Free Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon by Carla Cassidy Page B

suspect with a financial motive.”
    “You’ve pretty much been taken off my suspect list anyway,” he replied.
    “Thanks. I appreciate your clarity.”
    He was surprised by the small burst of laughter that escaped him. “That’s about the only clarity I’ve had about this case so far.”
    She turned back around, and as she tended to his breakfast, they fell into silence. He sipped his coffee and stared out the window where a flower bed exploded with a variety of colorful blooms.
    “John came up clean, too,” he said as she set his plate before him and then rejoined him at the table. “What do you know about him?”
    She shrugged, her bare, faintly freckled shoulders enchanting him. “I know he’s from New Orleans but used to work for some big hotel in Shreveport, and was looking for a change of pace and a smaller town. When he saw the ad that Sam had run in the paper, he applied for the job and then came here for a visit.”
    “Apparently Sam liked what he saw in the young man,” Gabriel said as he picked up a slice of his toast.
    “I like what I see in John. He’s been like a big brother to Cory, and he seems to know everything there is to know about plants and trees and flowers. I think he has a degree in horticulture. He came here with a glowing recommendation from his former job.” She frowned. “Surely he isn’t on your suspect list. Sam and John got along great, and he was considered part of the family.”
    Gabriel fell silent as he ate his breakfast, his thoughts going over what little they knew about the disappearance. He had no idea specifically what time the family had vanished. They had now been missing over three days, and his hope to find them alive was shrinking.
    “Our suspect list stinks, we have no real leads to follow and we’re no closer to figuring out what happened to the family than we were when we first arrived,” he said with disgust. He shoved his empty plate aside and reached for his coffee cup.
    Marlena got up and went for his plate, but before she grabbed it, she laid her hand over the back of his. His heart stopped as she gazed at him, her smaller hand warm over his.
    He fought an impulse to snatch his hand away, unaccustomed to anyone touching him for any reason. She offered him a smile of encouragement. “You’re going to figure this out, Gabriel. I just know you and your men are going to get to the bottom of things.” She gave his hand a quick squeeze and then released it, leaving him feeling oddly bereft.
    As she moved to the sink with his plate, he once again stared out the window, his thoughts jumbled with both the crime and her. She topped up their coffee and then sat across from him.
    “Tell me about the people on your suspect list,” she said.
    “To be honest, we don’t even have a real suspect list at the moment. All we have is a person of interest list.”
    “Then tell me about your persons of interest.”
    He leaned back in the chair. “Your boyfriend, until I can check his alibi.” He’d deliberately called Thomas that to get her reaction.
    His reward was the flash of aggravation in her delicious green eyes. “He is not my boyfriend.” She must have seen a spark of something in his eyes, for she suddenly grinned. “Ah, the big dark FBI agent does have a sense of humor after all.”
    “I have my moments,” he said easily. “In any case, for now Thomas Brady is on my list, along with Ryan Sherman.”
    “I’d forgotten about Ryan,” she said. “He’s a thug, a creep, and he hated Sam with a passion. Of course, he hates anyone who has anything to do with law enforcement.”
    “The problem is that Ryan has an alibi. He was supposedly with his girlfriend the night of the disappearance. The other issue is, if somebody took the family and is keeping them alive, then they have to have a place for them. There’s no way Ryan would be keeping hostages in his dinky apartment. Jackson spent some time Saturday morning at City Hall checking to see if Ryan