Ill Take Forever

don't need to be concerned with that. You're involvement is only to provide me with a cover. I'll do the rest.'
    'How can I help if I don't know what's going on?'
    'You are helping, just by letting me stay. Keep out of the rest.'
    Jenny frowned at his response. She’d thought she would play a little more active role.
    'Have you been doing this for a long time?' She'd thought he was in his early thirties. Had he always been in law enforcement?
    'Long enough to know what I’m doing.'
    Jenny had glanced over at him again, and her heart had caught in her throat. He lay back against the chair, skin pale, eyes shut. She had longed again to reach out to him, to comfort him, her fingers aching to touch him. She couldn't remember ever having felt as strongly as this before. What was it about Kyle Martin?
    ‘Tell me the bare minimum,’ he said softly.
    Jenny complied by telling him about Johnny and their knowing each other all their lives. How his mother and hers had been best friends. Then moving on to others who knew the family, and where different members of the Warwick clan now lived.
    Kyle watched her as she talked. She spoke lovingly of her husband. Obviously she was still in love with the man. The background check had turned up bare facts. John Warwick had died in a multiple car pileup on the interstate during a dust storm. Seven people had died in that accident. His young wife had not been with him.
    Jenny had grown up in Palmer, attended the university in Berkeley and majored in accounting and business. He wondered what made her want to stay in this small town when she could have obtained a job anywhere.
    Still, Palmer and vicinity had a lot going for it with the slower lifestyle, beauty of the Sierra, close to skiing and not too far from Lake Tahoe for both summer and winter sports.
    He liked the way her eyes glowed when she remembered something special to tell him. He hated seeing the sadness when she spoke of her late husband. He hoped he could get in and out quickly and not depend too much on her giving him the cover he needed. He’d assessed the danger and determined it was minimal. No one would suspect her of duplicity. He hoped if push came to shove, she’d be able to carry off the deception.
    As it grew dark, he looked up at the sky. The stars were beginning to show. Later tonight they’d saturate the sky. The clearing allowed him to see a large swath before trees blocked the view.
    ‘Do you have any suspects?’ she asked.
    He looked at her.
    ‘Like Nate and Jim?’
    ‘Who?’ He feigned ignorance.
    ‘Remember Nate, the man who came to my house that night. There was no poker game. They were hunting you. Are they who you suspect?’
    He started to lie, but couldn’t. It was an obvious assumption.
    ‘Those two among others. We don’t think Nate’s smart enough to run the show. Who’re his friends?’
    ‘Jim for one. He and Johnny hung out when we were all in high school, but after we were married, Johnny stopped seeing him much. Said he was too juvenile for him. So Jim started hanging out with Nate. Neither’s ever married, so they are still in that single guy mode.’
    Kyle looked at her. ‘What’s a single guy mode?’
    ‘You know, hook up until he’s bored, move on to the next conquest. No commitment.’
    Is that how she’d see him? He was thirty five years old and never married. Except to the job. It wouldn’t be fair to a wife and family to have him disappear for weeks at a time if the job called for it. He didn’t want her to think he was commitment shy–just dedicated to his job.
    Before he could argue the point, she stood. ‘I’m going in. Shasta likes to get up early and so do I. Even if I want to sleep in, he rarely lets me.’
    Kyle rose as well. Despite his nap, he was tired. The doctors had told him to take it easy. But it had been three weeks. He’d hoped to be back in shape by now.
    ‘Thanks for agreeing to help,’ he said as they walked to the back door.
    ‘I hope I’m not making a mistake.’
    ‘Why would you?’
    ‘I can’t help thinking if someone I know is doing this, what would the repercussions be when it’s all over?’
    ‘I’d think you’d get a medal or something.’
    She laughed. ‘I doubt that. I just hope you’re wrong and it’s someone from another area that I’ve never even heard of.’
    ‘We’ll see. Good night, Jenny.’

    ***
    As she prepared for bed that night, Jenny decided her opinion of Mr. Brownley's plan wasn't as high as it