The muscles tightened in Shiloh’s body. “Oh yeah,” she said without enthusiasm. A little older than she, he was the son of the owner of the local paper. Back in school, Jimmy had earned a reputation as a bully. “The mustache threw me off, but I remember you,” she said, thinking of a girl who had been crying in the lavatory at a basketball game because Jimmy had smacked her around in the parking lot.
“Wondered when I’d run into you,” Jimmy said, his face becoming more animated. He looked like a young Yosemite Sam. “I run the paper now, Prairie Winds, you remember?” She made a noise of acknowledgment. “It’s been fifteen years since some of the local girls went missing, and I was thinking of doing a story about them. Your take on it and what happened to you would be an interesting angle.”
“No, thanks.” The only thing Shiloh would gain from the publicity would be trouble.
Ignoring her reticence, he plowed on. “Oh come on, maybe we could generate some interest in what happened to them—you know, get the police interested again? Get some computer-enhanced pictures made of what the girls would look like now.”
“But nothing happened to me,” she reminded him. So this was going to be how it was, everyone in town wanting to hear her tale? “I just left, and my mother knew that. I was never a missing person.”
“It would still be a great perspective.” He reached into his pocket and slid a business card across the polished wood. It landed against her sweating empty glass. “Think about it,” he suggested, and it sounded almost like an order.
“The lady doesn’t want to,” Rafe said.
“The lady can handle herself,” she said evenly.
Jimmy sent Rafe a satisfied look, as if he’d won that round, before he walked out the door.
“I don’t need anyone fighting my battles,” Shiloh told Rafe. Part of her wished she’d never sat down with him, though, in truth, she would have drawn more attention to herself if she’d taken a seat alone.
“Okay, okay. Just so you know, Woodcock’s a dick. Been with the paper for years, inherited it from his old man. And he can’t play pool worth shit.” He folded the twenties and dropped them into his breast pocket.
At that moment, Kat walked in, and Shiloh breathed a little easier since she now had an excuse to get away from Rafe. Though she didn’t love the way Rafe eyed her petite friend with interest, Shiloh could see why. Still trim, with shoulder-length hair, Kat had an energy about her that drew attention. She’d always been quick, her humor and temper at the ready. Spying Shiloh, she headed to the table, but stopped short when she saw Rafe.
“Must be your date,” Rafe said casually. “The lady cop.”
“You know each other?” Shiloh asked.
“Of each other,” Kat replied.
“We could be closer . . . ,” he said with a smile. Kat regarded him with cool tolerance as she slid onto the bench he’d so recently occupied. He tipped his hat to her as he made his way out of the bar.
“Making new friends already,” Kat observed dryly.
Shiloh grinned. “Geez, it’s good to see you,” she said and felt a small lump form in her throat. For all her talk of hating Prairie Creek, all her determination to brush the dust of this little town from her boots, there were good things about it too, things she’d missed. Katrina Starr was definitely on the list, though they’d steered clear of each other after that fateful night.
“How are you, Kat?” she asked as they sat on opposite sides of a booth on the wall opposite the bar.
“All right.” She set her purse on the bench beside her. “So you know Rafe Dillinger.”
“Not really. But he recognized me . . . acted like I was some kind of celebrity or oddity.”
Kat glanced at the doorway where Rafe had disappeared. “He left town about the time you did, and that’s when the disappearances stopped.”
Shiloh too swung her gaze to the door, but Rafe was gone. “Those disappearances have been on my mind ever since I got back. You think Rafe was involved?”
“Hard to say. My father has an unofficial list of suspects, and Rafe’s near the top. Doesn’t mean anything to anyone but him . . . and me . . . because the girls are still considered runaways.”
“Rafe recognized me.”
Kat said, “He could’ve just recognized you from seeing your picture in the paper. You were big news back then, for a while. Until your mom said she’d been in contact with you.”
“I took off a few times, but it was bad when I returned, so that time I left for good.” Shiloh didn’t want to think about how she’d had to up and leave and let her mother worry for days before calling.
“Your stepfather?” Kat guessed.
“Yeah, well, he was a bastard.” She drew a breath and exhaled. “So, you’re a cop now, right? A detective. Like your dad.” Shiloh finally took her first sip of the beer Rafe had bought for her.
Kat smiled faintly. “Who woulda thunk?”
“Me,” Shiloh said. “I’m not surprised.”
“Maybe me, neither,” she said truthfully. “I’m sorry about your mom.”
Shiloh nodded. “Me too.” She cleared her throat and looked away. “We, um, weren’t that close.”
“Still . . .”
“Yeah.” Then she added, “And yours too. That was bad.”
“It was a long time ago.” Kat made a face. “Hard on all of us, at the time, but we got through it. Ethan left for a while. Came back a few years ago. You still into horses as much as he is?”
“He’s a bronc rider. But, yeah, I’m still into horses. I work on a ranch in Montana.”
“Ah. Ethan was a bronc rider,” she corrected. “Now he’s a horse trainer, and a coach, and a whole lot of other things.”
“How is he?” Shiloh asked.
“Fine. We see each other some. He lives his life, and I live mine.”
“Doesn’t exactly sound like brotherly and sisterly love.”
“Well, you know, you work through things. He’s happy, I think.”
And what about you, Kat?
Mellie floated over, a tray of drinks balanced in one hand. “Ready for another?” she asked, and Shiloh shook her head. “Still working on this one.”
The waitress turned her attention to Kat. “How about you?”
Kat eyed the beer, then said, “Club soda.”
“You got it.” She turned her attention to another group.
Shiloh guessed, “You’re on duty.”
“Wouldn’t look good for me to be knocking back a beer in the middle of the day.”
“This is kind of a special occasion,” Shiloh said. Kat regarded her thoughtfully and Shiloh asked,
“What?”
“I was just thinking . . . about everything.”
“Yeah.”