He formed a circle with both of his hands. “This is a cluster. It’s a higher than average number of people who have gone missing. They all disappeared close to the border—here and in San Diego—and they vanished at a time when we started seeing this new meth on the street.”
“How is the discovery of bones in the desert going to help your investigation?”
Sam rubbed his chin. “On the border in California, out in the desert, we found a graveyard of bones. We’re still identifying them, but so far they belong to the people who disappeared at the same time the pink meth showed up. It makes me think there’s a similar graveyard out here, and I want a chance to do some digging, literally, before that casino comes in and covers it all up.”
“What makes you think it’s in that location?” Jolene hugged herself and rubbed her arms.
He’d gladly hold her in his arms to do the hugging, but even though she’d been the one who had insisted he return to his pregnant wife, she hadn’t forgiven him for leaving...yet. He swallowed. “A tip I received.”
“You’re not going to tell me what it was?”
“I’d rather not, but now I can use the discovery of the bones you dumped there to turn this into more than a wild goose chase. Question.” He shoved his glass toward her and splayed his hands on the countertop. “What’s your plan once the experts figure out the bones you buried don’t belong to some ancient member of the Yaqui tribe? That the land is not a sacred Yaqui burial site?”
Her full lips parted, and her lashes swept over her eyes. Then she squared her shoulders and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. My goal was to halt the immediate ground-breaking—and I did.”
Progress. Sam eased out a breath. He’d had no proof that Jolene had planted the bones at the construction site, so the fact that she’d admitted it to him signaled a thaw in the icy chill she’d maintained since seeing him again.
“That you did.” He winked at her. “I’m not going to ask you where you got them because I know you have friends in high places...or at least academic places, but how’d you know the exact place to put them? They could’ve started digging anywhere.”
A small smile twisted her lips. “I have a map of the construction site, which includes phases, including where the first hole was going. It’s all very specific.”
“Let me guess.” He ran a hand over his chest, and Jolene’s gaze followed the movement like a feather across his skin. It made him hard. If just a look from her luminous dark eyes could do that to him, he was in more trouble than he’d expected coming back here.
“Yes? What’s your guess?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Umm...” he shook his head “...that you got it from your cousin somehow.”
“I did. Gran is always using Wade’s phone. I took a peek at it, saw the plans and printed them out from his phone. I hadn’t formulated my scheme yet, but seeing those plans gave me a few ideas.” She snapped her fingers. “And it worked.”
“For now. It’s not going to take forensics long to figure out those bones are not part of a Yaqui graveyard, especially with Wade and his backers pushing for results.” He nudged a sleeping Chip with the toe of his boot, and the dog thumped his tail once.
“Nash Dillon? Do you think Nash will be pushing him?” She wrapped a lock of hair around her finger. “Do you think Nash can do anything to stop the casino? Would he?”
“I don’t know if he would or not. Most people around here think the casino is a good idea, Jolene.”
“Most people don’t have a father who was murdered out there.” Her bottom lip quivered, and Sam pushed up from the stool.
He skirted the counter and cupped her face with one hand. “I know. I’m sorry, and I’m sorry nobody was ever brought to justice for that crime. Is that the reason you’re against the casino?”
“If Joe Blackhawk were alive today, there would be no question of a casino going on that land.” She cinched his wrist with her fingers. “Don’t you see, Sam? The two events are linked. My father was murdered to clear the way for the casino.”
“What are you saying? You think Wade killed your father?”
“I don’t know.” She released his arm, made a half turn and braced her hands against the counter. “It’s like your missing people. It’s just too much of a coincidence.”
He reached out to touch her back, and then pulled away at the sound of the buzzer on the dryer. “The authorities put your father’s murder down to the drug trade—he saw something or someone he shouldn’t have seen out there.”
“I know what they say.” She straightened up and squeezed past him, her filmy blouse brushing against the bare skin of his chest. “I just don’t believe it.”
He watched the sway of her hips in the floral skirt as she walked away from him, and he squeezed his eyes closed. What would Jolene think of him if she knew he was consumed by visions of her in his bed while she was talking to him about her father?
“I don’t think you’re going to have much luck with Nash. His family business is part of some consortium that makes investment decisions over which he has little to no control. He just sits back and reaps the profits.”
She floated back into the kitchen with his shirts draped over her arm. “It was just an idea. Nash has always been so easygoing—and I know his fiancée’s father was also killed, in the line of duty. I thought she might be sympathetic.”
“I’m sure she would be. I’m sure they both would be, but like I said, Nash is carried along with the business with little control over the decisions. His parents set it up that way, as neither
