“For God’s sake, Valerie,” Sarah snapped, “go cause trouble somewhere else.”
“You want to talk about trouble?” Valerie replied with a harsh laugh. She glowered at Jamie. “You’re going to find yourself in trouble if you let Cole swindle you. Actually, you’ll find yourself dead, Ms. Crawford. Just like my sister.”
Valerie’s entire body vibrated with anger as she huffed off, leaving the remaining two women to exchange amazed looks.
“Wow,” Jamie remarked in a low voice. “Is she always like that?”
“More or less. And now multiply that by a hundred and you’ve got Teresa.”
“About what she said…” Jamie began.
A resigned light entered Sarah’s brown eyes. “The comment about the meds?”
“Yeah, that. I know it’s none of my business, but—”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll hear other people mumbling about it,” Sarah said. “I…I had some issues a few years back, and…”
“You don’t have to explain. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t take her words to heart. She doesn’t seem like a very happy woman.”
“She’s not.” Sarah visibly swallowed. “And neither was I, back then. But everything is different now. Valerie just likes to rub salt in people’s wounds. Teresa was like that too.”
Jamie shook her head to herself, wondering how a town this quiet and peaceful could have produced the notorious and mean-spirited Matthews sisters. Knowing what she did about Teresa, she wasn’t surprised that nobody in town seemed to be mourning the woman, not even the man who’d been married to her.
She suddenly wondered how Finn was faring with Cole, and a frown marred her mouth. She didn’t appreciate the way Finn had ordered her to stay away from Cole, as if she were a silly schoolgirl rather than a trained agent.
Her appetite promptly fading, she put down her half-eaten sandwich. “I should get going,” she told Sarah. “I need to read over some witness statements.”
“Let’s get together again while you’re in town,” the brunette said with a genuine smile.
“Absolutely. Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll call you when I get the chance.”
The two women exchanged cell phone numbers and then Jamie left the diner, blinking in the afternoon sunlight. It was staggering to think that a storm had ravaged the area yesterday, what with the cloudless sky and damp humidity of the air. She made her way to the little parking lot behind the building, where she’d parked due to the lack of available spaces out front.
She froze.
A white piece of paper had been tucked under one of the windshield wipers of her SUV. It flapped ominously in the light breeze, raising Jamie’s hackles. She glanced around, but the lot was deserted, and as far as she could tell, there was nobody lurking around.
As foreboding rippled through her, she walked over to the vehicle and removed the slip of paper, using only her thumb and forefinger. Even without reading it, she knew it needed to be fingerprinted. A mysterious note on her car? How harmless could that be?
The note had been scrawled in black ink, all capitals, and looking at it, she couldn’t be sure if a male or a female had written it. But its message was undeniable.
STOP TRYING TO CLEAR HIS NAME AND PUT THE BASTARD IN JAIL. OR DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH, AGENT CRAWFORD?
Chapter 7
Cole stared at the security monitor, his jaw tighter than a drum as he watched the sheriff’s Jeep drive off his property. He jammed a few numbers on the keypad, waited to make sure the gate was closed, then marched into the living room, each step vibrating with anger.
Before Finnegan showed up at the gate demanding to be let in, Cole had been in the process of cleaning up his front yard, hauling garbage bags of rotted branches and pieces of his shed into the back of his black pickup. Now he was too pissed off to finish the job, instead heading toward the wet bar and grabbing a bottle of Scotch. At noon. Wonderful—his drinking schedule was getting earlier and earlier. And he wasn’t even using a glass this time.
A restraining order.
He still couldn’t fathom it. Teresa had gotten a restraining order against him, claiming he’d threatened her life.
Did you?
Christ, he didn’t even remember what he’d said to her after that meeting with their lawyers. Nothing good, he imagined, but he certainly hadn’t said he was going to kill her. He’d simply wanted her to back off, give up her frivolous lawsuit and quit screwing around with him. And now whatever idiotic words he’d hurled at her were coming back to haunt him.
Now Finnegan and the D.A. could say Cole had planned to kill her, days before her death.