Chapter Eight
When the police arrived, Jess was camped out near a patch of bushes, wiping her mouth and face with an old Wet Nap that she’d found in her glove compartment.
By the time she’d finished her statement and the crime techs had done a preliminary look over the body, Jess’s stomach had settled to a twisty ache. It would take a lot longer for the rest of her to recover.
She’d never discovered a dead body before. She hoped this was her last.
By the time Wheeler found her leaning on the back bumper of her SUV contemplating performing a full frontal lobotomy on herself with her house key to erase the memories of the last two hours, she was ready for the day to end with her up to her neck in water and bubbles.
He leaned an arm on the roof of her SUV and peered down at her with something akin to compassion in his eyes. She couldn’t say she was entirely unhappy to see him.
“I hear you found a corpse.”
“You could say that,” she said. “It was awful.”
He nodded. “Your first?”
Jess nodded back. “If you say anything smartass, you’ll be my second.” The right corner of his mouth twitched. She was too tired to follow through with the threat. “What are you doing here anyway? Aren’t you out of your jurisdiction?”
He looked back at the trailer. “My secret cop sources told me you were out here.” He returned his attention to her. “If it makes you feel any better, the techs think it was a natural death. The guy was morbidly obese and a smoker. An autopsy will confirm COD and his identity.”
Dani wouldn’t get her child support, but knowing Blevens probably wasn’t murdered did make Jess feel a bit better.
“No, it really doesn’t make much difference. My client has looked for him for years and now her kids get no support and their father is gone. The bastard could have lived long enough to make things right with his family.”
The detective frowned. “Wishful thinking.”
Jess stared at his gun. He looked extra hot packing heat. She needed therapy. “What can I say? I’m an eternal optimist.”
“Right.” He stood and Jess joined him in the driveway. She needed fresh air and sunshine. He frowned and held up a finger. “Give me a second to check something out.”
Wheeler typed into his phone, then looked around the property and back to his phone. Finally, after a few minutes, he turned back to her. “Don’t quote me on this, but I think a casino is going up near here, on the other side of these woods. I’ve seen it on the news. If this property is slated to be part of the land buy, and Blevens owns it, his kids might get a gift from their dad after all.”
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.” He looked down at her face and immediately seemed to regret his choice of words.
* * *
Sam watched as light filtered into her watery eyes. “Sorry.” He’d had a quick look at the body and knew why she’d been upset. He’d seen similar cases and they never failed to give his gag reflex a twitch.
“I have to call Dani.” She smiled despite looking queasy. “Thanks, Wheeler.”
“You’re welcome.” He liked that she wasn’t frowning, scowling, or grimacing at him. The smile was genuine and softened her face. He liked it. Now Jess had some tentatively positive news to distract her from the Blevens discovery as she walked off to call her client.
Even if the casino wasn’t interested in the property, the land was still worth something. Once ownership was proven, and as long as Blevens didn’t have other children or a wife, the sale proceeds would go to his abandoned family.
His gaze drifted back to Jess. She was wearing a form-fitting button-up gray top, snug jeans, and kick-ass black boots with killer heels that could ruin the day of any asshole who tried to mess with her. She looked every inch a crime fighter. As she walked back to him a few minutes later, he couldn’t help feeling a slight buzz down below.
“Dani thinks the property may have belonged to Blevens’s father or grandfather. Both deceased. She didn’t know there was a trailer here when she gave me his junk box. I found the property through an old tax form from nineteen seventy-seven.”
“Does he have brothers or sisters?”
“He had a brother who died about fifteen years ago from a stroke. He wasn’t married.” Jess rubbed her arms. “I gave her the name of a lawyer who deals with finding heirs and settling inheritances.”
“Good.” Sam watched as the body was removed from the trailer and carted away. “Unless he was murdered by his ex-wife, case closed.”
Jess nodded.
This was the moment when he should head back to work. Instead, another thought occurred to him. The more he knew about Jess, the more clues he’d have to why someone wanted to kill her. Besides, she was his most pressing case.
“Can I buy you lunch?” he asked. She made a face. “Or a Tums?”
After thinking she’d refuse, her answer surprised him.
“Okay.” She retrieved her keys from her pocket. “I’ll follow you.”
The restaurant was just off I-94. It was small, retro, and built to look like a submarine. They were led to a blue-topped table with chrome chairs next to the front window. The waitress wore a uniform that looked like an old navy dress from the 40s. On her feet were sensible black shoes to round out the outfit.
Jess checked out the small imitation radar that held napkins while Sam scanned the menu. The radar had knobs you could turn that made the screen look like the Battleship game with enemy ships. Happiness filled her face.
“Summer would love this place,” she said. “She’s a vintage girl in a twenty-first century world.”
Having seen Summer’s car, Sam agreed. “That convertible is something else. It fits her.”
They went on to order burgers and fries. The conversation started slowly. Every time she looked at him with those amazing eyes, he forgot whatever question had been asked. She glanced at him curiously after his third distracted answer, and with a hint of amusement. Awareness crossed her face.
“Elizabeth Taylor eyes,” she said and bit into a fry. At his puzzled expression, she continued, “I have Elizabeth Taylor’s lavender eyes. My parents think I was switched at birth. Either that or my mother made it with the mailman. I’m the only person in the family with this color.”
He managed a nod. When she wasn’t pissed at him and her expression was soft with her smile, he lost the ability to put together a cohesive thought.
She looked down at her plate and he took a breath. With Jess’s dark hair, the contrast of hair and eyes was as striking as it had been for the late actress. No wonder Elizabeth had so many husbands. What man could resist her?
He didn’t understand this attraction for the headstrong PI. He had seen her in tiny panties, but that wasn’t it. Well, partially. No, there was something about her that drew him in, challenged him. And for some reason the alpha in his DNA wanted to keep her safe, above and beyond his law enforcement duty.
Hell, he wanted her in his bed with her long legs wrapped around his waist, her body locked with his.
“Shit,” he muttered.
His face tipped up. “What?”
Damn. Caught. He quickly covered. “I wanted to know if you have any crazy ex-boyfriends.”
The smile faded. “No boyfriends that would care enough to get revenge, although my first love, who was my first heartbreak, busted into the wedding at the moment the shot went off. But he wasn’t looking for me. So the answer is definitely, no. I’m stalker-free.”
Oh, right. That dumbass in the blue suit. Sam had heard the story but passed over the connection to Jess. Rumor had it that the wedding crasher had been a high school romance for both the bride and one of the bridesmaids. And Jess had mentioned she and Mandy had gone to school together. An assumption filled in from that. The idea that a guy would choose Mandy with her overdone face and fake boobs over Jess was criminal.
He didn’t need to know the PI well to know that. He had a sense about people. She was something special. “I suspect you’d shoot him, not the other way around.”
She nodded, the smile returning. “Only if I cared enough about Darren to risk prison. Which I don’t. Clearly his taste in women took a dive after me. Mandy, again? Really?”
Sam chuckled at the blunt statement. Her heart may have healed but there was still a line of resentment. When teen romances crashed and burned, they left scars.
His did.
“And there’s no one else?” he pressed.
“I can’t say that I haven’t dated, but there’s no one person that stands out. My longest lasting male relationship has been with the guy who foams my morning latte five days a week for the last four years. Although, I believe Serge is married.”
Shit. A stalker ex would be an easy catch. The quicker he closed the case, the quicker he could get the hell away from Jess. The woman had heartbreaker written all over her.
“You’re not helpful.” He pushed his half-empty plate away. “There has to be a road rage incident, a crazy neighbor, someone you cut off in line at the grocery store who is out to get you, Jess. No one can get through life without at least one enemy.”
She dragged her last fry through ketchup and popped it into her mouth. “I grew up in a military family and didn’t stay anywhere long enough to tick anyone off. By the time my mom put her foot down and settled us in California, I was in high school. That’s where I met Mandy and then Darren. Mandy moved here to go to college at Michigan State University. That’s why she’s here. I now live in Michigan because of my former job with the Muskrats. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that we are in the same state again. For me.”
After taking a drink of water, she went on, “I lost my virginity to a cute nerd named Arlo in my junior year in college. We dated for almost a year before he went back home to Germany. I’ve had three very short relationships since and a bunch of dud dates. Until I got kicked off the Lansing Mighty Muskrat team bus with Taryn and Summer, and took up with Irving, my life has been PB&J on white bread. Now I tick people off for a living, but not enough for anyone to seek revenge.”