CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Noah waited for Billy to get out of his brand new red Mustang Shelby GT350. It wasn’t surprising to see that the richest kid in town grew up to be a wealthy adult, though the medic sideline had been a bit of a surprise.
Just three years ago, Billy had been going to medical school to follow in his father’s footsteps. Looked like that hadn’t turned out too well for the man. As for Dr. Stanton, he maintained a luxury apartment in Cleveland and flew his own Cessna Citation CJ4 home every other weekend. It worked for them, but it certainly wasn’t a lifestyle Noah would choose under any circumstances.
Who spent six and a half million on their own personal jet aircraft, and then only flew it a couple times a month? The Stanton family estate had its own landing strip north of town, although it was still within the county line.
Their continuous six hundred and forty acres comprised an entire section of prime Ohio farmland that hadn’t been tilled in fifty plus years—not one single acre. Most of the estate had been replanted with native hardwood trees during the ’50s. What few barns remained on the property were strictly used for riding horses and storing equipment.
The hangar alone was large enough to store not only Dr. Stanton’s Citation, but a completely restored P51-D Mustang World War II fighter aircraft.
As far as anyone knew, the good doctor hadn’t flown the Mustang but once, the tale went that the flight scared him so bad that he never managed to work up enough courage to give the P51-D another try.
The main house was massive in size, just over eighteen thousand square feet. The property line was enclosed by what seemed like an endless five-foot-tall split rail fence painted a distinctive Navajo red. One couldn’t drive past the place without seeing that damned fence running on for a mile on all four sides.
He and Billy had never been what one might consider friends, partly due to the fact that Billy was a year younger and had been a class behind him. Most people tolerated him because his family brought a shitload of money into the county. Noah took issue with how Billy flaunted his family’s wealth. That was frowned upon in these parts where most folks had to work hard to earn a decent living.
“Noah, your old man told me I’d find you here,” Billy said in greeting with a flashy smile almost as bright as the wide white stripe painted down the middle of his shiny red sports car. There wasn’t a strand of his blond hair out of place. “I was hoping we could talk about the property.”
Noah had to have heard Stanton wrong, but he hadn’t stuttered. Billy now set his sights on Reese, which really wasn’t a surprise considering the man had expressed his interest in her yesterday. She’d been too worried about her attacker to think that one of the medics treating her would resort to that kind of salacious behavior while in uniform.
“Ms. Woodward,” Billy said, making his way to the bottom of the porch steps. He twirled his keyring on his index finger and caught them in the palm of his hand. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
“Thank you.” Reese was a very intelligent woman, and she hadn’t missed the underlying tension.
“Are you talking about my property up the road there?” Noah ignored Billy’s hidden meaning in his words. He’d been a nuisance in high school, but he was crossing a line he didn’t even know was right in front of him. “What interest is it of yours?”
Reese still maintained a hold on Noah’s cell phone as she made her way to the porch swing. She sat down, close enough to hear the conversation.
“Well, you see, your father bought the property at auction.” Billy rested one of his loafers on the second step. His arrogant air dimmed a bit as he got down to business. “Honestly, I’m hoping you’ll sell. I’ll give you an additional twenty percent above market price, even with all that has happened recently.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Come on,” Billy said with a laugh, switching his gaze between Noah and Reese in bewilderment. “You can’t be serious? You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t have a problem living in a house where a body has been stored for…what? Twelve years?”
“Those remains are most likely from someone we all knew, Billy.” Noah wasn’t in the mood to play word games with someone he didn’t particularly care for, so he brought the conversation to a close. “The property is not for sale, no matter what offer you bring to the table. It will remain in my family for many years to come.”
Billy pulled his lips down in disappointment, but he rose his hands in surrender.
“Fine, Kendall.” Billy lifted the sunglasses he had dangling from his shirt and slipped them up the bridge of his nose. “Should you change your mind, you know where to find me. Ms. Woodward.”
And with a leisurely nod in Reese’s direction to bid her goodbye, Billy casually made his way to his car. It wasn’t long before he fired up his 5.2 liter v8 engine. He backed his Mustang out of the driveway and headed toward town.
“You didn’t once let on yesterday that you hated the guy,” Reese said, still pushing the swing with her bare foot.
Her pink toenail polish reminded him that the day could have been spent having a lot more fun in her bed enjoying the new air conditioning unit than driving into town to meet with Detective Kendrick where everyone and their mother would be congregating at the diner. They’d all be ordering lunch at the exact same time, never letting on that they were trying to hear what was new in the case.
“Hate is an awful strong word.” Noah joined her on the porch swing, resting his arm behind her as they both allowed this morning’s events to settle back into an easy rhythm. “I can usually tolerate Billy under most normal conditions. Let’s just say I’m a little on edge today, given the circumstances.”
Reese fell silent and rather still, her hands resting in her lap. It was then he realized that she’d taken his sentiment the wrong way.
“Hey,” Noah said softly, reaching over and using his fingers to lift her chin. He didn’t like the doubt that filled her brown eyes. “I’m all in regarding where we left off in the kitchen. I was referring to what happened yesterday and the fact that you want to speak with Kendrick about what got you attacked in the first place.”
“You think I’m making myself an even bigger target when in fact I’m releasing the pressure which caused the incident.” Reese lifted an arm and squeezed his hand in reassurance. “If Kendrick starts investigating a connection between Sophia and Emma, then there’s no reason to come after me again. The information is already out there, and hurting me would gain whoever attacked me yesterday nothing but more grief.”
Noah highly doubted a man who would assault a woman in public thought in those kinds of terms, but he’d be around to ensure her safety.
“So let me get this straight. You scheduled us to meet Detective Kendrick in town where everyone will be eavesdropping when we could have spent the day seeing how well your new air conditioning unit works?”
Reese twisted her lips sideways as if she were thinking through the roadblock she’d set up when they heard another vehicle approaching.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Noah muttered, catching sight of a media van driving down the lane and bypassing Reese’s house. “You get more traffic through here than Grand Central Station. I thought Calvin said that the press would be too preoccupied with Pete Anderson to come out this way.”
“I’m sure the backdrop of the farmhouse adds to the visual of the segment. They’ll probably just green screen the farm into the background. At least one of the deputies is down that way to prevent the reporters from getting too close to your house.” They continued to monitor the media van until it faded from view. “That reminds me, you never did say why the detective called you to begin with.”
“I was a little distracted by someone.” As much as Noah wanted to use what hours they had to take what they’d started into the bedroom, he didn’t like that the media was now canvassing his property. “Kendrick said that forensics has given the all clear. I can restart the renovation work at the farm tomorrow.”
Noah wasn’t sure how Reese would take that news, especially considering she’d been quite uncomfortable with the fact that he still planned to restore and move into the farmhouse after finding the probable remains of Emma Irwin.
“You know we’re technically on two strikes,” Reese pointed out with a sigh. Noah gave her a questioning look. “Both occasions I’ve spent time with you ended up with the police being called to our location. You sure you want to go for a third time at bat?”
Noah pushed the swing with his work boot a little harder than she was anticipating, but that was his intention as she caught herself before she fell out of the swing. He sat on the cushion when it rebounded and pulled her in his lap, waiting patiently until she stopped laughing from being out of breath.
“Call me a risk taker, little one,” Noah ordered as he wiggled his eyebrows, emitting a growl as he feigned biting her neck. Reese’s sweet laughter rang out a little louder until it transformed into a pleasurable moan. “Kiss me, sweetheart.”
Noah wasn’t expecting Reese to shift position. She straddled him in that free spirit he’d caught glimpses of every now and then. She cradled his face in the palms of her hands as she took the lead, doing her best to convince him that they should ignore everything going on next door and in town in favor of going to her bedroom and locking the world out.
Reese pulled away to rest her forehead against his as his cell phone rang from where it had dropped between them. There were simply times when one needed to wave the white flag. The current was pushing against them.
“I’ll go brush my hair and change clothes.” Reese reluctantly put one bare foot on the porch and then the other. The world had come knocking on their door, leaving them no choice but to answer. “Let’s just hope we can get through the day without an emergency call being placed to the sheriff.”
Noah couldn’t help but observe the sway of Reese’s hips as she made her way to the screen door. He hoped like hell they could pull off what she’d most likely jinxed with her humor. He’d noticed earlier that the deputy hadn’t been by since they’d been outside this morning.
Something told him that today wasn’t going to go as smooth as they’d like it to in their bid for a little peace and quiet.
*
Reese should have excused herself long ago and taken the shortcut back to her house. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened today, proving that her attacker had most likely moved on to bigger and better things. Her meeting with Detective Kendrick had been overtly public, allowing anyone at the diner to overhear what she had to say.
She could no longer even pretend to conceal her reason for being in Blyth Lake, not that anyone had caused her to do so to begin with. She’d done so out of courtesy and respect to those who had put Emma’s disappearance behind them.
What she had thought would be kept more personal was the intimacy that had developed between her and Noah.
Having dinner with his father, Gus Kendall, didn’t exactly fulfill that objective.
All eyes were on them as they sat at a table in the middle of the diner.
“He doesn’t bite much,” Noah murmured in her ear as he feigned reaching for the shaker of salt.
Reese shot Noah a sideways look of irritation, wishing he’d finish his meal so that they could get out of Dodge. It didn’t help that Whitney Bell was currently in the booth beside them with a man who looked like he’d just escaped a prison yard riot.
“I was thinking of grilling up some barbeque chicken tomorrow.” Gus took a sip of the water he’d asked for to accompany his club sandwich. “Why don’t the two of you head over to the house around five o’clock?”
What had Noah said to prompt Gus to include her in his invitation? She’d been very careful of how she acted around Noah all afternoon. One should think they were just neighbors and friends, but somehow their relationship had been consigned to something more intimate.
“I actually have—”
“We’ll be there,” Noah said, cutting off the excuse she’d drummed up in her head that was more than plausible to extricate herself from a family obligation. How was this normal that he wasn’t fazed in the least by the interest they were generating? “I’d also like to talk to you about designs for the new cupboards now that I got that wall out of the way.”
The chimes above the door sounded and in walked an older woman who immediately drew applause and cheers. She used a cane, but there was a liveliness about her that couldn’t be contained. She patted her grey hair as if she were the belle of the ball.
“Mama, what are you doing here?” Cassie exclaimed as she made her way out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about. “Didn’t Darcy take you to your doctor’s appointment in the city?”
The older woman narrowed her eyes at the fact that her daughter just announced to the town her personal business. Reese commiserated with the woman over that lost battle.
“I still have my faculties, Cassie. Yes, Darcy took me to see Dr. Stanton. Then I decided he could drop me off here for a bite of dinner.” Reese didn’t have to have it spelled out for her. This woman was the infamous Annie Osburn. “He’ll be joining me shortly, as a matter of fact.”
Multiple townsfolk started talking at once, many asking about Annie’s health and what she’d been doing with her downtime. Gus used a napkin to wipe his mouth before excusing himself to help Annie with her chair at a nearby table.
“My mom used to say Dad had a crush on Ms. Osburn,” Noah said with fondness, looking on as his father set the handle of the cane on the table so that it was within reach. “It was a running joke in the family, especially when Mom would make meatloaf. We called them meatloaf wars.”
She would have responded had Annie Osburn not made eye contact. The woman’s penetrating stare caused Reese to shift uncomfortably in her chair.
“Relax.” If Noah was trying to get out from under Reese’s ire, he wasn’t doing a good job of it. “You, of all people, should know how small towns work. Rumors were probably rife yesterday after word got around that we were at the beach together. Throw in Calvin catching me at your house this morning all but solidified that we’re having a secret love child by this point.”
Reese was well aware Noah was right in every aspect, but that didn’t mean she wanted to become grist for the gossip mill.
“I’m just saying that we don’t have to help those rumors along.” She kept her voice low, not wanting Whitney to hear any more than she already had. Reese glanced back at Noah to find him studying her. “What?”
“I do like the way you’re wearing your hair.” Noah rested his piercing blue eyes on her, effectively raising the temperature in the diner. They both pushed their plates away. “It looks like Dad found another dinner companion. What do you say we bid him goodnight and head out?”
Reese thought this moment would never come, and she wouldn’t hesitate in taking him up on his offer now. She hadn’t consciously left her hair down in the long, natural waves she’d gotten from her mother, though she had worn a pair of white capris and a yellow blouse that was nicer than most of the stuff she’d packed in her suitcase. She’d wanted to make a better impression in front of the detective than she had originally. Appearances went a long way toward a person’s character when one wanted to be believed.
Noah pulled out his wallet and left enough cash on the table to cover all three meals. Reese didn’t doubt that he would argue with her should she offer her share, so she pushed back her chair and grabbed her purse. She’d gotten into the habit of only carrying her cell phone and credit card, but today’s meeting with Detective Kendrick had called for pictures of Sophia. Those were easier to carry in her purse.
“Ms. Woodward. I was hoping to have a word with you.” Reese fought off the shiver of unease that accompanied Annie Osburn’s invitation. The elderly lady was smiling, but there was something off about her request. “If you would, please?”
Reese wasn’t the only one who found Ms. Osburn’s summons odd. Noah frowned in his father’s direction, almost as if he were blaming his dad for this delay.
She didn’t believe Gus Kendall had anything to do with Annie Osburn wanting to speak with her, and Reese immediately recalled a horror movie where an elderly woman went around killing young women who were interested in her son. It was odd what one thought of in situations like these.
This was nothing like that, but that didn’t mean Reese was that off base with Ms. Osburn’s sudden attention.
“I’m sorry,” Reese said in an attempt to find out what she was getting herself into before sitting in front of a match after she’d pretty much been doused with gasoline. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“We haven’t yet,” Annie agreed, settling back in her chair as Cassie set a hot cup of tea on the table. The younger woman mouthed her apology before heading back toward the kitchen. “But I did, in fact, meet your cousin, Sophia. Twelve years ago, to be precise.”