He leaned down and brushed a light kiss on her cheek, heard her sharp intake of breath. “Stay safe, Carly.”
Unconsciously she touched the place where they’d made contact. “Good-bye, Linc.”
He left her there in the office. But he had to make himself walk out the door.
Chapter Seven
“We need a loan.” Carly said the words aloud even though she was the only one in her office. Over the past few weeks, she’d spent hours scanning page after page of bills and invoices on the computer, looking for a solution, but a loan seemed the only way out.
It was Monday morning. Earlier she’d made sales calls, managed to bring in another client, but the shipment of drilling parts wouldn’t be ready for delivery for two more weeks. She was convinced she could make Drake profitable, but she needed time. She needed enough money to stay afloat until the checks started coming in.
This afternoon she was going to Joe’s bank. He’d been a customer with the Iron Springs Credit Union for years. She’d apply for the money and she’d get it.
Donna’s quick knock preceded the door swinging open. “A Deputy Rollins just stopped by. He left these for you.”
Carly stood up behind the desk. “It’s the Hernandez case files. I really didn’t think the sheriff would let me see them. He wasn’t too happy about it.”
“That’s our beloved Sheriff Howler.” Donna set the files down on the desk. “He thinks he knows everything.”
“If he knows so much, why hasn’t he caught Miguel’s killers?”
“Good question.”
Actually it was. Maybe the sheriff really was on El Jefe’s payroll. It didn’t seem likely, but still . . .
Donna left the office and Carly opened the file folder, which contained copies of documents: Texas Highway Patrol reports, a Howler County deputy’s statement, the coroner’s report, statements from the couple who’d found the body.
Carly thought of Cain. He wanted to see the reports. As soon as she finished going over them, she’d call him. By then he’d probably be back in Dallas.She hoped.
The man was a walking, talking sexual temptation. After he’d left yesterday, she’d gone back and Googled him again, read up on his exploits, the beautiful models and starlets he dated. He’d been married to a former Miss America beauty pageant finalist, Miss Colorado. A marriage that had ended after just three years.
No serious relationships since then, at least according to the tabloids. Obviously he’d learned his lesson and was no longer a marrying kind of guy. But then she wasn’t really interested in marriage, either.
She had too much going on in her life. Too much to accomplish, too many promises to keep, debts to repay. Add to that, she wasn’t really a believer in happily ever after. Her mother had gotten pregnant when she was a teen. Carly didn’t even know her father’s name.
Joe had been married twice and had two kids. Both marriages had ended in divorce. Besides her mother, he’d had another daughter with his second wife, but there had been some kind of rift. Joe and the daughter had lost touch years before she’d been killed by a drunk driver.
It occurred to Carly that maybe she should just sleep with Cain and get him out of her system. She was a grown woman and wildly attracted to him. After years of dealing with men, she had no doubt Cain wanted her, too.
Maybe a couple of nights would be enough to satisfy her curiosity as well as the fierce lust she felt for him. Enough for Cain, too.
But what if it wasn’t? What if the attraction only grew stronger—at least for her?
She wasn’t ready to take that kind of chance.
Carly opened the file. There was a message pinned on top.No fingerprints on the note in your house or around the windowsill in the bedroom.
She turned to the stack of documents, began to shuffle through the pages. Maybe she would find a clue that had been missed.
An hour later, she hadn’t found a thing. The gruesome details of the shooting, execution-style to the back of Miguel’s head, turned her stomach. Just looking at copies of the crime scene photos was enough to make her nauseous.
It looked as if Miguel had struggled some with his attackers, but according to the report, it hadn’t been much of a fight. Why hadn’t he tried to escape? Could he have known them? She didn’t want to think so, but as Ross Townsend had said, they needed to find out the truth.
More likely, Miguel hadn’t realized the hijackers were actually going to kill him. Maybe he’d thought if he went along with them, they would just take the truck and leave.
The couple, a man named Andy Granger and his wife, Maria, had both given brief statements. They’d pulled over to let their puppy out. The animal had caught the scent and darted across the road to where Miguel’s body lay just off the pavement. The couple had seen the bullet hole in his skull and all the congealed blood and immediately called 9-1-1.
Carly felt a stab of pain for Miguel’s wife and hoped she hadn’t been told the terrible details. She wondered if someone should follow up with the Grangers in case they had remembered something later. Cain would be in Dallas. Maybe he’d want to talk to them.
