Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (interesting books to read for teens TXT) 📕

the door and held it as Julia passed. Slipping on her aviator sunglasses, despite the gray skies, she gave him a quick smile. “Always the gentleman.”

“Always,” he agreed while pulling the door shut. He turned the handle to make sure that the lock had engaged. It had. “You know, you’re welcome to stay at my place for a night or two. If you’d be more comfortable after the break-in, I mean.”

What struck Julia was not that Luis had offered his apartment as a place to crash, but the carnal images that filled her mind. Tongues. Mouths. Flesh. Sweat. Julia swayed as she walked. Then again, he’d only made the offer to be nice and there was nothing more she should be reading in to the suggestion.

She cleared her mind of every indecency and continued to walk, planning her day and prioritizing items with each step. “Finding out what happened to Tom Dolan is at the top of the list,” she said.

“You don’t think he was killed? Doesn’t finding half of a two-dollar bill prove that he was murdered, and somehow, the new killer is linked to Darcy Owens?”

“I think I want to see the toxicology reports.” She turned to Luis. “Any update from Chloe?”

Luis glanced at his phone. “Not yet.”

Julia walked on, lost in her own thoughts.

Pleasant Pines looked much as it had when the town had been cut out of the wilderness in the late 1800s as a railroad hub for the silver mines. The buildings were pure Victorian architecture—tall and narrow—and many were made of brick or stone. The original scrollwork on the eaves of homes was impressive to Julia, and she’d seen a fair share of fine houses in her lifetime.

The sheriff’s office was located in the county office building, a structure that dated to the town’s founding, and filled one quarter of the second floor. It consisted of two rooms. The larger room of the two served as a squad room/reception area. One wall was filled with tall windows that overlooked the town park and gazebo.

A set of chairs along the adjacent wall served as a waiting area. Rose, the office manager, had a desk at the back of the room. Tucked behind Rose’s desk was another door, and that one led to Julia’s personal office.

Opening the door, Julia entered the squad room and her pace slowed. Luis was right behind her. A man, early thirties by her guess, sat in one of the chairs at the back of the room. He looked familiar, yet Julia couldn’t remember where she’d seen him, or even who he was.

Rose sat behind her desk. “You have a visitor, Sheriff. And before you go back to your office, Mr. Taylor called again. He says that someone’s in the woods by his house. You want me to send a deputy to talk to him?”

Mr. Taylor, retired from the Marine Corps, lived outside of town. Since his wife died a few years back, he’d had nobody to keep him company except an old dog. The sheriff’s department made regular wellness checks. It seemed like now was the time to make another visit. Julia had already put a lot of responsibility on her staff. She couldn’t ask for much more. “I’ll get in touch with Mr. Taylor.” Although, she had no idea when...

“I worry about Mr. Taylor out there all alone,” said Rose. “I have some cookies. Will you drop them off when you go?”

“Sure thing,” said Julia. Then, turning to the visitor, she continued, “I’m Sheriff McCloud. You wanted to speak to me?”

“I recognized you. From the newspaper, I mean.” The man stood. “Robert Carpenter,” he said, holding out a business card.

Julia took the offered card. Robert E. Carpenter was the general manager of an auto-parts store located in a town ninety miles from Pleasant Pines. She wasn’t in the mood to be sidetracked. Since all the desks were empty, she assumed that the two deputies were on patrol...meaning that she couldn’t ask one of them to take a statement. Still, Julia knew a lot of responsibilities came with her job, and not all of them had anything to do with investigating what had happened to Tom Dolan. “You’ve made quite the trip, Mr. Carpenter. What can I do for you?”

“Call me Robert,” he said. “I went to high school with Darcy Owens. I just read the article about the newest guy being found in the gazebo. I have some information that might be useful. Since I was in town, I thought I should stop by.”

Julia stood taller. Now she remembered—Robert Carpenter was the former desk manager at the White Winds Resort, the same place where Darcy Owens hid while escaping justice. There was a connection between Carpenter and Owens by way of the high school they both attended. Yet, Carpenter hadn’t been at work on the day Darcy contacted the resort, giving him an alibi.

So far, nobody had been charged as an accessory or coconspirator for the crimes committed by Darcy Owens. It was something Julia intended to change.

“Come with me,” she said.

Holding open her office door for Robert and Luis, Julia waited as the men crossed the threshold. “Have a seat,” she said, before sliding into the big leather chair that sat behind the desk.

Luis closed the door and then leaned against the wall. He asked, “How well did you know Darcy?”

Dropping into a chair opposite the desk, Robert sighed. “She was my girlfriend. We dated my entire senior year. She was only a sophomore, but we grew up near each other. My house is on the other side of the woods from hers, so I guess you can say that I knew her as well as anyone can know someone else.”

“What did you know about her home life? Her parents?”

Robert scratched his cheek. “If you’re asking me if she was abused by her father, the answer is yes. She confided in me when we got serious.”

It was exactly what Julia wanted to know. Reaching for a pad of paper