Ruby nodded as though that filled in some missing piecesshe’d been looking for.“I understand.So Jessica could be doing this asrevenge for Scott leaving her and obviously coming back to try again withOlivia.The man who tried to take her doesn’t match Scott.He’s too short andmuch thinner than Scott.”
“You don’t think they could be working together?”He kind ofwanted it to be Scott.If Scott was in jail, he couldn’t cause more trouble forOlivia.
“I don’t see the point unless this is a full-on kidnappingplot and the goal is cash.Personally, I don’t see it.This feels like morethan a money grab, and neither Scott nor Jessica have any real criminal recordsin their pasts.Just a couple of traffic tickets.There’s usually a moregradual curve before jumping straight into felony kidnapping.I looked into herfinancials and she’s not rolling in cash, but she’s also not in a ton of debt.Scott has more financial problems, but again, I’m not sure I’m seeing thepurpose.They both know Jack Barnes.Jessica grew up hearing stories about theman.She would be stupid to think she wouldn’t get caught.This feels way morelike desperation than anything else.”
“And you think the fire at the office is in some wayconnected?”Garrett’s brain was starting to work.There were pieces of thepuzzle Ruby couldn’t know about yet.Things he was only starting to puttogether to form a bigger picture.
“It’s what I can’t figure out,” Ruby admitted.“I don’t seehow the arson and the attempted kidnapping go together.And then there’s theincident with the slashed tires.They don’t go together.The tires feel petty.I could almost believe it was a coincidence, but my gut tells me no.My gutthinks they’re connected, but how do I get from traffic tickets to arson toattempted kidnapping in a very short time?”
“What if we’re wrong about what this person wants?”Garrettstared at the picture of the man who had taken Olivia.There was somethingabout the way he stood.Slightly hunched over.Something familiar.
Then he saw it.He pointed to the screen.“You can see partof his watch.Do you see that?The sleeve came up the slightest bit, and I cansee the watch face.Can you make that clearer?”
“You think you recognize him?”
His mind wasn’t on the body or the face.“I think Irecognize that watch, and if it is what I think it is, then she’s still in realtrouble.”
“The watch?”Ruby’s fingers flew across the keys, and sheused her mouse to zero in on that watch.
The same watch he’d seen a few weeks back.It was a PatekPhilippe.Rare.No one in Willow Fork would wear that watch, but he knewsomeone who did.
He reached for his cell.Keane needed to know they wouldabsolutely try again.
* * * *
Olivia stopped at the coffee aisle and sighed.Thisstore was shabby and sad but it was close, and she wanted to get back toGarrett before the meeting with Scott, which would hopefully be the last.
Something about Scott.It flickered there in her memory, butshe couldn’t quite catch it.He’d been at The Barn last night, but she couldn’tremember much beyond that.The doctors told her that her memory might be fuzzy.
But not her memory of being in between her men.No.That wasemblazoned on her mind for the rest of time.
Should she grab a bag of frozen peas?The romance novelsrarely talked about how sore an asshole was when it was invaded by a giantcock.
“I could take you to the big store.”Keane looked at the smallsection that held the selection of coffee and tea.
There was a reason she’d suggested this place.The big storewas the grocery on the other side of town, but Keane needed to get back to theranch soon and she had the meeting with Scott.They had a couple of deliveriesthis afternoon he needed to oversee, so they’d stopped at the GrabItQuick.“Ijust need a few things.This place is barely holding on, but they still havecoffee.”
She selected a national brand and put it in her basket.Itwasn’t what she would usually buy but beggars couldn’t be choosers and sheneeded her caffeine.So did her men.Keane had started making a full pot in themornings because they were all caffeine junkies.
This morning he’d brought her coffee into the bedroom,waking her up with soft kisses and the smell of a dark roast.
He would have to make do with a medium roast until they hadthe time to go grocery shopping.
They’d cuddled together under the covers while enjoyingtheir morning coffee and then they’d gotten her in the shower.Yeah, she wasn’tgoing to forget that soon either.
Keane took the coffee from her hands and placed it in thebasket.He looked around.“It’s kind of sad.It looks like it got stuck in theseventies or something.”
She never came here.For her mom this place had badmemories.She’d heard the stories about the owner of the store refusing to sellto her mom.At the time, her mom had to drive two towns over to buy groceries.That owner had retired, but his son was still keeping the place running.
Barely.
“After the new store was built, this place kind of wentdownhill.From what I understand it was the only grocery store in town fordecades.They had zero competition for miles around,” she explained, looking atthe sad selection of tea they had.Pretty much black and green, and the greenwas out of date.“I almost never come in here.My mom was not treated well bythe owner.His son runs the place now, but they never recovered from HEBputting a store in close enough we can drive to it.”
HEB was kind of a wonderland.It was a food Disney World.Noone would come to this store except for convenience.
“How did they not treat her well?”Keane asked as they movedto the next aisle.He grabbed a bag of chips.
This was a story she’d heard from her grandmother.Her momdidn’t like to talk about that time much.“Back when she was pregnant withLexi, they wouldn’t allow her to shop in town.She was dating this guy—Lexi’sdad.His name was Adam, and he was the golden boy of his wealthy family.Hedied in a car accident after he told his parents off and that he was going tomarry my mom.”
