The way Jack had been looking at her, the way her nervous system responded, those flutters and heart jumps and blushes…she’d never experienced anything along these lines before.
Phew.
Now he was bending the beam of his attention on the two women at the table next to theirs—when had they sat down? Why hadn’t she even noticed?
The two women were in their sixties, probably on a lunch-and-shopping excursion, judging by the bags that filled their extra chair—one of them from Bibs and Bobs, she noticed.
Exactly what she’d hoped for.
She waited patiently while Jack explained that he was just passing through Vermont on his way to a shoot, and that of course he’d be willing to sign their napkins.
When the schmoozing was over, and her heart had returned to its normal rate, she spoke up. “Did you just come from Bibs and Bobs? We stopped in there and found so much fun stuff. I’m Tina, Jack’s assistant,” she explained, when the two women finally turned their attention to Jack’s previously unnoticed companion.
“Oh yes, we love that store. We go there all the time. I’m a quilter.” The woman showed off her tote bag, which was made of quilting material. She wore a nubby turtleneck sweater in a blinding shade of fuchsia. Her friend wore gray cat-eye glasses and had several studs marching up her ear. Pretty hip sixty-year-olds, in Tina’s opinion.
Tina gushed over it, asked if she’d ever thought about selling them on Etsy. “I know I’d snap one up in a hot second. So on-trend right now.”
“Are you sure? I’ve thought about setting up an account.”
“Oh, no doubt! Just ask the owner. Kate, wasn’t that her name? We were actually just talking about her. As soon as we walked in, we were like, now there’s a woman with secrets.”
The two women shared a glance. In Tina’s experience, people loved showing off their inside information. The trick was to give them the right encouragement.
Tina kicked Jack under the table. If anyone could spur them to spill, it would probably be him.
He startled, but recovered quickly. “Yup, my Denver Black spider senses were going off. But I think I figured it out. Tragic love affair gone wrong, still pining over the one who got away. Never married, no children.”
Tina gave him a secret approving smile. He was dangling untruths before them, making their urge to correct him irresistible.
“That’s not exactly it,” said Fuchsia Sweater. The two women shared another glance, simultaneously consulting each other and giving each other permission to gossip.
“But it’s probably not a secret if everyone knows about it,” the woman with cat-eye glasses finally said. “We pretend we don’t, just to make her feel better. But the whole town is well aware of the situation. We don’t judge her for it, of course.”
“It’s certainly not her fault,” agreed the quilter. “She was absolutely the victim in the situation.”
Tina’s pulse picked up. This sounded promising. Did they know something about the murder that had chased the family to Vermont? Or something about the two children who no longer spoke to Kate?
“Of course we don’t know everything that happened because there was no trial.”
“Trial?” Jack was eagerly listening, his chair halfway to their table, his head bent toward them, soaking in their words. “What trial?”
“Her stalker, of course,” said the quilter. “Her ex-husband. It’s just so tragic. It must be so difficult for her, but she simply never speaks about it to anyone. If she just asked for help, we’d be there for her. But she keeps it all to herself.”
“Well, wouldn’t you, if your ex…you know…” The turtleneck woman raised her eyebrows as if that would explain what they were talking about.
Just spit it out, Tina wanted to yell.
Jack, on the other hand, seemed to lose interest. He turned away from the women and scooted his chair back towards their table. The message was clear; all this dancing around wasn’t going to keep the attention of Jack “Denver Black” Finnegan.
“If your ex was committed to a mental institution,” blurted the quilter. Message received.
Jack turned back, his face alive with interest. “Okay, now that’s something you don’t hear every day.”
“Oh yes, it could probably be a story on Dark of Night. But don’t tell anyone it came from us.”
He held up a hand in a vow gesture. “Promise. What’s wrong with him?”
“Well, he terrorized his own family, right after they moved here. He locked them in the barn and refused to let them out. No one even knew about it until a UPS driver went to the wrong property and heard them shouting for help.”
