“Gotcha.” Ten minutes later, she was noshing on probably the best omelet she’d ever had in her life. He sat across the table from her and watched her eat. “Now talk to me, and start over from the beginning because I think I missed something during the crying portions of your tale.”
Talking to him in real life felt as comfortable as it did in e-mail. Except for the fact that he looked hunkier in real life, and turned out to be a fandamtastic cook, he was the same person. She retold the story.
After she finished, he nodded, a serious look on his face. “I think you and your brother are right. There’s something funky going on. You don’t even know for sure if she’s okay, or maybe being held against her will. A text message isn’t the same as talking. Anyone can send a text from a phone, or an e-mail from a computer, if they’ve got their hands on it.”
“I think my mistake was telling the cop I’m a writer.” She frowned. “Well, that and insulting him. Cute guy, but what an asshole. I’m probably lucky I’m not in jail for telling him off. Me and my temper, I got into it with him.” She set her fork on the empty plate. “I didn’t help matters any, that’s for sure. Liam always had to bail me out of trouble in school. I was always getting into fights with older kids.” She laughed. “I had two senior football players ready to pound me once when I called them fucking pussy assholes for picking on a freshman. Liam got there to pick me up from band practice just in the nick of time.”
“Ballsy kind of girl, huh? No wonder I’m in love with you. Like I said, Jack’s a detective. I’m sure he’ll help you.” He glanced at his watch. “Dammit, he’s supposed to be in court this afternoon, though. We’ll have to wait until he gets home tonight. Meanwhile…” He cleared her empty dishes for her. “You are coming with me to see the sights!”
No wonder I’m in love with you.
She wistfully sighed, even though she knew he meant it innocently. If only. Damn, he was cute. More than cute enough to make up for Detective Dorkhead that morning. Tim would most definitely be her next hero. She’d write him into a book. Maybe even make him the hero in a series. She sure as hell wouldn’t hesitate to jump his bones if he was interested.
Well, if he was straight, single, and interested.
Depending on how cute his boyfriend was, maybe she had her next ménage couple and could write herself as the heroine.
It was eleven thirty when they headed out in Tim’s car. He pleasantly chattered almost nonstop as they wound around the Black Hills and through the small scenic town of Keystone to Mt. Rushmore. “There they are, the original Stonefaces,” he joked as they rounded a curve and the mountain came into sight. “Unlike Jack, who’s just an imitation.”
“What?”
“My boyfriend. We’re proof that opposites attract. He’s an über-serious cop, I’m the bouncy beach boy.”
She laughed. “He’s a lucky man.” She wondered if she could get away with flirting with him in real life the way they did in e-mails. “I’d steal you if I thought I had half a chance.”
He pulled into a space in the monument’s parking garage, then turned and winked. “Honey, who says you’d have to steal me? I don’t think you can steal the willing.” His playful grin dampened her panties.
“You are so getting a character modeled after you, you realize that, right?”
“Good guy?”
“Very good.”
“Charming? Witty? Well hung?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Very well hung.”
He grinned. “Excellent.”
Tim’s plan didn’t just involve sightseeing, but following Amy’s trail through the notebook. “One of my customers is a ranger here,” he explained as he led her to the Park Service office. “She might be able to help us out.”
They tracked her down, but she had no recollection of seeing Amy. She returned Gwen’s BlackBerry to her after looking at Amy’s picture. “That doesn’t mean someone else didn’t see her or might remember her,” the woman said.
Tim perused the notebook. “Let’s try down at the Sculptor’s Studio,” he suggested. “Looks like she took a lot of notes about it. Probably talked to someone there.” He led the way. Gwen stopped for a moment to look at the mountain.
“You know, I never realized it was set up like this.”
He followed her gaze. “Like what?”
“I just always thought it was in the middle of nowhere.”
He laughed. “Well, to a Laguna Beach boy, South Dakota is the middle of nowhere. Must be culture shock for you, too.”
“I meant I always thought it was like out in the open by itself. Like in the middle of a field somewhere.”
“Ah. I see what you mean. I thought that, too. I guess a lot of people do, but nope, it’s tucked snug as a bug here in the Black Hills.”
She thumbed through Amy’s pictures in her BlackBerry and found one, held it up, and studied the view. “This is close, isn’t it?” She pointed. “Look, there’s that column in the view.”
He took her phone and looked. “You’re right.” He turned around and took her into the bookstore where they asked the clerks on duty if they’d seen Amy and showed her picture. No one remembered her.
“Okay, so to the studio like we planned,” he said. They made their way down the stairs to the studio, Tim being a gentleman and slowing down so Gwen could catch her breath. Once there, Gwen followed him around as he talked to staffers.
One older woman, a volunteer, nodded as she studied a picture of Amy. “I remember her. She was with a man. We had a very nice chat. She asked me a lot of questions about the history of the studio.”
Gwen’s heart raced. “Do you remember the man’s name?”
“No, ’fraid not. I didn’t get either of their names. I just remember her taking notes in that notebook,” she said, pointing to the one Gwen held. “That’s the only reason she rang a bell for me. I’m sorry, but we deal with over a million visitors a year at the park. Very few usually stand out in our minds unless they do something particularly memorable to draw our attention. If you’d come a few weeks later, I probably wouldn’t have remembered her at all.”
Gwen sighed. “Thanks anyway.”
“Oh, I do remember them asking me if I was familiar with the Crazy Horse monument, if that’s any help.”
Tim nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
They climbed the trail back up to the main level and Tim led her to the parking garage. “We’ll have to come back with your brother so he can see the place. I’m sure they’d let us drive him down there to the Sculptor’s Studio instead of making him hike. I didn’t even get to take you into any of the exhibits.”
“So where to next?” she asked.
He looked at the notebook. “Crazy Horse. It’s closest. And she took a bunch of notes there, too, from the looks of it.”
Gwen tried not to keep her nose pressed to the car window while he drove. They wound through hills and woods that took her breath away with their beauty.
“It’s pretty land, isn’t it?” he asked.
She tore her gaze away from the scenery. “Yes, very.”
“If you’re terrified to fly, I guess you don’t get to see much of the country, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Listen, and I mean this in all sincerity. Is there any reason you two have to rush off? There’s so much to see and do around here. I’ve got to fly back to LA next week on business for a couple of days, but you and Liam are more than welcomed to stay with us as long as you want. When I get back, we can do more sightseeing.”
“That’s really sweet, but I don’t want to be an imposition.”