Murder in Texas, page 17
“It might be hard to let go,” Liz stated.
He felt that on more than one level, but her stomach growled again and he needed to feed her. “Let’s figure out what to heat up so you can eat.”
After a moment of standing there, still, she nodded. “My mother and Granny are the best cooks, and I haven’t had their food in far too long.”
“My mouth is already watering,” he said, needing to change the subject from the heaviness of loss. Dillen could only think about Pop being gone for so long before he had to refocus or get sucked down a hole he might never be able to pull himself out of again. “What’s the specialty?”
Liz opened the fridge door and started picking through the containers. She made little mewls of pleasure as she looked at each one. The sounds stirred his heart and made him want to hear those same sounds while doing other things with him besides eating.
“I can’t decide,” she finally said.
“What are the top two?” he asked, appreciating the break in tension.
“There’s a ham-and-potato soup that’s literally to die for,” she said before shooting a glance in his direction that said she wished she’d used a different word. “It comes with fresh chives on top.”
“Sounds good,” he admitted. “And what’s the other?”
“Beef and mushrooms with mashed potatoes,” she said before adding, “You know what, I’m in the mood for mushrooms. How does that sound to you?”
“Like heaven,” he said, pulling a pair of plates from the cupboard. He wasn’t any closer to figuring out who would want to murder his father and why, but at least the sheriff was working on it now, either officially or not. Seeds of doubt had been planted after Rosa and Macy’s murders.
Dillen still couldn’t believe the sisters were gone. They’d been a fixture on this street for years. They hadn’t had any family to speak of. It had only been the two of them after their mother had passed away and their relatives had banded against the sisters over a small inheritance. Rosa and Macy had formed a tighter bond, and they’d lived together peacefully ever since.
Their deaths had made three folks in the same neighborhood days apart from each other. How could anyone deny that the casualties were connected?
Liz heated the container while he set the table and poured water. He threw on a pot of coffee for good measure, figuring he could dig around in Pop’s finances now that he had all the passwords to see if there were any red flags there. At this point, he regretted not installing a security camera at the front door. The sisters had looked out for Pop.
The microwave beeped as an incredible smell filled the kitchen. Liz spooned portions onto the plates at the table with a satisfied smile.
“I haven’t had this dish is so long my mouth is practically watering at the smell,” she said, inhaling a breath. She picked up a fork and dug in.
Dillen couldn’t agree more. The smell was one thing—it was on a whole other level. But the taste went above and beyond. “I never knew I’d been missing out on this until now.”
“This is one of my mom’s specialties,” Liz practically beamed. “This tastes like home.”
He could think of someone who felt like home but couldn’t let himself go there right now.
“I never would have moved away if anyone in this house could cook half as good as this,” he said. “This is amazing.”
There was something niggling at the back of Dillen’s mind that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He chalked it up to the day he was having. The last few days, when he really thought about it. Not to mention the fact Pop was about to be cremated and his ashes brought home. Those events alone would throw any normal person off balance. Right?
The thing was that when he was anywhere close to Liz, the world righted itself and he felt a sense of comfort like he’d never known. Desire, too. Need. And don’t get him started about how much he wanted to kiss the little spot of mashed potatoes off the corner of her mouth right now.
Being with her family had opened his eyes to what having siblings and female influences around was like. This place had been a bachelor pad, as Pop had liked to call it. There’d been no female touch since his mother had walked out. Even before, he didn’t remember his mother putting any feminine touches on the place. Forget either of his parents cooking anything from scratch. It had been boxed pizzas and corn dogs in this house. If it could be heated in the microwave, it was golden around here. And now Dillen was wondering what it might have been like to grow up in a family of more than two. He couldn’t begin to understand what it was like to have siblings. It might not have been awful to have a little brother or sister running around. Someone built-in to buddy around with during Pop’s long hours or late nights at work.
Regret was a waste of time, so Dillen didn’t go there. But he couldn’t help but wonder what having a big family would have been like.
“What are you thinking about?” Liz interrupted his revelry.
“Families,” he supplied.
“Mine can be a handful, but I wouldn’t trade any one of them for the world,” she said. “You know?”
“I wish I did,” he said. “Almost all my memories are of me and Pop.”
It occurred to him that his mother had at least had the courtesy to wait until Dillen had been old enough to go to school during the day before she’d disappeared. Had that been the plan all along once she’d realized married life was going to be way harder than she’d expected?
There were times when he wished he could sit her down and drill her with question, ask why she’d felt the need to walk out on him and Pop. But he wasn’t into wasting his time, and she’d been clear that she wasn’t coming back.
What about Liz? If he was willing to risk his heart, could he trust her to stick around?
Chapter Twenty-One
After dinner, Liz helped with dishes. She then took a shower and got ready for bed. But before getting under the covers, she joined Dillen in the office, where he sat studying the computer. “Find any unusual activity?”
He brought his hands up to rub his temples. “Nothing but a few extra ATM withdrawals,” he said, leaning back.
“Date nights?” she asked.
“Could be,” he said.
“We should take note of the dates and then ask around town if anyone saw him out on those evenings,” she offered. It wasn’t much to go on, but any shred of potential evidence was welcome at this point.
He nodded.
“I’m guessing you haven’t heard from the sheriff about the red Jetta,” Liz continued.
“Not a word,” he said. “But investigations take time, and he has a whole lot more bureaucracy to contend with.”
“True,” she said on a sigh.
“I’ve been staring at this screen until my eyes are burning,” he stated. “I’m going to take a shower and then let all the information simmer.”
“Thinking too hard on a problem usually ends in a headache for me,” she said.
Dillen followed Liz into the living room area, where they parted ways. She grabbed her phone and charger, then headed to the sofa. This seemed like a good time to respond to a few work emails and texts.
Liz made it halfway through her inbox by the time Dillen returned. He took a seat next to her, so she set her phone on the side table to charge.
“Don’t stop working on my account,” he said, looking content to sit beside her.
“I dealt with all the emergencies first,” she said. “Plus, I could use a break.”
“How about a movie?” he asked.
She needed a good distraction. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“What do you like?” he asked as he picked up the remote from the coffee table.
“Could you go for a comedy?” she asked. “I’ve had enough action for a while.”
He seemed to pick up on the reference to explosions and fire because he gave a knowing look. “Comedy it is.”
Dillen found the silliest movie on the list. Liz laughed. And laughed. It felt so good to laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d let go and enjoyed herself. Work gave a sense of purpose and accomplishment. She wouldn’t exactly call it fun.
Tomorrow would be another heavy day of digging into everything that was happening and, hopefully, starting to find answers.
Liz wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but she woke the next morning in bed tucked underneath covers with Dillen curled up as far away from her as possible without actually falling off the bed. The second she stirred, though, he sat up.
“Hey,” she said. “How did I end up here?”
“Carried you,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“What time did I crash?” she asked.
“Halfway into the movie,” he said. “One minute you were laughing. The next, you were out. You fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn’t want to disturb you, so I finished the movie and then picked you up. You didn’t so much as blink.”
“I’m not surprised,” she said. “I’ve never slept better than when I’m with you.”
She probably shouldn’t have admitted that to him.
“Same here,” he said so low she almost didn’t hear him. It gave her a sense of satisfaction to know she had a similar effect on him. He threw the covers off and got up.
Liz could get used to this. She’d refused to live with any of her boyfriends in the past but being with Dillen twenty-four /seven was different. He felt surprisingly like she’d come home to a place she’d never known before, a place she never realized she missed until now.
She freshened up and met him in the kitchen. “I think we should do breakfast in town.”
“Okay,” he said.
Liz threw on jeans and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Going into town yesterday had been productive. They needed to ask more folks about the blonde. “Where can we stop to ask about the red Jetta?”
“Post office might be a good place to start,” he said before disappearing to get dressed.
Too bad her family didn’t recognize anyone with a red Jetta who was blonde and looked bigger than life. Could the blonde bit be a wig?
Why not?
It would be a great way to conceal someone’s appearance.
She briefed Dillen on her thoughts on the way into town. Halfway there, a call came in from Callum.
“Were you asking about a red Jetta yesterday?” her brother asked.
“Yes, why? Have you seen one?”
“I’m at the market on Fourth, and there’s one parked in the lot,” Callum said. “It sticks out in a sea of trucks, especially the color.”
“We’re on our way,” she said. “Could you do me a huge favor?”
“Anything.”
“Stick around in case the driver returns to the Jetta before we make it there,” she said. “If they beat us, can you sneak a picture? It can be from a distance.”
“You bet,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll owe you one.”
“No return favor needed,” he stated. “It’s what we do for each other, right?”
“Right,” she confirmed, realizing once again how much she’d missed her brother as she ended the call.
“So that’s what it’s like,” Dillen said.
“What?” Liz asked.
“To have siblings.”
“That’s when it’s good,” she said with a smile. “You should see when we fight.”
“Fighting is better than silence,” Dillen said.
She realized more and more how lucky she’d been growing up. Duncan Hayes might have been a jerk, but the rest of her family wasn’t, and everyone had suffered because of him. She could honestly say that she genuinely liked each and every one of her family members. They each seemed happy and in love.
The Hayes family was growing, a new generation emerging. One she hoped could learn lessons from the past and build a better future. One they could all be proud of. One that was good both inside than out.
They were several minutes away from the market when her phone rang again. She checked the screen before answering. “Hey, Callum.”
“The driver slipped past me, but I got a picture as she was exiting the parking lot,” Callum said with frustration in his voice. “It’s grainy.”
“I appreciate you for trying,” Liz said.
“I just turned down Maple,” he said. “Heading northbound.”
“You’re following her?”
“Yes,” he confirmed.
* * *
LIZ DIDN’T BOTHER to mask her shock as she put the call on speaker. “Dillen can hear you now.”
After perfunctory greetings, Callum continued.
“Thought I might be able to get an address for you,” he said. “People usually head home after a grocery trip. She only had one bag, so I might be running her errands with her instead of unloading groceries.”
Dillen shifted their direction so they could cut the vehicles off at the light between Fourth and Oleander Street. “We’ll join you and then you can break off to get back to what you were doing,”
“Sounds like a plan,” Callum stated. “We are continuing northbound.”
“Okay,” Liz said.
Dillen sped up. “If I take Elmhurst, I should be able to catch up.”
“Elmhurst is good,” Callum said. “The driver is checking me out in her rearview mirror. She might have caught onto me.”
“Be careful, Callum,” Liz said. “Lives have been lost over this—whatever this is.”
“Always,” he reassured.
“How is the driver reacting to being concerned about you following her?” Dillen asked.
“She seems mildly concerned over my presence,” he responded. “Then again, I’m trying not to read too much it. Of course, a woman would be suspicious if a vehicle followed her out of the grocery store parking lot. Let me know when you get close, and I’ll back way off.”
“If she isn’t turning, then we should be there in a minute, give or take,” Dillen said.
“We seem to be circling back to the market,” Callum said. “Hold on.”
Liz held her phone in a death grip.
“Okay, we’re back on Fourth heading toward the market again,” Callum said. “Now she’s on Farm Road 62.”
“That leads nowhere,” Dillen observed. “You may as well go straight. There’s not really anywhere else she can go, so following will give you away.”
Callum issued a sharp sigh. It was obvious he didn’t want to break off.
“She’ll figure you out, and that will alert her to us,” Dillen continued. “Trust me—I’ll find her. Besides, we appreciate everything you’ve already done. We wouldn’t be this far without you. Breaking off now helps us the most.”
“Will do,” Callum said, “I’ll keep on straight so I can circle back around to the market.”
“Thank you, Callum,” Liz said before Dillen could chime in.
“I’m just glad you’re home, Liz,” her brother said. “I hope you’ll consider sticking around, or at least visit more often.”
“Actually, we can talk about this later, but I’m thinking about relocating my headquarters to the ranch,” she said.
Dillen was caught off guard by the revelation. He wouldn’t have guessed in a million years Liz would consider moving back to Cider Creek.
“Let me know whatever I can do to help with the transition,” Callum said. “It’ll be good to have the family back together.”
“I’m still thinking about it, but I’ll let you know as soon as I decide,” she said to her brother. “Being home has been nice, and it’s because of you and the others. I didn’t realize how much I missed Mom’s cooking until recently.”
“We’ve all gone our separate ways,” he said. “But I’m splitting my time between Houston and Cider Creek now even though I’m at the ranch and across the street at Payton’s more than not.”
Dillen turned onto Farm Road 62. He didn’t want to interrupt the moment happening between siblings, so he didn’t say anything.
“I gotta go,” Liz said. “We’ll talk about this later. Okay?”
“You bet,” Callum said. “Be careful out there.”
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Dillen said. It was a promise he intended to keep.
“I’ll hold you to it,” Callum said before exchanging goodbyes and ending the call.
A couple of minutes later, a red Jetta was visible up ahead. Dillen had been trained in evasive measures, but being on a straight country road with little to no hills didn’t provide for a whole lot of places to hide.
There were open fields lining both sides at this point. Down the road were clusters of trees that looked to be at the entrance of someone’s home.
The red Jetta hung a right and then disappeared in the thicket. Dillen turned right to follow. He slowed his speed to a near crawl, surveying all around and checking for danger.
A second too late, he looked up and spotted a dark figure sitting on a tree branch with his back against the trunk while holding a saw. The guy made one deeper cut, and then the thick branch came crashing down on the truck’s windshield, hitting hard enough to shatter the glass. Dillen jerked forward from the impact. His airbag deployed as did Liz’s. And then his door opened followed by hers.
Before Dillen could get his bearings and shake off the momentary shock, a fist slammed into the left side of his jaw. His head snapped right, and then he answered with a hard left. His fist connected with what felt like a tank of a person. Big meaty hands grabbed at Dillen as he threw another punch.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liz fighting back as a guy jerked her from her seat belt.
Dillen spun around the second he was free from his seat belt, drew his knees up to his chest and then unleashed hell, knocking Tank back a few steps. Dillen used the momentary advantage to pop out of the truck and dive into Tank.
