the piece he carved out of the pie. “Make mine about half that size.”
His grin took years off his age. “I won’t argue. That just leaves more for me.”
Even with the smaller portion, she was seriously stuffed by the time they were both done eating. While Eli carried their trash over to the garbage can, she opened the file folder and quickly reviewed its contents before pushing it over to his side of the table.
It didn’t take him long to go through it. “You’re right. There’s not much here.”
“I’m sorry the descriptions are so graphic, but I figured you’d rather read it for yourself instead of me glossing over the details.”
He nodded as he went back to the beginning to read it again. “These crime scene photos were taken about a mile from the cabin. I pass that rock formation when I go running.”
She studied the pictures. “That sounds about right.”
“Did you know the guys who found Martin?”
