Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(13)
He wasn’t ready. Davey’s toys still littered the garage. His little bed. . . Walker’s insides ground as if he’d swallowed glass.
With jaw clenched against the pain, he continued to the lodge in the dying sunlight, hoping to snag a sandwich so he could go back up the mountain without delay. Reaching the parking lot near the lodge’s restaurant door, he watched Kurt’s fancy red Mercedes maneuver into a reserved space. Walker waited for the manager to get out so he could hail him, but bit his tongue when a pair of shapely legs followed the opening door on the passenger side. Kurt usually didn’t bring women up here.
Walker frowned as Cass’s guest emerged, standing tall in heels with straps that emphasized her slender ankles and curvaceous calves. She wore a flouncy skirt that hit right below her knee and a top that proved she had cleavage and underwear.
The fool female got around—from looney Lucys in the morning to wealthy Nulls in the evening. What in hell was up with that?
In his usual brusque manner, Kurt led the way up the red carpet where an employee hurried to open the door for him.
Feeling like a dirty grub, Walker decided maybe he would go to the kitchen door to beg food. He didn’t know why it rubbed him the wrong way that Miss Samantha Moon was already on the hook of one of the richest men in town. He ought to wish her well. He barely even knew her.
But he’d seen the shadows in those big blue eyes and knew the female hid secrets. The fact that a body had been uncovered the minute she entered town—was too coincidental.
Yeah, if he was back in the city, he wouldn’t think anything of it. But out here—weird happened. The Lucys would pick up on it soon enough, if they hadn’t already.
Walker sighed in exasperation as he turned the corner for the kitchen door and saw the lean figure propped against the timber fa?ade, presumably doing nothing more than whittling at an oak branch. Harvey never claimed to be one of the Lucys, but he always showed up at inopportune times, in places where he shouldn’t be.
Dressed in black t-shirt, tight black jeans, and black boots, with his thick black hair worn in a leather tie at his nape, Harvey was more carrion crow than Goth, biker, or hippy. He lifted his carving knife in greeting as Walker approached.
“Found what you were looking for?” Harvey asked.
That was one of the weird things about this town. Walker had never told anyone what he was looking for or that he was even looking. He scowled in reply. “No one goes looking for skeletons. You got any idea who it is?”
Harvey shrugged. “No one I know,” he replied, as if he’d identified the remains and they belonged to a stranger. “Town has its secrets though. Daisy is the one who walks between time. She’s your best bet for information.”
Where in hell did he begin questioning that line of thinking? “I need facts, not fantasy,” Walker said wearily. “Let me know when you have some.”
“Facts aren’t my specialty, old boy,” Harvey said with a faint grin. “I’m just a facilitator.” He pried his broad shoulders off the logs and ambled back down the drive.
Walker had some inkling of why a nearly twenty-year old missing persons case had never been solved.
It was difficult to enjoy the delicious dinner while her companion asked questions she couldn’t answer, instead of providing the information he’d promised. Sam smiled and sipped her wine, feeling her head spin slightly. Apparently, she wasn’t accustomed to alcohol.
“Environmental science, yes,” she told him. She’d learned that much in her search of her boxes this afternoon. Samantha Moon had a newly minted masters in environmental science from Brigham Young University. Did that mean she was Mormon? If she didn’t drink or consume drugs, how did she end up like this? She could remember nothing about her university life. Maybe she was running from an enormous student debt.
Kurt cut his steak, speaking as if by rote and not from interest. It was a pity. He was a good-looking, apparently intelligent man. “What does one do with a degree in environmental science?”
Heck if she knew. If she’d had a computer, she could have looked it up. Of course, without passwords, she wouldn’t get far. She’d searched the notebooks and texts from the car and hadn’t found anything useful yet. “Teach, plan—I have a minor in landscape management, so I can design parks with an interest in ecological preservation.”
She’d skimmed enough of the texts to garner a few familiar keywords to fling around. Had she come out here in pursuit of employment? If so, she hadn’t found any paper trail. She needed her email.
“So you’re taking a sabbatical between school and work?” he asked.
That’s what she’d led him to believe anyway. “Cass offered an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. These mountains are so beautiful! And so isolated. I hadn’t realized cell phones wouldn’t work and that Cass would have no computer.”
He gestured over his shoulder. “Use our business office if you need to keep in touch. We keep computers and printers for the guests. I’ll tell the front desk to give you a key card to get in.”
Hope bloomed. Here was reward for her patience. “Thank you! That’s so generous of you. Is there anything I can do in return? I haven’t had a chance to admire your landscaping yet. Perhaps I could look around, make suggestions?” At least knowing her major offered a hint of why she knew about plants and landscaping.