“But we will,” Jace said with a grin.
Caleb rose to his feet and pushed in his chair. “I’ll check in with y’all after lunch and catch up then. For now, I’m getting home to my wife, who has been texting me nonstop for an update.”
Caleb and Brice left while the others remained. Once it was quiet again, Danny asked, “What do you think you want to ask as your reason for knocking on these doors?”
“Whatever we say is going to be a lie,” Marlee said. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Danny gave her a flat look. “There isn’t a soul in this county who doesn’t know how close I am with the Harpers and Easts, as well as Jace and Cooper. Anything that happens, people figure I’m in on it regardless.”
“In other words,” Clayton said, “Danny would rather be prepared than caught off-guard.”
Marlee nodded and crossed one leg over the other. “Understood. Well, what I was thinking is that I know we’d cover more ground if we went alone, but I don’t think we should.”
“I’m in wholehearted agreement on that,” Cooper said. He knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate if he was worried about Marlee.
Jace’s and Clayton’s smiles nearly made Cooper roll his eyes. He didn’t care that it was obvious why he’d made that statement. Marlee knew he liked her. Hell, he’d told her as much. He just hadn’t told her the rest. It had been a while since he’d told a woman that he loved her.
Marlee smiled at him for a moment. “We’ll cover less ground, but it’s safer. If we run across these people, I doubt they’ll give themselves up easily. They murder pregnant women. They won’t hesitate to do the same to us. Now, a good reason to go knocking on people’s doors is because of an upcoming election. Anything going on?”
“Not for a bit,” Danny answered.
“We can do a census for the county,” Cooper offered.
Marlee’s face brightened. “That’s perfect. We’re going to need clipboards, paper, and pencils.”
“I think I’ve got all that here. Let me see,” Abby said as she hurried away.
Danny nodded to Cooper. “That’s a good idea, actually. Most people won’t demand to know more information if someone comes to their door for a census.”
“Can we pull up a map of the area with all the homes?” Marlee asked.
Clayton got to his feet. “I can do you one better.” When he returned, he unrolled a map on the table. “My grandfather bought several plots of land when they went up for sale. He wanted to buy the entire ranch, but it didn’t happen. He sold those pieces of property before I was born. But we never got rid of the map.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Marlee said as she stood to get a better look at it.
Cooper also got to his feet so he could see. He’d dated a girl in high school who had lived back there. That’s how he knew how secluded the houses were. “We need to mark off the houses we looked at today.”
“On it,” Marlee said as she got the paper from earlier with the addresses. Just as she was about to mark the map, she paused and looked at Clayton.
“Go on,” he told her. “If this saves lives, you can do whatever you want with it.”
Marlee then used a pencil and put a small X on the homes they had visited. It didn’t take long. When they saw how many houses were left, silence filled the room.
“We should start there,” Cooper said as he pointed to the house farthest from the road. Then he looked at Clayton and Danny. “The two of you can’t be near this. Neither can Ryan. No one knows Marlee, so she can get away with going door-to-door. Same with me.”
“Right,” Jace said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “If you think no one knows you, let me be the one to tell you that you’re full of shit.”
Clayton’s lips thinned as he nodded. “Jace is right. None of us can do this.”
“I might not go to the doors, but I’ll be driving Marlee,” Cooper stated.
Marlee steepled her hands on the table. “That is perfect.”
“It’s going to take you forever to do this alone,” Danny said.
Marlee shrugged, smiling. “I’ve always done everything on my own. I’ll be fine.”
“Actually, there might be someone else we can ask,” Jace said.
Cooper’s brows drew together. “What are you concocting?”
“We need someone like Marlee. I’m thinking Maddy would do great.”
“Audrey’s sister?” Clayton asked.
Jace smiled. “The very one.”
Cooper twisted his lips. “Jace has a point. He can be her driver.”
“I’m sure we can come up with at least one more by tomorrow. If there are three teams out there, we’ll cover more ground,” Danny said.
Cooper walked to Marlee. “Looks like we’ve got a plan.”
“Sure does,” she said, linking her fingers with his.
Chapter 32
After spending five hours going door-to-door, Marlee still didn’t have anything. Cooper finally made them break for lunch. She was in a poor mood the entire time. She tried to pull herself out of it, but she wasn’t very successful.
“I’m sorry,” she told him on the ride back to begin working again. “I just feel like time is running out, and every house I visit and find nothing, the more I feel as if everything is slipping through my hands.”
Cooper smiled at her and grabbed her hand as he drove. “I understand. What do you do on other cases when you get like this?”
“Work harder and longer,” she said with a twist of her lips.
He chuckled softly. “Does it work?”
“Rarely,” she admitted. “Most times, I run myself into the ground. It takes me weeks to heal from that. I know better. I should work smarter, not harder. But saying it and implementing it are two different things.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
She turned her hand over so their palms touched. “I’m really glad you are.”
Their gazes briefly met before he turned off the main road and wound his way back on the side roads. His smile said so much. Marlee wished they could have a day for just them. Lying in bed talking, watching a movie, cooking together. Whatever. But she didn’t have those kinds of days often.
Regardless, she was getting to know Cooper quite well. She’d learned early on after the police academy that you could learn a lot about a person under pressure, as they were now. Cooper was levelheaded even when he was angry. He didn’t let his emotions rule him, which was something she really needed to work on.
He’d learned a lot in the military, and it showed. She wanted to work with someone like him. Before she realized it, her lips were parted, the words to ask him if he wanted a job right on the tip of her tongue. But she stopped herself at the last second.
Cooper had a life in Clearview. His mother was here, as well as his very close friends, who were also his family. People didn’t walk away from that easily, if ever. He liked her, cared about her even, but was it enough for them to try their luck as a couple while working together? Marlee had seen such a couple self-destruct when she was still with the force. How in the world would she and Cooper fare any better traveling all over, searching for murderers and kidnappers?