LITMIR.BIZ

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from men in a way she hadn’t in high school. The Blue Spur, however, wasn’t her favorite spot.

      She shook her head. Jax hadn’t asked, and she wasn’t about to presume he would. Hell, she didn’t even know if he was single. Even if he was, she wondered if he had weekends to himself. He’d barely made it through dinner before he was called into work.

      * * *

      Jax was fastening his badge to his belt as he walked into the stationery store. He’d gone out back behind the building as soon as he’d gotten to the scene. He wanted to check and see if his hunch would pan out and it had. The back door had a hole similar to the one at Marissa’s shop. Just below the push bar. The stationery store hadn’t fared as well, though. Stock had been knocked off shelves. The registers were broken and several high-end gifts had been taken along with a small safe that had sat under the manager’s desk in the office.

      At least the owners of the store had an alarm. When it’d gone off, the alarm company had alerted them, as well as the police department. One of his officers, Jeff Connors, had finished on his call and had met him at the store, but the thieves had already cut out.

      “The owners are on the way. They were in Fort Worth at a show.” Jeff flipped through a little notepad. “They closed up about two hours ago. It’s the first time they’ve had a break-in since they’ve been open.”

      Jax nodded. It was the same story he’d read in a month-old report from the dry cleaners a couple of blocks over. Hole in the door and everything. There was a pattern emerging. The only problem was, it didn’t jibe with Marissa’s break-in. Her shop, the suspect had stayed on the premises. He’d all but made himself at home from the sound of it. The cleaners and this store had been a “grab what you can and get out.” Granted, both of those places had alarm systems in place and Marissa’s didn’t.

      He made a mental note to talk to her about installing something as soon as she could.

      After three hours helping Jeff write up the report, then going over what the owners lost in the robbery, Jax was nearly as wiped out as he had been in the morning when he left Marissa’s. Chief Kendal had warned him there would be a rough transition period taking over an entire police department. He just hadn’t expected it to all hit in the span of a few days on next to no sleep.

      The next morning he was running on coffee and carbs as he went through a pile of paperwork. Jeff had found him the file on a break-in at a clothing boutique that had happened before he’d taken over. That made three robberies on the strip downtown. There was no notation of there being a hole in the back door, so he was headed over to the boutique after lunch.

      He filed the newest report and headed through the station looking for his daytime dispatcher, Chief Kendal’s granddaughter, Macey. She was Otto’s older brother’s kid. It was a little disconcerting to think kids he’d grown up with had kids old enough to vote or drink beer. Or work for him.

      “Hey, Mace.”

      Macey shifted one of the earpieces from her headset back. “Hey, Jax. I mean Chief.” She gave him a quick little salute. “What can I do for you?”

      “Do you know that cupcake place over on Flower Tree?”

      “Marissa’s.” She nodded. “Sure.”

      “What was there before that went in? I know it’s been there less than a year.”

      She tapped her manicured nail to her lip. “Um. It was a burger place. No, last it was a pizza place. For a couple of years. Before that it was a burger place. It lasted almost as long, I guess.” She settled her headset back into place. “Man, now I’m hungry,” she mumbled just as the phone lit up.

      He made a mental note to look for reports for either business when he had a little more time. As it was, he barely had time to grab a quick lunch from a fast-food chain a block away from the station.

      Jax drove out to the clothing boutique. The last time he’d been in town, nearly ten years earlier, the “business district” was an odd assortment of storefronts mixed with houses. Now it was all commerce with new storefronts mixed in with the businesses that had been around since he was a kid. The small, three-by-four street section of the town had been transformed into a mini shopping mecca. Flower Tree was on the far edge of the shopping center. Two of the burglaries had been there. The cleaners was two streets over and the boutique was on the opposite edge.

      He parked his SUV cruiser three stores down from the clothing store. All the other spaces were filled with minivans and station wagons. He was glad to see the downtown area had picked up from when he was a kid. Back then the stores had been hard-pressed to get any customers on weekdays. Weekends were the main haul.

      When he stepped from the cruiser he glanced up and down the street. Houses lined the backs of the business. A tree-lined alleyway separated the commerce district from the residential area. It gave a false sense of separation of the two, and made for easy access to cross through. He’d reread the report of the break-in of the clothing store. The alarm had tripped just before four in the morning. The small safe had been completely lifted from its spot under the manager’s desk. A few pieces of clothing had been stolen—nothing high end—and all the costume jewelry on display had been taken. Worse seemed to be the umpteen displays the thieves broke for no apparent reason than to cause additional damage. The department had responded within six minutes and by the time they got there, the store was empty. If there’d been a hole in the door it hadn’t been reported.

      A bell tinkled above the door when Jax walked in. He removed his sunglasses while his eyes adjusted. Several startled females froze. The store catered solely to women. Dresses and blouses hung from the walls as displays. One corner had a variety of lingerie, the other had a small group of dressing rooms. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a store like it.

      A tall blonde came from behind the register and hurried toward him. She was dressed in a form-fitting teal dress. Could she sit in it—and still breathe? Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with her store logo—covered in flour—Marissa was more beautiful than this done-up woman and her scary high heels.

      She stopped a few feet from him. A hesitant smile crossed her mouth. “Chief Carlisle. How are you? Was there something I can help you with?” She glanced over her shoulder and one of the patrons giggled.

      “I was hoping to speak to the owner about the break-in the store had several months back.”

      The blonde’s smile fell away as her brow pulled down slightly. “I’m the owner. Joan Barkley. Follow me. We’ll go to my office.” She motioned for him to follow. When they went into the stock room, she told a young sales girl to go out and watch the store.

      Her office consisted of a little cubby in the back corner of the stockroom. A small desk sat with a computer atop it, as well as a couple of dainty, girlie chairs in front. There was a door that he presumed led outside and another door that looked like it might be a restroom. The rest of the stockroom was lined with shelves and racks loaded down with merchandise.

      Once they were alone, she offered him one of the small chairs. “No thanks.” He was afraid it might break under his weight.

      He ran her name through his head. It was so strange coming back to town. So many people knew who he was thanks to the Oak Hollow Country Club or school. He’d been told all the rumors skittering around when he’d been hired, his name on everyone’s lips. Some speculated he was a bad cop who’d been ousted from his job in Austin and was coming home with his tail tucked between his legs. Others said he was leaving behind a scorned woman whose husband had threatened to kill him. If only his life had been half as interesting.

      Now he was running across people, wondering, when they knew immediately who he was, if he’d forgotten some long-lost connection to them. Most he found knew of him, but didn’t actually know him. Joan Barkley didn’t ring any mental bells so he stated his business. “I was hoping you could walk me through what happened after your break-in.”

      Joan hugged her arms around herself. She replayed the story as it had been in the report.

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