Pine Lake

“I didn’t. It was just a lucky break.” He paused. “You really don’t remember how you got up there?”

“I don’t even know how I got to the lake. I have no memory of leaving my house.” She glanced down at her bare feet, realizing for the first time that she was in her pajamas. The fabric was summer-weight cotton. Sheer if the light hit her just right, but modesty was the least of her worries. She pulled a leaf from her hair and watched it swirl to the ground. “I don’t remember anything.”

“What about sounds?” he asked. “Did you hear any loud noises? A car engine maybe?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. But sleepwalking occurs in deep sleep. I never remember anything.”

He stared down at her for a moment. “Do you do this often?”

“No, not in years. I had a sleep disorder in my early teens, but I thought I’d outgrown it. Anyway, the point is, it’s like having amnesia. I don’t even know what awakened me.”

“Maybe you sensed my presence up there on the beam or felt my hand on your shoulder. I did my best not to startle you.”

“Thank you. That could have been disastrous for both of us.” Now that she was on solid ground and the danger was over she found herself growing curious about him. He still seemed familiar and very capable. “You said you and Nathan go back. Did you go to school together?”

“From kindergarten on.”

“Wait. I know you,” she blurted as recognition dawned. “You’re Jack King.”

She saw a frown fleet across his face. “My reputation precedes me, I guess.”

“It isn’t that. I remember you from the year my mother and I moved to Pine Lake. We stayed with Nathan and his dad until we got our own place. You used to come by the house with Tommy Driscoll and some of the other seniors. You’d hang out by the pool. I was invisible to most of Nathan’s friends, but you were always nice to me.”

“Was I?”

She gave an awkward laugh. “I guess I was invisible to you, too. You don’t remember me, do you?”

“I do now, but you’ve changed. No glasses, no braces.” He canted his head, peering down at her in the light. “I think I can still see some freckles, though.”

A thrill chased up Olive’s spine at his scrutiny. She’d never told anyone—had barely admitted it even to herself—that she’d had a crush on Jack King that year. Nathan’s other friends were rude and boisterous, but Jack was different. To a hopelessly romantic fourteen-year-old, he’d seemed deep and introspective. And devastatingly handsome. “You haven’t changed a bit,” she said.

“I’d wait for better lighting to make that assessment.”

“I can see you just fine.”

Car engines sounded on the road. Doors slammed and male voices carried in the dark.

“That’ll be the sheriff.” Jack turned toward the trees and called out to the newcomers. “Down here!”

Olive scanned the woods anxiously. “You called the police? Why didn’t you wait for their help to get me down?”

“I didn’t think it a good idea to leave you up there any longer than was necessary. Besides, I didn’t call the cops because of you.” He hesitated, his eyes going past her to the water. “No easy way to say this. I found a body in the lake before I saw you on the bridge.”

Olive’s hand crept to her throat. “A body?”

“A woman.”

“Do you know who she is?”

“No. But if she’s local, the sheriff or one of his deputies can likely identify her.”

Olive closed her eyes in dread. “If she’s local, she’s probably someone I know.” A former student perhaps or even a friend. “Pine Lake is small. Everyone knows everyone.”

“I remember.”

She turned to the lake in horror. Someone she knew could be out there in the water at that very moment, dead and drifting. It gave her the oddest feeling. Part fear, part sadness, part relief. If she’d fallen from the rafters, she’d likely be dead and drifting, too.

But she was safe and sound thanks to Jack King and this night was no longer about her.

She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Could you tell how she died? Was it a drowning accident?”

His gaze on her deepened. Olive shivered at the intensity of his stare. The scruff on his lower face made him look dangerously enigmatic. The way he towered over her made him seem just plain dangerous.

“You should wait and ask the sheriff those questions. I wouldn’t want to be accused of interfering in his investigation.”

“Of course. I understand. It’s just...what if it is someone I know?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said with a nod as Tommy Driscoll and two of his deputies came crashing through the underbrush. The subordinates wore uniforms, but Tommy had on jeans, cowboy boots and a white dress shirt with pearl buttons. He looked as if he had been out dancing. Or up to no good.

He stopped dead when he spotted them. Then he said something over his shoulder to one of the deputies before he joined Olive and Jack on the bank.

Olive tried not to show her disdain for the Caddo County sheriff. She respected his position but not so much the man. If Jack King had been her favorite of Nathan’s friends, Tommy Driscoll had been her least. Even as a teenager, he’d been arrogant and overbearing and she’d seen no evidence of evolution.

Unlike Jack, the years hadn’t been kind to him physically. His muscles had softened as his features had hardened. He was still married to his high school sweetheart, but rumors about affairs had run rampant for years. Beth Driscoll taught science at Pine Lake High School. She was a lovely woman and a dedicated teacher. Olive would never understand why someone who had so much going for her would put up with a man like Tommy.

He and Jack eyed each other warily before Tommy gave a brief nod. “Jack.”

“Tommy.”

They didn’t shake hands, Olive noted.

“Good to see you, buddy. Sorry it has to be under these circumstances. When did you get into town?”

“A few hours ago.”

“Helluva homecoming.” Tommy’s gaze slid to Olive, taking in her pajamas and bare feet. “Olive? What are you doing down here?”

“She just got here,” Jack said.

Tommy frowned. “Got here from where?”

“From the road. She said she heard my boat.”

It was all Olive could do not to turn and gape at Jack. Somehow she managed to stifle her shock under Tommy’s narrow-eyed inspection.

“Let’s let Olive answer for herself,” he said.

She nodded. “I was out for a walk when I heard the boat. I came down here to see who was out on the lake so late. I thought someone might be dumping trash. You know what an environmental hazard that poses.”

“I know you like your causes,” Tommy said. “But you’re telling me you were out for a walk at this hour? In your pajamas? Without shoes?”

“I didn’t expect to end up so far from the house. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I only meant to get a bit of fresh air to clear my head. Next thing I knew, I’d walked all the way to the lake.”

Tommy’s gaze went from Olive to Jack and then back to Olive. He lowered his voice as he took a step toward her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

His implication couldn’t have been plainer and she resented it on Jack’s behalf. She told herself it was silly to feel so protective of a stranger, but she found herself pressing closer to him anyway. “Of course, I am,” she said coolly. “And I think you’ve more important things to worry about than me.”

He gave her another curious look before turning back to Jack. “Where’s the body?”

Jack gestured toward the lake. “I can take you out in the boat and show you.”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, let’s go have a look.”

The deputies still hovered a few feet away and Tommy went over to confer for a moment.

“What was that all about?” Olive whispered furiously.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Jack said.

“By lying to the police?”

“It’ll be okay,” he assured her.

Olive wasn’t as convinced, but it was a little too late for second thoughts. Not only had she gone along with Jack’s fabrication, she’d embellished his account. If she came clean now, it would make both of them look foolish and possibly suspect.

But those lies had flowed just a little too easily, from her and from Jack. Olive had never considered herself the subversive type, although as Tommy had pointed out, she supported causes near and dear to her heart and had never been shy about voicing an opinion. Deliberately misleading the police, though? That was a serious matter and one she shouldn’t have undertaken so lightly.

She watched nervously as the two men climbed into the boat and pushed off. When they’d cleared the bank, Jack started the engine and steered them across the channel to the shallow water on the other side. They sat with the motor idling as he angled the spotlight down through the lily pads.

It seemed to Olive they stayed out on the water for an awfully long time. What were they talking about?

Finally, they headed back. Jack tied off and they disembarked.

Tommy climbed up the bank to where Olive and the two deputies waited. “Be easier to get her out from the other side,” he said. “Hope you boys brought your waders.”

Jack came up the bank, too, and she found herself instinctively gravitating to his side even as she kept her focus on the sheriff. “Who is she, Tommy?”

He hesitated. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough. It’s Jamie Butaud.”

Olive felt sick. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty certain. The physical description matches up. And Jack here spotted a tattoo on her left arm. I remember seeing it on Jamie.”

“A mermaid,” Olive murmured.

“You knew her?” Jack inquired gently.

“She was in one of my classes a few years ago before she dropped out of school. I always worried about her. She seemed so lost.”

“She worked for Nathan, didn’t she?” Tommy asked.

Both men peered at Olive in the dark, but it was the fierceness of Jack’s sudden concentration that took her by surprise. “Yes, as a receptionist.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Tommy asked.

Olive shrugged. “I don’t remember specifically. I rarely go to Nathan’s office, but I would see Jamie in town from time to time, usually with her boyfriend.”

“She was still seeing the Waller kid?”

“Marc? Yes, as far as I know.”

“Bad news, that boy. Comes from a long line of bad news.” Tommy ran a hand through his hair. “Look, here, you two. I need you to keep quiet about this, at least until we can notify next of kin. And I’d like the chance to speak with Waller before he tries to skip town.”

Olive glanced from Tommy to Jack. “You don’t think her death was an accident, do you?”

“That’s safe to assume,” Tommy said. “We’ll know more after the autopsy, but the first thing we have to do is get her out of the water. You don’t need to be here for that. I’ll have Hank run you home while we wait for the coroner.”

“I can take her,” Jack said.

Tommy didn’t look too pleased by the offer. “In your boat? How’s that going to work? Olive lives in town, last I heard.”

“We’ll go to my uncle’s cabin and get my car. Seems to me you’ll need all your manpower here, Sheriff.”

Tommy scowled down at her. “You okay with that arrangement, Olive?”

She resisted the urge to inform him that she’d much rather be alone with Jack King than any of the other men present. Instead, she nodded and turned to Jack. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Tommy was still frowning. “I’ll need to see each of you in my office first thing in the morning. And remember what I said about keeping this quiet.”

Jack took Olive’s arm and helped her navigate the slippery bank. Once they’d cast off, she averted her gaze from the spot where he’d taken Tommy to view the body. But she couldn’t help glancing back at the bridge. She let her gaze travel up the iron braces to the very top of the truss. If Jack hadn’t spotted her...if he hadn’t climbed up there beside her...

Something came to Olive as the bridge receded in the distance. Now she understood why Jack had asked her if she’d heard a loud noise or a car engine.

In all likelihood, she’d been asleep on that beam when Jamie Butaud’s killer had thrown her body off the bridge.

* * *

A LITTLE WHILE later Jack pulled his car into Olive’s driveway and parked. She’d been very quiet on the ride into town, staring out the window until she needed to give him directions to her house.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, just lost in thought.” Her voice had taken on a raspy edge, either from nerves or the night air.

Jack cut the engine and the headlights went out, but the street lamp on the corner cast a hazy glow inside the car. Her skin looked pale in that light, but her face was alive with color—the copper of her freckles and the bright blue of her eyes framed by the deep russet of her hair. She peered at him so steadily he had to shift his gaze to the window, instinctively taking stock of their surroundings.

She lived on a quiet street in the oldest part of town. The houses on her block were small with wide front porches and tidy fenced yards. Jack had grown up only a few blocks over in a sturdy old Craftsman that his mother had loved. It had pained her to leave the house of her dreams, but after everything that had happened to their family, Pine Lake no longer seemed like home.

“What an awful homecoming you’ve had,” Olive murmured, echoing his thoughts. “This night must bring back a lot of bad memories for you.”

“This town is nothing but a bad memory.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, scanning the street behind them.

“If you really feel that way, why did you come back?”

“My uncle’s estate has some loose ends that can’t be tied up over the phone or in an email.”

“Oh, of course. I was so sorry to hear about his passing. He was a nice man. I always enjoyed his stories.” Her regret sounded deep and genuine.

Jack turned in surprise. “His stories?”

“He took classes at the community college where I sometimes teach at night. He was one of my favorite students.”

Jack stared at her in astonishment. “Leon went to night school? I never knew him to be interested in anything but fishing.”

“Then it may surprise you to learn that your uncle was a very gifted writer.”

He cast her a doubtful glance. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Leon King?”

She smiled. “Yes, same man. He always spoke highly of you. He was very proud of the way you’d turned things around after everything you went through.” She paused thoughtfully. “For the record, I never believed you did it.”

“Why?”

His blunt challenge seemed to catch her off guard, but she recovered quickly. “Because of the way you would look at Anna. Anyone could see you were crazy about her. And why wouldn’t you be? She was a beautiful girl, inside and out.”

“She was,” he said quietly.

“And because it wasn’t in you. You weren’t capable of hurting anyone. I doubt you are now unless someone backs you into a corner.”

“You deduced all that in the space of one car ride?”

“I deduced all that a long time ago. You’re a good guy. Just like your uncle. Why else would you have climbed to the top of that bridge to rescue me?”

Her conviction caught him off guard. When Jack had decided to come back to Pine Lake, he’d braced himself for the whispers and gossip. The lingering suspicions. But he hadn’t prepared himself for Olive Belmont.

“I’ve been away from here for a long time,” he said. “I may not be the man you think I am.”

“I may not be the woman you think I am,” she countered. “If you think about me at all,” she added sheepishly.

“Hard to forget someone you meet on top of a bridge.”

He saw a shiver go through her as she turned to stare out the windshield. She looked very enticing with her hair all mussed and her lips slightly parted. Another time, another place and Jack might have responded to the subtle invitation in her smile. But a hookup was the last thing he needed, particularly with Nathan Bolt’s cousin. He’d come to town to poke a hornet’s nest. Depending on what he found, things could get ugly. Sides might have to be chosen. After all was said and done, he’d return to Houston while Olive would still have to live here. Jack knew only too well what it was like to be a pariah in Pine Lake.

She gave him another tentative smile and he tamped down the urge to tuck back her hair as he studied her face in the dim light.

“I know now why you told the sheriff I had just arrived at the lake,” she said. “I figured it out in the boat. You think I was on top of the bridge when the killer dumped Jamie’s body in the water.”

“Seems a safe bet. It couldn’t have taken more than five minutes for me to get to the bridge after I first heard a splash and you were already up there.”

“So you wanted to place me on the road rather than the bridge.”

He shifted his position, turning toward her as he relaxed his arm across the back of her seat. “I heard that splash and then a few minutes later, a car engine. The vehicle drove away on the other side of the lake. Even if you really had been on the road at the same time the body was dumped from the bridge, you wouldn’t have seen anything.”

She gave him an anxious look. “That explains why you asked if I’d heard a car engine. But I told you before—I never remember anything when I sleepwalk.”

“Jamie’s killer wouldn’t know that, though. He or she might not want to take the chance that something would eventually come back to you.”

That gave her pause. She cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder. “Do you really think I could be in danger?”

He wanted to reassure her that all would be well, but a false sense of security was never a good idea. She needed to watch her back. They weren’t out of the woods yet. The story they’d concocted for Tommy Driscoll was only a little more plausible than the actual truth. “As long as we don’t give the killer a reason to feel threatened, he’ll lay low. As far as anyone knows, I was the first to arrive on the scene. If he gets skittish, he’ll come after me.”

“That doesn’t give me much comfort,” she said with a frown.

“It should. I know how to handle myself.”

“Leon told me that you’d been a cop. And now you’re some sort of security consultant. With all your experience, you must have some idea of how Jamie died.”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

She swallowed. “I wasn’t. But now I think you have to tell me.”

“She has what appears to be a large exit wound between her eyes. I’m guessing she was shot at close range in the back of the head.”

“In the back of the head...” Olive repeated numbly.

“Without a closer examination of the body or a look at the autopsy report, I can only speculate. But I’ve seen the pattern of the wound before in execution-style murders.”

“Execution?” She stared at him in shock. “Who would do such a thing to poor Jamie?”

“You never heard talk about her involvement in any illegal activities?”

“She got into some trouble when she was younger. Drugs. Possession, I think. Her mother asked Nathan to represent her, but the family didn’t have any money. He agreed to take the case pro bono if Jamie agreed to go to night school and get her GED.”

“What about her boyfriend?”

“I don’t know him personally, but Tommy was right. Marc Waller is bad news. He was also arrested for possession but with the intent to sell. If convicted, he could have gone to prison for a very long time. But Nathan got the case dismissed because of an unlawful search. Needless to say, that didn’t go over well with local law enforcement.”

“Nathan Bolt seems to be the go-to attorney for drug charges,” Jack observed.

“Well, there aren’t a lot of choices in the area and my cousin is very good at what he does.” She sighed. “The news about Jamie will devastate him. If it turns out that Marc Waller had anything to do with her death, Nathan will never forgive himself.”

These revelations were all very interesting to Jack. On the night of his return, he’d stumbled across a murder victim who happened to be a young woman that Nathan Bolt had taken under his wing. The timing was a little more than Jack could swallow as happenstance.

“It’s late,” Olive said. “And we’re both expected at the police station first thing in the morning so...”

“Right. I’ll walk you to the door.”

“You don’t need to do that. I’m fine.”

Jack reached for the door handle. “For my own peace of mind, I’d like to have a look around before I go.”

“To be honest, it’s probably best for my peace of mind, too.”

They got out of the car and walked up the porch steps together. The front door stood ajar and Olive turned to him with a worried frown.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. I probably failed to close it earlier.”

Jack brushed past her, glancing over his shoulder to scan the street and all the shadowy corners of the yard before toeing open the door. “Where’s the light switch?”

“To your left.”

“Wait here.” He eased through the quiet house, giving each room a thorough search before returning to the foyer. “All clear.”

“Thanks for checking.” Olive stepped inside and followed his gaze to the bolt at the top of the door. “A precaution. Not that it did any good tonight.”

“You unlocked the deadbolt in your sleep?”

“Apparently.”

“You should get a security system, one with a loud enough alarm to wake you if a door or window is opened.”

“Yes, my mother had one put in when the episodes first started. As I said, I thought I’d outgrown them, but after tonight, I won’t take any chances. I’ll arrange for an installation as soon as possible.”

Jack took a last sweep of the small, but comfortable living area. The walls were white and the furniture gray, not unlike the nondescript color scheme in his apartment. But Olive had punctuated the space with pillows and throw rugs in bright shades of red and turquoise. He observed everything, not because her design aesthetic interested him, but because a house could reveal a lot about the person who lived there.

Olive Belmont seemed to be an open book. If her cousin was involved in something as shady as Tommy had implied, Jack doubted she knew anything about it. But then, he had been fooled before.

He stepped out on the porch and scoured the darkness. The breeze had picked up, fluttering through the trees in Olive’s front yard and unleashing the scent of jasmine from the bushes that grew up her fence. It was all very lush and homey and familiar and yet Jack felt strangely unmoored as if coming back here to his hometown had caused him to lose his bearings.

He turned back to Olive. “Are you sure you’ll be all right for the rest of the night?”

“I’ll be fine. If I sleep at all, it won’t be deeply enough to leave my bed.”

An image of that bed floated through Jack’s head—crisp white linens and soft, soft pillows.

“Well, good night, then.” He bent impulsively to kiss her cheek. The action took both of them by surprise and she jerked her head just enough so that his mouth brushed hers.

He didn’t pull away or offer an apology. Instead, he tangled his fingers in her hair and brought his mouth to hers, this time on purpose. She responded by parting her lips and kissing him back. When he pulled away, she looked disoriented, as if she had just awakened from another harrowing adventure.

“What a strange night this has been,” she murmured.

“Hasn’t it, though?” he said over his shoulder as he strode down the steps.

Chapter Four

Olive was just coming out of the local coffee shop the next morning when she spotted Jack on his way in. He held the door for her and she stepped out on the sidewalk to join him, taking a moment to discreetly admire the fit of his faded jeans and the cotton shirt that he wore untucked and rolled up at the sleeves.

His hair was even darker than she remembered, his eyes a deep, rich chocolate. Despite what she’d said the night before, he had most definitely changed since their high school years. The harsh light of day emphasized the fine lines around his eyes, the resolved set of his jaw and a chiseled chin. The changes didn’t so much age him as harden him. He was a man in his prime rather than the seventeen-year-old boy who had been driven out of town by both his elders and his peers.