Not Lizzy. Please don't let it be Lizzy, he begged as he ran down the sidewalk to where he'd parked his truck earlier to run some errands. As he got into the truck and started the engine, he felt almost light-headed with his fear.
Lizzy was so filled with life, with a bubbling energy that he'd found intoxicating, he couldn't imagine somebody taking away her light.
Maybe Leah was wrong. Why on earth would anyone want to harm any of the women who lived in those little cabins? Maybe some wild rumor had inexplicably flown around the streets, a rumor that had nothing to do with reality. It wouldn't be the first time and it probably wouldn't be the last time wrong information had been spoken as the truth.
It took only minutes for him to drive down Main Street to the east side of town, where the Cowboy Café was located. The time was just a little past two in the afternoon, usually when the lunch rush had ended and the parking lot began to clear.
But the lot was still crowded with cars and trucks, and that alone at this time of the afternoon told him that something was amiss. He found a parking spot and pulled in, his heart pounding so loud in his ears he could hear nothing else.
Not Lizzy. Please not Lizzy. It was a mental mantra that thundered through him as he left the truck and ran for the door of the café.
As he flew through the door his gaze automatically tracked through the crowd, seeking a single glimpse of the woman that would slow his heartbeat to a more normal pace, that would ease the roar in the back of his head.
He saw Mary standing behind the counter, her pretty features strained and her eyes showing the obvious aftermath of tears. Lizzy usually worked the counter. Why was Mary there when Lizzy should be there? Everything else fell away as Daniel tried to control an inner tremble and approached her.
"Mary?" Her name came out of him on a hoarse gasp. "Lizzy?"
Mary pointed to the far side of the café to a small table for two. A sweet rush of relief whooshed out of Daniel as he followed her finger and saw the woman he'd most needed to see sitting alone, her shoulders hunched forward as if she were trying to disappear into herself.
He beelined toward the table, and when he was still several feet away, she turned her head as if she'd sensed his very presence in the room.
Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears and she looked achingly fragile. As he took the last few steps toward her she stood, and when he was within reach, she threw herself in his arms and began to sob.
Daniel stood stiffly for a moment, stunned by her actions, by her very nearness, and then his arms moved up to embrace her. She burrowed against him, her face hidden in the front of his T-shirt as she continued to cry.
As his relief at finding her alive and the shock at having her so intimately close to him slowly ebbed away, he tightened his arms around her and lost himself in the vanilla scent of her hair, the warmth of her body against his and a sharp pleasure he knew he shouldn't be feeling under the circumstances.
He'd forgotten the simple pleasure of a woman's body so close to his, of how female curves felt when fitted so intimately against his own male physique.
As her crying began to ease, he became aware of other things, such as the fact that the café was quieter than usual in spite of the crowd and that people were darting interested glances in their direction. He'd just wanted to make sure she was okay. He hadn't expected to have her in his arms.
She finally raised her face to look up at him, and a hysterical half sob, half laugh escaped her. "Oh, Daniel, you really shouldn't be in here like that. You still have your hat on."
"I don't think Mary will mind this time," he replied, surprised that he felt oddly bereft as she stepped away from him and sank down in the chair where she'd been seated before he'd arrived.
He pulled his hat from his head and walked back to the wall of hooks by the front door, where he hung it among the many others already there.
When he returned to the table, he sat in the chair opposite Lizzy. "Are you okay?" He still didn't know exactly what had happened or who had been murdered. He only knew he was grateful it hadn't been Lizzy.
She nodded. "I found her. She was dead in her bed and there was so much blood … so very much blood." She looked positively haunted, her eyes so dark it was as if the horror of what she'd seen had crept deep inside her.
"Who? Who was killed?" he asked.
"Candy." Lizzy's eyes welled with tears. "Somebody cut her throat, Daniel."
Shock winged through him as he thought of the waitress who had served him so many times. Murdered? He couldn't remember the last time there'd been a murder in Grady Gulch. "Does Cameron know who did it?"
"He's not saying. They've been working out in her cabin all morning and Cameron has been in and out of here questioning people, but that's all I know right now." Her eyes were so dark as she looked at him. "It was awful, Daniel. I don't think I'll ever get that vision of her out of my head."
He wasn't conscious of reaching across the table until one of her small, trembling hands was in his on the tabletop. "I'm so sorry you had to be the one to find her."
She gave a curt nod and squeezed his fingers. "It wasn't exactly one of the things on my bucket list." She released his hand and leaned back in her chair, looking weary and yet frightened.
"Have you eaten anything today?"
She looked at him blankly for a moment. "No. To be honest, I haven't even thought about food."
Daniel looked around, noting that Mary must have called in most of her staff to handle the crowd and cover for the traumatized Lizzy and the missing Candy. He motioned to Dana Maxwell, one of the waitresses buzzing around the tables. She hurried over to him, order pad in hand.
"How ya doing, hon?" She gave Lizzy a sympathetic smile.
"She needs to eat something, Dana," Daniel said.
"Course she does," Dana agreed. "Poor little thing."
"I'm fine," Lizzy replied.
"How about a bowl of soup?" Daniel didn't wait for Lizzy's response. "Yeah, a bowl of that chicken rice soup for her and a burger for me." He was hoping that she'd not only eat some of the soup but might also pick at the French fries that would come with his burger. It was almost three o'clock, which meant she'd already missed two meals.
"Coming right up," Dana replied and left the table.
"How do you know if I even like chicken and rice soup?" Lizzy asked when the waitress had left.
"Everyone likes chicken soup," he replied, glad to see a bit of a spark back in her eyes.
She shrugged as if it didn't matter to her and released a deep sigh. "I just can't believe I was right next door sleeping while somebody was killing her. Maybe if I hadn't been sleeping so soundly I might have heard her cry out and been able to help her."
The very idea of Lizzy running out of the safety of her own cabin and into Candy's to confront a killer chilled him to his very bones. "Thank God that didn't happen, otherwise we might be sitting here talking about two dead waitresses."
Lizzy nodded and looked toward the counter, where Mary stood with an arm around her son, as if attempting to shield him from anything harmful or ugly. Unfortunately, there was no way to keep from the young man that a murder had occurred in his backyard.
"Mary has been really upset about all this. She was going to keep the café closed all day, but people kept showing up at the door and finally Cameron encouraged her to go ahead and open up the doors. I think he wanted to force her to think about work instead of the murder, at least for a little while."
"Maybe you need to think about something else for a little while," Daniel said gently.
"It's hard to think about anything else. I hate to say it, but I'm hoping her boyfriend is responsible and that the case is all tied up in a neat and tidy bow by the end of today."
"Who was she dating?" he asked.
"Kevin Naperson."
Daniel frowned. "The Napersons are good people. Tom works as the postmaster and his wife, Nadine, works for the mayor. I hope you're wrong about their son. It would destroy them if he's responsible for this."
"All I know is that Candy used to tell us that Kevin liked to drink a lot and the two of them fought like cats and dogs."
"I'm sure Cameron will figure it all out," Daniel said in an effort to smooth some of the tension that had her nearly vibrating in the chair.