"And so we are," he said drily. "Guess that means you pa.s.s your eye test."

She was getting really annoyed with his folksy manner. She liked getting results, not the runaround.

"Why are we stopping in Beaumont?" she asked. "You told me that my sister's in the hospital in Pine Ridge. Did they switch her?" she demanded. And if they had, why hadn't he told her before this?

But the sheriff shook his head. "No place to switch her to," he reminded Olivia. "Unless the good people of Beaumont built themselves a hospital in the last few hours."

Olivia dug deep for patience. When she spoke, she said each word slowly and separately, as if she was talking to someone who was mentally challenged. "My question again is why are we stopping in Beaumont?"

Again, rather than be annoyed, he appeared tickled by her bad mood, which only annoyed her further.

"Because, Livy, you need to relieve yourself before you start turning funny colors, and I need to talk to the sheriff to get all the information I can about your sister's accident and also find out the whereabouts of the body."

She was about to snap at him for calling her by the nickname, but the second half of his statement stopped her cold.

"Body?" Olivia echoed as he slowed down and made a right turn down a street. "What body?"

The sheriff's office-a building that made the one back in Forever look as if it was constructed to be state of the art-was in the center of the street. Rick pulled his vehicle up before it.

He looked surprised that she seemed to have forgotten. "The guy your sister was with when the utility pole jumped in front of the car," he replied with just a touch of sarcasm. "Bobby's father," he prompted when she didn't say anything.

Don.

With everything going on, she'd forgotten about Don. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part. In either case, she was relieved all over again that the small-time con artist and would-be musician was never going to be the source of her sister's grief-and thus hers by proxy-again.

She just prayed that there wasn't going to be some other "Don Norman" waiting in the wings to pounce on her vulnerable sister. That Tina would finally come to her senses and select the next man in her life for his personality and better qualities, not the fact that he looked good in a pair of jeans and had seductive, bedroom eyes.

She could only hope, Olivia thought, mentally crossing her fingers.

Kindness and understanding is worth a boatload of s.e.xy, she told herself fiercely.

So why did the sheriff in the little backward town appear to have both going for him? He seemed kind and understanding on the one hand and had s.e.xy, bedroom eyes coupled with one d.a.m.n fine seat on the other.

Where was she going with this?

A hot shiver ran up her spine.

If she didn't get some rest soon, she would wind up doing something or at least saying something that would ultimately embarra.s.s her beyond words.

"I'll stay in the car," she told him stubbornly.

She was well aware that this would backfire on her. Maybe, if he stayed in the sheriff's office long enough, she would be able to find a diner or some public place that believed in bathrooms and not outhouses.

Rick got out. "Sun's directly overhead," he pointed out, his index finger indicating where she might glance to find the fiery orb. "You might not want to stay in the car right about now."

He didn't think she had enough sense to come out of the rain, she thought resentfully. Or the hot sun. And it was hot despite being the tail end of November. If her car hadn't decided to give up the ghost and play dead, she would have absolutely no reason to be in this predicament. Stupid vehicle was just out of warranty, too. It figured.

Olivia blew out a long, frustrated breath. So far, this had not been one of her better weeks. She just hoped that the worst was behind her and not, G.o.d forbid, just ahead.

"I changed my mind," she informed him, getting out and slamming the car door behind her. "I want to hear what the sheriff has to say as much as you do. More," she underscored, "because you don't have a personal stake in this case, and I do."

"I take a personal interest in every case I get," he said evenly, contradicting her a.s.sumption as he walked up to the building's front door. He held it open for her and gestured. "After you."

With a quick nod of her head, Olivia walked in front of him and entered the building. And as she did, Olivia decided that the man was just a tad too laid-back to be real.

She didn't trust the sheriff any further than she could throw him.

Maybe less.

Chapter Seven.

If she were to guess, Olivia would have estimated that the small building that housed the Beaumont sheriff's department was somewhere around seventy-five years old, if not more.

The wooden floor creaked in protest beneath their feet as she and Rick walked into the tiny office.

The faint smell of cigarettes mingled with another, mysterious smell that Olivia couldn't readily identify. Maybe that was for the best. Whatever it was, was musty. The office itself was shrouded in semishadow. The midafternoon sun had completely bypa.s.sed it, apparently having better places to be. There was a certain chill about the room. And, except for the sound of breathing, it was eerily quiet.

There was only one occupant in the room, presumably the town's sheriff. The heavyset man appeared to be dozing. He had his boots, drastically worn down at the heel, propped up comfortably on his scarred desk. Olivia couldn't help thinking that the man was a portrait of contentment, sleeping the sleep of the just, seemingly without a care in the world.

An amused smile playing on his lips, Rick crouched down close to the sandy-haired man's ear and loudly cleared his throat.

The older sheriff started abruptly, roused out of a dream he obviously was enjoying a great deal more than the reality he was forced to wake up to.

Rising back to his feet, Rick grinned as he looked down at the other man. "Working hard as usual, I see, Josh."

Swinging his sizable legs down to the floor, Sheriff Joshua Hudson cleared his throat, stalling for time as his brain cleared itself of the cobwebs that had imprisoned it. He appeared only slightly embarra.s.sed to be caught this way. Obviously, it wasn't the first time.

He lifted his chin defensively. "I was just resting my eyes."

"Well, they certainly look well rested," Rick a.s.sured him. He stepped back slightly, in order for the man to be able to get a clear view of Olivia, and then made the necessary introduction. "Olivia Blayne, this is Sheriff Joshua Hudson. Josh, this is Olivia Blayne."

The sheriff leaped to his feet, his boots thudding heavily on the wooden floor. After quickly wiping his right hand against his pant leg, Josh extended it to Olivia as he beamed at her.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said, sounding, in her estimation, as if he genuinely meant it.

Her mind on the reason they were here, Olivia had to force a smile to her lips. "h.e.l.lo."

Rick spoke up for her before Hudson could ask what brought them to Beaumont. "Olivia's here about that car accident that happened on the outskirts of town earlier today."

The sheriff's deep-set, small brown eyes slid over his visitor quickly, making an educated guess as to the exact purpose of her visit.

"You're an insurance investigator?"

"No, she's the sister," Rick said before she had a chance to answer.

She wasn't accustomed to having someone speak for her. The look she shot Rick said as much. From what she could see, the man ignored it.

Olivia noted that Rick's revelation made the heavyset sheriff uncomfortable. Had he a hat in his hands, she had a feeling that he'd be running the brim nervously through his moist fingers. And then she found out why he looked so uneasy.

"Not the boy's sister?" he asked hesitantly in a voice that was far too small for him.

Olivia shook her head. "No, I'm Tina's sister."

"Oh. The girl in the hospital." Hudson didn't look all that relieved over the clarification. It was obvious that he felt badly for her, as well as for Tina. "What can I do for you?" The question was directed at Olivia rather than at Rick. And then, as if his brain was slowly coming around and engaging, he gestured toward the chair next to his desk. "Please, take a seat, Miss Blayne."

"That's all right, I'll stand." Olivia felt far too restless to sit. Coming here, she'd had all she could do just to remain seated in the car. Off and on she had the completely unrealistic urge to leap out and just run to her destination, despite the fact that she had no idea where it was. Blessed with a great many skills, she freely admitted that a sense of direction was not one of them.

The older sheriff bobbed his exceedingly round head up and down a number of times as he digested her words. The next question he asked momentarily floored Olivia. "Do you want to see the boy's body?"

She never wanted to see Don again, and to view him enshrouded in death was absolutely the last thing she needed. But she knew that Tina would ask after him and her sister would want her to make sure that he was indeed dead.

Olivia knew how Tina thought. Most likely, now that Don was dead, her sister would wind up making some kind of hero out of him, glossing over his shortcomings and focusing on his few semigood points, reminiscing over the one or two actual good moments they'd shared.

If she didn't go to the morgue to see the body, worse, if she didn't verify that Don was really dead, Tina would live out the next few years, if not more, waiting for him to come walking through the door again. She would have bet money on it. Olivia suppressed a sigh. She had no choice in the matter. She had to see him.

Gritting her teeth, she forced the word "yes" out.

Her stomach tightened and she did her best not to succ.u.mb to the sick feeling the thought of seeing the man generated. With all her heart-and not for the first time-she sincerely wished that Tina had never gotten involved with Don.

She tried not to dwell on the fact that he could have easily killed Tina in the accident. h.e.l.l, maybe that was even what he was trying to do. She wouldn't have put the idea of a suicide pact beyond him. His mind had been twisted enough to savor something like that.

Sheriff Hudson pulled up his sagging khaki trousers, mumbling something about the weight of the gun belt dragging them down, and gestured for Rick and Olivia to follow him out of the office.

"Doc Moore's got 'im on ice, so to speak." He looked over his shoulder at Olivia. "Didn't know what else to do with him. n.o.body to claim him until you came along," he told her. "First dead stranger we've had in these parts in a decade or so. 'Fore my time, anyway. I can take you to the car after you see him," he volunteered. "Harry towed it to his shop. Not that it can be fixed," he confided. "But Harry figures maybe some of the parts can be salvaged. Unless you want the car, of course," he qualified. Slanting a glance in her direction.

"No, Harry can have it," she a.s.sured Josh, freely giving up any claim to her sister's car. "I just need to check out the glove compartment."

She wanted to make sure she had the registration and insurance information before the car was stripped down. Someone in the family had to be practical, she thought. And the job always fell to her.

"Sure thing," Josh said cheerfully.

"Thank you," she murmured.

Hudson beamed. Turning to his other side, he slanted a look toward Rick, as if to silently call attention to the fact that the woman had just thanked him. They didn't often see a woman as cla.s.sy as this one.

"Hey, no problem," Josh a.s.sured her.

It occurred to Olivia that this man was the last one to have seen her sister. Any details he could volunteer were more than welcomed. She needed something to cling to, to fuel those so-called optimistic thoughts that Santiago kept pushing.

"And my sister?" she asked. "What can you tell me about her?"

"She was bleeding pretty badly," Hudson said. "But she was definitely breathing. I checked. The ambulance from Pine Ridge came right quick enough and the medical guys took her to the hospital there. Doc Moore said she was pretty banged up, but he thought that she'd make it if they got her to the hospital in time." There was sympathy in Hudson's eyes as he concluded, "Dunno any more than that."

His small eyes shifted from her to Rick and then back again.

"We appreciate the information, Josh," Rick told the older man when Olivia said nothing.

Rick could see that she was having trouble dealing with all this and wordlessly placed his hand to the small of her back, silently communicating his support. In response, he felt her stiffen against his palm, but she didn't pull away.

Rick thought of it as progress.

"I'LL LEAVE YOU alone with him," Dr. Evan Moore volunteered after introductions and explanations had been made.

Olivia raised her eyes to the friendly physician. She appreciated his thoughtful gesture, but there was no need for it. She shook her head.

"No need, Doctor. I've seen all I need to see." And what she needed to see was that the man who had all but literally destroyed her sister's life was truly dead. He couldn't hurt Tina-or Bobby-anymore. And for that she was truly grateful. "Thank you," she added belatedly. With that, she turned away from the body on the table and walked away.

The doctor's next question stopped her in her tracks. "What do you want me to do with the body?"

Olivia set her mouth grimly. She supposed telling the man to feel free to cut Don's lifeless body up for fish food sounded a little too harsh. But there was absolutely no way she intended to go through the time and expense-not to mention mental distress-of having Don's body transported back to Dallas. She wanted him permanently flushed out of Tina's life-and as far away as possible. She'd figure out what to tell Tina later.

"Bury him," Olivia instructed tersely. Turning around, she placed one of her business cards on a nearby table. "Send the bill to me at this address. I'll mail you a check."

"Maybe you could give the doc a partial payment?" Rick suggested tactfully. "As a sign of good faith. Times are hard," he reminded her.

He was right, but she couldn't help resenting it. She should have thought of that herself. She didn't like having her shortcomings pointed out to her.

Wordlessly, without looking in Rick's direction, she took out her checkbook and wrote a check for five hundred dollars. Tearing it off, she crossed back to the doctor and handed it to him.

"If that's not enough," she told him, "let me know. I'll send you the rest." And then, as if reading the man's mind, she added, "Nothing fancy. He doesn't deserve it."

The doctor nodded knowingly. "Nothing fancy," he echoed. He put the check and his hands deep into the pockets of his lab coat. "Consider it taken care of, Miss Blayne."

Before making their way back to Hudson's office, the older sheriff took them to the town's only garage to see what was left of Tina's car.

The air in Olivia's lungs backed up when she first saw the wreckage. The entire front end was pushed in, looking like a crumpled accordion. Seeing it, she couldn't understand how her sister hadn't met the same fate as Don. Or how either one of them had managed to avoid becoming one with the twisted metal.

"You okay?" Rick asked.

She nodded numbly, not trusting her voice to answer him.

The glove compartment door had been knocked off and she could see some things inside the narrowed s.p.a.ce. Olivia took out the papers she needed and tucked them into her purse.

All she wanted now was to leave this behind her and see Tina.

"Can we get going now, please?" she asked Rick.

"Absolutely." There was no reason to stay any longer. He'd already exchanged a few words with Josh and satisfied himself that the other man had relayed all the details of the accident. As they pa.s.sed Josh's office, Rick said with a grin, "You can get back to that dream you were having, Josh."