He glanced up to see Case Anderson standing in front of his desk, his tall frame casting a shadow over Rawley’s keyboard.
“Hey, Case. Did you have a good weekend?” Rawley asked, rubbing his stiff neck.
“Yeah, we didn’t do much of anything. You?”
Rawley leaned back in his chair until it creaked in protest and grinned. “I met a beautiful woman. Blonde, blue eyes.”
“Oh, boy. Here we go.” Case shook his head.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rawley feigned offense, but he had trouble suppressing a grin.
“You always meet a beautiful woman,” Case said with a knowing grin. “Last month it was the redhead at The Feed Store, before that the brunette in the clerk’s office downstairs.”
“Like you don’t have one.” Rawley shook his head, thinking of Case’s fiancée, Sydney.
Case chuckled, then strode to his desk across the aisle, removed his tan cowboy hat, hung it up, then sat down and turned on his computer, the machine whirring to life.
As Rawley looked deeper into what the tires fit, his brow furrowed when the screen showed the make and model of the semi; a Peterbilt. Then he ran the serial numbers through the database, his fingers flying over the keyboard, to see where they’d been purchased. The closest to Clifton was Maple Ridge, just two months ago at Big Sky Tires and More.
He hit print, pushed his chair back with a scrape against the floor, walked to the printer in the corner and removed the warm paper once it settled into the tray with a final mechanical sigh. Then he headed for Dave’s office, his boots clicking against the floor. He knocked on the glass door, and when Dave waved him in, he opened the door and strode to the desk cluttered with case files and family photos.
“I found a match on the tires for the truck from Preston’s place,” Rawley announced.
“Good, let me see those.” Dave put his hand out, and Rawley handed him the paper. He waited while Dave looked over it, watching the older man’s bushy eyebrows rise slightly. “Damn, Maple Ridge. Let me see if they have an agent available in Autumn Falls, who can look into the place where the tires were bought from. Save us some legwork.”
“Okay. Beats me driving there in this heat,” Rawley said, thinking about having to go to Autumn Falls.
“I’ll get back to you in a little while. Should hear something by lunch.”
“Alright. I’ll be here, digging through the rest of this evidence.”
Dave nodded, and Rawley left the office, returned to his desk and got to work, the clock on the wall ticking away the morning hours.
Chapter Four
Skylar sank into the sofa, her laptop balanced precariously on her knees, the harsh glow of a blank document reflecting in her eyes. Her thoughts kept drifting to Rawley.
“Come on! You have to start talking or I’m going back into the last book and kill you off,” she muttered through clenched teeth, drumming her fingers against the keyboard. “I haven’t sent it to the publisher yet.”
The sudden buzz of her phone against the coffee table made her jolt, sending the laptop sliding. Her heart skipped when Rawley’s name flashed across the screen. She pressed Answer with a trembling finger.
“Hello?” Her voice came out higher than she had intended.
“Hi, Skylar. How’s your day so far?” His deep voice rumbled through the speaker, warm and rich like honey and she really tried not to think about him whispering in her ear.
“Could be better. How about yours?” She twirled a strand of hair around her finger.
“Good. I was wondering if you’d like to meet at the diner for lunch?”
Skylar squeezed her eyes closed, her fist shooting into the air in triumph as she mouthed a silent, emphatic yes! Her cheeks flushed hot with excitement.
“I’d love that,” she managed, trying to sound casual.
“Great. How about we meet there around one? We might miss the lunch crowd that way.”
“Alright. I’ll see you there.” She bit her lower lip to keep from squealing.
“Looking forward to it.” The line went dead with a soft click.
