“She called him, and they got together for lunch. Then she called me, and we met up. I had hoped she’d changed, but I could tell right away that she was back to her old games. She spoke unkindly about Jasmine, and we’d just gotten married,” Robert said.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I still think we could’ve worked that out. Sometimes a sibling doesn’t like a new family member.”
“You don’t know her,” Robert insisted. “She’s like a poison that works slowly. You end up dead before you even realize you were infected. Trust me.”
Huck shifted his weight. “Do you really think Abigail would harm her own father?”
“Yes,” Robert said instantly. He looked at his wife. “I’m sorry to say that, and I’ll pray to the Lord that I’m wrong.”
Jasmine moved uneasily. “If that’s true, and I hope it isn’t, are you in danger from her? I mean, if she hurt your father and you’re a witness, will she come after you?”
“No,” Robert said. “She’s not afraid that I’m a witness against her. If she comes after me, it’ll be because she’s bored and feels betrayed. To Abby, everyone is here for her amusement, and if you let her down, she thinks you did it on purpose. She has to make you pay. So she wouldn’t come for me, sweetheart. She’d rip out my heart by coming for you.”
Icy fingers crept along Laurel’s spine. That was a good description of a person with a sadistic, narcissistic personality disorder.
Jasmine turned to look at Huck. “If you question Abigail, could you say you didn’t talk to us?”
“She’ll know they talked to us,” Robert said wearily. “She probably knew they’d talk to us beforetheyknew they would. She’s that smart.”
Huck smiled. “We’ll inform her that we didn’t learn anything from you and we’re quite irritated about it.”
Jasmine visibly relaxed against her husband. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Laurel stood and Huck did the same.
Robert set Jasmine in the chair as he stood and escorted them to the door and outside to the lavishly decorated porch. Aeneas ran ahead to the truck, his tail wagging. “If you’re dealing with Abby, watch your backs. Or even your front. It doesn’t matter which direction she comes from. She’ll hit you before you even know she’s there, and she’ll do it laughing.”
“Thanks.” Huck shook hands with the man.
Laurel did the same. “We’ll be okay, Robert.”
He released her. “Only if she wants you to be okay, Agent Snow. If she doesn’t, if she has you in her sights, you’re as good as in pain right now—you just don’t know it yet.” With that, he turned back inside and shut the door.
The sound of the door lock engaging scratched through the cold, quiet night.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was after ten at night when Huck pulled into their shared parking lot, and Laurel’s stomach was growling, her late lunch long forgotten. After finishing the interview with the Caines, they’d returned to the church to wait for Pastor John. When he didn’t return, they spent time speaking with Lisa Scotford’s neighbors and then community members who’d worked with her but didn’t learn any new information.
Laurel looked up at the darkened windows of her office. They should get some holiday lights or something. Then she slipped out of his truck, which he’d parked next to her SUV, turning toward him before shutting the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow. What time do you want to start?”
He sat in his seat and looked at his watch. “It’s after ten now. Aeneas and I are headed home to relax. How about we meet around seven tomorrow morning? That’ll give us time to go through today’s daily reports from Monty before creating a battle plan. What do you think?”
“Seven is perfect.” That would give her time to work out first. She needed to burn energy and loosen her clenched muscles. “I think we should interview the Scotfords, track down Pastor John, and then speak with Dr. Caine again. She keeps interfering with the investigation, and I’d like her take on her father’s disappearance.” It wouldn’t be the first or the last time that Laurel worked more than one case at a time. In fact, it was rare she was working just one case.
“Great,” Huck said grimly. “Can’t wait. The pastor had better not be in the wind.” He looked up at the darkened sky. “Drive carefully. There are drifts across the road, and it’s pure ice beneath.”
She had eyes to see the danger for herself but was beginning to appreciate his protective nature. If she had any real friends, she’d find somebody to set him up with. But the people she knew were more like acquaintances. Opening the SUV door, she sat inside and started the engine. Did she regret her lack of friends? She’d been a decade younger than anybody in college and graduate school, and then she’d focused solely on her career. Had she missed an important part of life? Maybe it was too late to form the skills to make friendships like she saw on television. She shut the door.
Huck appeared at her front window with an industrial-sized scraper and made quick work of the front and side windows. Wow. He moved fast. She hadn’t seen him jump out of his truck.
A whirlwind spread through her abdomen. She rolled her window down. “I meant to buy a scraper today in town but forgot, so I planned to let the defroster take care of that. Thank you.”
He opened the back door and tossed the scraper on the floor. “You’d still be here in twenty minutes if you waited for the window to defrost.” The door shut quietly.
She smiled. “That was kind of you.” Did she even know how to flirt? All of a sudden, she truly wanted to know how to flirt. To catch his attention, although that would be a mistake. They were much too different in personality type, and the fable of opposites attracting never ended well. “Thank you.”
Without answering, he turned and jogged up the sidewalk, disappearing inside the door to the building, which was now wrapped like a Christmas present. Somebody had been busy earlier. She rolled up her window.
