Victoria Pade - Hometown Cinderella

“Some,” Cam conceded. “And that’s it. That’s where the case stands. Except that we’re getting pressure from the FBI and from the state investigators to get things moving on this. The skeletal remains were found at the start of November. Between waiting for the results from forensics and the holiday holdups, and then waiting for you to get here, the last two months and counting have just gone down the drain.”

He said that as if it were entirely Eden’s fault and made her feel the need to justify herself.

“I was working on another case before Christmas and then I had to get back to Hawaii to pack up my house—my whole life really—and arrange to get everything here. I just arrived this morning, driving my car behind the moving van. I had to wait for the truck to be unloaded and as soon as it was, I came here because I know this needs to get underway. If there was too much of a rush to wait for me, you could have had someone else do this for you. It isn’t even my official job anymore, I’ve quit to do other things and only agreed to do this one last case because I’d be in Northbridge anyway and it seemed dumb to make anyone else come in to do it.”

“You are the authority on dumb,” he said under his breath.

No, he hadn’t forgotten a thing….

“And I suppose,” he added facetiously before she could respond to his comment, “that you aren’t curious about any of this yourself.”

Not even disgust disguised the suppleness of lips that were perfectly shaped.

“Of course I’m curious,” Eden said. “I have a personal interest—this is my grandmother. The woman who ran out on my grandfather and abandoned my father and my uncle when they were little boys. And then to think that there’s any possibility that she’s actually been here, that I could have run into her at some point or even know her? Yes, I’m anxious to do this job and see who my grandmother might be. But what I’m saying is—”

“Yeah, I know what you’re saying—that there’s something in it for you but that we should still be grateful to have you.”

He might not be hard on the eyes but he definitely wasn’t going to make this easy.

“No, what I’m saying is that I got here as soon as I could but if that wasn’t good enough, you didn’t need to wait for me.”

“Apparently we did,” he nearly sneered.

Again Eden reminded herself that he had cause to dislike her and bypassed his less-than-subtle display of it. “Well, I’m here now and I’ll get this done. Although probably not before Wednesday because I’ll need a day to get myself organized enough to find the box with my equipment and software—”

“I’m just glad to hear you don’t want to do it this minute. I’d like to get home.”

In other words, he didn’t care about her explanation, he only wanted this meeting finished.

Eden was more than willing to oblige him—a feast for the eyes or not, she was hardly enjoying this.

“I’ve seen what I came to see, I think we’re done here,” she informed him.

“Does that mean I’m dismissed?”

“It just means we’re done for now,” she said with a weary sigh.

“Good,” he decreed, walking out of the small room just like that. Without another word or a backward glance.

Maybe he had some of that stuff fourteen years ago coming, Eden thought, losing her patience as she trailed behind to return to the outer office.

He put on his coat in silence.

Eden put on her coat in silence.

And they both arrived at the door at the same time.

“After you,” he said none too nicely, sweeping a long arm toward the station entrance.

Eden took a breath and held it in order to stay her tongue, preceding him out the door and paying him no attention as she went to her compact car parked in the small lot behind the police station.

Of course, as luck would have it, she was nose to nose with his SUV.

Eden pretended not to notice.

He started his engine.

She started her engine.

And they both arrived at the lot exit at the same time.

Eden motioned for Cam to go ahead of her.

He did, turning right onto South Street.

Eden turned right onto South Street.

He went past Main Street and so did she.

He turned right three blocks after that.

And so did she.

“Oh, don’t tell me…” She moaned a split second before he pulled into one side of the double driveway she shared with her next-door neighbor to the north and she pulled into the other side.

Neck and neck they drove to the matching garages that were separated from each other by mere feet at the rear of the properties.

Eden came to a stop in front of hers.

Cam stopped in front of what was apparently his.

Eden got out of her car.

Cam got out of his SUV.

And they arrived at the rear of their vehicles at the same time.

“You live next door?” she asked, trying to keep her distaste out of her voice. And failing.

He arched an eyebrow. “Nobody told you?”

“No. In fact, I was told someone named Poppazitto owned that house.”

“Right. But I’m renting the place from the Poppazittos with an option to buy when the lease expires in two months.”

“So we’re neighbors,” Eden said, lamenting the fact more to herself than to him.

“Neighbors, but not friends,” he countered, turning on his heel and once again presenting his back to her as he walked away.

And even if it was a very, very fine back, Eden had to fight the inordinate urge to pick up a rock and aim for it.

Cam had done his usual morning workout before he’d gone on duty. But he knew if he didn’t work off some of what Eden Perry had riled up in him he’d never be able to relax, let alone sleep that night. So about eight o’clock he went out the back door of his house and braved the cold January air to cross his yard to the garage.

Both his and Eden’s houses and garages had originally been built by identical twin brothers who had designed the ranch-style houses and the garages to be as much alike as the brothers themselves. Which meant that both garages were single-car sized with a second story containing very small studio apartments. Each apartment was comprised of an open space for a combined living room-bedroom, a tiny bathroom, and a bare-basics kitchen made up of a few cupboards, a sink and a section that could accommodate a refrigerator and a stove.

Cam had had plans to buy the house, garage and apartment at the end of his lease, figuring to eventually add the now-missing stove and refrigerator, and rent the place to a college kid for some extra income. Until then, it was a decent spot for his weights and other gym equipment.

But after spending even a small amount of time that afternoon with Eden Perry he thought he should reconsider buying the place at all and being right next door to her indefinitely.

He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to even live out the next two months of the lease so near to Her Royal Highness The Mighty Forensic Artist.

He slung the towel he’d brought with him over the stand that held his weights, and stripped off his sweats so he was only in gym shorts and a T-shirt. Then he started to do his second warm-up of the day, hoping that exercise would get Eden Perry out of his head. Because that’s where she’d been since the first minute he’d set eyes on her at the station today.

If there were any justice in the world, he thought as he stretched his calf muscles, she would have stayed looking the way she had when she was a teenager—hair that had been such a bright orange and so stick-out-everywhere curly that it had looked as if it belonged on a clown wig, glasses as thick as the bottoms of mayonnaise jars, braces imprisoning crooked teeth, bad skin and a body that had been as flat as a pancake with only knobby knees and pointy elbows to give her any shape at all.