abruptly shoved back his empty plate, his expression grim. “There always seemed to be some catastrophe that demanded my immediate attention while I was building my business. And to be honest, my dad got put at the bottom of the list.” He shook his head. “I thought there would be more time. Now—”
His words were cut short as the front buzzer once again sounded. A rare annoyance stabbed through Lynne at the unwelcome interruption. Since her father had retired two years ago, she’d grown accustomed to being on call 24/7. It’d never bothered her. Not until this moment. Suddenly she wanted to yell at the person interrupting her lunch that she deserved a few minutes of peace.
Instead she forced herself to her feet. “Sorry, I need to see if this is an emergency.”
He nodded as she turned to hurry from the room. A moment later, Lynne was pulling open the front door. “Parker,” she muttered in surprise, her gaze taking in the local news anchor, who was shivering on the porch.
He was a few inches taller than her, which made him short for a man, with dark hair that she’d heard he drove all the way to Green Bay to have trimmed. His features were exactly what you would expect for a television personality. High, perfectly chiseled cheekbones with a strong jaw, a bold nose, and piercing gray eyes. Most people thought he was handsome, but Lynne was turned off by the perpetual tan and super-white teeth that didn’t look quite real. Still, she had to admit that he had a polished charm that made him a welcome addition to Pike.
Plus, he was a fellow animal lover.
“Hello, Lynne,” he said, flashing his white teeth.
Lynne glanced toward the nearby van with the local station’s call letters painted on the side. “Is something wrong with Norman?” she asked, referring to the rescue dog that Parker had recently adopted.
“No, no. He’s fine,” he assured her. “Fat and happy.”
“Good.” She started to inch the door shut. The sun was shining, but it only made things worse. The air was cold enough to make her fingers go numb. “I’m closed for lunch. Is there something you need?”
He stepped forward, as if he was preparing to stick his foot in the threshold to keep her from slamming the door in his face.
No doubt that happened a lot in his line of work.
“I have a few questions.”
“Questions about what?”
“Can we talk inside?” The practiced smile widened. “It will only take a couple minutes.”
“Is this for your ‘Pets’ Corner’ segment?” Lynne inquired as she reluctantly stepped back to let the man into the reception room.
As much as she wanted to run him off and continue her lunch with Kir, she was in Parker’s debt. He’d been the only one who was willing to listen to her idea of featuring a rescue animal on the evening news. More than that, he’d pressured the owner of the station to give it a try.
Thankfully, the spotlight had not only helped the local sanctuary, but it’d been so popular with the public that they added an extra ten minutes on Friday nights for Lynne to discuss the proper care and training of pets, as well as promoting one of the animals in need of a home each week.
“Unfortunately, no.”
Lynne frowned. “What’s going on?”
“You didn’t catch my special report this morning?”
It took a second for her to recall the news alert she’d heard before leaving her house. “Oh, right. The body that was found.”
He heaved a dramatic sigh. “Yes. Poor woman.”
“Do they have an identity yet?”
“They haven’t made an official announcement, but I have an inside source who told me it’s Sherry Higgins.”
Lynne jerked in surprise. She hadn’t considered the possibility that the dead woman might be from Pike. “The lady who owns the trailer park?”
“That’s her.”
Lynne didn’t know Sherry very well. The woman had kept to herself most of the time, but it was still disturbing to think that she was dead. And that someone might have deliberately hurt her. “How awful.”
“Tragic.” Parker’s voice held a smooth compassion that Lynne assumed he practiced. It was the same tone he used to reveal there had been a fire at the local lumberyard, or that there were budget cuts to the school. “According to my sources, Sherry was found with her naked body posed in the snow and her throat slit. The only thing the killer left was a crimson ribbon tied around her neck.”
Lynne lifted her hand to touch her neck. It was