When her best friend goes missing...

...who will answer the call for justice?

Burned by betrayal, investigator Cal Chelsey has ruled out romance. He keeps things strictly business...even when he meets intriguing new client Jaslene Chabot, who is desperate for answers about her friend. As the clock runs down, their attraction deepens as they work long hours. Cal is committed to finding the truth for Jaslene, though it may wind up deadly for them both.

Two-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Quill award winner JENNIFER MOREY writes single-title contemporary romance and page-turning romantic suspense. She has a geology degree and has managed export programs in compliance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for the aerospace industry. She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado, and loves to hear from readers through her website, jennifermorey.com, or Facebook.

Also By Jennifer Morey

Cold Case Detectives

A Wanted Man

Justice Hunter

Cold Case Recruit

Taming Deputy Harlow

Runaway Heiress

Hometown Detective

Cold Case Manhunt

The Coltons of Roaring Springs

Colton’s Convenient Bride

The Coltons of Red Ridge

Colton’s Fugitive Family

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Cold Case Manhunt

Jennifer Morey

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09435-1

COLD CASE MANHUNT

© 2019 Jennifer Morey

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Note to Readers

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

 Change of font size and line height

 Change of background and font colours

 Change of font

 Change justification

 Text to speech

“Not all marriages fail.”

“They say fifty percent fail, but I think that number is closer to eighty.”

Jaslene put her forefinger on his chest. “Maybe you should try to get past your divorce.”

Cal was about to slide his arm around her and give her a kiss she wouldn’t forget. “I am past it.”

“No, you aren’t. You think every woman is as untrustworthy as your ex.”

“Not every woman.” Only the ones who cheated. He left that unspoken.

Rising up onto her toes, she said in a husky tone, “I didn’t cheat.”

He wasn’t sure if she deliberately encouraged him or if her attraction led her, but he didn’t question. He just slid his arm around her waist, pulled her against him and kissed her.

He felt her stiffen and heard her sharp indrawn breath. But if she felt the same fire as him, she’d go with him on this expedition. Sure enough, she relaxed against him and moved her lips with his.

* * *

Dear Reader,

Falling for a man jaded by love can be scary even in real life, but in fiction it makes for great conflict. Nobody wants to get hurt and a wall of protection around a man’s heart can be a challenge to break through. Jaslene breaks through Cal’s with finesse in Cold Case Manhunt. She’s the determined friend of a missing woman who is thrown together with the detective helping her solve the case.

I enjoyed writing this book so much because the winning over of hearts was fueled by an intense search for a killer. I hope you share the wonder.

Jennie

For Mom and Dad,

who are together in the afterlife now.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

The soothing pendant lighting and upscale atmosphere of Pinocchio’s in Chesterville, West Virginia, didn’t cast its usual charm without Payton Everett. Sitting on a leather bistro chair with two of her other friends, Jaslene Chabot would never again joke about their Sex and the City bond. They were one woman short.

Tatum Garvey stirred her speared olives in her martini glass. “I think it’s time to let her go,” Catherine Starr said.

“I can’t let her go.” Jaslene missed Payton terribly and she couldn’t live with the torture of not knowing what had happened to her friend, a reporter for a local newspaper with ambitions, fiery red hair and green eyes. She loved reporting on community issues, ranging from Good Samaritans’ deeds to personal injustices.

“I can’t, either,” Tatum said. A tall, stunning blonde, she’d started her own interior design business and had been featured in a popular home magazine. She dressed to match the part without trying. She had an eye for style. “But why haven’t the cops found her yet?”

Payton had been missing for seven months.

“You two do realize that Payton is dead,” Catherine said. “Right?”

The wife of a successful insurance broker, she had two kids and was trying for a third. She wasn’t as tall as Tatum, but she had pretty dark hair and sparkling gray eyes. She had a way of stating what she thought without censor. While Jaslene took offense, she couldn’t dispute the possibility. She just didn’t want to face that yet.

“You don’t know that for certain,” Jaslene said.

“The detective told you the case had gone cold,” Catherine said.

He’d called her to tell her, as if doing so would make her back off. “Yes. I’m going to go see him tomorrow.”

“You’ve gone to see him a lot and it doesn’t seem to do any good.”

Jaslene eyed Tatum in disgruntlement. No amount of pushing made the case move forward. She couldn’t will it to, either, which highly frustrated her. There weren’t any real leads. Payton’s car had been found at a park. Had she gone for a walk and something happened? She was not the type of person who would run off. Something had to have happened to her, something bad.

“If there is no evidence, no detective alive can make it magically appear,” Catherine said.

“So, you both are just going to...give up?” When both her friends didn’t respond, she grew incensed. “How do you think Payton would feel about that? Her closest friends throw up their hands and assume she’s dead and turn their backs and go on with their lives and forget all about her?”

“That isn’t fair,” Tatum said. “We need to go on with our lives. That doesn’t mean we’ll forget about Payton. She’ll always be one of us.” She spread her hand palm up in a half circle from Jaslene to Catherine.

“I will never give up.” Even Payton’s family had stopped looking. They waited for news from Jaslene, but they had lost hope.

Catherine reached over and put her hand over Jaslene’s. “You were always the closest to her.”

Jaslene slid her hand away, not understanding how Catherine and Tatum could give up so easily. She saw her friends from a different perspective. She had always thought they’d stick together. No matter what. Now that Payton was gone, that no longer applied. It was as though she had been the glue that held the four of them together.

“Well.” Jaslene took out her wallet and put some cash on the table.

“Jaslene,” Tatum protested. “We aren’t turning our backs. We have jobs and families. We can’t take a leave like you did and you have no one waiting for you at home.”

She had taken a leave from her job as an environmental geologist and she was single, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t have done the same if she’d been in a relationship.

Jaslene stood. “I suppose there’s no point in continuing these get-togethers.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” Catherine said. “Of course we should keep meeting. It’s not like we aren’t still friends because Payton isn’t here anymore.”

Jaslene leaned forward, putting her hand on the table. “I’m going to find Payton. Dead or alive.” She straightened. “You two don’t have to help.”

“Jaslene...” Tatum protested.

“Don’t go like this,” Catherine said.

Jaslene turned and walked away.

Neither Catherine nor Tatum tried to stop her. Maybe she was overreacting. But all she had to do was think of how Payton must have, or possibly still, suffered and she had no question in her mind. She would not, not ever, give up. If Payton was still alive, her friend would not want anyone to stop looking for her. And while she most likely was dead after being missing for so long, Jaslene had to know for certain. She would not quit until she did.

She would make the police keep looking and she would push and push and push until they worked as hard as they could to find her. The police assumed she had been abducted somewhere in the park, but there had been no witnesses. No one had seen her there and no one had seen her arrive there.

* * *

“Chief wants to talk to you.”

Calum Chelsey looked up to see the Chesterville chief of police’s assistant standing in front of him, with a cup of coffee.

“What for?”

“Didn’t say.” She turned and walked away. Alice was a prickly sort, tall and skinny with black-rimmed glasses and hair that was always in a tight, black ponytail. He’d heard she was married and had two kids and hoped she was a different person outside of work. Happier.

He stood from his desk and walked to the chief’s office, knocking on the open door.

Chief Moran waved him in. “I emailed you a new case.”

Cal stopped before Moran’s desk. Great. Another case to add to his already full workload. He didn’t mind the amount of work; in fact, most of the cases would be easy to close.

“The mayor wants it resolved as quickly as possible. You know Christopher McBride? He owns that coal-to-fuel plant south of town?”

“I know the plant.”

“His son was killed two nights ago. Shot after leaving a bar. I’m putting you on the case. Only work this, no others.”

“What about the missing person case?” That was the only case that interested him. In truth, he’d been feeling under-challenged in the department.

“I’ve reassigned it.”

That came as a shock to Cal, and a huge disappointment. Had the chief done so because it had gone cold the week after Payton had gone missing, or was it because the request came from the mayor? “Why me?”

“You’re the best detective I have. I know I can count on you.”

“Why is it so important?”

“The mayor wants it solved ASAP.”

Cal didn’t like that. He didn’t respect anyone who put a person’s social standing ahead of crime solving, ahead of victims. “In other words, this Christopher McBride thinks he’s more important than Payton Everett and her family?”

The chief pointed at him. “Don’t start with me.”

“I can work the Everett case, too.” Cal turned and would have left.

Chief Moran said, “Only the McBride case.”

This was what he hated about working for a police department: orders. That and lack of integrity. He’d voiced his honest opinions more than once and knew he’d brushed close to getting fired. He was never fired because he was one of the departments top detectives.

Cal slowly faced the chief. He could not back down now. “I’m not going to stop investigating the Everett case.”

The chief stopped shuffling papers on his desk and met Cal’s eyes squarely. “What’s that I just heard?”

“Who’d you assign the case to?”

“Walsh.”

Walsh didn’t have the experience to take on a case like that. “Don’t bother. I can handle both the McBride and Everett cases.”

“This isn’t about what you can and can’t handle, Chelsey.” The chief’s voice rose with his triggered temper. “This is about what the mayor wants. Now go get to work. I’ve already told McBride you were the best man for the case. He’s waiting to talk to you in the conference room.”

Cal didn’t move. A few days ago, he’d received an offer to join a private firm: Dark Alley Investigations. They had just opened a satellite office in Chesterville and thought that Cal would be a valuable addition. They had contacted him in the past as well, but Cal hadn’t seriously considered it until lately. This was the final nudge to push him over the fence.

“Then you’ll have my letter of resignation by the end of the day. I’m working the Everett case.” Turning once again, he left the office with a wave of relief and the sense that this was the right thing for him.

“Chelsey.”

The chief went to his office door. “Chelsey!”

Cal kept going, noticing other workers stop what they were doing to look and see what the commotion was about. He ignored them all. As he reached the conference room, he saw a man in a black suit standing inside. He spotted Cal and walked to the door as though to greet him.

“Detective Chelsey?”

Cal could see the arrogance in McBride’s brown eyes. He didn’t smile and definitely seemed grief-stricken. Losing his son to murder put the darkness there but hadn’t dimmed the aggression.

“Detective Chelsey?” a woman suddenly called.

He recognized the voice and almost closed his eyes in annoyance. They were coming at him from all directions.

“Chelsey’s going to win a popularity contest today,” one of the other detectives quipped.

He heard Jaslene Chabot rushing his way. He turned to see her marching toward him, golden-blond hair flapping behind her sexy body.

“I’ve just been told nothing will be done on Payton’s case. It’s been moved to another detective?”

He doubted she’d been told nothing would be done. She must have made that assumption. “The case has been reassigned, yes. The new detective will work on it.”

“Why not you?”

Cal glanced at Mr. McBride. “I’ve been assigned to a new case.”

“But...it was my understanding that you have the most experience in this department.”

“That’s why he’s working on my son’s murder,” Mr. McBride said.

Jaslene’s pretty blue eyes moved to that man and then back to Cal. “Payton could have been murdered, too. Why is this case more important?”

“It’s not.”

“He’s already said another detective is working your case,” Mr. McBride said impatiently, then turned to Cal. “Now, if we can get started. I’d like to go over my expectations.”

His expectations?

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Jaslene said. He’d gotten to know her fiery side the very first time they’d met. At first he had been struck by her attractiveness and then they had fallen into a professional relationship, with Jaslene determined to find her missing friend and concerned only about that.

Cal held up his hands. “Hold on a minute. First.” He looked at Mr. McBride. “I’m turning in my resignation today.” Then he looked at Jaslene. “Second, nobody’s case is more important than the other. The only people I care about are the victims.” He turned back to Mr. McBride. “I suggest you remember that.”

“What?” Mr. McBride put his hands on his hips. “You’re what? Quitting? You can’t do that.”

“If you want my services, you’re going to have to go through Dark Alley Investigations.” With that he turned and walked away.

He reached his desk and sat, ready to begin typing his resignation. Jaslene appeared at his desk. She looked contrite.

“Why did you quit?”

“I haven’t yet.” He poised his fingers over the keyboard. “But I’m about to.”

She sat on one of the two uncomfortable metal chairs on the other side of his desk. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to solve the Everett case.”

“Don’t I have to hire you for that?”

“DAI is a nonprofit organization. I can do what I want. The main purpose is to catch killers.”

“But I can still hire you.”

“Yes.”

“I will, but only if you let me help you.”

He could see the determination in her eyes and in the way she held herself, legs crossed, back straight, hands stacked on her leg. Deceptively prim. The thought of working with her every day both gave him a sexual spark and made him wary. Aside from being quite demanding in the search for her friend, she was also standoffish. There were moments when he sensed her attraction to him but she always reined it in before anything progressed into something acknowledgeable—the other side of her fiery spirit. What would he find underneath her ice queen shell?

“You don’t have any experience,” he said.

“I want to be involved.”

“Don’t you mean you want to boss me around?” he half teased.

She sighed in exasperation. “I’m not normally like that. Payton is my friend.”

She never let him forget that. He thought her tenacity was actually refreshing, almost as appealing as her prettiness.

He wouldn’t encourage her, though. “You’ve made that abundantly clear...on many occasions.” He started typing. This would be a short letter.

Alice appeared beside his desk. “The chief wants to see you again.”

“I’m sure he does. Tell him I’ll be there in five minutes.”

When Alice left, Jaslene sat back against the chair, her posture not so rigid anymore. “Look, Detective Chelsey, I know I’ve been pushy. It’s just that...” She sighed and looked away. He thought he saw moisture gather in her eyes before she blinked the emotion into submission. “Last night I met my friends for drinks and they told me I should let Payton go. They don’t think Payton will ever be found. They think she’s dead. They’ve been saying for a while now that they think it was her stalker.”

“Riley Sawyer?”

She nodded, still visibly upset.

Cal had checked Riley out early on, having read in the police report that he had dated Payton for almost a year. When she ended the relationship, he began following her everywhere and parking outside her house, looking into windows. She had gotten a restraining order against him. Things had escalated, with him breaking into her house and pleading for them to get back together. At the time, Payton had been on the phone with Jaslene, who’d called the police. Riley had been arrested. That was the last time he’d attempted to see Payton.

“He is still a person of interest in my mind,” Cal said. “He had a weak alibi and he had motive. But there’s no concrete physical evidence tying him to the crime, as you know.”

“Too well.”

There had been no sign of a struggle, no blood, no prints, nothing broken. Nothing. That had been the frustration with this case all along.

“My friends have given up. I haven’t,” she said.

“They’re probably concerned over how obsessed you are over the case.”

“I wouldn’t call it obsession.”

Cal refrained from comment, but Jaslene watched him and must have picked up on the general direction of his thoughts.

“I’ve known Payton since high school. We went to the same college, where we met two other friends and rented a house together. Payton and I did a lot together. We were going to get married on the same day in the same church and have kids the same age. Tatum and Catherine don’t understand. They haven’t known her as long as I have.”

“Well, I understand.” He understood about not giving up on the missing. Not giving up on the dead.

Her eyes softened, full of relief and gratitude. Her mouth lifted in the most tender smile, and he was enraptured.

“Have you eaten lunch yet?” he asked.

“No.”

“Why don’t we go grab something and talk about how we’re going to proceed?”

Her smile broadened, snaring him further. “Okay.”

“I just need to resign first.”

She laughed. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

* * *

Jaslene did not expect Cal to turn out to be such a warmhearted soul. Whenever she met him before, he had always been professional and only focused on the case. Today his demeanor seemed...more personal. Maybe being freed from the police department had done that. She had always thought he was the best detective for Payton’s case. He had done more than anyone else in searching for her.

She believed him when he’d said he only cared about the victims. He also showed compassion for her. She hadn’t expected that, or the sudden flash of attraction that had come over her. She’d thought he was a good-looking man from the very beginning, but she had been so intent on finding Payton that it hadn’t mattered.

Now Cal had quit his job and was joining a private investigation agency, taking Payton’s case with him. He’d become her champion.

He came out of the station with the same hard set to his eyes she’d always found so unreadable. Now he just looked sexy. Six-four with dark hair and blue eyes a shade lighter than hers, he dressed in slacks and a suit and tie. When he’d first introduced himself he’d said, I’m Detective Calum Chelsey, but call me Cal.

“There’s a good deli just up the street,” he said.

“Okay.” She walked with him, feeling self-conscious of her appearance. Did she look good enough? Why did she worry about that when she was with him?

“Are you from here?” he asked on the way.

“Yes. My family lives here. You?”

“No. I’m from Texas. I like not being close to my family.”

“Black sheep, huh? My family is very close. I’m the second youngest of four very different people who all got varying professional degrees.” Talking eased her nerves. Why was she nervous anyway?

At the deli, they ordered and found a table next to the window. Although a clear day, it was chilly and she could feel the cold air radiating inside. Winter had set in early this year. She saw snowflakes and dead leaves blow across the street, whipped up by passing cars.

“What about you?” Cal asked. “You said you were a geologist but what do you do?”

“I’m an environmental geologist. I work with renewable energies at a consulting firm.”

“Interesting.”

“I’ve always loved earth science. At the risk of sounding insensitive, in college, I was not very interested in the environment but those were the hot jobs at the time. I care about the environment, but as a science it isn’t very fascinating. I need that kind of stimulation. I don’t do meditation well. Sometimes I think I should have gotten into seismology or something.”

“You would have had to move away from Chesterville. Not much earthquake activity here.”

She smiled. Moving away had never occurred to her. She enjoyed being with her family, especially her parents. She couldn’t imagine not being able to stop by for tea in the sunroom with her mother. They could talk for hours.

“Why don’t you like your family?”

“I like them...well, sort of.” He grinned. “My dad loves the NRA and ranching. He’s ex-military, so he was always very strict. That I didn’t mind so much. Guns have their usefulness but being an NRA fanatic goes too far in my opinion. My younger brother loves guns, like my dad, and capitalism. They are both executives at the same oil company. Corbin followed in Dad’s footsteps. They are both very successful. I never wanted to be an executive. I wanted to make more of a difference than a ton of money. My dad and I had a lot of arguments about my career choice.”

“What about your mother? Surely you like her.”

He chuckled briefly. “Of course. She didn’t have to work, but the ranch keeps her busy. She always let Dad make all the big decisions when it came to us. I guess I resented her for that, but not anymore. She was a great mom.”

He seemed to like his family more than he let on. He might have a rift with his father and maybe his brother, but what family didn’t have their differences?

“Is it just you and your brother?” she asked, wondering why she was so curious. They had never talked like this before.

“I have a little sister. She is the ranch manager. I’m probably closest with her.”

“And you’re a homicide detective.” Jaslene pondered that a moment. “Why?”

“My grandfather was murdered. He was in a convenience store when some robbers arrived. He tried to stop them and one of them shot him. I was very close to him. It changed me. Losing him that way.”

“I’m so sorry.” She could feel his sorrow. Even after all these years he still missed his grandfather. Jaslene averted her gaze as she thought of her own loss. Her husband had been murdered, too. Before that all-too-familiar pain overtook her, she smothered it as she usually did.

“It made me want to go after every thug who hurt anyone,” Cal said. “I still do. Joining DAI will allow me to help more people who have nowhere else to turn. That will give me the most gratification.”

She had sensed that in him early on, his determination to catch criminals. He had gone after Payton’s missing persons case with an aggression she had not seen in other officers. She had never doubted him when he said the case had gone cold. She had despaired numerous times but had never had any reason to fault him. He had left no stone unturned.

As they finished and left the restaurant, Jaslene marveled how much things had changed in less than a day. This morning she hadn’t thought much of Cal Chelsey. Now she saw him in a completely different way. Maybe it was his understanding over the way she felt about losing Payton. Maybe it was his devotion to victims of violent crimes.

“This is my car.” She stopped at her sage-green Jeep Renegade.

“I’ll call you when I have an office set up,” he said.

This felt like the end of a really good date, connecting on a more personal level than they had ever before. She wondered if he felt it, too. He stood a little close to her, just outside the driver’s side door. His blue eyes sort of twinkled as he took in her face.

“Okay,” she said at last, looking at his lips.

When she lifted her eyes, she saw his flare with unmistakable desire. Hot tingles spread through her in instant response. Flustered, she dug in her purse for her keys and dropped them when she lifted them out.

He bent at the same time and their heads bonked.

Laughing and holding her head, she let him pick up her keys, hearing his deep chuckle. He unlocked her door and opened it for her.

Holding out her hand, she waited for him to drop her keys there. He did, his rougher fingers brushing hers and stirring more hot tingles.

She climbed into her Jeep and he shut her door. She looked at him through the glass, watching him back up and then step onto the sidewalk, then started the engine, needing to catch her breath.

As she backed out of the parking space and began to drive away, she wondered what had just happened. Why him and why now?

She didn’t have an answer, but she began to look forward to his call. Then she remembered her husband.

Chapter 2

“So, the Ice Queen isn’t as icy as you thought.”

Cal glanced over at Roman Cooper, who had finished moving his things into his office next to Cal’s at Dark Alley Investigations. He wished he hadn’t told him about the drastic change in Jaslene.

“No. We ended up having a great time.” Cal shook his head. “She was a completely different woman.”

“She liked the news of you coming over to DAI, huh?”

“Maybe that’s all she liked. She hired me.”

Roman chuckled. “Don’t take it too hard. My bet is she’s like you and something happened to make her turn away from love.”

Had he turned away from love or just accepted that in his line of work it would take a rare woman to stick it out with him?

The front door opened and Jaslene appeared, wearing black slacks and a white-and-black-patterned blouse with a V-neck. Dressier than the last time he’d seen her, than any other time he’d seen her. Maybe something other than new hope for progress in the Everett case had changed her perspective. Had she worn this for him? While excitement over what could come zinged him, he held on to caution.

Someday, though, he’d like to see her in a little black number.

She looked around the new DAI office. He and Roman had rented a small space on Main Street, in the middle of a row of old, connected commercial spaces. It had a single door and window in front with room for a table where they could meet with clients. Two doors in back led to their offices and a hallway between led to a door that opened to a dark, creepy alley. They planned to do some upgrades but it would do for now.

As Jaslene approached Cal, he sensed her walls had gone back up. She didn’t smile and he saw none of the sparkle that had been there a few days ago. Did she mean to keep this professional? They had started to get pretty personal.

“Come on into my office,” he said, seeing Roman watching, an amused upward tilt to his mouth.

She followed him and he closed the door, ignoring Roman’s mock shiver and rubbing of his arms. Ice Queen. Except Cal didn’t think she was icy anymore. When he had told her about his grandfather, her sincere sympathy had touched him. He wondered what losses she had suffered to make her so compassionate.

Jaslene sat on the only chair before his desk. His bookshelf and desk took up most of the space.

“Have you made any progress?” she asked.

So they were back to that, with her barking at him to get things done. She may have dressed for him but she was in attack mode. Good thing he had news for her. Potentially big news.

“As a matter of fact...” He leaned to one side of his desk and found a report he’d printed yesterday. “Remember when I had Payton’s house searched?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I didn’t tell anyone that I thought it had already been searched.”

Her brows lowered. “Why not? That seems like an important detail.”

“It is.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to be sure first. I also didn’t want the press to leak it out.” He felt like asking her if she remembered when he almost kissed her at her Jeep the other day.

“Oh.” Her brow smoothed. “What is that?” She indicated the report.

“This is what Forensics recovered from Payton’s computer. I asked them to do a deeper dive to search for evidence.” He put it in front of her. “There were several emails deleted from her inbox, including some from her sent and trash folders. Forensics was able to recover enough to show Payton was in contact with a man named John Benjamin.”

“She never told me about anyone named John.”

Payton had kept it secret that she’d been corresponding with a man? Why? Why hide that, especially from her closest friend?

“Then it’s possible she was the one who deleted everything.”

Jaslene shook her head. “Why not just delete her received messages from her inbox? She must have had a reason she didn’t tell me, or anyone, about him.”

“And maybe that reason got her killed?”

She nodded, reading the report.

“John Benjamin is a local physician,” Cal said. “A married physician.”

Jaslene looked up sharply from the report. “Payton was seeing a married man?”

“It’s hard to say what the nature of their relationship was, but it was more personal than a doctor-patient relationship. Go to the third page.”

She did and he let her have time to read the email correspondence. Payton had started the chain by thanking him for lunch and saying they should do that again sometime. The doctor responded with an offer for dinner and Payton had agreed. The doctor said he would call her.

“They made arrangements to meet,” she said.

“Yes. We just don’t know why.”

“If she was seeing a married man, I can see why she didn’t tell me about him. It must have bothered her.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think he may have killed her because she planned to tell his wife?”

“Like I said, hard to say. Dr. Benjamin is quite successful. He owns several medical clinics, one here in Chesterville where he has an office, and in other states. He’s a family doctor and employs home health care providers. He’s got two kids and lives in a large home in Riverbend, one of Chesterville’s most prestigious neighborhoods. His house would probably sell for over a million.”

“Was Payton having an affair with a rich doctor?”

“It may not have been sexual.” Cal stood and took his suit jacket from the back of his chair and put it on. “Let’s start with a conversation with him. See what he says.”

* * *

Dr. Benjamin’s local office building was large and recently constructed. Jaslene walked inside when Cal opened the door for her. She tried not to react the way she had the other day, but every time he did something chivalrous like that she suffered an onslaught of warm-to-hot tingles. She did, however, manage to not let him know with any visible shiver or glance. She needed to keep this all business.

They were told the doctor was with a patient and waited. After thirty minutes, a nurse came out and called Cal’s name.

Dr. Benjamin sat at his desk, working on his computer. He had thick, brown hair cut neat and short and hazel eyes, probably in his late forties, maybe early fifties and in good shape. He was handsome enough, but Jaslene failed to see what could have attracted Payton to a man like him.

He stood, allowing Jaslene to see he wore dark gray slacks and was about six feet tall. “My nurse said this was urgent. You’re from where?” he asked. “Some kind of investigation agency?”

“Cal Chelsey. Dark Alley Investigations.” He reached out his hand.

The doctor took it. “What’s Dark Alley Investigations?”

Cal removed his wallet and took out a business card, handing that over. “It’s an independent investigations agency that specializes in cold cases.”

He turned to Jaslene and lifted her hand. “And you are?”

“Jaslene Chabot.”

“A pleasure to be sure.” He kissed the top of her hand. “What is a beautiful woman like you doing with a private detective?”

Jaslene pulled her hand away. His charms might work on some women but not her.

“I’m investigating Payton Everett’s disappearance. Jaslene was one of her close friends.”

“Payton? She is a patient of mine.” The doctor’s gaze shifted to Cal and his brow wrinkled. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

“When is the last time you spoke with or saw her?” Cal asked.

The doctor thought a moment. “Gosh. It’s been months. I don’t recall exactly. I could have my receptionist check.”

“Is the only time you saw her when she came in for appointments?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re saying you never met her for lunch or dinner?”

“Met her?”

He had to be acting. Payton had thanked him for lunch and he’d invited her for dinner. Had he called her? Had another meal taken place?

“I had a forensics team take a look at Payton’s computer and we found several emails had been deleted from all the folders in her account.”

Jaslene noticed how Cal waited for any kind of reaction from the doctor. She didn’t see any. He looked confused.

“The emails that were deleted were correspondence between you and Payton. You had lunch with her and made arrangements to meet her for dinner.”

The doctor lifted his head as though something finally dawned on him. “Ah. Yes. I did meet her for lunch. She needed a chiropractor, so I planned to introduce her to one.”

Jaslene remembered Payton had mentioned wanting to find a chiropractor, though she hadn’t mentioned what doctor she was seeing or that she’d met him.

“The chiropractor couldn’t make it, though.”

“So it was just you and Payton,” Cal said.

“Yes.”

“Were you having an affair with her?” Jaslene asked.

The doctor turned to her. “I’m married.”

“That’s why I called it an affair.”

“I could lose my medical license having affairs with patients.”

He hadn’t really answered the question. Was he avoiding the truth? Or had he just admitted to an affair by way of omission?

“Did you see her again after you had lunch?” Cal asked.

“I don’t remember. I don’t think so.”

He didn’t remember? Jaslene didn’t believe him.

“Did you meet her outside the office any other time before that?” Cal asked.

The doctor hesitated. “You said Payton has been missing?”

“Yes. For seven months now.”

“I didn’t know.” His head lowered as though he fell into thought. “She is a lovely woman. I enjoyed our friendship.”

“You were friends?” Cal asked.

“Not close. Otherwise I’d have known she went missing, wouldn’t I?”

“One would think,” Cal said. “Do you always meet patients outside your clinic?”

“Not always. Payton didn’t have time to drive to the clinic so I told her I’d meet her. That’s when we had lunch.”

“Did you meet her any other times or for any other reasons?” Cal asked again.

Jaslene wondered if Cal was trying to fool him into answering or catch him in a lie.

“Are you asking me these questions because you think I had something to do with her disappearance?”

“Did you?” Cal asked.

“No. If the police want to question me, then they can. As far as I can see, I don’t have to answer any of yours.”

Clearly they would get nowhere with this man. Why had he initially denied meeting Payton?

* * *

Cal opened the door for Jaslene as they left the medical building, seeing how she flashed a glance at him as she passed. The side of her breast brushed his arm and her gaze turned smoky. He felt his own reaction to that, an ignition of desire he had to quickly squash.

“What do you think?” she asked as they walked toward his SUV.

“That it’s strange he met Payton outside of the clinic and didn’t have an affair with her.” And that he was so evasive about meeting her at all.

“And that he wouldn’t say whether he met Payton outside the office more than once.”

He glanced at her with a nod. She had echoed his next thought. “Yes, that, too.” Did he not admit to an affair to protect his marriage? Had neither told anyone about it or had there really been no affair? Even if they had, keeping it secret didn’t mean he killed her. He also could have been evasive for the same reason—to protect his marriage.

“Payton isn’t the kind of woman who’d tell her lover’s wife,” Jaslene said. “She wouldn’t threaten to, either. I’d be more inclined to believe she was the one who ended the relationship because it was wrong.”

“If there was an affair.”

“There had to have been. Why else would he have skirted around the questions?” she asked.

“I’m leaning toward affair as well, but he may not have anything to do with Payton’s disappearance. He may only want to protect his marriage.” Cal was on the fence as to whether his sense of suspicion held any merit.

“How far would he go to do that?” She stopped walking all of a sudden.

Cal followed her gaze to a man sitting in an old Ford pickup, smoking a cigarette and watching them. He wore a baseball hat over brown hair and Cal knew from the files he had read that his eyes were also brown. He was five-ten and a scrawny hundred and seventy-five pounds.

Riley Sawyer.

“I saw him about a month ago. He was standing on the sidewalk in front of my house.”

“Watching you?”

She nodded. “I threatened to call the police and he left, but not before telling me it was my fault Payton was dead. He said if I hadn’t interfered, they would still be together and she would have never been kidnapped.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jaslene turned to look at him. “I only saw him that one time.”

“But he threatened you.”

“He’s not the sharpest cheese in the deli. He was always overreacting when he was with Payton. I thought it was a onetime thing and he was eliminated as a suspect. If I saw him again, I would have told you.”

“If anything happens that seems off, no matter how insignificant it is, tell me.”

She nodded. “He blamed me for Payton’s death. That means he’s upset she’s gone. Why would he kill her?”

“Why does anyone kill? He might have realized he would never have her again and then decided he had to make sure no one else would, either. He may have killed her in the heat of passion. Maybe he didn’t mean to.”

He saw Jaslene consider that as her expression turned graver. Riley puffed on his cigarette, still calmly watching them. What a creepoid.

She rubbed her arm as though chilled.

Riley threw out his cigarette and formed a gun with his hand, pulling an imaginary trigger as he aimed at Jaslene.

Jaslene inhaled. “Did he just...”

Incensed that the man would dare to make such a gesture, Cal started walking toward him. Riley pulled out onto the street and vanished into traffic.

Returning to Jaslene, he put his hand on her lower back and guided her toward his SUV.

“We’ll take another look at his alibi.”

She didn’t respond but he felt her lean a little closer to him. “Doesn’t it scare you to chase after people like that?”

He opened the passenger door for her but she didn’t get in. She faced him.

“No. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush at first but I got used to it.”

“In Texas? What did you do there?”

“I joined the army reserves. Did that part-time while I went to college for criminal justice. After that I was a state trooper for a few years before I became a ranger.”

“And then you came here?”

“Hop in.” He didn’t feel like talking about that right now. Not only was it too personal, it also dredged up memories he didn’t want in his head.

She eyed him peculiarly before climbing up into the SUV. He walked around the front and got in beside her, starting the engine.

“Why here?” she asked. “You could go anywhere to get away from your family. Why Chesterville?”

“My ex-wife’s family lives here.”

A heavy silence passed. With a sigh, Cal didn’t pull out into traffic. Now she’d be too curious to let it go. That was another bad memory he didn’t want cluttering his head.

“You were married?” she asked.

“Divorced. Two years ago.”

“Oh.”

Was he mistaken or did she sound relieved? He looked at her. With her head bent and hands in her lap, she seemed sad. Why?

“Are you all right?”

“I was married, too,” she said quietly.

“Did you have as much fun with your divorce as I did with mine?” he asked, his voice full of sarcasm.

“I wasn’t divorced. My husband was shot during a road rage incident. Also two years ago.”

Cal felt like an ass. “I’m sorry.”

“Two other drivers were driving erratically. My husband was on his way home from work and was caught between them. The one with the gun passed my husband’s car on the passenger side and the other road rager passed him on the driver’s side. The shooter shot and hit Ryan.”

That was terrible. She must still be heartbroken. Roman had them both pegged. Something had happened to make Jaslene shy away from love, just like him. She had a bigger reason. How devoted was she to her late husband?

She had to be dealing with some serious grief, or had over the last two years. And now she would likely have to bury another person she loved.

“Jaslene, you should prepare yourself for not finding Payton alive. In most cases when a victim is missing this long, we’re looking for a body, not a live person.”

She met his gaze unhappily. “I know.”

He reached over and put his hand on hers, taking it and giving her a supportive squeeze. She smiled, still sadly, but he could tell his action touched her. It had been a long time since he’d connected with anyone, a woman. Betrayal had made him withdraw from getting too personal.

“Talking to that doctor made me realize something.”

“What?” What could a doctor, a stranger, have to say that would give her an epiphany?

“If he did have an affair with Payton, it wasn’t planned. Payton wouldn’t have gotten involved with a married man if she could have avoided falling for him. And Dr. Benjamin seems like a nice person. He didn’t get insulted when we asked him about an affair.”

“He has a good bedside manner.” A man like that could fool a lot of women.

“But I can see how it could happen. I know how it can happen.”

She turned her head and looked out the window, putting her hand to her mouth. He could feel her tension.

“What do you mean you know?” He began to get a bad feeling about this. Did she have something else she’d kept hidden, like the good doctor had?

“Before my husband was killed...”

He predicted what she would say and everything in him went rigid.

“Let me guess...you had an affair.” Just when he thought he’d connected with another woman she turned around and revealed she was no different from his ex-wife. That’s why he didn’t date much. He didn’t trust women. He preferred to have solid confidence that his significant other wasn’t the type to sneak around with other men.

She looked at him. “It’s not what you think.”

He yanked the gear into Reverse and backed out onto the street. “It never is.”

“Why are you so mad?”

“Thanks for being so honest. I do appreciate that.” He couldn’t help snapping at her as he drove down the street.

“Wha—How dare you!”

“How dare I? You’re the one who cheated on her husband right before he got himself shot to death. Did he know?”

Her mouth had dropped open.

“Did he?”

“No.”

What was that old saying? Once a cheater, always a cheater? Cal would be sure to steer wide and clear of this one.

“I didn’t cheat,” she said. “Not really.”

He wanted to ask her what her definition of “not really” was. “Did you kiss him?”

Her lack of reply gave him the answer he needed.

“Why are you so mad? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“That’s exactly what my wife said when I read her text messages with another man.”

“Ah.” Jaslene nodded. “That’s why you were divorced. Your wife cheated and now you think every woman is the same.”

“Not every woman. Only the ones who cheat.”

She gaped at him again. He could feel her anger and outrage and wondered why. How could she find herself faultless?

“You don’t even know what happened.”

He didn’t need to.

“My wife tried to tell me her excuses, too. I didn’t want to hear any details. After I found the texts, I followed her. What I saw with my own eyes was plenty.”

“You saw them...naked?”

“No. I saw them start to get undressed in a bedroom. His bedroom. When I confronted her later, she denied it until I threw the text messages in her face and told her I saw her. Then she admitted it. I left and filed for a divorce the next day.”

“Wow. You are bitter.”

“Wouldn’t you be?” Cal didn’t even like thinking his ex-wife’s name. She was just his past now.

After several seconds she said quietly, “Yes.” And then after additional seconds, she added, “But I wouldn’t be so quick to judge others who once found themselves in awkward situations.”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t want to hear her side of the story. The only side he’d like to hear was her husband’s, but he was dead and didn’t even know his wife had been unfaithful. Still, there was something in the way she’d said she hadn’t done anything wrong. Did she mean because she hadn’t slept with another man, only kissed him? He didn’t care. She’d said it herself: she’d found herself in an awkward situation and didn’t have enough respect for the man she married to stop things from escalating. Bitter? Oh, yeah. He was bitter, all right. Every time he met a woman like Jaslene, someone he might be able to get intimate with, he was reminded of the pain he had suffered.

Cal had made himself a promise that if he ever found another woman, he could trust he’d be sure of two things. One, she would need to handle his work schedule; and two, he wouldn’t choose someone who would ever cheat. He’d stay true to that promise. He’d rather be alone than risk that kind of betrayal again. Funny, before he’d caught his former wife with another man, he never imagined how much it would bother him. He supposed no one did...until it happened to them.

That’s what Jaslene didn’t understand. She didn’t realize the consequences of immoral, disrespectful decisions, what they did to those closest, to the one they married and once claimed to love.

Cal had realized something about himself, thanks to his ex-wife. Honor and integrity, the truth, were far more important to him than love. These feelings of attraction he had for Jaslene had to stop. He could never get involved with a woman like her.

Chapter 3

The next day, Jaslene put one harness boot down onto the slushy pavement and alighted from Cal’s SUV. She couldn’t look at him without anger flaring. She didn’t tell him what happened in her awkward situation because he had labeled her without having the facts.

“I’ll be back in about an hour,” he said.

She turned back to see his handsome face, dark hair neatly trimmed and blue eyes glowing even on this dreary day. Irritation joined her temper. Why on earth was he still so attractive to her?

“Okay.” She hated how attracted she was to him, a man who was so quick to judge.

Shutting the door harder than necessary, she ducked her head from the spitting snow and hurried into Pinocchio’s. The hostess led her to where Catherine and Tatum already sat at a tall bistro table along the front window.

“Sorry I’m late.” She sat on a chair next to the window, feeling a chill radiating through the glass.

“Who’s the hottie?” Tatum asked, as Cal pulled out into a break in traffic, windshield wipers swiping big snowflakes clear.

Jaslene watched him disappear up the road, his profile blurred by moisture on the windows of the car and the restaurant, but still managing to imprint on her brain.

“Detective Chelsey,” she said tersely, hanging her purse on the back of the chair.

“The detective you’ve been complaining about?” Catherine asked.

Jaslene shrugged out of her long black jacket and let it fall over the back of the chair, wishing they wouldn’t go there.

“You’re kind of edgy,” Tatum said. “Is he still going nowhere with the case?”

“He dropped her off for lunch,” Catherine pointed out. “They’ve been getting close.”

Tatum observed Jaslene, scrutinizing her. “Have you?”

“You look nice today,” Catherine said.

“She does,” Tatum added.

“Would you two stop?” Jaslene had worn a long black sweater over heavy tights, nothing sexy but she wouldn’t admit she’d taken more care getting ready today than she usually did. She wanted to make Cal squirm somehow for the things he had said to her.

“What happened to you?” Catherine asked with a sly smile.

“Nothing. What do you mean?”

“You haven’t had a single nice thing to say about that detective and now he’s dropping you off for lunch?” Catherine said. “Where were you before that? Obviously you were with him.”

“I was at his new office. He left the force to join a private detective agency.”

“Ooh, a man of action.” Tatum fanned herself. “Apparently, he’s not the slacker you had him made out to be.”

“I never thought he was a slacker.” Jaslene looked for a waitress, eager to get on with this before her friends exaggerated her relationship with Cal. Just because he dropped her off didn’t mean there was something romantic going on between them.

“Not smart, then,” Catherine said.

“No, I never thought that, either.” She had always thought he was shrewdly intelligent. “He just seemed to...not care very much, or...not have any feelings about anything, really. But he quit the force because his boss was going to reassign him.”

Tatum drew her head back and Catherine froze as she lifted her water glass.

“Wow. He...quit his job for you?” Tatum asked.

“No, not for me. To investigate freely.” Her annoyance came out in her tone.

Tatum looked at Catherine at the same time Catherine looked at her, and then they both returned skeptical gazes to Jaslene.

“He only cares about the victims. He said so himself,” Jaslene said.

“Did you have sex with him?” Tatum asked.

The question stunned her. “No!” How could they ask such a thing? She hadn’t thought about sex with another man since before her husband died. She had felt the urge in her awkward situation and felt guilty about that to this day. But Cal had no right to judge her.

“I thought he wasn’t doing anything to solve Payton’s missing person case,” Catherine said. She was always so practical.

“I thought he wasn’t, either, but it turns out he was. He found evidence Payton’s house and laptop might have been searched before police got there.”

“My, oh my, he is smart,” Catherine gushed.

The waitress came to deliver Jaslene a water. She hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.

“Was anything missing that police didn’t notice?” Tatum asked.

“I don’t think so, but Payton was in contact with a man she never told me about. Did she ever mention she was seeing anyone to you?”

Tatum shook her head.

“No,” Catherine said. “Did your detective find out she was?”

“We know she met a Dr. John Benjamin for lunch one day. He denies having any relationship with her and says she was his patient, but I can’t get past how odd it is that she met him for lunch. He claims it was to introduce her to a chiropractor, but the chiropractor never showed up.”

“I agree it’s odd she met her doctor for lunch.”

“She would have told us if she was seeing anyone,” Catherine said.

“Dr. Benjamin is married.” Jaslene waited for that to sink in.

Tatum drew her head back in surprise and Catherine just stared at Jaslene.

“Payton was having an affair with a married man?” Catherine said. “That is so not like her.”

“I know,” Jaslene agreed. “I think that’s why she didn’t tell us.”

“Wait a minute.” Tatum leaned forward on her elbows. “You’re not saying you think the doctor kidnapped her and maybe killed her, are you?”

“What if Payton threatened to tell his wife?” Jaslene wanted to hear what her friends would say. “Maybe he told her he would leave his wife and then she found out he had no intention of doing it.”

Catherine shook her head this time. “She wouldn’t do that.”

Jaslene didn’t think so, either, but she’d wanted to know what they both thought.

“There’s something else,” Jaslene said. “I saw Riley the other day. He made a pistol with his hands and mimicked shooting me.”

“Oh, that slithering snake.” Catherine made a face.

“Why is Riley stalking you now?” Tatum asked.

“Did you tell the police?”

“Cal knows. I saw him outside my house a month ago, too. I’ve seen him around town, just random run-ins, like normal. But he stops and watches me, like he used to do to Payton. He’s never made shooting gestures to me before. I guarantee you, I’d have told the cops if he did. There’s nothing anyone can do about a man who’s doing what he normally does in town and happens to run into me.”

“He’d like to kill you,” Catherine said. “Isn’t that what his little gesture means?”

“That’s how I took it,” Jaslene said. “He had an alibi, but Cal is going to look into that again.”

“It makes more sense that Riley had something to do with Payton’s disappearance than a married doctor she might have been experimenting with sexually,” Catherine said.

“Cal?” Tatum queried. “You just called your detective ‘Cal.’”

“Detective Chelsey.”

“You’re calling each other by first names now?” Tatum teased. “Ooh la la.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Stop it.” Her friends knew her well enough to pick up on undercurrents.

“What’s been going on between the two of you?” Tatum asked.

“Nothing.” Her response, if she was truthful, would be wild attraction—before he had insulted her, but she would rather not go there.

Both Catherine and Tatum pinned her with doubtful gazes.

“Nothing,” she repeated.

Tatum cocked her head dubiously and Catherine started to smile.

“Nothing is going on,” Jaslene almost snapped.

“He’s very good-looking,” Tatum said.

“And manly,” Catherine added. She’d married a tall man herself.

“There’s nothing going on between us,” Jaslene insisted. “In fact, I told him about Ansel and he assumed I cheated on my husband.”

“You almost did,” Tatum said.

Jaslene lowered her head with the pang of grief and regret that fact instilled. She felt like she had cheated. And Cal was right. Her husband had died not knowing the truth.

Tatum reached over and put her hand over Jaslene’s. “I’m sorry. I know what a sensitive subject that is for you.”

“You didn’t cheat on Ryan,” Catherine said. “Ansel kissed you. You didn’t kiss him. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jaslene wished her heart would believe that. True, she hadn’t been the one to initiate the kiss, but what it had made her feel was the part that felt wrong.

“I asked my husband what he would do if something like that happened to me,” Catherine said. “He told me he’d beat the hell out of the man and make sure I felt loved.” She smiled, full of affection for her man.

Had Jaslene’s husband made her feel loved? Ryan had been a geologist like her. They’d gone to school together. Sometimes she thought both of them having the same profession wasn’t such a good thing. They’d both had different ideas on certain earth processes, for one. For example, he supported global warming and had conviction that would be the cause of an apocalypse. She agreed humans were responsible for climate change, but she also thought the earth was far more powerful than any human influence. People would heat up the earth, but that didn’t mean the planet would come to an end. The earth would recover, even if humanity did not.

She and Ryan had argued often. Jaslene had fallen in love with his intelligent mind and his dark good looks. Best friends, they’d shared a love of nature. But had that been enough? Why had another man sent sparks, which she had never felt with Ryan, chasing through her? She had liked Ryan’s lovemaking and his kisses. But she hadn’t been transported to outer space. She wasn’t sure Ansel could have done that, either, but he had gotten off to a good start with that kiss.

“Well, you aren’t a cheater,” Tatum said. “You have integrity and respect for others. You don’t have it in you.”

“Tell that to Cal.” Jaslene smiled to cover the sick feeling churning her stomach.

“Something tells me he’s going to discover that on his own,” Catherine said. “He doesn’t know what he has yet.”

What did he have? Her? Not yet, and Jaslene wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to, since he thought so little of her now, without any details on what had really happened with Ansel.

* * *

Dr. Drake Faulkner, the chiropractor Benjamin had recommended for Payton, welcomed Cal into his office. He closed the door, muffling the sounds of voices considerably. Dr. Faulkner was almost six feet and fit, with salt-and-pepper hair and titanium glasses.

“Thanks for seeing me.” Cal sat on a chair, taking in the stacks of files on the desk and cluttered windowsills. Outside, the snow had picked up, flakes hitting and melting against the glass.

“My receptionist told me it was important...related to a missing person who may have been a patient of mine?”

“Yes. Payton Everett.”

The doctor’s interest perked up. “She wasn’t a patient of mine. She was referred to me but never came to see me. Seems I can’t help you after all.”

“I think maybe you can. What can you tell me about Dr. Benjamin?”

“What do you want to know?”

Rather than say he needed to know everything, Cal started with “Did he ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch?”

The doctor hesitated. “Yes, but I refused.”

“You refused or didn’t show up?”

The doctor leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Mr. Chelsey, Dr. Benjamin asked me to meet with a potential patient. I found that ethically insulting, not to mention a risk to my practice.”

“Why did you think it was ethically insulting?”

“Because I don’t have personal relationships with my patients. If he intended to refer her to me, then why do it over lunch?”

“Why did Dr. Benjamin ask you to meet her?”

“Maybe he liked her. I don’t know.” Dr. Faulkner leaned back.

“What was the nature of your association with Benjamin?”

“I worked for him when I opened my practice, but I went out on my own because I didn’t agree with his philosophy...like meeting patients for lunch.”

Cal believed that. “Do you know if he had any kind of personal relationship with Payton beyond meeting her for lunch?”

“No. Like I said, she never came to see me and I went out on my own shortly after that incident.” He tapped his fingers on the end of the armrest.

“If you worked for him, why the need for a referral?”

“His company is large and includes several clinics and practices. He had a referral program set up between them all.”

He seemed agitated. “Why did Benjamin ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch? Why not just refer her to you like a normal doctor?”

Faulkner grunted derisively, his fingers stilling. “You just answered your own question, Mr. Chelsey. There’s nothing normal about Dr. Benjamin. He’s not a man who lives by any rules other than the ones he makes up himself.”

A lot of criminals embarked on their wayward careers with that kind of mentality. Could Dr. Benjamin be behind Payton’s disappearance? If he liked her as Dr. Faulkner suggested, that would be highly unlikely. Unless Payton posed a threat to him, but what threat could she pose? Telling his wife didn’t seem enough for a motive. Maybe Faulkner just disliked the doctor.

“Can you tell me of any other incidents he caused?” Cal asked. “Do you think Dr Benjamin was having an affair with Payton?”

“It’s possible. That wasn’t the first time he took a patient to lunch, if that’s what you mean. He had a way of treating his practice like it was a personal extension of himself. He grew a very successful business on charisma alone. He owns several clinics across the country now, including two home health care services companies. Many doctors and nurses work for those clinics. He’s a multimillionaire. I give him credit for being smart, but I found his personal interactions with his patients too risky. I wanted no further association with him.”

Dr. Benjamin did have a way of presenting himself as friendly. He had been kind and patient and cooperative up until the end, when he’d refused to answer any more questions. Jaslene had noticed that, too. But was that all a show?

“Did you remain in contact with Benjamin?” Cal asked.

Faulkner’s fingers started tapping again. “No. He wasn’t very happy with my decision to leave his company.”

“Did he know why?”

“I didn’t publicly condemn him for his ways. He wouldn’t have liked losing the business. He lost most of my patients when I left.”

“So, you were gone before Payton disappeared.”

“Yes I was. I left shortly after he invited me to that lunch. I heard about Payton in the news.”

“Do you think Dr. Benjamin could have been responsible for her disappearance?”

“I knew him but I didn’t know him that well. I wouldn’t make an assessment either way. I’m not even sure how involved he was with her.”

He asked the chiropractor a few more questions about the day Payton disappeared, but he had already branched off on his own by then and had no contact with Benjamin or Payton for quite some time before that. He thanked him and left.

Time to go pick up Jaslene from her lunch with her friends. He wondered if she had cooled down yet, and part of him wanted to make it up to her.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.