Denver had killer weather, as in nearly perfect. Summers were hot but usually at night it cooled off enough to sleep under a cover. Spring and Fall were volatile and allowed for variety in wardrobe. Winter was never too cold because there was no moisture in the air. The occasional blizzard was a bummer and sometimes there were snowstorms in July but nearly every day was sunny and the blue skies of Denver could not be beat.
We’d already called Duke, like, a gazillion times. Duke and Dolores were visiting Dolores’s parents in Pagosa Springs and they were supposed to be home in the morning but had still not arrived. I didn’t know Dolores’s parents’ number or her maiden name. We were stuck on that score.
I found Duke’s disappearance curious and a little scary. Though Duke had been known to go walkabout, except it was walkabout on a Harley.
Duke didn’t do cell phones and I was loath to go to Evergreen. Although Rosie would likely be there or go there, at least eventually as that was where the diamonds were, so might Lee and I had decided I was definitely back to avoiding Lee.
I had not come to terms with this abrupt about-face and needed time to process it.
Who was I kidding?
There was no processing going on.
Lee and I were not gonna happen.
I hated to break Ally and Kitty Sue’s hearts but I’d seen Lee tear through a variety of women’s lives and I wasn’t going to be one of them.
These days, he was never home.
I had no idea what he did for a living but I was pretty sure it was dangerous.
And he was way too damn cocky.
Ally and I were both staring at Rosie’s house and I was trying to pluck up the courage to drive to Evergreen and maybe have a scary faceoff with Lee that I had to have the cojones to win when someone tapped on the back passenger window.
“Shit!” I jumped and shouted.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
In Ally’s window was a nice-looking man, though a wee-bit steroid ridden and overdeveloped in the chest area but he had a good haircut, shirt, tie, slacks.
“We’re a bit jumpy. We’ve had kind of a rough day,” Ally explained, smiling her flirty smile.
Conversely, although Ally could head bang with the best, she was a White Hat type of gal. She liked the good boys. She liked preppies and corporate types and definitely men in uniform. She understood a good guitar riff but she liked her men clean-cut and ties and uniforms drove her wild.
“You lookin’ for Rosie?” the man asked.
I blinked.
Were we that obvious?
“Uh, yeah,” I replied.
He nodded. “I live over there.”
He pointed in the vague direction of “over there” and both Ally and I followed his finger, not sure precisely which house “over there” was his then looked back to him.
“Is Rosie in trouble?” the guy asked.
“Does Rosie get in trouble, do you know?” I asked in return.
The guy shook his head. “Not that I know of. Quiet guy. Killer coffee.”
We all nodded.
“I’m Gary,” he said.
Ally extended her hand. “Ally,” she said and then she pointed to me, “and this is India.”