“Mainly misdemeanors, but he’s definitely not a stand-up guy. Or at least he wasn’t,” Pierce told her.
“He do time?” Phone pressed to her ear, she watched as Quinlan climbed into his large pickup.
“Community service. Got into it with his neighbor. Flashed a gun. Neighbor said he was threatened. Quinlan got off easy, if you ask me.”
“When I saw Naomi with him last week, I didn’t know who he was.” She started down the path to the parking area. “I’ll talk to him.”
“No! Wait!” Pierce ordered, but she was already walking down the path, halfway to the lot.
“I’ll call you back.” She hung up and called over her shoulder to Phee. “Give me a few minutes” and, pointing to Chloe, added, “Watch her. Stay there.”
“Why?” Phee asked, stopping at the door near the goat pen and dropping her bag.
“Just do it.” Nikki said, then, meeting Gia’s curious gaze, pointed from Phee to Chloe and ordered, “Stay with them.” She didn’t expect any trouble from Knox, but if there was, she wanted to make sure the kids were out of it.
“But—” Phee started to complain, but Nikki had already reached the edge of the parking area just as she heard the big truck’s engine roar to life and saw its backup lights come on. “Hey!” she shouted, running to reach the driver’s side before he could leave. “Hey! Knox!”
He hit the brakes and rolled down his window. “What?” he asked, thick eyebrows knitting over intense, deep-set eyes. He was handsome, she thought, in that rugged cowboy way. Uncombed hair, three-day’s worth of beard shadow over a granite-like jaw.
A little reckless, a bit dangerous.
And staring at her.
Hard.
With no plan, she plunged right in. “I saw you here the other day, talking to Naomi Kittle, and you’re here now, so I was wondering if you were waiting for her.”
“Who are you?” he demanded, then the light dawned. “You’re that reporter who writes books. I’ve seen you being interviewed on TV. And you write for theSentinel.”
“Right,” she agreed and noticed that behind the back seat was a rifle. Not unusual for men around here, but still, because of Pierce’s warning, she was wary. “Nikki Gillette,” she added.
“I have nothing to say to you.” Knox reached for the gearshift.
“You know that Naomi’s missing?”
He froze. “What?”
“I just heard that the police are looking for her.” Nikki wasn’t going to go into too many details, but she had to tell him enough to get him to talk. “I thought you might have an idea where she is.”
“Why would I?”
“Because you’re waiting for her, and you and she are—?”
“What?” he demanded and swatted at a horsefly that had flown through the open window.
“Close,” she guessed. “I know that you were engaged once.”
He muttered something under his breath. “Son of a …”
“So, if you’re close,” Nikki barreled on, “you might know where she went. Where she is.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“You were supposed to meet her here today?”
Knox hesitated, but his eyes held worry. “I got nothing to say to you.” He seemed about to leave again.
“I thought you could help find her.”