Sudden Second Chance

As Duke sliced off a piece of pork chop and swept it through his potatoes, he glanced around the room. “Does the entire town of Timberline know why you’re here?”

“I don’t know about the entire town, but everyone in this restaurant has a pretty good idea by now, thanks to Chloe.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” His lips twisted into a frown.

“How else am I going to investigate, to get information?” She squeezed some lemon on her fish and licked the tart juice from her fingers.

Duke shifted his gaze from her fingers to her face and cleared his throat. “I guess that’s how you operate. Stir up a bunch of trouble and heartache and move on.”

Beth pursed her lips. “None of the original families is even here anymore. Wyatt Carson was the last of Stevie’s family in Timberline. Kendall Rush, Kayla’s sister, blew through town, got caught up in Wyatt’s craziness and then hightailed it out of here. And Heather’s family... They moved away from Timberline, to Connecticut, I think.”

“You’ve done your homework.”

“I always do, Duke.”

“What I can’t figure out—” he poked at his potatoes “—is why you were attracted to this cold case. It hardly has all the elements you usually look for.”

“And what elements would those be?”

“You know—sex, drugs, grieving families, celebrity.”

She chewed her fish slowly. Duke hated what she did for a living—had hated it then, hated it now. She didn’t have to answer to Special Agent Duke Harper or anyone else.

She drained her wineglass. “I was following the copycat kidnapping story and got interested in the old story, like a lot of people. There seemed to be heightened interest in the Timberline Trio and talk of some new evidence, so I figure I’d capitalize on that. Right up my alley.”

“Excuse me, Ms. St. Regis?”

Beth turned and met the faded blue eyes of a grandmotherly woman, linking arms with another woman of about the same age.

“Yes?”

“I’m Gail Fitzsimmons and this is my friend Nancy Heck. We wanted to let you know that we were both living here at the time of the Timberline Trio kidnappings and we’d be happy to talk to you.”

“Thank you.” Beth reached into her purse for her cards, ignoring Duke’s sneer—or what looked pretty close to a sneer. “Here’s my card. I’ll be doing some preliminary interviews before my crew gets here.”

Nancy snatched the card from Beth’s fingers. “You mean we aren’t going to be on TV?”

Duke coughed and Beth kicked him under the table. “I can’t tell yet. We’ll see how the interviews go.”

When the two ladies shuffled away, their silver heads together, Duke chuckled. “This is going to be a circus.”

“And what exactly are you doing to work this cold case?”

“I have all the original case files. I’m starting there.” He held up his hands. “Don’t even ask. You can do your interviews with Wyatt Carson’s ex-girlfriend’s ex–dog sitter’s second cousin.”

“Don’t dismiss what I do. I helped the FBI solve the Masters case.”

“You helped yourself, Beth.”

Chloe approached their table. “Dessert?”

“Not for me.” Beth tossed her napkin on the table.

Pulling his wallet out of his pocket, Duke said, “Just the check.”

“You paying?” Beth reached for her purse. “I have an expense account.”

“And you’re using it to pay for your own dinner. I’m using my per diem to pay for mine. I don’t want any commingling here.”

She lowered her lashes and slid her credit card from her wallet. Was he talking about just their finances?

“Got it.” She tapped her card on the table. “No commingling.”

A loud voice came from the bar area of the restaurant, and chatter in the dining room hushed to a low level—enough for the bar patron’s words to reach them.

“That TV show better not start nosing around. If anyone talks to that host, I’ll give ’em the business end of my fist.” The man at the bar turned to face the room, knocking over his bar stool in the process.

His buddy next to him put a hand on his shoulder, but the belligerent drunk shook him off.

“Where’s she? I’ll toss ’er out right now on her fanny. Tarring and feathering. That’s what we should do. Who’s with me?” He raised his fist in the air.

A few people snickered but most went back to their dinners. Duke didn’t do either. He marched across the room toward the bar.

Beth groaned as she scribbled her signature on the credit-card receipt and took off after him. Duke had always been a hothead, and it looked like he hadn’t changed.

“What did you say?” He widened his stance in front of the man. “Are you threatening the lady?”

“You with that show, too?” The man looked Duke up and down and hiccuped.

His friend picked up the stool and shoved his friend into it. “C’mon, Bill. Take it easy. Who knows? Being featured on TV might increase our property values.”

The man, his dark hair flecked with gray, shook his head and stuck out his hand. “Sorry about that. My friend’s a Realtor and has had a little too much to drink. I’m Jordan Young.”

“Duke Harper.” Duke gestured toward Beth. “This is Beth St. Regis, the host of Cold Case Chronicles and the woman your friend was threatening.”

Jordan Young dismissed his drunken friend with a wave of his hand. “It’s the booze talking. His sales numbers haven’t been great lately, but it has nothing to do with the recent publicity we’ve been getting. Hell, Kendall Rush’s aunt’s place sold for top dollar. He’s just ticked off that he didn’t get that listing.”

He took Beth’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m a big fan of the show, Ms. St. Regis.”

“Thanks.” She nudged Duke in the back. “Are you a Realtor, too?”

“Me?” He chuckled. “Not really. I’m a developer, and I have a lot more to lose than Bill here if things go south, but that’s not going to happen—Evergreen Software will make sure of that.”

“You need to tell your friend to keep his mouth shut about Beth.”

“Duke.” She put her hand on his arm. His stint in Siberia hadn’t done anything to temper his combativeness. “I’m sure he’s not serious—at least about the tar-and-feathering part.”

Young winked. “Good to see you have a sense of humor about it, Ms. St. Regis, but I can understand your...coworker wanting to be protective.”