“Now you’re talking.”
After dropping Coop off at the courthouse, Sam spent the morning getting acquainted with the town. By mid-afternoon, she found herself back at Baker Lake.
Jack sat in the front seat, muscles taunt, and ears pointed forward as he looked out the window, and whined.
“I know, baby. I’m scared, too. But, I have to know if those sensations yesterday meant anything or not.” She pulled a large, gold hair clip from her purse, twisted her hair into a long strip and secured it with the clip. She paused for a moment beside the truck and listened.
From an early age, she sensed emotions in others more acutely than most. As she grew up, the ability ebbed and flowed. More than once, she would be alone somewhere and be engulfed with unexplained sadness or fear or even happiness, though such times were rare.
In her mind, this deep empathy helped her be a better doctor, enabling her to reach even the most reluctant patient. During those tension-filled years with Paul, however, it all but vanished.
Apparently, since coming here, it returned.
Just last night as she got to her room, a prickling on the back of her neck made her stop and look around. The feeling of being watched caused gooseflesh on her arms. A whisper of sound made her glance behind. Nothing there.
A flicker of unease coursed through her, and disappeared as a smile found its way through the veil of apprehension. Maybe there’s a friendly ghost here.
“Or maybe I’m imaging things.” She shook her head. “Come on, Jack. Let’s see what’s out there.”
They walked slowly toward the trail, stopping just inside the entrance.
Jack glanced up, sniffed once, and stepped forward.
Coop sat on the edge of Billy Ray’s desk, laughing at the rather shocking joke his friend just told him. “Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“Hell, Coop, I worked in the oil field for over twenty years.” He pushed back in the chair, long legs straight out, hands clasped behind his head. “Hear all kinds of crap.”
“Alice give you any grief about being taken off dispatch?”
“You know how she is. Likes to be in the center of things. I told her not to get her panties in a wad. It’s temporary.”
Coop raised a brow.
“Okay, so maybe I didn’t use those exact words, but I told her to be patient, and she’d have her pipeline back in no time.”
“Speaking of pipelines, how’s things in the oil world?”
“Same ole same ole.” His square jaw visibly tensed, dark brows creating lines across a wide forehead. “A few rigs starting up here and there, but nothing to hang your hat on.” The chair gave a protesting squeak as he shifted to sit up, his stare direct and sincere. “I can’t thank you enough for this job, man. If you hadn’t put me on last year…”
Coop waved aside his friend’s gratitude. “You’d do the same for me. Besides, you’re good at the job. Being a jailer isn’t easy and you have a knack for getting along with folks. Plus, your knowledge of the county is useful on dispatch.”
“All the same, I appreciate you having my back.” A faint light twinkled in the depths of his coffee-colored eyes, and a smirk found its way through the cloud of melancholy. “Remember back in high school when the Bennett brothers wanted to kick my ass for kissing their sister.”
“If I remember correctly, you did more than kiss.”
He ducked his head. “Yeah, well, despite what she told them, I never got past second base.”
Coop smiled at the long ago memory of best friends standing up together. “Hell of a fight, wasn’t it?”
The jailer’s voice dropped lower. “Yeah. Probably the only time my old man was ever proud of me.”
Coop didn’t know how to respond. Billy’s relationship with his alcoholic father was tumultuous at best, and he spent more time with Coop’s family than his own. After the old man died ten years ago, Billy’s mother left town to live with her sister in Dallas. He didn’t think they had spoken since.
Billy Ray tapped the folders on his desk. “I best get back to work. My boss is a real hard ass and wouldn’t like me chit-chatting with the worker bees.”
“Let me know if you need anything, Bill. Anything at all.”
“I will. Thanks, Coop.”
Back in his office, he powered up his computer and stared at the screen, images of Sam dancing through his mind. How was it possible to be so attracted to someone he just met? The vibration of his cell phone interrupted his revelry. He glanced at caller ID as he picked it up. “Hiya, Doc.”
“We’re going to have to postpone our date.”
Her breathless voice set off warning bells. “What’s wrong?”
“I found another body.”
She found me.
Coop tried to ignore the voice as the squad car slid to a stop. In his haste to get out, he missed the door handle the first time he grabbed for it. He hurried to where Sam waited. “You all right?”