Angela looked happy to see them. “Hey, Jordan,” she called out.
“Hey, Angela. You remember Noah.”
“I sure do,” she said, smiling. “Your table’s waiting for you. With all the big doings today, you must be hungry as all get out.” She took their drink orders and said, “You two got in just under the wire. I was about to take off the tablecloths.”
“Slow night?” Jordan asked.
“Always is on poker night,” she said. “We shut down an hour early so Jaffee can get the kitchen cleaned up. He hates to be late for poker.”
Noah went to the men’s room to wash up, and when he returned, the drinks were already on the table, and Angela was waiting.
“I hate to hurry you along,” she said. “And I promise you can take your time once I get your dinner orders in, but Jaffee would really like to get started fixing your meals.”
She made a few recommendations, and as soon as they ordered, she hurried back into the kitchen.
Jordan relaxed. The last table had cleared, and she and Noah were the only customers in the restaurant. Neither Angela nor Jaffee interrupted them.
Noah raised his bottle of beer. “To our last night in Serenity.”
She hesitantly lifted her glass of ice water. “Hopefully, our last night in Serenity.”
He took a long drink. “Any more murders, they’ll have to change the name of the town.”
She smiled. “I guess I overreacted, didn’t I? I was certain we’d be surrounded by a crowd again, asking all sorts of questions about the fire and about J. D. But look at us. We have the entire restaurant to ourselves, and we’ll get to eat dinner in peace. That’s a nice bit of luck, isn’t it?”
Noah smiled back, but didn’t comment. Angela was busy folding tablecloths, but he noticed the tray that she had just placed on one of the tables was stacked with decks of cards. Jaffee obviously hosted poker night at the restaurant. Noah wondered how long it would take Jordan to catch on.
Jordan wasn’t paying Angela any attention. She was busy thinking about the list Agent Street had compiled.
“What will happen to those tapes J. D. made?” she asked in a whisper. “Will they be made public?”
“Probably not.”
“You know what I don’t understand? Everyone seems to know everyone else’s business, so how was Charlene able to hide her little…hobby?”
He laughed. “Hobby? Never heard it called that before.”
“How were any of those people on the list able to hide their extracurricular activities?” she asked.
He shrugged. “You want something bad enough, you figure out a way to get it.”
She tilted her head and looked at him inquisitively. “Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would risk everything?”
Noah stared at her for a long moment. “Yeah, I guess I have,” he said quietly.
Their conversation ended when Angela returned to carry their empty dishes back to the kitchen. Jaffee came out to say hello, and also to ask Jordan if she would mind taking a quick look at Dora.
Noah stood when she did. “Who’s Dora?” he asked.
“Computer,” said Jordan. “I’ll be right back. Finish your drink.”
“I’ll keep him company,” Angela promised. “You want another beer?”
“No, I’m good,” he said. “When does poker start?”
“In about fifteen minutes. The men ought to be drifting in pretty soon. Well, look there. Dave Trumbo’s getting out of his Suburban, and he’s got Eli Whitaker with him. They’re always the first to arrive. They’re best friends,” she added. “Eli’s the richest man in Serenity. Some say he could be the richest man in all of Texas.”
She jutted her hip out and put her hand on her waist. “I bet you’re wondering where he came by all that money. No one knows for sure, but we all like to speculate. I think maybe he inherited it. None of us would dare ask him though. He doesn’t come to town much. He likes to stay to himself. He’s real shy, and Dave’s the opposite. Never met anyone he didn’t like, he says.”
“Don’t any of the women play poker?”
“Sure we do,” she said. “But we don’t like to play with the men. They’re too competitive, and they don’t like to visit the way we do. We have our own poker night. Now here comes Steve Nelson. I don’t remember if you met him the other night or not. He runs the only insurance agency around.”
Jordan sat at Jaffee’s computer, unaware that the poker players were arriving. Back at their table, Noah wondered if Jordan could hear the commotion. It didn’t take long for the restaurant to fill up.
Jordan quickly solved Jaffee’s latest problem. He’d mixed up two different commands. While she heard people talking, she stayed focused on the daunting task of helping Jaffee understand what he had done so he wouldn’t repeat the mistake.
“Remember,” Jordan told him, “Dora doesn’t bite.”
Jaffee wiped his hands on a towel and nodded. “But if I get into trouble…”
She reassured him. “You can e-mail or call me.”
Jordan gave him a few suggestions for troubleshooting, but when she saw the glazed look in his eyes, she knew he didn’t understand a single word she was saying. She had a feeling she was going to be getting daily calls from him for a while. That thought made her smile as she headed back to her table. The evening was turning out to be a relaxing one after all. Her biggest dilemma at the moment was dessert. Should she or shouldn’t she? Noise intruded into her thoughts, and she came to a dead stop in the doorway when she saw the crowd.
Noah watched her enter the room and thought the look on her face was priceless.
A hush fell over the gathering, and all eyes were on her as she slowly walked over to him. “What’s all this?” she whispered.
“Poker night.”
“Here? Poker night is here? Why did I think…I just assumed…Do you think we could just leave now?”
“Doubtful.”
“We could sneak out the back…”
He shook his head. “Sneaking out isn’t an option.”
She understood when she turned around. Every man there was standing, and those who had not yet met her were waiting to be introduced.
Jaffee did the honors. There were so many she couldn’t remember half their names. Every single one of them said “Hey.” After the introductions, they bombarded her with questions.
They didn’t just want to know about the fire and J. D.’s terrible death. They also wanted to rehash how she had discovered the professor and then Lloyd in her car. Jordan wouldn’t have been surprised if one of them had asked for a reenactment. She answered every question—sometimes twice—in their morbid curiosity. She was able to laugh a few times, and in between the questions, Dave, the natural salesman, tried to sell her a new car.
Noah got his fair share of questions too.
“Does Joe figure it was J. D. who killed those two men?” Jaffee asked.
“He’s a smart cookie,” Dave said. “I’ll bet he does.”
“I’d heard J. D. disappeared,” a man named Wayne interjected.
“Did Joe have enough to arrest him?” Dave asked.
“Doesn’t matter now, does it? The man’s dead,” Steve Nelson reminded the group. “Say, Agent Clayborne, did you and Joe happen to go through J. D.’s house?”
It was difficult for Noah not to smile. He knew what Steve was fishing for. He wanted to know if J. D. had kept records.
“Yes, we went through it. Everything was packed up by two other FBI agents and taken away. There wasn’t much there though.”
Steve didn’t have much of a poker face. Noah could see the relief in his eyes and understood why. He’d seen Steve’s name on the list not only for sleeping with Charlene but for some questionable insurance practices.
“Do you think we’ll ever know why J. D. killed those men?” Dave asked.
“Joe will tell us when he knows something,” Steve said with assurance.
“My heart goes out to Randy Dickey. He’s turned into a decent sheriff. This will be a hard blow for him. I think J. D. was his only family,” Dave remarked.
Noah noticed Eli Whitaker standing among the men, listening to the conversation but saying little.
“What do you do for a living, Eli?” Noah asked.
“I raise horses, run some cattle,” he answered.
“What breed?”
“The cattle are mostly longhorns,” he replied. “They seem to be the hardiest for this part of the country.”
Noah followed up with a couple of other questions about Eli’s operation, and before long the two were standing apart, having a conversation about ranching.
Dave grinned. “That’s the most I’ve seen Eli talk to a newcomer.”
The other men in the group took notice and all nodded in agreement.
Steve turned back to Jordan. “I know you two haven’t been here long, but you don’t seem like newcomers to me. You’ve brought a lot of excitement to our town. When are you and Noah leaving Serenity?”
“Tomorrow,” Jordan answered.
“It’s been a real pleasure meeting you two,” Dave said.
“I think they’ve had enough questions for one night,” Jaffee told everyone. “Why don’t you all get drinks from the bar and take your seats?”
While most of the men scattered around the room, Dave and Eli stepped forward with Jaffee to say good-bye to Jordan.
“I’m sure going to miss you,” Jaffee said. “And I’m so sorry you lost your research papers. I heard you had to leave them at the professor’s house. You go to all the trouble of making copies and then you watch them go up in flames.”
“It’s a crying shame. Didn’t you tell us you came all the way from Boston to get that research?” Dave asked.
“You mean to say it all got burned up?” Eli wondered aloud.
Jordan finally got a word in. “I have the copies. They weren’t in the fire, and I had already mailed the bulk of them home before the originals were destroyed. If Joe and the two agents in charge of the investigation now want to see them, I’ll have to mail them back.”
“That’s real good news,” Jaffee said. “Your trip wasn’t wasted. Dinner’s on the house, and don’t even think about arguing about that. Dora and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your help. I sure hope you come back here someday to say ‘hey.’”
He hugged her good-bye and shook Noah’s hand.
“Either one of you need another car, you think of me. I’ll drive it to Boston for you,” Dave offered.
“He’ll do it too,” Eli called out as he headed to his table.
Noah left a generous tip for Angela and steered Jordan toward the door amid a chorus of good-byes.
Neither of them said a word until they were a block away. Jordan broke the silence. “Hmm. Poker night. Didn’t see that coming.”
Noah laughed. “I’ve never seen that look on your face before…when you saw the crowd.”
“The evening wasn’t too bad. We had a lovely dinner without interruptions, and we met some charming gentlemen,” she said.
“Charming…and interesting,” she added with a nod.
“You know what else is interesting?”
“What?”
“Half of those charming men were on the list.”
Chapter Thirty-one
JORDAN WAS STANDING IN THE SHOWER RINSING OFF THE HEAT of the day and lathering her hair with apricot-scented soap when the realization hit. She didn’t want to go home. She immediately pushed the ridiculous thought aside. Of course she wanted to go home.
She wanted her organized life back, didn’t she? When she’d sold her company, she had netted a staggering profit, but now she needed to decide what to do with it. She had toyed with the idea of investing some of the money in developing a new computer processor, one that would be so fast it could handle even the most complicated multimedia software several times over. She had even visualized the design and the prototype. But there was only one problem with her grand scheme to shake up the Silicon Valley giants again. She didn’t want to. Let someone else come up with a design that would make the world spin faster and faster.
Not wanting to get into the game again wasn’t the only startling revelation. She no longer was in a hurry to run out and buy another laptop and cell phone. In the past they had been her appendages, but she didn’t feel laptop dependent anymore, and she was finding it remarkably pleasant not to be answering her cell phone every five minutes. There were definite perks to being unavailable.
“I’m starting to scare myself,” she whispered.
What was happening to her? It was as though she were morphing into a completely different person. Maybe sitting in 120-degree heat waiting for Noah to examine the fire wreckage had done something to her brain. Maybe the heat melted it. Or maybe all the showers she’d been taking since she’d arrived in Serenity had washed away her brain cells.
She was dehydrated from exposure to the sun. That’s what it was.
She put on her T-shirt and boxer shorts and brushed her teeth. With her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth, she wiped the steam off the mirror and looked at herself. Blotchy skin and freckles. What a prize she was, especially wearing her unisex pajamas.
Jordan put the toothbrush down, reached for a jar of Kate’s special body lotion, and opened the door. She’d never worried about how she looked, but now everything was upside down.
Jordan knew what the real problem was. Until this moment, she had refused to admit it. Noah. Oh, yes, he was the problem. He had changed everything, and she didn’t know what she could do about it.
Worrying wouldn’t improve her situation. A smart woman would run as fast as she could in the opposite direction, but she guessed she wasn’t smart because, at the moment, all she could think about was going to bed with him again.
She needed a distraction to take her mind off sex. She decided she would curl up in bed with the professor’s research papers and read another grisly tale about bloodshed, decapitation, mutilation, and superstition. That ought to do the trick and take her mind off Noah.
Where were her glasses? She thought she’d left them by her contact lens case in the bathroom, but they weren’t there. She crossed the bedroom to the desk and stubbed her toe on the leg of a chair. Groaning, she hopped on one foot while she dug through her satchel.
