“How far along are you, dear?” the man’s wife asked when JJ sat beside her.
“Almost thirty-four weeks.”
The woman smiled. “Your first?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Congratulations, honey. Enjoy them while they’re little. They grow up much too fast.”
Baz turned to peer around the restaurant, noting a lot of familiar faces. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have recognized hardly anyone, but it seemed the longer you lived in Coyote Ridge, the more friends you made. He’d always thought of himself as a big-city kinda guy, but he’d been wrong. He loved living here. Loved the people, the sense of community.
Ten minutes passed before Rachel, the hostess and daughter of the owners, Charles and Myrna, came to take them to their seats.
“You look like you’re gonna pop,” Rachel told JJ as they passed a row of booths filled with people.
“I feel like it, too,” JJ told her.
“Here you are. Table for two.”
Baz pulled JJ’s chair out for her to sit down, and it was then he saw her. A woman sat at a two-seater table near the wall, alone. She was drinking coffee and staring at her cell phone. She looked familiar, and it only took a second for him to realize why.
“Oh, my God,” JJ hissed, grabbing Baz’s arm and tugging hard.
He eased into the chair on her left, looking at JJ, who was now staring at the woman.
JJ leaned in, not looking at him, when she whispered loudly, “Is that who I think it is?”
“I don’t know.” It was a lie because he knew exactly who JJ thought it was, and yes, he was confident that was her.
Alison Bogart. The woman who’d worked for the task force for one day. That had been a year ago.
Baz frowned. Had it only been a year? It felt like an entire lifetime since Baz had partnered up with Alison—one of many candidates they’d been interviewing for an investigator position—to search for a businessman who’d gone missing. They’d spent only a few hours together, but that was long enough to realize she wasn’t cut out for the sort of work they did. Her expectations were far too high to be successful. He’d never gotten the chance to tell her as much because Alison disappeared completely while they were still working the case. One minute she was there; the next, she was gone.
“We need to find out for sure,” JJ said, her fingers curled around his arm.
Baz shook off the shock and looked at JJ. “No. We don’t. We need to have lunch and then do the ten million other things on your to-do list to get ready for Brantley and Reese’s wedding.”
Her eyes narrowed. “If that’s Alison, she could be here for a reason.”
Baz was well aware of what her presence might mean. Since they’d managed to draw a dotted line from one of their former investigators—Decker Bromwell—directly to Alison Bogart, he figured it wasn’t a coincidence that she was in Coyote Ridge. However, they had agreed to push that case aside untilafterthe wedding andafterthe babies were born.
“I’ll just act like it’s a weird coincidence,” JJ said as she started to stand.
“No.” Baz grabbed her wrist. “JJ. Let it go.”
“I can’t.”
“Youhaveto,” he said, his tone low.
“But—” JJ relaxed in her chair, glaring at him.
“No. Brantley and Reese are getting married in nine days. And you’ve got a surprise bachelor party scheduled for the day after tomorrow. What’ll happen if we head down that road and it turns into a complicated case? You think they’ll take time out to get married, much less spend the weekend sowing the last of their wild oats? The answer’s no, baby. Leave it alone.”
She swallowed, her eyes wide, and he could tell she was surprised by his adamant tone. Hell, he’d surprised himself, but now was not the time for them to get dragged into something that he feared was bigger than all of them. It was true; they’d put their discoveries on the back burner, purposely keeping them from Brantley at Reese’s insistence, but Baz hadn’t stopped thinking about it. Something was going on, and he feared Alison Bogart was just the tip of the spear.
“Let’s focus on the important things,” Baz told JJ, loosening his grip and caressing her hand with his thumb. “Promise me, JJ.”
Her expression softened. “Okay. For now.”
