Her Cowboy Distraction(31)

Nobody would think of her murder being committed by Sam anyway, she  thought. "Sam, I'm leaving town tomorrow. You don't have to do this.  I'll be gone by dawn."

"That's not good enough!" he screamed, the cords in his neck bulging. "I  warned you twice, but you wouldn't listen to me. I can't believe a damn  word you say. I see the way you look at him, and the way he looks at  you. Now get on that bed before I shoot you."                       
       
           



       

A million thoughts flashed through Lizzy's head in the space of a  breath. Would he really shoot her? The gun had no silencer on it. If he  fired it everyone in the café would hear the noise.

If he truly wanted her murder to appear like Candy's in order to cover  his tracks, then he'd want to use a knife on her, not a gun.

She certainly didn't want to make this easy for him. Her will to survive surged up inside her, along with the courage to gamble.

"Get on the damned bed," he yelled again.

A lifetime of emotions flashed through Lizzy as she raised her chin and returned his gaze. "Make me."





Chapter 12

"Thanks, Dana," Daniel said as the waitress topped off both his and Lizzy's coffees.

"No problem." She gave him a bright smile and then left him alone at the  table. Daniel looked across the room toward the area of the restrooms,  waiting for Lizzy to return to the table.

He supposed he should have just let her go in the morning and kept his  feelings to himself. That probably would have been the kindest thing for  him to do for her, to let her fulfill her promise to her mother without  the baggage of his love on her shoulders.

They should have spent their last evening together without tension,  without complicated matters of the heart taking away the simple pleasure  of their last moments.

"Hi, Daniel," Mary greeted him as she walked up to the side of his table. "How are you doing?"

He wrapped his hands around his coffee mug. "As well as can be expected,  I suppose. Did Lizzy tell you she was leaving town in the morning?"

Mary looked at him in surprise. "No, she didn't." A trace of sadness  darkened her blue eyes. "I shouldn't be surprised, but I had been  hoping … " she allowed her voice to trail off.

"Yeah, me, too."

Mary placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, as if knowing exactly what he  felt at the moment. "I warned her, Daniel. I told her you were a good  man and that she shouldn't break your heart."

He gave Mary a wry smile. "She didn't mean to. She just couldn't help  it. She warned me from the first time she spoke that Grady Gulch was  just a temporary stop."

Mary looked around the restaurant. "Where is she now?"

"We were kind of having an intense discussion and she excused herself to  go to the restroom." Daniel frowned. "But, it seems like she's been  gone an unusually long time."

"You want me to check on her?" Mary asked.

"Do you mind?" He suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable with the length of  time she'd been gone. He knew women could spend a lot of time primping  and posturing in front of a mirror, but Lizzy just wasn't that type.

"I'll be right back," Mary said and turned to head in the direction of the restrooms.

Daniel watched as she wound her way through the tables, occasionally stopped by a patron to ask a question or to say hello.

Surely Lizzy hadn't sneaked out the back door and found a ride back to  his place, unwilling to have any further conversation with Daniel.

He mentally shook his head. No, she wouldn't do that to him. She'd see  this to the end, drive home with him tonight and then tell him goodbye  in the morning. She wouldn't hide from that final goodbye. She just  wasn't that kind of woman.

The slight edge of tension inside him increased as he saw Mary disappear  down the hall to the bathroom and a moment later reappear with a  worried frown creasing her forehead.

He stood as she reached his table. "She wasn't in there, Daniel. I  checked the kitchen, too. She doesn't seem to be anywhere in the café."

She wouldn't have just left, not this way. He felt it in his gut. He  knew her too well to believe that. "I'm going to check it out," he said  to Mary.

"Should I call Cameron?" she asked, her lower lip trembling with concern.

Daniel hesitated. If Lizzy had just stepped outside for a moment because  she'd needed a breath of fresh air, a little break from the  conversation they were having, then calling the sheriff would be a  foolish waste of his time.

But, if Lizzy had stepped outside for some air and somebody had grabbed  her, her attacker had carried her off, then he wanted not just the  sheriff but every deputy in town looking for her. He'd rather be foolish  than be forever sorry.

"Yeah, call Cameron. I'm going to check outside." Daniel headed for the  front door, attempting desperately to hold on to his simmering panic, to  not allow it to release unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe she'd gone to his truck. They'd finished their meal. Maybe she'd  decided to just wait in the truck until he finished his coffee and paid  for their dinner.                       
       
           



       

Even as he ran to the side of his truck, he knew she wouldn't be there.  Lizzy wouldn't sit in the truck and pout because he'd told her a hard  truth that he believed about her.

Frantically he looked around the parking lot, seeking any sign of her.  But, he couldn't find her. He couldn't find her anywhere, and the panic  that he'd been trying desperately to control surged up inside him,  leaving him half-breathless.

Had she stepped outside and right into danger? Was this just another  repeat of what had happened with Janice? He'd told her some hard truths  about herself that night, and his words had sent her out the door and to  her death.

Lizzy! Her name screamed in his head as he left the parking lot and  raced around the left side of the café building. If she'd stepped  outside it had been through the kitchen door because he hadn't seen her  return to the dining area after going to the bathroom.

Yes, that was it, she was probably standing outside the back door where  the kitchen light spilled out into the night and Rusty or Junior were  only a shout away.

The side of the building seemed longer than normal as he ran, hoping,  praying that when he turned the corner to the back of the café he'd see  Lizzy standing there. Oh, God, he wanted that. He'd gladly let her go  tomorrow if she was just okay right now.

He whirled around to the back of the café and saw nothing except a stack  of trash cans and the light spilling out of the kitchen.

No Lizzy.

He raced into the kitchen, where Rusty was at the grill. "Did somebody  come through here? Did you see Lizzy a few minutes ago come this way?"

"Somebody came through a few minutes ago, but I was in the walk-in refrigerator and didn't see who it was."

Daniel didn't wait to hear anymore. He felt it in his gut. Lizzy had  come through here, she'd stepped outside and then something had  happened. But what?

Once again he darted out the door and paused, his gaze sweeping the area for any sign of her or of what might have happened.

The cabins were dark. Only Rusty's had a light shining out the window.  Candy's cabin still had a stripe of crime scene tape stuck to the door,  the bright yellow band tightening the muscles in Daniel's gut.

He listened, but all he could hear was the sound of diners inside and  the noise that Rusty made as he threw something on the grill that popped  and sizzled.

And then he saw it … a sliver of light in the window of the cabin that had  been Lizzy's. Had she forgotten something and gone in to retrieve it  before leaving town tomorrow? Surely if she'd remembered something she'd  left behind she would have asked Daniel to go with her into the cabin.

Lizzy wasn't a foolish woman, and after the attack in the barn she'd  know better than to go anywhere in the dark alone. A cold calm swept  through him as he reached down and grabbed his gun from his boot.

Mary had no more tolerance for guns at dinner than she did for hats, but  Daniel hadn't been about to have an outing with Lizzy without the  weapon.

The gun felt weighty, slightly alien in his hand. He kept it at the  ranch for protection and knew he was a proficient shot, but he certainly  wasn't intimately familiar with the weapon. Still, he could easily  point it at somebody and pull the trigger if it was a matter of life and  death for Lizzy.

He felt as if the night around him fell away as he focused solely on the  cabin ahead of him and the faint sliver of light that leaked out of a  slit in the curtains.

If she was in there he just had to hope he wasn't too late to save her.  If she was in there he hoped he could open the door and see her crawling  around on the ground looking for a lost earring or a missing lipstick.