His Forgotten Colton Fiancée. Bonnie Vanak
and her nerves jumped as if the annual Fourth of July fireworks exploded inside her.
Her smile fled as she recalled the extensive damage to the building, and the sneers of her father as he swigged back a bottle of beer and watched the cops work the scene.
Rusty had a habit of making the worst things worse. He liked his beer and criticizing other people and bragged about both.
Like her brothers and Demi, Quinn worked hard to overcome the reputation of being offspring of the town’s notorious bar owner and womanizer. It was why she elected to serve wholesome food at Good Eats, to differentiate from the greasy bar food her father dished out.
She picked up the mail the carrier had dropped through the slot in her front door. As she walked to the counter, Quinn sorted through the stack. Bills. More bills. And a white card-size envelope that resembled an invitation. The envelope had a cute red heart stamped on it.
A wedding invitation?
Maybe an engagement announcement? Who would be crazy enough for that?
Taking the mail into the kitchen, she found a knife and went to open it. Hesitated. It looked innocent. Pretty stationery. What if it wasn’t?
There was no return address. Quinn felt the envelope. She had never been the suspicious type, but dating West turned on all her precaution sensors. No return address could mean something dangerous inside, intended to harm.
Quinn studied the postmark. Red Ridge. From here in town. What if the Groom Killer had decided to reach out to new targets?
What if it was Demi, and she was sending a secret message?
Thoughts tumbled through her head. The possibilities were endless. So was the worry. She set the envelope down. Maybe it was better to wait for West. He had experience, perhaps there was some fancy instrument in his bag of tools he could use to scan the contents.
West had been working too hard lately on this Groom Killer case. Late nights, early mornings. A couple of days off in the mountains sounded perfect.
She went into the tiny cubicle kept as an office and opened the desk drawer to find the key Tia had given her. As a favor for delivering her meals on time every day, Tia Linwicki gave her the code to unlock the front gate and a key to one of the cabins in Pine Paradise, a property she owned. As long as no one rented the cabin, it was Quinn’s to use.
She’d told West about her privileges with the cabin and how Tia entrusted her with the key. It would make a terrific weekend retreat with West. Quinn hunted for the key, but couldn’t find it. Maybe she’d left it upstairs in her apartment. With all the confusion lately, the scrambling to find clients, she felt slightly scatterbrained.
She left the office and went into the store’s front just as her brother Shane entered.
Smiling, she gestured to the counter. “Need an afternoon pick-me-up?”
His nose wrinkled. “Kale shakes and fruit smoothies? No thanks.”
“I can make you a late lunch.” Quinn’s smile widened. “Something that will put hair on your chest. Make you attractive to the ladies.”
He laughed. As if he needed that. With his sandy-blond hair, blue eyes and tall, muscular body, Shane was drop-dead gorgeous. For a while Quinn had envied him. Surely he didn’t get those good looks from their father.
No, Shane had inherited their father’s tough streak, though.
And besides, Shane was hot and heavy with someone, a dog trainer at the K-9 center. It was easy to forget because Shane, like everyone in town, kept their relationships on the down-low.
“Came to see how you are. And maybe if you baked some of those blueberry muffins.”
Food costs had soared, but for her brother, she’d bake another dozen. “Go outside and sit. I’ll get everything ready.”
Humming as she buzzed around the kitchen, Quinn realized how much she enjoyed her job. Working for someone else might pay the bills, but she loved being her own boss. Books rested on a shelf above the stainless steel table where she did food prep. One was only a notebook with her handwriting. Those recipes she’d invented on her own, adding this and mixing that.
She’d hate to have to follow orders from an employer. Red Ridge was a good place to live...well, until lately.
Good place to raise a family. Quinn ground to a halt before reaching for a bottle of water for Shane. She and West had briefly skirted the topic of children.
He didn’t want kids.
She wanted two.
Impasse, for now. Quinn kept reasoning with herself that they could compromise. Maybe he’d change his mind.
She brought a tray with the treats outside and joined her brother. Shane munched on a blueberry muffin made from coconut flour, while she drank her strawberry smoothie. Sunshine still peeked through the puffy white clouds, but indigo dotted the horizon, indicating a summer storm approached. Quinn didn’t mind the rain on hot days like this, except the rain drove away the customers who made impulse purchases of organic snacks and shakes.
“That explosion.” Shane shook his head and took a swig of bottled water. “Damn scary.”
“Do they have any clues?” Despite being on the crime scene and serving lunch, Quinn couldn’t discern any information. But Shane worked as a private investigator and informant for the RRPD, and he was savvy at picking up information on the street.
“Not yet. Everyone’s speculating.”
“Maybe it was some local kids, fooling around.”
“I doubt it.” Shane’s gaze looked troubled. “There’s buzz it might be a test run of something bigger to come.”
“Terrific. I hate this.” She toyed with the straw, glanced up and down the street. “Some days it feels like we’re living in a war zone, not knowing what will happen next, who’s doing all this. My business is going from bad to worse. Summer’s nearly over and what am I going to do when winter comes? This is my busy season.”
Quinn leaned back, trying not to fret. The rent was overdue and she didn’t know how to make her budget. “Maybe I should move to Sioux Falls.”
Shane’s eyes widened. “You? The girl who vowed to stay in Red Ridge, no matter what?”
West’s home was near Sioux Falls. It might be a good place to settle after they married. Or get married there, far away from the dangers of the Groom Killer. Maybe West would change his mind about children if they lived away from Red Ridge.
“Everyone changes. I’m getting older, I could find a good job with another catering company.”
“You can’t. Where would I get my blueberry muffins?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head as he grinned at her. They’d never been close, barely knew each other growing up, but lately she’d drawn close to her brothers. She wanted to have relationships with them, and since Demi’s disappearance, Quinn realized how precarious and unpredictable life could become.
Her thoughts went to the mysterious envelope in her kitchen. “Have you heard anything more from Demi?”
Shane coughed on his bite of muffin. He swigged more water, avoided her gaze. “Why would I?”
Leveling with him might be best. “I’m really worried about her. She’s all by herself, with a baby...and since she’s on the run, she could be staying in places that aren’t safe.”
“I’m sure she’s fine.” He ate the last of the muffin and wiped his mouth with the linen napkin she’d given him.
Quinn wished she’d been closer with her younger sister. Maybe then Demi would have contacted her, asked for help. And now that she and West were engaged, she wanted to tell someone. Anyone. A sister, who could keep a secret, a sister who would laugh and roll her eyes as Quinn