Chapter Eighteen
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Zach and Leanne were in Dizzy’s living room when they arrived back at the house. Easton didn’t even have a chance to ask Zach a question before the other man held out a manila folder.
“It’s the preliminary background on Trip Stanford.”
“Is that why you’re back in town?” Easton asked, settling on the couch. “I thought you left on business.”
Zach grinned. “I did leave and now I’m back. Turns out that particular bad guy walked into the sheriff’s station and turned himself in. I’m officially unneeded on that assignment.”
“I’m glad you’re here and that you were able to get this.”
“Anything to help us?” Dizzy asked as she sat next to Easton.
He opened the folder and they both began to page through the meager documents. Until about a week ago, it looked like Trip had lived a boring life. A mediocre student in both high school and college. Few extracurricular activities, although he’d played the saxophone in a jazz band in high school and was also a member of a science fiction club in college. He’d worked for a conglomerate in Seattle before moving to Tremont to be closer to family, where he’d taken a job in the marketing department of Anderson Industries. Since then he’d been a model citizen except for one speeding ticket and a citation for parking in front of a fire hydrant.
His finances weren’t anything out of the ordinary either. Trip, like many people, lived basically paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage he could barely afford, plus a hefty car payment on a pickup truck. He’d never been married and nothing in the charges on his credit card pointed to a current girlfriend.
All in all? A bust. Trip Stanford was a normal, everyday, run of the mill guy. Except that he wasn’t really. He only appeared to be on paper. In real life, he was something far more sinister and deadly.
Easton looked up at Zach, who was hovering nearby. “Please tell me you’re not done digging into this guy’s past. There has to be more than this.”
Dizzy looked as disappointed as Easton felt. “I appreciate the work you did, Zach. But I have to admit that I was hoping you’d find something in his past that would help us. I guess will have to find another way.”
Leann came to sit next to her friend. “They’re not stopping here. Jared is going to keep digging. They’ll find something.”
“This just means that this was probably his first time,” Zach said. “He has no history of violence that we can find, so the good news is that the murder might not have been planned and that he’s not looking to continue. The last thing we need in Tremont after the high school reunion is another spree killer.”
Easton tightened his hold on Dizzy’s hand. “Does that mean he’s less dangerous or more? If he’s never done this before he has to be scared and paranoid as hell. Then add in a witness neighbor and he has to be slowly losing his mind with worry and fear. When is he going to break and do something stupid?”
“So far he doesn’t seem all that worried,” Dizzy reminded him. “He walked over here the night he did it, cool as you please. As long as the town thinks I’m eccentric and not to be believed, he feels safe.”
Zach smiled and nodded. “And that’s exactly how we want him. Feeling comfortable and confident that he won’t get caught. He’s more likely to show his cards if he thinks nobody is looking at him. We just have to wait for him to make a mistake.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Easton asked. This entire situation was fucked up and there was little he could do about it. He hated that he couldn’t fix this for Dizzy.
“Jesus, think positive,” Zach replied grimly. “If he’s a rookie he might have made more than one mistake. Maybe he held onto the woman’s belongings. A lot of killers do as some sort of memento. It allows them to relive the moment over and over again. Or maybe he’s afraid to throw her things in the trash until everyone – including Dizzy – has moved on. Burying her on his property wasn’t the brightest idea so I don’t think this guy is a criminal mastermind.”
“He might have buried her things with her body in the backyard,” Dizzy suggested. “That’s what I would do. Get rid of it all at once. Of course, I wouldn’t have chosen my own backyard.”
Easton wouldn’t have chosen that either but his cousin West was always reminding them that criminals weren’t really all that smart or logical. If Trip had killed in a moment of high emotion, he wouldn’t have had a plan in place.
“And that’s why we’re going to get him,” Zach stated. “It looks like he’s kept all the evidence close by.”
“But right now we have nothing,” Dizzy said softly. “He might get away with this.”
Leann pressed her lips together into a thin line. “We won’t let him. We’ll find a way.”
“We will,” Easton said, hoping he sounded as sure as Leann. “Stanford will end up behind bars.”
But the question was how? The cops didn’t believe them. They had no evidence, and no way to get any. Trip wasn’t going to just walk into the police station and confess, like in Zach’s case. Somehow he had to find a way to persuade the cops that Dizzy hadn’t been drunk or dreaming when she’d witnessed the murder. They needed to find enough cause for the cops to search Trip’s house a whole hell of a lot better than they had that first night. But how?
* * *
Dizzy breaded the chicken cutlets and popped them into the pan to sauté, then gave the boiling pasta a stir. She was making chicken parmesan while Easton stood in the doorway of her back porch glowering at Trip Stanford’s backyard, as if studying it for a long period would suddenly make everything clear and he’d know exactly what to do to put her neighbor behind bars.
If only it were that simple. She, too, had stared at that same place over and over but no lightning bolt of inspiration ever arrived, only a mounting frustration that Trip just might get away with it.
“It smells good in here.”
He’d turned back to her although he’d left the door open, the rapidly cooling air beginning to make the kitchen chilly. Rubbing the goosebumps on her arms, she wiped her hands on a paper towel and then walked around him to close the door.
“Thank you. It won’t be long before dinner is ready. You could open the wine if you like. I’m afraid I don’t have much of a selection. I’m more of a tequila girl when I drink.”
Wincing, he must have realized he was cooling down the entire house. “Sorry, I was just–”
“Watching and looking,” she finished for him. “I know. I do it too. I only closed the door because the temperature is dropping.”
Easton shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know what I think I’m going to see. I just keep looking at that damn flowerbed…”
She retrieved a small spoon from the utensil drawer and dipped it into the sauce. “I know how you feel. I can’t help it either. Here, take a taste of the sauce and tell me what it needs.”
She loved the way Easton’s eyes closed with pleasure as his lips wrapped around the spoon. Then he made a yummy sound that was music to her ears.
“Honey, that’s amazing. I don’t think it needs anything.”
Laughing, she reached for the salt and pepper. “I’ve barely seasoned it. It has to need something.”
“Seriously, it’s fine the way it is.”
Her hand hovered over the simmering sauce and she finally sighed and put down the shakers. “Okay, I’ll leave it the way it is. Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” he declared, opening the refrigerator and reaching for a bottle of wine. “Where’s your opener?”
With her free hand that wasn’t turning the cutlets, she fished out the corkscrew that was hiding under a ladle and a cheese grater. It only took him moments to open the wine and pour two glasses, placing them on the dinner table. This was a dinner for two as Leann and Zach had gone out to dinner and a movie. Leann had made a big production – wink wink, nudge nudge – about how they wouldn’t be home before eleven-thirty.
Easton’s phone buzzed in his pocket for about the dozenth time in the last hour. He glanced at it but simply tucked it back in his shirt, not bothering to answer.
“Someone really wants to talk to you. Maybe you should answer it.”
“It’s not just one person, although most of the calls are from my second in command. They’re panicking because I’m not there but so far nothing has come up that can’t wait until tomorrow. Today has made me realize that I’ve been doing my staff a great disservice by never taking any time off. They’re smart and capable but I haven’t given them the opportunity to shine all on their own. Would you like me to set the table?”
He could help her in the kitchen anytime. Was there anything sexier than a man with his sleeves rolled up helping do mundane domestic chores?
“Yes, thank you. Dishes are in that cupboard to my right.” She placed the cutlets on a platter and laid cheese on top before slipping them into the oven. It would only take a minute or two for the cheese to melt and the oven was already hot from the garlic bread. “I think it’s nice that you’re giving your staff more responsibility. But it is probably scary for them.”
She reached for the large pot of boiling pasta but Easton’s hands were there first. Standing behind her, his body close to her, she was reminded of how handsome and sexy he was, and how sweet and helpful. When he wanted to be.
“Let me get this for you. It’s heavy.”
He gently nudged her out of the way and drained the noodles in the colander in the sink, steam billowing in the air along with the tempting aroma of tomatoes and garlic. She quickly filled their plates and they settled at the table, but there was an unspoken tension between them. She could practically feel Easton’s frustration and unhappiness as if it were a tangible item she could touch and see. By the end of the meal, she couldn’t take the silence any more. Men might not talk about their feelings but maybe with some encouragement this one would.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
His fork paused halfway to his mouth. “It?”
“Yes, it. Whatever it is that’s pissing you off. I’m assuming it’s not me this time. Or is it?”
Placing his fork on the edge of his plate, he wiped his hands on the napkin. “It’s not you. It’s just…”
Dizzy didn’t say anything, simply waiting while he put his thoughts together. Pushing him wasn’t the way to go. It never was with an Anderson.
“I can’t fix this for you,” he said after a long pause, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’m not a cop like West or an ex-DEA agent like Jason or even a former bodyguard and soldier like Zach. I’m a guy who sits at a desk most of the time and that’s not what you need right now. I’m useless to you.”
He really believed it too. Easton was one of the smartest men she knew, possibly the smartest, and he thought he was useless. Time to set him straight.
She looked around the kitchen, twisting first left and then right in her chair for effect. “Funny, I don’t see anyone else here keeping me safe. I must have missed them. Are they upstairs taking a nap?”
“Any guy could do this.”
Standing, she pushed her chair back and then walked to the front door, opening it and checking outside. “I don’t see any of those men lining up to do the job. Looks like you’re the only one willing.”
“Very funny. I’m being serious here.”
She didn’t take her chair again, instead moving behind him and dropping a kiss on his cheek while her hands rested on his wide shoulders. Shoulders that had taken on the responsibility of this situation. He thought he had to solve this all by himself, but they were in this together.
“So am I. It is not your job to fix all the little and big problems in my life. I’m a grown woman and I have to deal with this on my own. But I am glad that I have friends to help me because doing this alone would be difficult, if not impossible. Let me say this again in case I wasn’t clear…none of this is your responsibility and I’m grateful for all that you’ve done up to now. Technically if you hadn’t given Leann a ride here that night you wouldn’t be involved at all.”
He didn’t turn to look at her, his gaze still directed toward his plate. “Is that what I am? A friend?”
There was so much vulnerability in that simple question. And so much that he hadn’t asked.
Out loud.
It was up to her to answer. She could tell him he was only a friend but that wouldn’t be the truth. And one thing Dizzy felt strongly about was telling the truth even when it was hard or scary. Saying it terrified her. Their relationship had changed so much in the last week and she’d seen a side of Easton that she’d been unsure even existed. He was a friend but that wasn’t the end of it. He could be her lover…and maybe more. Did this relationship have staying power? Was he even in it for the long haul or for a few nights of pleasure? He’d never shown an interest in settling down.
And neither have I, until now. Is that what I want? With him?
Mustering all her courage, she ran her hands down his arms so their fingers were entwined and her chin was resting on his shoulder.
“You are so much more to me than a friend, although I’m not sure I have the words to express what you are in my life. I just know that I want you here with me.”
Easton wasn’t the flowery words type so she wasn’t sure how he would even respond. There was a small beat of silence and then his fingers tightened around her own.
“Good, because that’s where I want to be.”
For him, that was high praise indeed.