Dallas?”
“From what he told me, not very long.”
“What’s he look like?” she asked. “I need a description, something more than an ex-football jock with blond hair.”
“He doesn’t look anything like he used to. I almost didn’t recognize him. His hair’s darker and buzzed very short. He’s got tats on his neck and arms. I couldn’t believe it. He looks more like a criminal than the captain of the football team he was when we were dating.”
“Maybe that’s where he’s been,” Colt said. “Maybe the guy’s been in prison for the last eight years.”
Lissa flashed Colt a look, giving him silent kudos for a good idea. “I’ll check it out. Julie, I need you to think back, try to remember everything Ray said. Anything he mentioned might be helpful.”
Julie raked back her heavy auburn hair. “Why don’t we all sit down in the kitchen? I’ve got a cold pitcher of iced tea in the fridge. That’ll give me some time to think.”
“Sounds good,” Colt said.
Once they were seated at the table in Julie’s sunny yellow kitchen, a glass of iced tea in front of them, Julie went back over the conversation she’d had with her ex.
“I swear, I barely recognized him. Even his voice sounded different, harder, not smooth and coaxing like it was before. I didn’t want to let him in, but I was afraid if I didn’t it would only make things worse.”
“Did he say why he hasn’t tried to contact you until now?” Colt asked.
“We didn’t talk about it. He just said he’d made mistakes, but he was older now. He’d come to realize a man needed a son to pass down his legacy. He was particularly interested in seeing Timmy.”
“He didn’t care about Megan?” Lissa asked.
“He said he trusted me to raise her right.”
“What legacy?” Colt asked. “Did he mention anything in particular?”
“That was about the time he started to realize the kids weren’t in the house. When I told him they went over to a friend’s after school, he got so mad he smashed the lamp and stormed out of the house. He said he’d be back and Tim had better be here when he showed up.”
Silence fell. Lissa slanted a glance at Colt, whose features looked set in stone. “What else did he say?” she asked.
“He said I still looked pretty. But that was before he got so mad. After that, he said I was still the same useless bitch I’d always been.”
“Nice guy,” Lissa said dryly.
“You think you can find him?” Colt asked her.
“I’ll find him.” She glanced at the broken lamp, thought of Ray’s violent temper, and hoped it was sooner rather than later.
“You find him, I’ll deal with him,” Colt said to her darkly. “When I’m finished, Ray Spearman won’t ever bother Julie again.”
One look into that steely blue eye and Lissa believed him. Unfortunately, as a former police officer, no way could she stand by and let this guy kill Ray. Though there was a very good chance that was exactly what Colt Wheeler had in mind.
CHAPTER THREE
COLT SAT ON the sofa in the living room while Julie and Lissa cleaned up in the kitchen, an excuse, he figured, for Julie to give her friend a rundown of who he was and what he was doing in Dallas.
He looked up as the front door opened and Julie’s two kids burst into the living room, home from their time with the neighbors.
“Colt!” Timmy was eleven, a good-looking boy with reddish-blond hair and a gangly frame he was just beginning to grow into. Colt rose as the kid grinned and ran toward him. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Hey, Tim.” Colt clamped a hand on the boy’s shoulder and they leaned in for a hug. “I swear you’ve grown six inches since I was here last year.”
“I wish. I can’t wait to be as tall as you.”
He smiled. “Be patient. Someday you will be.”
“I hope so. Mom said you quit the army.”
“That’s right. I needed a change. I’m headed back to Denver to try something new.” Something that would challenge him the way the rangers once had.
“Are you gonna stay in town for a while?”
“Maybe a day or two.”
“Cool. I got basketball practice so I gotta go. I’ll see you when I get home.” Timmy took off just as his sister walked in. Megan was a year older, a beautiful young girl with the same fair skin, delicate features, and auburn hair as her mother.
“Colt! Mom didn’t say you were coming.”
“I should have