A Forever Christmas(35)

GABE WASN’T SURE just what he expected to find when he finally allowed himself to swing by Miss Joan’s diner while on street patrol. It had been several hours since he’d dropped Angel off with the older woman.

Miss Joan hadn’t called him to come and collect Angel, so he was hopeful that all had gone well. If it had, that meant that he’d come up with a viable way for Angel to earn a living until such time as he managed to discover who she actually was.

A woman that beautiful couldn’t just drop off the face of the earth without someone looking for her.

The computers were still down, not just in the sheriff’s office, but at the library and at the tiny post office, as well. All the computers were victims of some virus, which meant that for today—if not longer—no progress in the search for Angel’s real identity would be made.

If he was being honest with himself, that fact didn’t exactly disturb him as much as he would have initially thought it would. He supposed that something about Angel drew him to her and made him really enjoy the process.

Gabe was fairly sure that once she remembered who she was—or someone turned up who was looking for her—Angel would leave Forever.

He was in no hurry to see that happen.

He’d always been the type who felt that each day was to be enjoyed for its own sake. And he was certainly enjoying this one even more than he had the last one.

He looked forward to the next one, as well.

And, as long as she was here, he could keep an eye on Angel. Keep her safe.

That was particularly important since Mick Henley had dropped his bombshell on them earlier at the sheriff’s office.

“Got a minute, Sheriff?” Mick had asked in his monotone voice. It wouldn’t matter if he was announcing the end of the world, or ordering a beer, his cadence was always the same.

Since the mechanic rarely left his comfort zone and had sought them out, Rick was instantly alert. “What’s up, Mick?”

“Dunno if this’ll mean anything to you, but I had to take that girl’s car apart.”

“And what did you find?” Gabe asked. It had to be something or why else would the mechanic be here?

Mick looked at the sheriff, then at each of the deputies before continuing. “Her brake lines were cut.”

“But she came all this way in that car,” Gabe protested.

“The brake lines were cut just enough to go out on her after she’d left her starting point pretty far behind her.”

“Somebody wanted her dead,” Gabe concluded, stunned.

“Now I know why I hired you to take Larry’s place,” Rick commented wryly.

“But why would someone want her dead?” Gabe pressed, worried. “And who?”

“That, Deputy Gabe,” the sheriff said in a kidding tone, although he was dead serious, “is the two-million-dollar question. The sooner we get some answers to our questions, the sooner that young woman is safe,” Rick told his deputies.

Which was why Gabe had volunteered to go on patrol and take a second turn through his town.

* * *

“SO, HOW’S IT GOING?” Gabe asked Miss Joan, doing his best to sound laidback and relaxed as he walked into the diner around three that afternoon.

For once, Miss Joan dispensed with her perpetual dour expression. Instead, her mouth was curved in what passed for a smile in Miss Joan’s case.

“It’s going real well,” the older woman informed him. “Why didn’t you bring me this girl sooner?” she asked.

“Well, for one thing, Angel wasn’t here sooner,” Gabe pointed out.

Miss Joan laughed. She poured herself a cup of coffee and one for Gabe, as well. She placed both on the counter before Gabe.

“Just pulling your leg, boy. I know all about when and how she got here—also know what a big hero you turned out to be,” she added.

Gabe merely waved her last words away the way he might a persistent gnat.

“Did what I had to. Didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have,” he added, then got to the real reason for his ducking into the diner instead of just driving past it in his patrol. “So how’s she working out?”

“Working out?” Miss Joan echoed. “Hell, because you brought her to me, I can rest easy because I found Eduardo’s replacement.”

“Do not be so fast to resting and replacing me,” Eduardo called out of the kitchen.

Momentarily forgetting about Gabe, Miss Joan turned her attention to Eduardo, the man she had singularly relied on all these years.