The Lovebirds

‘‘Mrs. Sanders found her.’’

He shot a look at the deputy and realized the only Mrs. Sanders he knew would be hugging eighty by now—if she was still alive. He hadn’t thought about which Sanders lived in the hotel penthouse. ‘‘Ellie Sanders, old man Sanders’s wife?’’

Deputy Reed, whom Jack had just met that morning, shook his head, his expression suspiciously closed. ‘‘Mrs. Oliver Sanders. Old man—Mr. Otto Sanders is deceased. His wife, Ellie, resides in Hawaii now.’’

Good for Ellie. Jack hoped she was having a great time, spending the old man’s money.

‘‘Who’d Oliver marry?’’ he had to ask. Keeping track of the comings and goings in River’s Edge had been the last thing on his mind. He’d left pretty soon after high school, taking the best of River’s Edge with him, and had never looked back, never planned to come back. As he rode up the elevator, he was starting to remember why.

‘‘Oliver married Mitzy Baxter,’’ Reed said and had to clear his throat.

Jack let out a low whistle. Mitzy Baxter Sanders. Mitzy. Oh, boy.

The elevator door opened onto a slab of white marble floor complete with a dead body and a hysterical woman. He recognized the loud high-pitched complaining voice in the background as Mitzy’s. Some things did not change.

A second deputy stood next to the elevator door, protecting the possible crime scene just as Jack had asked. But the poor man looked as if he’d rather be anywhere than here. Jack understood perfectly.

‘‘Mrs. Sanders is a little upset,’’ Deputy Dodson said. ‘‘As would be expected,’’ he added quickly.

Jack had to smile. ‘‘Yes, as would be expected.’’ He looked from the deputy to the foyer table covered in gifts and the body of a woman lying on the floor beside it. A box of spilled chocolates dotted the marble floor around the body like thrown dirt clods.

Under the table was a woman’s large black leather purse with a shopping bag next to it. Against the opposite foyer wall were two more shopping bags and another purse, this one pink and dainty.

Jack bent down, and without touching anything, took a look at the murder victim.

‘‘She’s Mr. Sanders’s secretary,’’ Dodson informed him. ‘‘Her name is Peggy Kane.’’

That news startled him. Both seemed implausible. He’d gone to school with Peggy Kane. Knew her relationship with not only Oliver, but Mitzy. At least he thought he did. It seemed a number of things had changed since he’d been gone—and Peggy Kane had changed the most.

This woman looked nothing like the one he remembered even if her face hadn’t been blue. Peggy Kane had lost a lot of weight, but it was more than that, he realized. It was the way she was dressed, the expensive jewelry, the hair, the whole look. It made him wonder what Oliver paid her.

In River’s Edge, there were two classes of families. The ones with money who owned the condos, huge seasonal homes and the businesses that thrived because of them. And the ones who worked for the businesses. The Kane family fell into the latter group, just as the McAllisters had.

Peggy had a piece of chocolate gripped in her right hand. It had melted down to just the nut. On closer inspection, in her other hand was what appeared to be a crumpled piece of white paper. He didn’t touch it and wondered if anyone else had noticed it.

‘‘I took down everyone’s statement, just as you instructed,’’ Dobson said. ‘‘I’m also the crime photographer. I shot the elevator, all of the rooms in the penthouse and the possible crime scene.’’ Standard procedure in a sudden death of this nature. ‘‘I’ve sent the photos to the lab. You should have them within the hour.’’

‘‘Good work,’’ Jack said, pushing himself to his feet again. He asked both deputies to remain at the elevator door and protect the scene until the coroner arrived to tell them whether or not a crime had actually been committed. Then bracing himself, he followed the irritating sound of Mitzy’s voice into the living room.

Mitzy actually stopped talking when she saw him. Her mouth remained open, but thankfully nothing came out. Her husband, Oliver Sanders, was at the bar making drinks, his back to Jack. Jack caught his own reflection in the mirror over the bar, seeing himself the way Mitzy must. Older. His dark blond hair still thick although graying at the temples. His blue eyes faded like old denim and lined from the sun. Just seeing how life had weathered and aged him, he remembered with a jolt his real reason for coming back here.

Oliver turned at the sudden quiet, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the new sheriff.

‘‘Well, I’ll be damned,’’ was all Oliver said, but he seemed to tense as if expecting a blow.

Jack knew that one of the town councilmen had voted against hiring him as sheriff and figured it had been Oliver Sanders. He told himself that Oliver’s obvious anxiety at seeing him could be nothing more than having a dead woman in his foyer. Or it could be the past. Considering his and Jack’s past, it could easily have been that alone.

‘‘Jack?’’ Mitzy cried, finding her voice too soon. ‘‘Jack McAllister?’’

She’d remembered his name. But he’d have hoped as much considering how...intimate they’d been for a short period of time during his junior year in high school—a time he would have just as soon forgotten.

He reminded himself that she probably felt the same way, in fact, might have forgotten him and only remembered when she saw his photo in today’s paper. Then again, the story about the new sheriff moving into his office hadn’t gotten a lot of play in the resort town’s only newspaper—not like Oliver Sanders’s new expensive condo development.

Mitzy pushed herself up from a plump velvet couch, but appeared uncertain what to do next. Running into his arms seemed somehow inappropriate, he thought. So did shaking hands, but he held his hand out to her.

‘‘Mrs. Sanders,’’ he said in his cop voice, amazed how much she looked like she had in high school. He’d almost forgotten how partial she was to pink. She wore a pale pink suit with matching high heels and a white silk blouse, all expensive and carefully chosen for effect rather than comfort, just like the decor of this place.

Her sculpted blond hair curled at her suit jacket collar and framed her doll-adorable face, accenting her big baby blues in a way that told him it hadn’t been unwittingly. Her still very nicely rounded body had fitness center written all over it.

She took his hand almost coyly, something Jack was sure Oliver hadn’t missed. Some things just didn’t change.

‘‘Oh, Jack,’’ Mitzy said in that breathy voice of hers. ‘‘Sheriff? In River’s Edge?’’ She seemed to find humor in that. Or pity. With Mitzy it was hard to tell.

Jack’s gaze moved past Mitzy to the third person in the room.

A slim woman stood silhouetted against the bank of windows looking out over the town and the mountains. It wasn’t until she turned that he realized he knew her. That is, had known her. He fought to hide his surprise as she moved toward him, hand outstretched, amusement in her dark eyes.

‘‘Tempest Bailey,’’ she said, as if he wouldn’t remember her.

Not a chance. ‘‘Tempest,’’ he said, wondering what she was doing here.

She nodded as if seeing him wondering. She didn’t miss much. ‘‘I’m The Riverside’s version of a house detective—at least temporarily,’’ she said, making him remember her voice. Soft and deep with a hint of humor. It was one of the sexy things about her, although she hid the rest well. She wore khakis, a white blouse under a navy-blue sweater and cross-trainers. Her hair was long and dark, pulled back into a braid that hung to the center of her back. She wore no makeup, her face lightly freckled. There was something about the privileged. No matter how much they dressed down, they couldn’t hide the fact that they’d come from money.

He realized he was staring at her. ‘‘Temporarily?’’ he asked when her words finally registered.

‘‘I’ve been offered the undersheriff job,’’ she said, tilting her head a little, her eyes glinting.

T. J. Bailey. My God, he’d never dreamed the T. J. Bailey, the applicant the town council had offered the undersheriff position to, was Tempest. He tried to think of something to say to cover his shock and discomfort, but it was impossible with his foot stuck in his mouth.

‘‘Congratulations,’’ he finally managed.

She cocked her head. ‘‘It’s a little premature for that. I haven’t accepted.’’ She met his gaze, her eyes as dark as an abyss.

‘‘Jack!’’ Mitzy cried, reminding him she had to be the center of attention. ‘‘I have a dead woman in my foyer!’’

‘‘Yes.’’ It didn’t surprise him that she wouldn’t refer to Peggy Kane by name. ‘‘That’s why I’m here. I’ll need to get statements from all of you.’’

‘‘Statements?’’ Mitzy looked horrified. ‘‘She choked to death on one of my chocolates. What more is there to say?’’

‘‘We won’t know what killed her until the coroner—’’

‘‘Of course, she choked,’’ Mitzy interrupted. ‘‘What else could it have been? Unless it was a heart attack. She did carry a lot of weight for a lot of years.’’ She must have seen his expression. ‘‘I’m not speaking ill of the dead. You all know it’s the truth. She was huge.’’

Jack pulled the tape recorder from his pocket as Oliver pushed a large martini into his wife’s hand.

‘‘I’d offer you a drink, Jack,’’ Oliver said, motioning to his own glass, ‘‘but you’re on duty, right? Just like Tempest here.’’

‘‘Why don’t we all sit,’’ Jack suggested as he took Mitzy’s drink from her hand and put it down on the glass coffee table out of her reach. ‘‘If you don’t mind.’’