Page 13 of The Last Love Song
For a moment, she wondered if she’d given anything away about her condition last night. He’d examined her wrist. Noticed her limp. Anxious to squash whatever suspicions he might have,she rose to her feet, making sure she stood tall and steady on her achy joints.
“Unfortunately, I can’t pursue all my dreams here.” She smiled brightly. “Sorry to cut our chat short, Zach, but I didn’t realize my brother is giving a toast.”
She pointed to a few people gathered around Scott, who lifted a mimosa toward Erin and Remy. The music had been turned down. The moment offered a perfect escape from a conversation growing awkward.
Zach rose. “Of course.”
“I don’t think we’re doing anything formal for a send-off, but I should probably join them.” She realized they stood close together.
Eye to eye, she didn’t move away. Neither did he.
The moment spun out as they stood a hand’s span from one another, Zach’s hand wrapped around hers. Her heart pounded—hard and fast—as she felt the magnetic draw of the man. Then, slowly, he stroked his thumb down the center of her palm, his eyes never leaving hers. The touch made her breath catch, especially when he traced a circle inside her hand.
“We’ll miss you, Heather Finley,” he said finally, his words breaking the spell. She nodded too fast, stepping back to regain some composure. She didn’t understand this chemistry between them, which seemed to have a new edge. Was Zach sticking close to her because of the mayor’s job? Or was there more to it?
“Thanks.” Sliding her hand free, she wrapped her arms around herself and headed back to the party with Zach at her side.
She swallowed. What might have happened just now if she hadn’t been so dead set on leaving Heartache? Would he have given her another reason to stay? Her skin still tingled where he’d touched her.
Heather didn’t hurry across the lawn. Her brother’s toast had ended. Sheriff Sam Reyes broke away from the group and headed their way, tugging off a pair of aviator shades and jamming them in his jacket pocket. He was an imposing man with a he-man frame. He had worked in a vice squad on the West Coast before returning to Heartache to take the job in local law enforcement. He and Zach hadn’t seemed to hang out much in high school, so it had been a surprise when they’d both ended up in San Jose after graduation. Heather had heard Gabriella, Zach’s younger sister, had moved there, too.
Zach slowed his steps. “Is it just me or does Sam look like he has something on his mind?”
“Duty calls.” She regretted it as soon as she said it, knowing how much he wanted to hand off the job. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that to sound…flippant. I wish I could have bailed you out of the mayor’s gig.”
“I’ll figure something out.” He stopped walking. “Will you do me a favor and let me know before you leave town?”
“It might be as early as this afternoon if TJ gets my car fixed.” Her eyes went to the sheriff, who had joined them. “But sure, I can give you a shout before I head out.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sam said. “Zach, you have a minute?”
Excusing herself, Heather went in search of Megan to see how things were going with her music. She liked the girl and something about her body language had felt off. As if she might be upset. And after Zach’s crazy suggestion that she take over the mayor’s seat, Heather seriously needed to distract herself until her car was fixed and she could head for the county line.
At least, that’s why she told herself she needed the distraction. Because she couldn’t think about those heated moments when Zach’s thumb had sketched a light touch over her palm. She shivered at the memory. Now was not the timeto get moony-eyed over a man. She had dreams to chase and a coveted audition waiting for her a thousand miles away.
“You’ve got towork on your timing,” Zach groused, scrubbing a hand through his hair as he scowled at his so-called friend. “Do I interrupt you when you’re with a beautiful woman?”
He turned his back on the wedding breakfast festivities. The music still blasted and there were plenty of teens playing video games under one of the canopy tents, but as it neared lunchtime, the party was definitely breaking up. Only a few guests remained.
Sam Reyes glared right back at him, undeterred. They’d been friends since high school when Sam had rescued his sister from the guy who’d lured her out of the house after stalking her online. Sam had risked a hell of a lot to save her. Zach owed him. Everything. He’d had Sam’s back when he’d helped him leave town and start over again on the West Coast in San Jose. They’d roomed together for a year when they left town, with Zach going into Silicon Valley to learn at the feet of computer industry experts and Sam signing up for the police academy while he worked on a criminal justice degree. Theirs was a friendship forged in fire.
“Heather has lived here forever, and you’ve been back in town for almost a year and a half,” Sam pointed out. “If you can’t get your act together to make a move in all that time, maybe you don’t deserve a shot.”
“And since I’m sure you’re not here merely to remind me of my dating shortcomings, why don’t you tell me what you found out about police incidents around the quarry over the last few years.” He’d called Sam last night after dropping off Heather ather place, his concern renewed after she went off the road so close to the place his sister had been attacked.
Sam was the only person in the sheriff’s department he felt comfortable asking since he preferred to keep his interest quiet. Gabriella—Ellie—had never filed a police report about her attack and now that she’d changed her identity, they were all the more cautious about drawing undue attention to her or her whereabouts.
“I need to compare the number of complaints against some other sites in town. But on first glance, the number seems high to me, and too often involving young women alone. A high school girl went off the road in the quarry last year because someone had taken down a sign on a turn.” A dark scowl settled on Sam’s face. “Luckily, one of Heather’s brothers was in town and he found the girl and got her out of there. But she was alone and vulnerable—that might have been by design on the part of whoever took out that sign.”
“You think there’s a chance someone knowingly preys on people in the quarry?”
What if Ellie’s attacker was a local? Someone who’d been in Heartache ever since? The hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Sam shook his head. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. All I’m saying is that my initial search—and it was a quick scan through old files that haven’t been digitized—suggests we should dig deeper.”
All the more reason Zach needed to offload this mayor gig. Digging deeper was exactly the kind of work he should be doing. With his computer forensics company, he was in a good place to analyze data for idiosyncrasies. He freelanced for police departments around the country, analyzing computers for deleted files, web searches or old emails that could help criminal cases. It was a job that called to him since his sister had beenlured in by an internet predator, someone using a false identity and befriending Gabriella online.
Old frustration simmered. “I’m making this a priority.”“So am I. But the real reason I’m here concerns the Finley family.” Sam folded his arms. Even without the aviator shades, he looked as if he could be Secret Service with his linebacker build and dark jacket.
