Page 30 of Beneath Still Waters

“He drinks water. He only orders alcohol with the guys from work, but doesn’t drink with them. Both of us are clean. I used to be addicted to a few hard drugs. I found Jesus and He helped me get clean. I’d tried before, without faith, without success. Jesus gave me a reason to commit, and I haven’t touched it since.”

Duke grinned. “That’s great! Good for you. And I’m sorry the person you found who accepted you is gone. That’s really hard.”

She slowly nodded. “We’d planned to get married in late summer, and we were going to move away from Wyoming. In fact, he’d just gotten a new navigation system in his boat so we could have his boat flown to the ocean and we could live there for a while. Go wherever we wanted. He’d already warned Monica he couldn’t guarantee payments anymore so she would have time to look for work and learn a skill.” Samantha folded her hands together and exhaled deeply.

“How did she respond to that?” Ferd asked.

Samantha snorted. “Not happy. She said she’d never sell her home. Never get a job. Never give up her lawyer. If he didn’t pay, she’d kill him to get the insurance payout.”

TWENTY-FIVE

After the hostess seated them at their own table across the dining area from Samantha, who’d left shortly after they’d finished. Ferd picked up the menu with a long sigh.

“What a day.”

“Yeah, not sure what to think. I don’t even want to speculate right now. How is it possible that no one knew about their engagement?”

“She’s not from here. She’s from Cottonwood. No one here knows her. As an outsider, they likely didn’t care or want to know.” She could relate.

Duke gave a nod of agreement. “I suppose you’re right. It’s just silly though. Then again, I wonder if it wasn’t kept at least a little secret by Bailey, knowing about his ex’s anger and retaliation any time something in his life changed.”

The server came over, disrupting her train of thought for a moment. Once he left, Ferd had to recall what they’d been talking about. Right. Anger. Ferd took a deep breath. “I didn’t get a good vibe from Monica, but I didn’t feel anything but sorry for Samantha. Not that I’m a mood ring or anything like that, but that was my gut feeling.”

Duke snorted. “I got the same read so if you’re a mood ring, so am I.”

“What did you think about that threat she mentioned?”

He sat for a moment, giving her question real thought instead of just answering. She appreciated a partner who didn’t jump to the first conclusion.

“I think people say things they don’t mean when their ‘normal’ is under fire. It wouldn’t make a bit of sense to kill the guy who could still be taken to court at any moment to pay support. And since the court didn’t know he was paying her support currently—even his boss didn’t know that—it makes even less sense. If he got a good job wherever they were planning to move to, he’d be subject to the same court order as before. It doesn’t lose effect just because he leaves the state. So, I think she was angry and said things she shouldn’t have.”

That puts things in perspective.

“I can see how that would happen. I don’t know if I readily believe that after meeting her, but I can see how that’s an option.”

He laughed. “That’s why I asked you to join me on this case. I think you would’ve looked into it anyway, since you were there from the outset and you have a curious mind, but also because I noticed you and I look at things differently.”

“Like, we could clash if we’re not careful.”

He tipped his head down slightly and one side of his mouth lifted. “Badly. But if we’re working, it’s professional. I can argue with you, and it'll probably help the case. If we were working against each other, we might never figure it out.”

Without Duke's badge, she'd still be standing outside every suspect's front door. “It’s been weird. In the city, from what I hear from the detectives, it’s usually pretty cut and dried. Honestly, nine times out of ten, it’s the spouse. If not the spouse, it’s the spouse’s best friend because they have a relationship theyshouldn’t. Honestly, the longer I work there, the more jaded I get.”

“Connor would want you to stay here. I could find you a job. You don’t have to go back and risk turning sour, or worse.” He looked away as he took a sip of his drink.

Nope. Not happening. I’m not enough to fit in here. Anywhere.

“I can’t live here. I wanted a family so bad, but family means they think they know all about you. If my brother ever found out what happened to me in training and when I started my job, the situation that led to my injury, he’d probably go after the person. I can’t have that. Too many people need Connor for him to go to prison. He does important stuff.”

Duke tilted his head slightly. “So do you. You’re just almost twenty years younger.” He glanced up as the server slid their plates in front of them.

“Anything else I can get for you right away?” The server looked back and forth at them.

“No, thank you.” Ferd bowed her head and said a quick prayer. When she raised it, Duke was still praying over his own food.

He looked up and dug right into his French fries. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you don’t want to talk about any of this?”

She cut her burger in half while thinking of an answer. Duke couldn’t even be called a friend yet. They were partners on a case. She hadn’t even told Anna, herbestfriend. “No. Not really. Sorry.” Though she wasn’t.