Winter Awakening by Elizabeth Lennox
Chapter 2
Mack rubbed the scruff on his jaw, wondering when he’d last slept. Had it been today? Maybe. Or maybe not. His eyes were gritty from fatigue and his thoughts were fuzzy. This latest murder was a puzzle.
The investigation was going to be tricky. Trying to figure out who had killed the guy while the remaining family descended on the house to claim their inheritance had been frustrating. He hoped he and his partner, Detective Dean Gibson, would be able to continue sifting through the evidence tomorrow.
For tonight, all he wanted was to sleep for the next twelve hours. Beer. Yeah, maybe he’d grab a beer first, he thought as he pushed through the back door of the house.
He didn’t bother to turn on the lights because there wasn’t any furniture in the house yet. Maybe he’d look for some furniture this weekend. Opening the fridge, he flinched in irritation as the bright light of the fridge illuminated the emptiness of the house. But the light also revealed the last two beers, which were all that was there. He opened the bottle, tossing the cap to the right and absently noting the ping as it landed in the trash. He needed to take out the trash too. But…wait, what day was it? When was trash pick-up day?
Lifting the bottle to his lips, he wandered through the dark room towards the “parlor” at the front of the house. Yeah, he really needed some furniture, he thought again. It would be nice to sit down to drink a beer.
This weekend, he promised himself. Unless today was a weekend day. Was it Monday? Or Saturday? He wasn’t sure and suspected that he needed a few days off. He’d been pushing himself pretty hard over the past few weeks.
Mack leaned a shoulder against the front window, looking out at the dark street. This was a pretty neighborhood, for the most part. There were some beautiful yards and well maintained homes. And then there were the curmudgeons that rarely mowed their grass. There was no home owner’s association in this neighborhood of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was in the older part of the town, with the state capital a short walk to the east, the hospital even closer.
Mack noticed an unfamiliar car parked in front of Ms. Maven’s house. He made a mental note to run a check on the license plate number in the morning. Ms. Maven had broken her leg last month and hadn’t been able to maintain the house. She’d already moved to Fort Collins, about a forty-five minute drive south, in Colorado. It was a bigger town, and didn’t have the wind issues that seemed to bedevil Cheyenne.
He wondered what Ms. Maven’s daughter was doing. Was Kate in Fort Collins with her mother? The possibility that Kate, with her long, wavy, sandy blond hair and those glowing, green eyes, could be so close made his body tighten. Kate with her amazing laughter, her boundless energy, and her unending optimism and dreams.
Pushing away from the window, he muttered a few choice expletives that the mere memory of Kate, even after all these years, could cause his body to tighten with this level of urgency.
Finishing off his beer, he tossed the bottle into the recycling bin, then headed upstairs. Sleep. He needed sleep! He definitely did not need to think about the beautiful woman that had gone off to college all those years ago. Their relationship had been doomed from the start. From the first time he’d laid eyes on Kate Maven, Mack had known that she’d be trouble. But he’d fallen hard for her anyway. And of course, it had ended exactly as he’d anticipated. Kate lived life too big. She was too enthusiastic about the world and its possibilities to remain here in Cheyenne. The world was a huge, wonderful place filled with adventures. She’d gone off, exploring the world and, as far as he knew, had thrived!
She’d done really well for herself, he thought as he stripped off his clothes, brushed his teeth, then literally fell onto the bed as exhaustion hit him like a freight train. He didn’t have to turn off the light. There was only one light in the room and he hadn’t bothered to turn it on. He only took the time to secure his weapon in the safe beside his bed, checking to make sure that it was locked before he fell into a deep sleep.
