Steel thought about that for a while. Rena and Lily were frenemies of some kind, but Rena had started coming to Silver Falls. Doing drugs. She’d overdosed. Now here was Lily, following in her footsteps.
All this time he’d concentrated on the drugs in this drama, but now he wondered if there was something more going on. Lily’s reaction to Rena’s name had been telling; instead of feeling sorry for the dead girl, it was as if she felt Rena had betrayed her in some way. Then there was her reaction to the way Sue had suddenly left. Lily didn’t trust the girls around her—even her friends.
Were girls always so suspicious of each other? Or was something else going on?
Steel sat back. If these girls had known Rena, had Rena known Cecilia, who’d died several months ago? Had Cecilia known any of the prior victims? Did some connection run from girl to girl that only the killer could see?
Was he pitting his victims against each other?
Would Lily end up dead next?
He needed to scare her and her friends away from Silver Falls—and he needed to get more information from them. Doing both would require him to walk a fine line. Should he follow them?
No—they were already heading home.
But he’d keep an eye out for them from here on in.
“Stella?”
Eric seemed as surprised as Stella was when she bumped into him at Thoughtful Coffee, where she’d popped in before driving back to work from Runaway Lake.
“What are you doing here?” Stella asked. “Aren’t you working?”
“Just heading back from a break. You?”
“Same. Had lunch with a friend.”
Eric ordered his coffee, and she put in her order, too. While they waited, Eric picked up the conversation. “What friend?”
Was that a touch of jealousy she heard in his voice? “Monica Hunt,” she said. She explained her idea to raise money to expand the rehab center so it could accommodate teenagers. “Seems like drugs are a problem everywhere these days.”
“I guess.” He didn’t seem convinced the expansion would do much good. “Water Olympics, huh? Guess that could be fun if you like that sort of thing.”
“I think so.” She was a little put off by his lack of enthusiasm. Eric seemed to realize this and touched her arm.
“Hey, sorry. Just stuff on my mind. How about I help you—and meantime, we start training? We can combine the two—train for your deputy test and for the Olympic competition. What do you say?”
When he smiled, she relaxed a little. She couldn’t fault a man with a job like Eric’s for being gruff once in a while. “When do you want to train?”
“How about tomorrow morning?”
“Sure.” She didn’t know why Steel’s face slipped into her mind. He wasn’t going to train for the agility test with her. Nor would he be around to support her fundraiser. Not that he would anyway, most likely, given this was an attempt to win the Founder’s Prize for her family once and for all.
“Looking forward to it—and to tonight, too. Should be a good game,” Eric said with more conviction than he had earlier. “It’ll be fun.” He brushed her cheek with his lips and grinned. “Don’t you think?”
“Uh… sure,” Stella said. But it would be a whole lot more fun if it was Steel who’d kissed her.
Chapter Four
“Steel Cooper! Look at you all grown up.”
Steel straightened and put away his phone. It was too early in the morning to catch anyone doing anything nefarious, but he hadn’t been able to sleep, turning over his lack of progress in his mind all night—and thinking about Stella, too, if he was honest. Now that they’d talked—and kissed—she was on his mind constantly.
He’d been hanging around on a bench in front of Silver Falls’ convenience store, keeping an eye out for any sign of Lily and her friends, who hadn’t been at the pit since lunchtime the previous day. He turned to find a middle-aged woman smiling at him. It took a minute for him to place her. “Mrs. Hunt.”
She rolled her eyes. “Monica, please. You’re not a boy anymore.” She craned her neck to look up at him as he stood and came to greet her. “You sure turned out handsome.”
He couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his mouth. “Nice of you to say.”
“Save the aw shucks routine.” She laughed. “You know darn well you turn heads. I can see it in your swagger.”
He laughed, too, but then remembered who he was supposed to be. Steel Cooper, petty criminal. Not the kind of man Mrs. Hunt—Monica—should be hanging around.
“Heard you were home,” he said, scanning the area to see who might be watching them. The street was largely empty at this time of day. One or two older women heading into the coffee shop across the street. A couple of kids fooling around as they walked home from somewhere.
“I am—for now.”
“And your boys?”
“Doing well. They’re all grown up, too. In the military for the time being.”
“You thinking about calling them home?”
“You always were a smart one. People used to speculate you’d use those smarts to get yourself into trouble.”
“People were right.” He kept his tone light, but it was important she believe it.
Monica cocked her head. “Really? What kind of trouble are you getting into?”
He shrugged. “A little of this, a little of that. Like my dad.”
Her eyebrow went up. “Like your dad, huh?”
Why had she said it like that? Steel shifted uneasily. “Yeah. What of it?”
“Dale was a man of many talents, as I recall.” Monica smiled again. “He was great in the senior play in high school, you know.”
“Senior play?” He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised she was in school with his dad. Silver Falls kids had always attended Chance Creek High since their town wasn’t big enough to support a school of its own. But she’d caught him off guard, and he was sure she’d noticed it.
“Wasn’t even the understudy, but when Chris Brooks got sick the night of the show, Dale stepped in and played his
