“Small-town vets.” Her gaze shifted to the great outdoors behind him. “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll hurry.”
“Take your time.” He patted the case slung over his shoulder. “I can check emails on my laptop.”
By the time he’d powered up his computer and clicked on the first email, April had returned, the bedraggled wedding dress thrown over her shoulder like the pelt of some wild animal.
“That was fast. No shower?”
“Told you, I’ll take one at the house.” She plucked at the baggy sweats that couldn’t conceal her shapely backside. “I didn’t have anything to change into, anyway. I’ll borrow some clothes from Meg.”
“Do you want me to take this to the station for you?” He tugged on the hem of the wedding dress. “It’s on my way.”
“Could you?” She sloughed the dress from her shoulder as if shedding a layer of skin.
The dress landed in a heap between them. “That would really help me out because I wouldn’t have to explain anything to Meg about the wedding.”
“My lips are sealed, but plenty of people saw you last night all decked out in your finest bridal attire.” He left the dress on the floor and shut down his laptop. “You know how this town likes gossip.”
“I know more than anyone.” She brushed off the front of her T-shirt. “I’ll deal with it when it happens. One thing at a time.”
“You got it.” He stuffed his computer in his bag and hitched it over his shoulder. Then he gathered the dress in his arms, resting his chin on the yards of fabric. Probably the closest he’d ever get to a wedding dress.
Tipping his head toward the door, he said, “Lead the way.”
April scurried in front of him and held the door open as he squeezed past her. She grabbed the keys jingling from his outstretched hand and hit the remote for his truck.
“No ceremony needed. Just stuff it in the back seat.” She opened the back door of his truck.
He shoved it inside, punching and squishing it into submission. It frothed over the headrest of the front seat. He yanked it down. “This thing is alive.”
“Yeah, not really my taste. I’m just gonna claim temporary insanity.”
He eyed her car over her shoulder. “You sure that thing runs?”
“It got me here, didn’t it? I’ll be fine.” She tossed his key chain at him. “Thanks for sticking around.”
“How long will you be in Paradiso?”
“Long enough to regroup and think about my next move.”
“You’re not really considering trying to track down your father in Mexico, are you?”
“I don’t know. What if he really is El Gringo Viejo?”
“And your knowing that and tracking him down in Mexico would benefit you, how?” His hand shot out, and he encircled her wrist with his fingers. “Let that go, April. Let it all go. Call Jimmy and let him know the engagement was a mistake and you’re out of his life, and then get back to your life.”
Her lashes swept over her eyes. “I just might do that.”
She wobbled across his gravel driveway, a pair of pearly white pumps sticking out of the bottom of the sweats.
Shaking his head, he climbed into his truck. The wedding gown tickled the back of his neck, so he slapped at it and cranked on his engine. The truck idled behind April’s car.
When her brake and reverse lights flashed, Clay backed out and rolled backward down the road to allow April to pull out ahead of him. He followed her to the fork, and she stuck her hand out the window as she peeled out, making a left turn.
He took a right and aimed the truck back toward town. Detective Espinoza worked for the county sheriff’s department but he’d be camped out at the Paradiso PD station for the next week at least, to get a handle on this investigation.
When Clay reached the police department, he pulled into the small parking lot on the side for official vehicles. He swung open the back door and scowled at the dress. He should’ve offered April a pair of scissors to cut out the bloodstained material.
He wrestled the dress out of the car, and a male voice called out over the parking lot. “Is that your new girlfriend, Archer?”
Clay lifted his hand and flashed a one-finger salute at the cop and then gathered the dress to his chest, wrapping his arms around the voluminous material.
Ten of the dress April had planned to wear to their own wedding could fit inside this one flouncy mess. He’d seen the dress when he’d gone over to her house to pick up a few of his things when she left town. The picture in his mind of her in it had stayed with him longer than he cared to admit.
He staggered to the building, tripping on the dress more than once. He pushed into the lobby of the PD and peered around his delivery at Todd Barton, the officer at the front desk, wide-eyed and mouth gaping.
“This is for Espinoza. It has the blood from the head last night.”
“Oh, right.” Barton jumped from his chair and came out from behind the counter. “I’ll take it into one of the rooms in the back and cut out the swaths of material we need and bag them for testing. Espinoza has already sent blood samples from the, uh...head to the state.”
“She’s all yours.” Clay pressed the wedding dress against Barton’s chest and brushed his hands together as if ridding himself of a dirty task.
Barton poked his head to the side of the white suds. “Are you going to take this back with you after I cut out the samples?”
“No way.” Clay turned on his heel, almost bumping into Espinoza as he charged through the door.
“Just the man I’m looking for.”
“I just dropped off the dress with the bloodstains from the severed head.” Clay jerked his thumb over
