Chapter Nineteen
‡
Zach was in a particularly good mood the next morning. He probably shouldn’t be this happy since he still hadn’t found the killer plaguing Leann’s reunion but he couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
Because of Leann.
Yesterday he’d decided to pursue a relationship with her no matter how her brothers felt about it. If their kisses had been anything to go by, she was certainly as attracted to him as he was to her. After coming back to his place last night, they’d spent a long time on the couch sipping wine and talking about every little thing they could in between kisses. Childhood, careers, friends, enemies, politics, religion, music, and movies. They had more than he’d imagined in common but there were differences too. Enough to make it interesting. He wouldn’t be dating a carbon copy of himself, that was for sure. She was stubborn, opinionated, and wickedly smart. Basically? She was an Anderson.
A fact that had kept him up far past when they’d both gone to bed. It didn’t bother him that their romance would be watched closely by not only her family but by almost everyone in town. He’d just ignore them all. What bugged him was the about-face Leann’s brothers had taken when it came to her love life. Zach would have liked to think it was because it was him. They knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt their sister, but about three in the morning he’d woken up out of a sound sleep and sat straight up in bed. An idea had come into his head and once there he couldn’t shake it. Jason and West were up to something and Zach was pretty sure he knew what it was.
Those Anderson boys thought they were so smart.
Leann shuffled into the kitchen, yawning and stretching. In just a few short days he’d learned that she wasn’t a morning person. He already had the coffee and breakfast made.
“Sorry, I overslept,” she said as she poured her first cup of the day. He’d also learned she didn’t perk up until her second coffee. “Are we going to the office this morning?”
She’d agreed to shadow him today so he could still work and protect her at the same time. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too bored. Investigation work wasn’t always that exciting.
“We are but after we eat.” He filled her plate with eggs, bacon, and toast. “How about I cook some steaks on the grill tonight? It’s supposed to stay warm today.”
She dug into her food with enthusiasm. “That sounds fantastic. I love your cooking but I feel a little guilty. I should be helping more.”
Sitting down opposite her, he shrugged. “I like doing it so it’s no big deal. I’ll make a deal with you. If I get tired of cooking I’ll let you know. You can either do it or we can eat out.”
“Deal,” she grinned, humming in appreciation at his scrambled eggs. “Damn, these are good.”
“I didn’t do anything special to them other than use some cheese.”
“They taste better when they’re not burnt.”
From what Zach could tell, Leann didn’t like to cook. Or she wasn’t good at it. Or both.
They chatted about innocuous subjects while they ate – the weather, their plans for the day, but eventually Leann finished her second cup of coffee. It was time to talk to her about what he’d been up thinking about last night.
“I’ve been thinking,” he began cautiously, not sure how she’d react to his theory.
“Is that dangerous?” she teased, taking their plates to the sink and rinsing them off.
“It might be. I was thinking about how your brothers suddenly are all on our side about dating. It just seemed…strange to me.”
Wiping her hands on a dish towel, Leann nodded in agreement. “It does and it kind of worries me. What are they up to?”
“I have a theory,” he confessed. “Jason was adamant about my protecting you twenty-four-seven almost from the beginning. Then all of the sudden your brother West is cheering for us? There’s more to it than they think I’m a great guy. I think they’re pushing us together to try and lure you back home, Leann.”
She didn’t look shocked or angry. Instead she sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “I admit the thought crossed my mind as well. It would be just like them to try and manipulate me into coming home.”
“You haven’t said anything to them? That you’re thinking about moving back?”
“Give ’em an inch, they’ll think they’re a ruler,” Leann groaned. “If I told them I was thinking about coming back they’d freak out and do something crazy. Well, crazier than trying to make us a couple. It’s a creative solution to what they consider a problem. I wonder which one of them came up with it?”
“I think it was Jason.”
“I think you’re right. This little plan has his fingerprints all over it. West would have done something more overt. Jason is the subtle one.”
Zach wasn’t sure just how subtle this was but he’d bow to her judgment when it came to her own family. “The question is what do you want to do about it? Just ignore it? Call them on it?”
Her smile widened and her brown eyes sparkled as she waggled her eyebrows. “Do you want to have some fun with them?”
This. This right here was why Zach was so damn attracted to this woman.
“Hell yes, I do. What do you have in mind?”
* * *
Zach and Leann’s evil plan for world domination was set by the time they reached his office. She headed off to torture her brother Jason while Zach stopped off at the admin assistant’s desk to see if the forensics had come in from the state crime lab.
“Morning, Tina. Anything for me?”
Pushing her glasses up her nose, she nodded absently. “I printed it all off and set it on your desk.” She finally looked up and smirked. “You should thank me, by the way. The mayor’s assistant called me this morning asking if we’d heard anything from the state crime lab and I said no. Thought you might not want West Anderson sticking his nose into your investigation.”
Inwardly chuckling, Zach wished he were shocked. West just couldn’t seem to let go of police work. “Thank you, Tina. You’re a treasure. As soon as I read through the report, I’ll call West. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
Zach had his own office and he shut his door and sat down, impatiently skimming through the paperwork Tina had left on his desk. The news was good. The lab was able to pull four prints off of the champagne bottle. Drew. Darrell. Colin. Nicole.
The first two Zach had expected but the second two were a surprise. How had Colin Simpson and Nicole Quincy managed to get their fingerprints on the bottle? It would be one of the first questions he asked both of them.
As for the rest of the report, there was confetti on the broken edge of the bottle and in the wound on Marshall’s neck. The confetti matched the type used at the reunion. No surprise there either. Blood samples had been collected at the scene but DNA was going to take several more days. It wasn’t like on television where results were given in hours. In reality, it was more like weeks.
The rope marks on Bitty’s neck didn’t have any evidence that could help them and the fingerprints on Carole’s car hadn’t come up with anything either. Zach was going to have to break this case another way because it didn’t look like the science was going to help him at all. He needed to talk to Colin and Nicole. Somehow all these people were connected. It was more than the reunion; he felt it in his gut. What was he missing?
But there had been four sets of prints on that bottle and they had yet to talk to Darrell. He had motive, opportunity, and ability. Now he had a connection to the murder weapon. Plus he hadn’t stepped forward to clear his name.
Where in the hell was Darrell Madison hiding?
* * *
“I brought you some coffee, big brother. Say thank you.”
Jason smiled and pointed to the guest chair in his office. “Thanks, little sis. I was ready for another cup. Are you here with Zach today?”
She placed the coffee in front of him but she didn’t sit down, instead walking around the desk and looking out of the large window behind him. Jason had a lovely view of the park across the street but he chose to turn his back on it every day.
“Where else would I be? I’m in danger, after all.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t believe you’re in danger?”
She didn’t, actually, and even if she did she was certain Zach could handle whatever or whoever wanted to hurt her.
“I guess I don’t think anyone wants to kill me. Yes, Bitty, Carole, and Drew were part of my social circle in high school but so were a lot of people. Besides, the reunion is over now and we haven’t had a dead body since Saturday night. Maybe the killer is done.”
Jason sat back in his big leather chair, a contemplative look on his face. “That’s certainly possible. Or it could be that they can’t get to you and are waiting until we’re more relaxed and our guard is down. I don’t want that to happen.”
“I can’t have a bodyguard for the rest of my life. There are other people they could be targeting too. Jenna, Nicole, Troy, Henry, Sam. Should they all start traveling with an entourage to keep them safe?”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Neither am I.” Time to put plan their into action. “And I know Zach won’t let anyone harm me. He’s so protective.”
Jason grinned, probably thinking he was a genius. “That’s great to hear. I know I can trust him to keep you alive no matter what.”
“It’s wonderful that you’re on our side so I know you’ll be supportive.”
His smile grew even wider. “I’m always on your side, Leann. If you and Zach want to date, fall in love, get married that’s just fine with me.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “I’m not sure we’re ready to talk marriage at this point but I’m thrilled that he’s open to the possibility of moving to Florida. In fact, he’s kind of excited about it.”
Jason blinked. Once. Twice. Three times as his smile seemed to fade.
“Move? What did you say? I mean…move? Zach’s talking about moving?”
Leann felt kind of sorry for her brother at the moment, but then she reminded herself that he’d been trying to run her life. As usual.
“Obviously it’s too early in our relationship to be making those kinds of decisions but if things keep going on the way that they are…” She smiled and sighed happily. “He’s open to the idea, which is such a relief. I didn’t want to get serious about someone that lived three thousand miles away.”
Jason was staring at her blankly. “Three thousand miles…”
“And this is going to benefit you too.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “Of course Zach will continue to travel for you as much as he does now but you can expand your consulting business to that part of the country so easily because he’ll be living there. With me. Everybody wins.”
Her big brother seem to wake up, frowning and rubbing his chin. “Everybody wins. Sure. That’s great. This is all…great.”
“And I have you to thank for it,” Leann said, a smug smile on her face. The Anderson siblings were hard on one another but it was a tough love. Jason and West needed to learn to stay out of her life. “You’re the one that put him in charge of my protection so we’ve spent all of our time together. If you hadn’t done that, I doubt he and I would be where we are now.”
Jason’s throat worked as he swallowed hard. “I’m just glad I could help.”
She reached across the desk and patted his hand. “You’ve done more than you could ever imagine.”
Leann wouldn’t let this go on forever. Just a few days. They needed to sweat and worry a little. But in the meantime she could only wonder how they would respond. No way would her brothers take this lying down and just give up.