Here?
Just when she thought she would shatter the alarm clock shouted with the traffic report. Her body ached as if from ecstasy.
“Damn.”
Grace had never reacted to anyone this way. Certainly not after having known him a short time.
She rose and washed away the dreams with a shower. A sense of anticipation lingered after she turned off the faucet.
Her shift didn’t start for four hours and she planned to use that time getting to know Dolores’ ex-boyfriend. Her most recent one at least.
Kent Winger worked in the Centre County Prosecutor’s Office, but today was his day off.
Masculine legs protruded out of a vintage pony car that looked halfway restored. Grace parked her car on the street, then walked up the short driveway.
With kids in school, the neighborhood resembled a ghost town, with only the drone a distant lawn mower to indicate humans lived here.
The neighborhood had identical ranch houses up and down the street, each painted a different color. Some had flowers planted. This one had the Spartan look of a man’s space. Two shrubs adorned the pathway and nothing more.
“Nice car,” Grace said.
Kent wheeled himself out from under the vehicle. “Thanks.”
He stood, raising himself to be only a handful of inches taller than her. His build was stocky, but solid, like a fireplug. His buzzed hair made her think of the military and he looked older that she expected. “You an admirer?”
His steel blue eyes twinkled as if his words meant more than their superficial meaning. A grin surfaced accentuating more lines on his face.
She waved a hand towards her car. “I like them.”
His face scrunched into a grimace. “That’s too new.”
“Sorry. Can’t afford the vintage ones.”
“Do I know you?”
“No. We have a mutual acquaintance.”
“Oh?”
“Dolores Holten.”
His spine stiffened. His gaze raced to the house as if he didn’t want someone there to hear their conversation. “Did she send you?”
“She has no idea I’m here.”
“Tell her that I don’t believe the baby’s mine. It’s that snake charmer of an ex-husband. She ain’t getting a dime from me.”
Grace blinked. Dolores’ baby could be this guy’s? “Like I said she doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Why’d you come? I’ve got a new life and I don’t wanna screw it up.”
“I think she’s in danger, but I don’t know who from.”
Kent laughed. “I was only the last in the long line of cop lovers she had. Badge bunny through and through that lady. Glad to be rid of her.”
He wasn’t describing the Dolores she knew. “Can you name any others?”
“I can hand you the employee list of every PD around here. Okay, she didn’t date the dispatchers.”
“How long did you date?”
“A month. One hellish thirty days. Who are you anyway?”
“Grace Harmony.”
“You friends with her?” He shook his head. “No she’d consider you competition. Whatever you are to her, stay away.”
“Why?”
He leaned closer to her, his coffee breath wafting across her face. “Because she’s a vampire.”
Grace didn’t know how to take his advice. “Can you at least tell me some of her recent boyfriends? Any she had trouble with?”
“Trouble getting rid of?”
“Yeah.”
Stalkers ended up killing their target. This was the only place Grace could figure to begin. If Dolores had a lot of ex-lovers, she must have pissed off at least one.
Kent wiped his hands on an already filthy, red rag. “Lance Antonio.”
“You have an address?”
“Nope, but he hangs out at the Robber Baron. I’m sure he’ll be there tonight. She had to get a restraining order on him.”
Grace left her faith in police officers not any stronger.
Dolores dialed the number she knew in her sleep. She’d been calling it a lot lately. She had hoped he would be her rock. That he’d be happy about her baby. Their baby.
“What now?” he said.
“Hello to you to. I’m fine, thanks.”
“Dolores, stop.”
“Stop what?”
She sighed. “Stop this. You need to come take your responsibility.”
“I think my responsibility ended with your blackmail.”
“Look, I’m desperate. I don’t have as much money as I’d like to raise this kid. Either come here and marry me or keep those checks coming.”
“I will find a way out of this,” he said.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and snorted. “What? Burn me down.”
“Shit. Don’t say it out loud.”
“And blow your cover? You don’t think someone will figure you out. How about that best friend of yours? She might want to know. Bet she already does.”
“Leave her out of this,” he hissed.
She’d touched a nerve. Good. Maybe his checks would be on time. “Fine. Just remember. I have an envelope with her name on it. Anything happens to me.”
“Dolores, you are not that clever.”
“You want to find out for sure? Try me.”
“Okay, I get it. I’ll write another check. Make sure it doesn’t go up your nose.”
“I’m clean. Can’t be anything else with a kid inside of me.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“Yours and you’ll keep paying for it.”
“No, I won’t Dolores. I’ll find a way out.”
She cackled as she hung up the phone. No he wouldn’t.
“It was set and we think for hire,” Ed Bauer told Zach.
He sat on the only other chair in the office besides Zach’s.
“For hire?”
“Owner had financial trouble. Gambling debts. He won’t tell us who he hired. Said the guy is long gone.”
“You believe him?”
Zach sipped his coffee. Part of him missed being on the front line of these things. Arson had been his specialty.
“We’ll keep looking, but the usual arson guys have all been accounted for. We’re going through the owner’s phone records and e-mail to see if we can track down anyone. He must have contacted him some way. Not
