Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon by Carla Cassidy Page B

passed, she had a terrible feeling deep in her heart that Daniella was never coming back. She left the window and sat at the table, the last place the family had been before their disappearance.
    She looked up in surprise as Andrew walked into the kitchen carrying a cup of coffee from the pot in the dining room. “You’re an early bird this morning,” she said.
    He grinned and joined her at the table. “I went to bed early last night and slept deep and hard.” He took a sip of his coffee, leaned back in the chair and looked out the window. “It’s so peaceful here. It’s hard to believe that anything bad ever happened.”
    “It’s getting more and more difficult for me to hold on to my faith that they’ll be returned safe and sound,” she replied, the ache in her heart audible in the softness of her voice.
    Andrew gazed at her, his brown eyes soft with sympathy. “I think missing persons cases are the worst. It’s like a state of limbo that never ends. Even if they’re gone for good, it would be nice if we could find them and give everyone who loved them a sense of closure.”
    “I’d rather get my closure by you all finding them alive,” she said.
    He nodded. “That’s what we’d all like to happen.” He frowned thoughtfully. “But I have to be truthful with you—the statistics are working against us with every day that passes and they aren’t found.”
    “I know,” she replied somberly. “I’m making waffles for breakfast this morning,” she said, needing a change of topic. “Do you want me to go ahead and whip up some now, or should we wait until your partners are up and around?” she asked.
    “Jackson was in the shower when I left the room. Who knows when Gabriel will be up. He went into town late last night for some alone time and a few beers. Thank the Lord he isn’t the type to get drunk and do anything stupid,” he said with a wry grin. “That man is definitely all work and no play.”
    Marlena jumped up from the table. “I’ll go ahead and get started on the waffles,” she said.
    Special Agent Gabriel Blankenship was all work and no play, except for last night in a dream that she knew she’d never forget.
    * * *
    G ABRIEL WAS IN a foul mood. At the moment he, Andrew and Jackson were headed toward a storage facility where the owner of the property had indicated one of the units was emitting the smell of decomposition.
    But that wasn’t what had him in a foul mood. It was Marlena. Last night, he’d thought that he’d rid himself of whatever it was about her that had him itching with the need to possess her. He’d thought that by taking her he’d be rid of her, that she’d be completely out of his mind.
    The moment he saw her this morning, he knew he’d been wrong. Just watching her serve them waffles had reset what felt like a ticking time bomb inside him.
    Although he’d barely acknowledged her presence, somehow he’d noticed that her peach-colored sundress was cinched at her slender waist, her sandals were gold and she smelled like a bouquet of fresh flowers.
    He now clenched the steering wheel tight, trying to erase the night before from his mind. She’d been more than he’d expected, and he had trouble forgetting the taste of her, the feel of her silky flesh against his.
    “I sure hope this is a wild goose chase,” Jackson said, pulling Gabriel from thoughts of Marlena. “The last thing I want to find is that family rotting away in some storage unit.”
    “That makes three of us,” Andrew said from the backseat. “I feel bad for Marlena. I was having a cup of coffee with her this morning before the two of you got up and we were talking about how these kinds of cases put the people left behind in limbo. As much as I’d hate to find the Connellys dead, at least that would be some closure for the people at the bed-and-breakfast.”
    “We all know they’re probably dead by now,” Jackson said matter-of-factly. “It’s been almost two weeks since they