When he saw her, he relaxed and waited, so she adopted a more reasonable pace. She didn’t want any passersby to think she was chasing the man. Even if she was.
She nodded and smiled at the greetings from other residents who appeared to be on errands. One woman in particular was trying to wrangle twin boys, who were just of an age to slip her grip and make her look harried.
“Hi, Joan,” she said as she passed.
“Hi, Cat. Boys!” She dashed off after them.
Cat was grinning by the time she reached Duke. “That’s a handful.”
“Those boys? Plenty of energy.”
Then she faced him. “Looking for something?”
“Workout clothes that aren’t stamped with Army logos all over. This is the place, right?”
She nodded. “Old-timey, with creaky wooden floors that have probably been there for at least a century. However, now that we have an influx of students at the community college, you’ll find all the latest and greatest in some items. You want superhero shorts? I think they have some.”
He surprised her with a short chuckle. “I don’t think I’m ready to go that far. So are you my armed escort now?”
To her horror, she felt her cheeks heat. How had he done that? It had been a long time since she’d blushed. “I’m kinda over-the-top, huh?”
“No, you’re in uniform, is all. Are you planning to join me in the store? Or later after I change and go for a run around town? You might find it hard in that utility belt.”
Her cheeks grew even warmer. “Point taken.”
He shook his head slightly. “How were you supposed to know what I was doing? This is going to be impossible for both of us if you have to be the principal and me the student reporting my every activity. Tell you what. I’ll let you know if I’m doing anything that approaches the case. Then you can relax and I can go running.”
Her cheeks didn’t cool any, but she was just trying to do this job. An unfamiliar job. New rules and groundwork were needed. On the other hand, he was lengthening his leash and asking her to trust him. Having known his brother, she was inclined to, but the simple fact was that Major Duke was a stranger to her. Plus, she’d seen the icy fury in his eyes. He wasn’t going to make this easy for either of them.
“I understand your point, Major.”
“Duke. Just call me Duke.”
“Okay, Duke. You can call me Cat. But you were walking down the street a few hours after having expressed your intention to interview people who knew Larry while he was here.” As she mentally reviewed what he’d said when she’d first reached him, she started to get seriously irritated. How dare he talk to her that way? He’d scolded her as if she were a thoughtless kid.
He nodded slowly, glanced across the street and said, “Give me your cell number. I promise to tell you before I talk to anyone, okay?”
“Or anything else to do with your brother’s murder.”
“On my honor.”
She relaxed a bit. She suspected honor was very important to this man. “All right. I’ll trust you. But if I find you’ve crossed the line, you’re going to be in trouble. I won’t stand for it, nor will the sheriff.”
“We’ll get it sorted. Your number?”
“I want yours, too.”
“Of course.”
“Keep in mind, though, the farther you get out of town, the spottier cell reception will be. Out there in the ranch land, there aren’t a whole lot of cell towers. Not enough people to justify them. And the mountains are pretty much the same.”
“I’ve operated in much tougher conditions.”
Yeah, he had, she thought as she walked back to the office after they’d exchanged numbers. That was part of what worried her.
CAT WAS A FIREBRAND, Duke thought as he crossed to the mercantile. He had no doubt she’d try to call him to heel if she didn’t like something. He’d only promised to let her know what he was up to, but she’d have to give him reasons if he objected.
While he was looking at shorts, a memory of Larry popped up. They’d often run together while they were growing up, but when Duke had returned from Ranger training, Larry had wanted to run with him again. The two of them had wound up laughing because Larry could no longer keep up the distances or the pace Duke used. He’d never forgotten his brother’s grin as he asked, “What did they do? Replace you with bionics?”
God, he missed his brother, even though they’d been estranged for a while. Which made him ponder yet again how he—or anyone else, for that matter—allowed such rifts to grow when life was so short. You never knew...
He should have learned that after so much time in deadly environments. Life could often be too short, truncated by unexpected events.
Shaking himself out of impending gloom, he focused instead on rage. He’d have time to grieve later, once Larry had his justice.
He found a couple of pairs of shorts and some shirts and walked back to the motel. Man, he needed to run. A long, fast run.
Then he’d figure out what to do next.
WELL, THAT HAD gone well, Cat thought as she walked back to the office. Not. He’d managed to embarrass her, which wasn’t easy in her line of work. Or maybe anger had heated her cheeks, not embarrassment. Regardless, after that she could easily dislike him.
It wouldn’t help anything to dislike him, though. Not one thing. Besides, she could understand his thirst to find his brother’s killer. She’d known more than one family who had been pursuing justice for a dead relative decades after the killing. Not unusual. Some called it closure, some referred to it as justice, but there was no escaping the fact that people needed a resolution. That need could consume them, and possibly their lives.
Cops understood that. They understood it so well that departments with sufficient
