Odd Man Out

As she passed J.D., he reached out and grabbed her arm. His gaze settled on her, solid as a rock. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I beg your pardon?” She shook off his hold.

“Look at this place, Denny,” he said, sweeping an arm out. “What do you think the burglar was looking for?”

“How should I know?” If she knew that, she wouldn’t be standing here talking to him.

“Then let me ask you this. Do you think he found what he was looking for?”

“No,” she said, not sure why she felt so confident that the burglar hadn’t.

“So, Denny, where do you think he’ll look next?”

She stared at him, all cocky and sure of himself, standing in the middle of the mess in Max’s office. But he was right. Why hadn’t she thought of it? Because seeing J.D. again had put her mind on a permanent spin cycle.

“You bet,” J.D. said. “Your burglar will more than likely head straight for the lake cabin because that’s the next logical place to search. He’ll probably be waiting for you when you get there.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Unless you aren’t going home tonight?”

“I was planning to go to the cabin.” His gaze narrowed. “Alone.”

A grin played at his lips. “I thought you promised Pete—”

Oh, what a tangled web we weave... “I promised...I’d call him when I got home.”

He looked pleased to hear that was all there was to it. “Then change your plans and stay in town at the hotel. I’ll get you a room and you can call him from there.”

She glared at him. “And just let the burglar have the cabin for the night?” No burglar or even a murderer was going to force her out of her home. And no man was going to start running her life—especially when that man was J. D. Garrison. “Guess again.”

J.D. let out a long sigh. “Then I’m coming out to the lake with you.” She started to argue but he stopped her. “If there’s no sign of trouble, I’ll just stay for a while.”

She relented, seeing how hard that concession was for him to make. Unfortunately he was right; it made sense that the cabin would be the next place the burglar would hit. “All right.”

J.D. held the door open for her. “I’m glad to see you’re not as impossibly stubborn as you used to be.”

She made a face at him as she swept past. “Don’t push your luck, Garrison.” She could hear his laugh as he walked to a pale green Ford pickup parked down the street.

Denver climbed into her Jeep and started the engine, thinking how funny life could be. Well, maybe not funny. No, not funny at all.

She made a U-turn and headed toward the lake. A few miles out of town, she glanced in the rearview mirror to see the lights of the pickup right behind her. J.D. was home. Just like in her dreams. Almost. It made her want to laugh. And cry.

* * *

“DAMMIT.” J.D. FOLLOWED Denny out of town, telling himself that it wasn’t seeing her again that had him in a tailspin. But he couldn’t get over his reaction to her. Or hers to him, he thought with a grimace. The woman he’d seen in Max’s office certainly wasn’t the girl who’d had a crush on him at sixteen. No, she’d definitely gotten over her infatuation with him.

He tried to concentrate on the problem at hand. The destruction to Max’s office and apartment had convinced him of just how much danger Denny was in. But not from Pete. J.D. just didn’t believe Pete capable of tearing apart a place like that—let alone murder.

And keeping Denny away from Pete was even more impossible than he’d first thought, now that he knew how Denny felt. About Pete. And about J. D. Garrison.

He smiled ruefully to himself. He’d hoped to charm her as a last resort. Ha. That would be like trying to charm a hungry grizzly bear away from a Big Mac.

As they neared the lake cabin, J.D. realized his only hope would be for Max’s killer to be found. And fast.

The lights from Denny’s cabin spilled from the windows and shot like laser beams through the pines. “Damn.” The burglar had already been there, he thought as he followed Denny up the narrow, snowy driveway.

What if the burglar was still in the cabin ransacking it? Denver slowed, and he knew she must be thinking the same thing. Her headlights lit up a vehicle parked at the edge of the driveway. J.D. stared at Pete’s black Chevy pickup. “Double damn.” He pulled in behind Denny.

Before he had a chance to get out, Denny walked back to talk to him. He rolled down his window.

“Pete’s here,” she said, resting her hands on the window frame. “There’s no reason for you to stay now. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

Right. “Then you won’t mind if I make sure.” He opened the pickup door, and with obvious reluctance, she stepped back.

“You should talk about stubborn,” she mumbled as they walked up to the cabin.

A slice of moon peeked through a break in the clouds and splashed the partially thawed lake with thin metallic light. In the crisp night air, he smelled pine and lake water and...smoke. He looked up to see smoke curling up from the chimney. “Looks like Pete built you a fire.”

She scowled. Clearly she hadn’t expected Pete to be here nor did she seem that happy about it.

“Looks like he made himself at home,” J.D. added, fighting a grin. He heard Denny mumbling under her breath.

The moment they entered the cabin, J.D. smelled peppermint. Denny looked puzzled by the scent, too, as she closed the door behind them. The cabin was as J.D. remembered it. The living room had a fireplace at the entrance and huge glass windows at the other end, looking out on Hebgen Lake. To the left was an adjoining kitchen and down the hall was a bath, small office and laundry room. Max had converted the laundry room into a darkroom before he gave the cabin to Denny, Maggie had told him. Upstairs were two bedrooms along with another bath.

J.D. was glad to see that the place hadn’t changed. He was even more delighted to see that it hadn’t been ransacked. In fact, everything appeared perfectly normal. Except maybe for the man-size pair of cowboy boots by the front door.

Denver called out a tentative hello. J.D. wasn’t sure what he expected. But it wasn’t Pete coming out of the kitchen in his stocking feet and carrying a teapot.

“Surprise!” Pete said, then stopped in his tracks as he spotted J.D.

“Surprise,” J.D. said. Pete hadn’t changed at all; he still had those boyish looks J.D. had always envied. Nor did he look like a murderer, standing there in one of Denny’s aprons holding that teapot. Feeling foolish for suspecting Pete, J.D. extended his hand to his former best friend. “How have you been?”

Pete didn’t move. Something J.D. couldn’t quite read flickered across his face. He quickly covered it with a smile and reached to take J.D.’s hand. “J. D. Garrison. Boy, has it been a long time.”

Out of the corner of his eye, J.D. saw Denny frown.

“I guess I should have made more tea?” Pete directed the question to Denny. There were already two cups and saucers on the coffee table in front of the fire. And a single red rose.

How touching, J.D. thought and growled softly to himself. “Yeah, let’s have some tea and catch up on old times.”

Pete didn’t look thrilled by the idea, to put it mildly.

“Not tonight,” Denver said. She motioned to the orderly state of the cabin and lowered her voice. “As you can see, I’m in good hands.”

“Yeah,” J.D. said, unable to come up with a reason not to go. Blurting out that Maggie thought Pete was a murderer didn’t seem like a great idea at the moment. And even if Pete were Jack the Ripper, it was doubtful he’d do anything to Denver with J.D. knowing he was there. “If you need me—”

“I have more than enough baby-sitters for one night, thank you.” She opened the door for him.

But he still didn’t want to leave her there alone with Pete. And not because of Maggie’s suspicions. He tried not to think of Pete and Denny in front of the fire, or the single red rose on the coffee table, as Denny closed the door in his face.

He stood for a moment in the dark, lost. The idea of sitting outside the cabin posting guard seemed ridiculous as well as emotionally painful. Denny was right; she didn’t need him. He stalked to his pickup, trying to remember something important he’d meant to do at Max’s office earlier. All he could see in his mind was that cozy little scene back at the cabin. What’s wrong with you, Garrison? You’re acting jealous as hell. He jerked open his pickup door. Jealous? What a laugh. But as he climbed into the cab, he couldn’t get Denny out of his mind. Or Pete’s damned little tea party for two.