Midnight Lies: The Wildefire Series (24 page)

“And you’re still keeping an ear to the ground on newcomers?”

She grimaced. Compared with what Bri was doing, it seemed insignificant, but she knew
it wasn’t. As long as Lauren stayed hidden, anyone who came to Midnight would have
to show themselves to search for her. And
Midnight’s gossipers would be all over it. Who knew that the people who had irritated
her for years as nosy busybodies might end up saving a life and much more?

“Yes, I’m going to Faye’s at least once a day and I’m getting my hair done at Tillie’s
tomorrow.”

His mouth lifted in a slight smirk. “That’s tough work.”

“I’ll trade you.”

“No thanks.” He tugged on a hank of shoulder-length ink-black hair. “I promised myself
that once I left the army I’d never have to put up with the sound of an electric razor
again. That’s one promise I kept.”

Which brought to mind what promises he hadn’t kept. She knew not to ask.

“What about that Marshall character? Anything new on him?”

“Not yet. He came by yesterday and seemed awfully interested in getting inside the
house.” She shook her head. “Could be my own paranoia at work and he just wanted to
see the inside of the mansion.”

“Brody told me he followed the guy around a couple of times, just to see what he was
up to. Said the man didn’t do anything more than eat a couple of times at Faye’s and
go to the library.”

“That’s the problem with Blaine. He seems like a nice, decent guy but then he says
something that gets me suspicious. Like the way he reacted to my questions about Florida.”
She shrugged. “And yet, his explanation might well be the truth.”

A glint of humor hit Logan’s eyes. “If he is just a mild-mannered accountant, he’d
probably get a kick out of being considered a hit man for a drug lord.”

Samantha laughed. “Maybe I can tell him someday.”

Logan got to his feet. “I’ll head back over to the safe house so Brody can get back
to help Zach. I probably won’t be back for a while. Call if anything changes.”

Walking Logan to the door, she nodded. “Will do.”

As Logan’s truck traveled down the drive, she was pleased to see Quinn striding toward
her. He gave a cursory glance at Logan and then moved his gaze to where she stood
at the door.

She took in his appearance and could only imagine the heart palpitations that had
occurred in town. Dressed in black running shorts and a black T-shirt, Quinn could
make even the most committed woman stand up and take notice. Samantha knew she would
never be immune. His long, muscular legs ate up the distance between them, and with
each step, her heartbeat picked up speed. She had gone to bed thinking of that delicious
goodnight kiss they’d shared and wishing she’d had the courage to ask for more.

He stopped at the steps to the porch. “Morning.”

To keep herself from running down the steps and throwing herself into his arms, she
gripped the door hard. “Did you run through downtown?”

He stepped up onto the porch. “Went to check on the house and then came back through
downtown.”

“That’s at least twelve miles.”

“Had a lot to think over.”

He stopped inches in front of her. As he gazed down at her, what he wanted was reflected
in his eyes. But she knew he also wanted her to make the first move.

Samantha leaned forward and softly kissed his unsmiling mouth. “Good morning.”

“How are you feeling? Still sore?”

His words were the exact ones he’d asked her the day Charlene was killed. He had promised
her an allover body rub and never had the chance to fulfill that promise.

Knowing that if she mentioned that day, it would spoil this still fragile and new
beginning, she said instead, “Not as bad as yesterday. Maybe we can run together tomorrow.”

“Can’t. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Her good spirits took a nosedive. “I thought you were staying a couple more days.”

“I need to get back and take care of some business.”

She told herself not to be surprised or disappointed. He now owned a house here in
Midnight. He would be back. Hadn’t he said he would be spending holidays here? Thanksgiving
was a little more than two weeks away.

“Don’t look like that, Sam.” Surprising her, his fingers trailed down her face in
a tender caress. “I have to do this.”

“When will you be back?”

“As soon as I can.”

She nodded and straightened her wobbly legs. Okay, that was good enough for her. “How
about some breakfast?”

“Faye’s?”

“Yes. I need to get my daily dose of Midnight news.”

“Give me ten minutes to shower and change.”

“I’ll go check and see if Savvy needs anything.”

As they went up the stairs together, she watched Quinn out of the corner of her eye.
He had something on his mind. He didn’t seem grim or sad … actually he appeared almost
peaceful. She wanted to ask him but she resisted. Rebuilding their relationship meant
trusting him. He would tell her in his own time.

The instant Quinn and Sam entered the diner, the busy, noisy restaurant went silent.
This was how it had been every time he walked in. He and Sam headed to a booth close
to the back. On their way, she received several cordial greetings while Quinn received
nods and even a couple of glares.

As they settled into their booth, Quinn sent a halfway-amused, halfway-irritated glance
around the restaurant. “I always seem to cause an explosion of silence when I walk
in here.”

“That’s because you’re a tall, dark, handsome stranger.”

He grinned. “So if I were short, pale, and ugly, they’d accept me better?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, but they might not be as interested. Midnight
has a stringent screening process for newcomers. Once they’ve gotten the lowdown on
everything about you, they’ll either decide you’re all right or …”

“Or what?”

She shrugged. “Or you’ll be a visitor forever.”

“No matter how long I stay?”

“Midnight residents are friendly but wary. Just don’t piss them off and you’ll fit
in fine.”

He tilted his head toward the tall, broad woman behind the counter.

“What’s her story?”

“Now, Faye is someone they accepted without knowing her secrets. No one knows more
than she’s willing to share. This diner is the oldest restaurant in Midnight, but
for as long as I can remember, it’s been Faye’s. And she’s had the same expression
on her face since I was a little girl.”

Sam glanced warily over at the object of their discussion. “Even now, if she looks
at me, I’ll sit up straighter in my seat. She just commands that kind of attention
and respect.”

“She’s a damn good cook.”

“Don’t expect that by giving her a compliment it will help you. She’s not one to be
swayed by kind words or a handsome face.”

“What about you? Think I could persuade you?”

“Dr. Braddock,” Sam leaned closer and said softly, “I think you know that you can
persuade me to do just about anything you want.”

It was probably a good thing that Faye chose that moment to come to their table to
take their order. If not, he would have had to pull Sam toward him and capture her
beautiful mouth with his.

“What’d you want?”

Sam immediately answered, “I’ll have the special, eggs over easy. Oh … and a side
order of pancakes.”

Pleased that her appetite had apparently returned, Quinn closed his menu and looked
up at the stern-faced Faye. “I’ll have the same.”

With a small grunt, she turned away. He couldn’t tell if that was approval or disgust.

Sam answered that question, her green eyes glittering with amusement. “She likes you.”

“She does? How do you know?”

“She usually glares at strangers.” She laughed and
grabbed his hand. “See, you’re on your way to being accepted already.”

Unable to resist, he leaned forward and dropped a kiss on her smiling mouth. “I’d
say being in your company helps.”

“Possibly. I used to be popular round these parts.”

“Were you born here in Midnight?”

She shook her head. “Mobile, actually. Mama told us that my dad took a hotel room
close to the hospital when she was about eight months pregnant. She said they knew
we’d come early and he didn’t want to be so far from the hospital when that happened.”

“Tell me about your parents.”

A brief flash of grief crossed her face. “They were wonderful. Mama had the most beautiful
smile you could imagine. My dad was sweet, funny, and incredibly handsome.” She shook
her head and added wistfully, “We had such fun together.”

“I know you said it was murder-suicide, but that’s changed, hasn’t it?”

She grimaced. “Yeah, you probably heard about that your first day here.” Her eyes
took on a faraway look. “We were ten years old when it happened … away at summer camp.
A first for us.” A small smile teased her mouth. “I was so excited because Mama said
we could swim every day and eat roasted hot dogs and s’mores to our hearts’ content.

“The day after we left, my granddad showed up. I remember it was right after breakfast.
I knew something bad must have happened. There was no other reason for him to be there.
I can still see his pale, griefstricken face. He put his arms around all three of
us and said Mama and Daddy were dead. It wasn’t until we got back home that we learned
Mama had been brutally stabbed and that Daddy had hung himself. A note
of confession and apology was supposedly found in his pocket.”

“Hell,” Quinn whispered.

“We didn’t believe it at first. We kept looking at each other, trying to make sense
of it all. There was never any indication that our dad would ever do such a thing.
We’d never even seen him lose his temper. But that’s what we were told and what we
believed.”

“How did you find out differently?”

“Savvy came back here last summer for a few weeks. She found some letters from my
granddad to my grandmother. He wrote her every day, even though she’d been dead for
years. In the letters, he said he didn’t believe that’s the way it happened but he
couldn’t get the police chief to investigate further. The chief apparently made some
vague threats against us.” She shrugged. “Granddad made a hard choice: pursue it and
possibly put us in danger, or let it go. He let it go.”

“And I bet it ate at him like acid.”

“I’m sure it did, but he never let on. He was a wonderful man. I just wish he had
told us when we got older. I think he was afraid the killers could still hurt us.
And he was right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Savvy was almost killed when she started investigating.”

“But the killers were caught.”

“Yes, the trial was a couple of months ago. They’re both in prison. Thankfully.”

“So it was a cover-up, making it look like your father killed your mother and then
killed himself out of guilt.”

“Yep. Pretty slick, huh?”

“And sick.”

“Definitely sick. If Savvy had never found those letters, we would have kept on believing
the lie.”

“You must’ve hated your father for years.”

“Hated and still loved him, too. That’s a lot for a little girl to deal with.” Her
eyes went even sadder. “I know it’s no excuse but that’s why I doubted you at first.
I never saw the evil in my father, believing him perfect and then …” She shrugged.
“Here you were, so seemingly perfect …”

“And you were afraid you’d made the same mistake again.”

“I know that’s not fair, but I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally.”

“But instead of giving up on me, you proved my innocence.”

Green eyes went wide with surprise. “How did you know?”

“Your friend Murphy. Why didn’t you tell me, Sam?”

“I was going to but—”

“But instead, I got drunk and acted like an ass.”

“Something like that.”

“Can we start again, forget what happened?”

She gave him that sweet, sexy smile that instantly made him hard. “I’d like that.”

“Breakfast.” Reality, with the sour face of Faye, broke into Samantha’s giddiness.

Letting go of Quinn’s hands, Samantha grinned up at the woman, not one bit put out
by her grim countenance.

“Thank you, Faye.”

Breakfast platters slid in front of them and then Faye relented enough to say, “Eat
up. You’re too skinny.”

Samantha swallowed a laugh. Coming from Faye, that statement was tantamount to an
“I love you.”

They both dug into their breakfast. Samantha couldn’t remember enjoying a meal more.
Amazing what the feeling of forgiveness and optimism could do for an appetite.

“Well, if it ain’t one of the Wilde sisters.”

Recognizing the obnoxious voice immediately, Samantha looked up at a chubby, bearded
Clark Dayton, a vile, obnoxious creep of a man she’d gone to school with.

Nodding a greeting, she returned her attention to her plate, hoping he’d get the message
that she didn’t want to talk. Unfortunately Clark was as thick-skinned as he was disgusting.

“Heard you were back. Couldn’t hack it as a big-city cop? I’m not surprised.”

Instead of looking at Clark, she cut her eyes over to Quinn. Dark flames of blue fire
gleamed in his eyes. She’d once watched Quinn at a gym, sparring with one of the trainers.
There was no doubt in her mind that he could handle himself with anyone, especially
an out-of-shape slug like Dayton. But what she absolutely loved was the fact that
instead of getting all macho and defending her honor, he raised his brow in a questioning
look. He wanted to know if she wanted to handle the creep herself or let him take
care of the problem. She loved that he trusted her to know what to do.

Leaning back in her chair, Samantha looked up at the jerk who’d once terrorized her
sister Savvy. “Since you’re no longer working for Midnight’s police department, I’d
say I handled my big-city-cop job a hell of a lot better than you handled your small-town-deputy
job.”

His chest puffed up thicker. “I quit because I couldn’t stand working for your jerk
of a brother-in-law.”