She pulled the stack of papers back from in front of Faith, shuffled through them, and extracted a few pages bound with a binder clip. “This contains both of the reports and all the information on the company we use to do them.”
Faith didn’t have any further questions, and she stood. Ivy and Luke did the same. “Thank you for your time and your willingness to come in.”
“Under these horrible circumstances, I wouldn’t say it was a pleasure, but I do hope I’ve been able to help in some way. She was sweet.” Ivy turned her attention fully on Luke. “It’s awful to think of her and your coworker dying that way.”
Luke’s acknowledgment was a sharp dip of his head.
“If I think of anything else”—Ivy turned back to Faith—“I’ll contact you immediately.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll see you out.” Luke strode around the table and paused by the door to wait for Ivy, who gathered her things with elegance and gentility.
Luke stepped aside for Ivy to go in front of him, but she paused in the doorway. “I was wondering, and forgive me if this is inappropriate to ask.”
Great. She was probably going to invite Luke to some sort of gala where he would look fabulous in a tux.
“Your coworker. Special Agent Dixon. Is he going to be all right?”
“He is.” Luke answered with a slight lift of his chin and a look Faith recognized. He did not like this question.
Relief spread across Ivy’s features. “Good. I knew a boy named Gil Dixon a long time ago. I’m sure it isn’t him, but when I heard the name on the news, it brought back a flood of memories. I’m glad he’ll be okay.”
“So are we.” Luke held out his arm, and Ivy took the hint and walked down the hall.
Faith strained to hear their conversation. She couldn’t make out any specific words, just the low rumble of Luke’s deep voice and the lilting soprano of Ivy’s.
What is wrong with me? I do not care. I don’tcare that she’s dainty and lovely and refined, and I’m ... not.And what was taking Luke so long? How hard was it to send her on her way and get back to work?
Luke was gone five minutes. When his footsteps echoed down the hall, Faith buried her head in her notes.
She didn’t turn when he came in the room but was acutely aware of when he stopped behind her chair and leaned over her head. What was he doing? She looked up and found a Cherry Coke dangling from his fingertips.
“I noticed you were almost out.”
How did he infuse a sentence that mundane with so much tenderness? Faith wasn’t used to people noticing—and meeting—her needs. Much less her wants. Warmth shot through her and she took the Coke, thankful her hands were steady. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Luke returned to the seat beside her. “I wonder if Gil knows this Ivy girl. She’s totally his type.”
“His type?” As in, not Luke’s type?
“Yeah. Cerebral. Cultured. Looks like she might snap in a strong wind.” He did not say that last part as a compliment.
“She is very pretty.” Faith twisted the lid from her Cherry Coke and waited for Luke’s response.
Luke frowned. “She is. But you say that like being pretty is a bad thing. I would think you would be in favor of a woman turning the world upside down with her brains and abilities and not with her looks.” Before she could respond, he continued. “There’s something that bugs me about all of this. If she was so close to her parents, how could they not have noticed when she didn’t get off the plane? Why hasn’t her father been in touch with Ivy wondering where his daughter is? There’s something sketchy here.”
And just like that, it was back to business.
That was ... good.
19
AFTERA FULL DAYof running down leads and mostly coming up empty, Luke sat in Faith’s car and watched from a few houses down as Rose, Betsy, and Bobby Baker drove away from the house, fifteen minutes later than they were supposed to. “Let’s go.”
Faith pulled closer and parked at the curb in front of the house. “It’s so cute.”
Luke tried to see it with fresh eyes. “Thad wouldn’t have appreciated you saying it was cute.”
