he could use a strong dose of Summer’s friendship and positivity in his life. Running into her today felt like more than good luck. He didn’t believe in fate or karma, but seeing Summer gave him a familiar sense of well-being and comfort, like the innocence of their younger days.
He lifted a hand, waving as he reluctantly turned to walk away. If he had the chance to reconnect with Summer while he was on leave, maybe his suspension wouldn’t totally suck. He grinned to himself as he strode across the parking lot. See, Summer was already rubbing off on him. He’d found a silver lining in the disaster that was his life.
So she’d been right about seeing Nolan from her office window. A giddy revelry danced inside Summer, leaving her breathless and beaming. After several years of radio silence from her childhood friend, seeing him again was a bonus she hadn’t expected when she’d moved back to Whisperwood. She pressed a hand over her scampering heartbeat and prayed he’d use her phone number to set up a date. Well, not a date date. That wasn’t the kind of relationship they had. But she wanted a long sit-down, catch-up, revive-their-friendship meeting, coffee or not. Because, damn it, she’d missed Nolan.
When she’d asked her best girlfriend, Avery Logan—who was now engaged to Nolan’s cousin Dallas—what the Coltons had heard from Nolan, she’d been told he hadn’t been in touch with his cousins, either. His life for the past several years had been a mystery to her and his cousins. Why? What had led him to lose touch with the family and friends he’d once been so close to?
Summer watched Nolan walk away and couldn’t help admiring his broad shoulders and lean hips, the confident swagger in his stride, and the shimmer of golden autumn sun on his light brown hair. She raised a hand to her face, still feeling the light scrape of his five o’clock scruff on her cheek. In that moment, she’d been sure he was going to kiss her, and when he hadn’t, disappointment plucked at her. Not because she expected a kiss—they were just friends, after all—but because she’d detected a reticence on his part. He’d held back. Withdrawn.
As kids they’d had such an easy rapport. Even the last time she’d Skyped with him as a teenager, before her family had moved to Colorado and she’d lost touch with him, the comfortable camaraderie had been second nature. So what had changed?
Well, other than the fact that Nolan was no longer a rangy teenager with acne, but a tall, good-looking man with a sexy amount of beard stubble.
“Whew,” she whispered on an exhale, mentally amending, a very good-looking man. Who’d developed muscles to match his height. Muscles she’d itched to run her hands over and explore after their hug.
Good grief! She gave her head a firm shake. Was she seriously ogling Nolan Colton?
Get that out of your system now, Davies. You want to make things awkward with your old friend? Just let him catch you eyeing him like he’s the last slice of Aunt Mimi’s chocolate cake.
Great. Now she wanted Nolan and cake. Huffing her pique with herself, she tracked Nolan’s progress until he disappeared inside the Lone Star Pharma building. Nolan Colton. Here in Whisperwood. Wonders never ceased.
As she turned back to the taped-off area where Patrice Eccleston’s body had been discovered, she sobered. She couldn’t let Nolan’s return distract her from the job at hand. She’d been charged with learning all she could about the monster who’d killed Patrice and why the attractive twenty-year-old had been targeted. If she’d been targeted. Had Patrice’s death been planned, or was it a random act of violence?
As picturesque and homey as it appeared, Whisperwood was no stranger to murder and violent crime. In recent months, the man whom authorities had dubbed the Mummy Killer had been found. The murderer, Horace Corgan, had been on his deathbed and confessed to the crimes when presented with evidence of his guilt. Police had assumed Patrice was another of Corgan’s victims, but the dying man, who had nothing to lose for speaking the truth, had vehemently denied killing Patrice.
In fact, the circumstances and evidence surrounding her murder and burial made her case an outlier. Unsolved. A raw wound for her family…which was what had brought Atticus and Ian to her office in search of answers, justice and peace of mind. Summer stared at the upturned dirt in the narrow ditch at the edge of the sprawling parking lot, and her heart ached. Poor Patrice. If construction workers hadn’t been repairing the buckled pavement left by recent storms, the slain woman might never have been found. Obviously what her killer had hoped for when he—or she—had chosen the location of Patrice’s shallow grave.
“Patrice,” Summer whispered to the wind, “I promise to do everything in my power to find out who did this to you. If there is justice in this world, I will bring your killer in.”
With her vow carrying to the heavens on the autumn breeze, Summer packed up her notes and headed back to town to begin fulfilling her promise.
Summer’s mind whirled as she planned her next step in her investigation. Who should she talk to first? How should she proceed so that she didn’t burn bridges with the police department? What need for perspective had brought Nolan back to Whisperwood after all these years?
She shook her head. Letting Nolan distract her was no way to keep her word to Patrice or solve her first real case. She tucked her notepad under her arm as she fished the keys to her Volkswagen Beetle out of her purse and unlocked her car.
The clank of a metal door opening and the sound of voices drew her attention to the front entrance of Lone Star Pharma. Bellamy Colton, her belly swollen with eight months of pregnancy, held the door as Nolan struggled out the door with a pile of large boxes, stacked so high Summer wasn’t sure how he could see where he was walking. Bellamy led him to a car parked in the employee lot and popped the trunk.
Discarding her purse and notepad on her passenger seat, Summer headed toward them to see if she could lend a hand.
“Need any help?” she called, and Bellamy flashed her a broad grin of greeting.
“Thanks, Summer, but I think Nolan’s got it.”
Summer rushed forward as the top item slid from its perch. She caught the tumbling package and grabbed the next box from the teetering stack, as well. “Are you sure about that?”
Nolan shot her an embarrassed grin. “Thanks. That was close.”
Summer read the label on the pillow-like gift zipped in clear plastic packaging. “Boppy?”
Bellamy’s face glowed. “I know! I’m so excited. I hear they’re a must, and I hadn’t gotten one before now.”
Summer exchanged a curious look with Nolan as he loaded the gifts into Bellamy’s trunk, and she mouthed, What’s a Boppy?
He shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’m just the pack mule.”
Bellamy swatted at his arm. “Oh, hush. It’s not as bad as that. One more trip to get the swing, and we’ll be done.”
Summer added the packages she’d caught to the nooks in Bellamy’s car and faced Nolan as he closed the trunk. “I was just finishing up my business here and thought I could buy you that cup of coffee I owe you now.”
“Now?” He dusted grime from the car off his hands and arched one eyebrow.
“I didn’t want to give you the chance to slip out of town and disappear before I could grill you about your mysterious absence from our lives.”
He scoffed and gaped at her. “I disappeared? You’re one to talk, Ms. No Social Media Presence.”
She cocked her head, blinking. “Huh? I have social media accounts. What are you—”
Bellamy