There was an accident on the road back to his place so they wouldn’t have had the time for a quickie, even a truly short one. She had to change and try to screw her head back on right.

Royal pretty much left her alone as she got ready, which she appreciated. But he didn’t range far and frequently moved close enough to touch or kiss, which she also appreciated. If he fussed too much, she’d cry and ruin her makeup. She needed to keep herself together and he got that. It was really wonderful to be understood that way.

Truth was, she didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to snuggle with Royal in his bed, watch movies and have a lot of sex. But Lily had invited them, and it came before she and Anne had made peace so it meant even more.

Caroline stepped into her shoes and gave herself one last look before she freshened her lipstick.

“I think I might be getting a sore throat. I’d hate to leave Lily and Nathan’s super early. But man a sore throat? I should probably rest so it gets better.”

“Like rest with your c**k in me?”

“Best medicine ever.” He winked.

Her phone got a text. It was from Melissa. “Damn, one of the windows at Mel’s house got hit by a falling tree. Took it out and part of the roof. She wants to know if we’re free next weekend instead.”

“Yeah, Saturday’s fine. Then on Sunday we can stop by Edward and Polly’s for a bit. They’re having a huge thing over there. A bunch of birthdays happen in April.”

“So I’d have to go to that?”

He snorted. “Do you really think Polly would hesitate to come find you herself and bring you over if you didn’t come?”

“She is rather spunky.” She typed back to Melissa, offering assistance if any was needed and saying they’d see her and Clint the following Saturday. She put the phone in her pocket and looked up to find him grinning at her.

“We don’t have time for sex.”

He burst out laughing. “I think you’d be surprised at how many things I can do even with a very short amount of time.”

“This is most likely very true.”

“Since we don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow, I vote we don’t leave the house at all.”

She turned and gave him the eye, but he shrugged, still grinning.

“Sounds like a great plan.”

Chapter Fourteen

Caroline had been able to stop by the Millersburg cop shop right as Ron was finishing up. She met several of the officers and then attended a coffee-and-muffin-style debrief with Elliot afterward.

Ron had gotten the name of the person who’d been Chief Dickers’s secretary for several years. Dickers, as had been repeated by the cops she’d met, was a “lazy, racist ass**le” who routinely lost evidence and halfassed investigations.

There had been missing pages from a call log with tips after the murder. If she could talk with the other woman, maybe she could figure out a possible place to search. There had been a basic search ordered by the judge to find the other pages, but they never were located. It had been ruled during trial and later on appeal that they had no real bearing on the case and it was a paperwork mix up, not a conspiracy to hide evidence from the defense.

At this point there were no appeals left. This new approach was crafted to find the killer. Something she’d hoped to leave to the cops after she’d freed her dad. But now that was her only choice other than giving up.

She was out of her element with this stuff. She could argue and write briefs and all that stuff, but her firm in Seattle used investigators. Up until she’d decided to move to Petal, she’d had one perspective on the case, and now she had to switch it up and change her approach.

She was never above asking experts what their opinion was. And so when she did, when she showed the proper respect to them and sought out their advice, they’d given it. Kindly and freely.

On the way out, Elliot walked Caroline and Ron to their cars.

Caroline turned to Elliot. “I’m so grateful for all the information and time you guys provided.”

He smiled. “Ron was excellent. You’re good with people in general. Listen, one of the guys I know, he produces a radio show. I was talking with him about you. If you’re up for it, he can give you five minutes. The station is on the outskirts of Atlanta, but you can hear it out here just fine. If you have a business card, I can give it to him and have him hook you up.”

“Wow. That would be awesome. Thank you so much.” She pulled out a card and put her cell on the back. “My information.”

Elliot tucked it in a pocket. “Keep me updated. If anyone remembers something I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks. I mean that.”

She got in her car and drove away.

“I’m so proud of you. This radio thing will boost the signal. That’s going to raise your profile in a big way. If you can’t find those lost pages, you can try to get people who are still alive to call in.”

She shifted in her bed. Alone. Ugh. That had grown to suck really fast. But she had an early meeting and hadn’t gotten home until after nine so it made sense to sleep at her place.

Sometimes sense sucked.

“I don’t like it when you’re not next to me. You’re warm and I fit right into your side and it makes it easier to sleep.”

“Yeah. Me too, baby. I can come over. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” he said, and it made her smile.

“Nah. You have a long day tomorrow. I have a long day tomorrow. Go to bed. I’ll talk with you later and see you Friday.”