David stepped up next to Susan turning and looking back down the trail. “You’re worried.”
“A little, it kind of sank in during church that whatever happened to your grandfather might still have an impact on someone who lives right here in our home town. I just can’t seem to make the connection.”
David sighed, feeling the warmth of the sun dappling through the thick canopy of leaves. “If I had my journal maybe we would see something I’ve been missing all this time. Surely there must be something in all those clippings, reports, and interviews that would point us in the right direction.”
Susan shook her head. David was an intelligent and able investigator. If he hadn’t put the pieces together from everything in the book she didn’t see how she would. “Come on,” she smiled. “I want to stick my feet in the water and forget about all of this for a little while. Today we are just two friends out for a walk.”
David grinned, turning to fall into step with Susan once more. “Do you come up here often?”
“Not as much as I would like. This past year was grueling with dual enrollment in two different colleges and two different majors.” She laughed lightly, “Maybe I chose the wrong courses and I should have studied investigation.”
David’s bright laugh was like a cool breeze, and Susan’s spirits lifted as she forced thoughts of a missing moonshiner and two wild horses from her mind. A few minutes later, the soft roar of water over rocks hastened their steps, and soon, they were both ankle deep in the cool water of the mountain stream.
“That feels wonderful,” Susan said, bracing her hands on the rock where she sat, her face turned to the sun.
David splashed his toes, splattering her ankles with icy droplets.
“Hey,” Susan griped, kicking her feet. “You’ll get me all wet.” A hard kick splashed water over both of them and she squealed when David crashed his foot into the shimmering depths.
Water glinted in the bright sun as they both began to kick and splash, twisting and scattering water everywhere. Susan turned dipping her hands into the racing stream and lifting a huge scoop of water at her companion, only to slip forward with a scream.
David lunged trying to grab Susan before she fell, face forward into the babbling brook, his hand finding purchase on her wrist, but the woman’s forward momentum was too much for even his strength to offset, and they tumbled into the shallow water with a geyser’s splash.
Pushing upright into the water, David flicked his hair from his eyes turning to see a spluttering Susan struggle to push her lush locks from her face.
A laugh trickled from his lips, and David reached out pushing a strand of dripping hair from Susan’s eyes as they both burst into peals of mirth. They were soaking wet, spluttering and tangled in a heap of bare feet and legs.
Susan’s eyes sparkled brighter than sunlight on the water, and David found himself falling once more. His smile slipped as he dipped his head toward hers, brushing sweet lips with a simple kiss.
Susan sank into the kiss, feeling warmth fill her even as the cold water gurgled around her. David’s lips were soft and inviting as she closed her eyes drinking in the taste of him.
The sound of noisy teenagers ascending the path made David jump back plopping into the pool as he forced his eyes away from Susan. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but one thing had led to another.
“We’d better get back,” Susan pushed herself to her feet, slogging out of the shallow pool without a backward glance. “Gram will wonder what happened to us.”
The hike back to the base of the trail was filled with an awkward silence as both parties dripped their way back to the Jeep.
“What else do you have at your place related to the case?” Susan asked as she turned the key and pulled away from the pretty campus and the brick buildings scattered among the gentle hills.
“What?” David pulled his mind away from the kiss, relieved that Susan had decided to concentrate on the work instead of what had happened in the pool above the hills. “Nothing really,” he gazed out at the passing landscape full of trees and flood plain. “I kept everything in the journal.”
“What about that box you brought with you from you apartment, what’s in that?”
“Mostly old photos. I didn’t like the idea of leaving them behind in case someone came back.”
“Can I see them?” Susan glanced toward David whose face was in profile.
“Sure,” he replied keeping his eyes on the road. He didn’t want to meet her blue gaze again for fear of losing himself in their warm depths.
In a matter of minutes Susan was pulling into her space at the back of the large elegant house. “Something smells good,” she grinned traipsing onto the back porch and pushing through the screen door. “Gram, we’re back!”
“Supper won’t be ready for another hour,” Gram said, walking out of the kitchen. “My goodness, what happened to you?”
Susan’s bright titter of laughter made David grin, but he shook his head racing for the stairs and dry clothes. He would leave Susan to deal with her grandmother.
“We fell in,” Susan’s voice echoed along the hall as David took the stairs two at a time, wondering if she would tell her grandmother everything. “We’re going to look at old photos in the office as soon as I get changed.”
David grinned catching the last words before turning down the hall toward his room.
“Who’s this?” Susan asked pointing at another black and white photo of a couple dressed in forty’s garb.
“That’s Grandma and Grandpa Watkins,” David replied. Susan was hovering at his shoulder and her steady presence seemed to fill the room.
“You look like
