Because they knew. They knew everything.
A vehicle turned toward where they were parked and turned the high beams on, practically blinding her. What is that all about?
Jerk!
The vehicle’s engine idled. Her retinas burned when she tried to see who was behind the wheel. She had to put a hand up to shield her face from the light.
The tingly sensation returned, pricking the hairs on the back of her neck.
Jenson Napier was dead.
Who was this jerk? As she reached for the door handle, fear gripped her.
It couldn’t be the Ponytail Snatcher. Could it?
Rather than open the door, she locked it instead as she slid down in the seat. It was then she realized she’d forgotten to strap her ankle holster on.
She had no weapon. No way to protect herself here on the backside of the lot.
The horn.
Sliding over toward the driver’s seat, she laid her palm on the horn.
The vehicle backed away, kicking up a dust storm.
More of that panic gripped her as the cloud enveloped the walkway to the restaurant.
Duke.
Chapter Eleven
Duke stepped out of a dust cloud holding a bag of food in plastic containers. Audrey exhaled as he returned to his seat on the driver’s side, which caught him off guard.
“Someone was here,” she said, before adding, “Maybe. I think. It felt like maybe I was being stared at. Challenged?” She gave a quick rundown.
“By the jerk who did this?” He motioned toward the dust.
“Yes,” she said.
Duke handed over the bag and then started the engine. “I’m guessing he went that way.”
“Yes, but I have no idea which way after he left the parking lot,” she admitted before reaching over and touching his arm. It was a move she’d done before to get him to stop and think. “I don’t even know what kind of vehicle we’d be going after other than the fact the headlights were high enough to be a truck’s. We’d be looking for another needle in a haystack.”
Duke clenched his back teeth, wanting to go after the bastard. At the very least, he was a jerk.
“I could be way off base,” she said. “Maybe we should just stay here and eat. See if he returns.”
It took a few seconds for him to commit, but he finally nodded.
“The smell alone is making my mouth water,” she said. “As much as I doubted I could hold any food down, let alone eat in the first place, I had a feeling Bea’s would do the trick.”
“She’s a miracle worker in the kitchen,” he agreed, surveying the lot as the cloud broke. “She also said to tell you hello.”
He skipped the part about Bea telling him to give Audrey a huge hug from her. There was no way he was fulfilling that request. Getting close to Audrey physically was a bad idea. Years might have passed, he wanted to be over her, but she was still a beautiful woman who’d only managed to get better as she reached her thirties. She’d always been what folks called an old soul. He wouldn’t disagree.
They took a minute to organize the plates and cutlery, balancing the plastic containers that reminded him of school lunch trays but cooler looking and with much better food. But he couldn’t let it go that someone might have been trying to intimidate her?
“Can I ask a personal question?” Audrey asked in between bites.
“Shoot,” he said.
“I thought surely you would be married by now. No wife?”
“You weren’t kidding with the personal question,” he quipped. He held up the third finger on his left hand. “No wife. No tan line. No desire to get married.”
“Really?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” he asked, keeping a watchful eye as folks entered and left Bea’s.
She shrugged. “You just always struck me as the marrying type, I guess.”
“Because of my grandparents?”
“Maybe,” she said after taking another bite.
“What they have is special,” he pointed out. “Not many folks get that. And the few who do, sometimes it gets ripped out from underneath ’em. Take my parents for instance. Now, my father is alive but abandoned his own children after our mother died giving birth.”
“I knew you, your siblings and cousins lived with your grandparents for personal reasons, but I had no idea why,” she admitted, sounding astonished. “You don’t have anything to do with your father?”
