Debra Cowan - Burning Love

“I do.” She glared, stepping around him. “Harris wouldn’t be my ex if it weren’t for you, Terra. He wouldn’t be dead if it weren’t for you, because he would’ve been with me. All I ever wanted was to take care of him.”

There was a difference between taking care of someone and smothering them, Terra thought. “Cecily, I didn’t come here to upset you. We’re trying to find out who would do this to Harris.”

“My marriage was fine until he started spending so much time with you.” She poked a finger in Terra’s chest.

Fury erupted, but Terra stepped back, fighting to rein in the hurt and anger crashing through her. Her hands curled into fists. “Don’t do that again, Cecily.”

Jack firmly gripped the woman’s elbow. “Ms. Vaughn, please try and calm down.”

“You’re the reason he left me in the first place.” The woman’s voice rose high and brittle with anger.

Terra wasn’t going to be drawn into an argument, but she let out a sigh of relief when Jack guided Cecily to the love seat. “Here, take a seat. Let me get you a glass of water or something.”

“No.” She glared through her tears at Terra.

He studied her for a moment, then walked over to Terra. Keeping his back to Cecily, he pitched his voice low. “How do you want to play this?”

His shoulder brushed hers, sparking an unexpected warmth. She forced herself to read his eyes, appreciating the earnestness in the blue depths. “I don’t want her calling a lawyer. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s for the best. She’ll talk to you. I’m only upsetting her.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” She kept her voice low, her stomach knotting at the sound of Cecily’s sobs. Terra felt like doing the same thing. The whole situation was horrible enough. Antagonizing Harris’s ex would only prolong things.

She moved toward the door.

“Where’s she going?” Cecily demanded.

“Outside—”

Terra closed the door on Jack’s soothing tone. As she made her way down the sidewalk toward his pickup truck, anger at Cecily and whoever had killed Harris burned through Terra. She paced from the hood of the blue pickup to the tailgate.

She had to calm down, shake it off. Leaving Cecily’s house was the best thing for the investigation. Terra would be no good to anyone if she were angry. After a few minutes, her anger subsided. The cool night air skipped over her, raising goose bumps on her arms.

She hugged herself against the chill.

Crossing her arms, she walked the sidewalk to the end of the block, then back. She hoped Jack was getting somewhere with Cecily.

A sudden vibration at her hip had Terra grabbing for the cell phone clipped there. “August.”

“Hey, it’s me.” Robin Daly’s normally sunny voice was subdued. “How are you doing today?”

“Okay.” Terra leaned against the truck’s door, grateful for such a good friend.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes, Mom.” Terra laughed, though she couldn’t remember how long ago she’d finished the cheese and crackers she’d grabbed on her way to the office earlier that day.

“Were you able to stop by your place and shower?”

“Yes. I was at the office until just a while ago.”

“I’m off duty and so is Meredith. She doesn’t have to be back at the hospital until tomorrow night. Want to meet us for dinner?”

“I wish I could, but I’m still working.” She, Robin and Meredith Boren had been friends since both the other girls had moved to Presley in junior high. “I came over to interview Harris’s ex.”

“Ugh. How’s that going?”

“I’m outside and she’s inside. What does that tell you?”

“So, who’s interviewing her?”

“Jack Spencer.”

“You’re with Detective Yummy?” Robin squeaked.

It wasn’t her friend’s incredulity, but the nickname, that had Terra grinning. “Detective Yummy? I guess I can see that.”

“I should hope so, since you’re female and still breathing. Well, well, no wonder you don’t want to meet your two best friends for dinner.”

“Hardly.” Terra would rather be with them. She knew what to expect from the two women who’d been her closest friends since eighth grade, who’d seen her through the deaths of her parents and her grandfather, and had been there for her immediately upon hearing about Harris last night.

“…pretty sad.”

“What’s that?” Terra snapped back to Robin’s conversation.

“His wife. She was murdered by one of her social work cases.”

“Murdered? How awful.” An image of Jack’s impenetrable blue gaze flashed in her mind. Was the loss of his wife the reason his eyes were so hard, so old? “When was this?”

“Three or four years ago, I think. He hasn’t dated since then. At least not that anyone knows about.”

“Can’t say I blame him.” Terra’s divorce had left her raw and skittish. The only reason she dated was to keep Robin and Meredith from pulling any matchmaking stunts. She made sure to date men who were interested in temporary fun, just like she was. The instincts she’d honed over the years told her Jack Spencer would be no casual dinner or last-minute movie.

At the sound of a masculine voice, Terra straightened. “Here comes the detective now. Gotta go.”

“Call me when you get home,” Robin said.

“Okay.” Terra disconnected and clipped the phone to the waistband of her jeans.

The light from Cecily’s porch haloed Jack from behind, a hazy outline of broad shoulders and long legs. He moved down the sidewalk toward her, shadows shading the hollows of his cheeks, making his eyes dark and intense.

As he rounded the hood of his truck and opened the driver’s side door, Terra glanced back at Cecily. The woman stood in the doorway. Even from here, Terra could feel the heat of her glare.

Terra climbed into Jack’s truck. Only then did Cecily go inside and close her front door. Terra looked at Jack, jolted by the penetrating stare he aimed past her. “What did you find out?”

“She has my favorite alibi.” That laser-sharp gaze shifted to Terra and she was glad she had nothing to hide. “She was home alone all night.”

“So, we’ll check out her story about her last meeting with Harris.”

“Do you know anything about it?”

“No, but hopefully his neighbors do.”

“We can go there now, if that’s all right.”

“Yes.”

He turned out of the subdivision and headed north on Keller Avenue.

“What else did you learn?”

“Just like you said, she was obsessed with the man.”

“Do you consider her a suspect?”

He paused. “I got a definite read of ‘if I can’t have him, no one can.’ Do you agree?”

“Yes, but do you think she’d kill him?”

“Nothing surprises me anymore,” he said in a weary voice.

Terra now understood the bleakness in his eyes. The loss. Knowing what had happened to his wife tangled something deep inside her.

Keeping things professional was going to be a lot harder than she’d thought. He rattled her and she couldn’t pretend otherwise.

A cell phone chirped and Jack slid it out of his jacket pocket. “Spencer. Hi, Lieutenant.”

After a brief conversation, he hung up. “We just got a call that there’s a homicide about three blocks from here, just south of Tenth.”

“I thought you were off duty.”

“I am, but the other detective on call just started a case on the east side of town by the water tower. I’m next on the on-call list. I really need to check this out. Do you mind?”

She wasn’t about to tell him that she’d welcome anything that got him out of the truck and farther away than the foot that separated them right now. “No, not at all.”