Scene of the Crime Deadman's Bluff - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,31
and slathered it with butter. “Did the guys you talked to today give you any information you didn’t already have?”
“Nothing about the crime but a little bit about their personal lives. Jerome Walker seemed like a nice kid from a good family. He’s home for the summer from college and wants to graduate with a business degree. Ernie Simpson works at the hardware store and, although he didn’t mention it, Tom told me Ernie’s father is the town drunk.”
“And the other young man?”
“Sam Clemmons.” Seth frowned as he thought of Sam. “Hates his parents, lives by himself in a shanty he rents at the edge of town. His whole life seems to be riding the dunes.”
He’d found Sam hard to read, with a touch of a temper when pushed hard. “Sam has been at the scene each time a woman has been discovered.”
Tamara’s eyes widened. “So, is he a suspect in the murders?”
“I’m calling him a person of interest at this point.” She had such beautiful eyes. If he looked into their blue depths for too long he wanted to fall into them. He wondered what they’d look like darkened with passion or lazy with sexual contentment.
He grabbed a piece of the bread, irritated by his wayward thoughts. “Anyway,” he continued, “tomorrow I’m interviewing Henry Todd, who was dating Vicki Smith at the time of her murder and a couple of the kids that were at the party with Rebecca Cook before her death.”
Tamara leaned back and gazed at him thoughtfully. “It must be rough to work all day dealing with the darkness of murder and then go home where there’s nobody to talk to, nobody to share your day with.”
“Most of the women I’ve dated in the past don’t want to hear about my day at work,” he replied.
“Then you’re dating the wrong kind of woman,” she replied. “I find it all fascinating.”
He held her gaze and for a long moment, their mutual attraction was palpable in the air. Her words forced him to think about those nights alone in his apartment, when he’d wished for somebody to talk to, somebody who might partner him through life.
Something about Tamara made him think about having a soft place to fall at the end of a long, difficult day and no other woman had ever made him think of such a thing before.
Thankfully after dinner as they lingered over coffee their conversation was light and easy with topics like the summer heat ahead and the antics of the adorable puppy, Scooter.
It was almost ten o’clock by the time they got back to Linda’s place. A note on the table indicated that Linda had already gone to bed and Samantha was spending the night with a girlfriend.
The house was quiet and even though it was officially the end of the evening, Seth was reluctant to tell Tamara good night.
“One final nightcap?” he asked as he wondered how he managed to be standing so close to her.
He heard the hum of the refrigerator just behind him and smelled the floral scent of her perfume, felt the heat of her body radiating toward him as if to seduce him even closer.
“I don’t think so. It’s been a long day,” she replied, but she didn’t step back from him or make a move to go to her bedroom. “Thank you for the lovely meal and the company.”
“I enjoy your company,” he replied. He probably should be telling her that it had been all business, that he’d wanted her seen around town and that he’d wanted to get an initial impression of Henry Todd. He should not be telling her that he liked being with her for no other reason than she was who she was.
“Do you think the killer saw me tonight?” she asked, as if catching part of the wavelength of his thoughts. She took a step closer to him. He didn’t know if it was because the thought made her afraid or if it was because she felt the simmering tension in the air, a tension he didn’t want to feel but seemed unable to control.
“I don’t know...maybe,” he replied. Anything else he might have said stuck in his throat as she took another step closer to him.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Seth.” She moved close enough to him that her body was mere inches from his. Her cheeks grew slightly pink as she continued to look up at him. “I know it’s probably not a good idea, but I