Page 12 of Alibi for Murder (Colby Agency: The Next Generation #2)

A few clicks of the keys and lines of search results spilled onto the screen. “Here we go.” Allie selected the one for Jane Talbert in Woodstock, which helped to narrow the results significantly considering the size of her little town.

Steve leaned toward the screen, a hand braced on her desk, while he read over her shoulder. She wished she could claim not to be affected by his nearness—this certainly wasn’t the time—but she was undeniably affected. Warmth spread through her body. He made her feel…safe…alive.

“Father is deceased,” he said, his jaw so close to her cheek. “No mention of her mother.”

Allie forced herself to focus on the screen.

She opened another tab and tapped on the obituary for Jane Talbert Madison listed on the new webpage.

“No children. The obit mentions no surviving family at all other than her husband, Thomas Madison.” Allie frowned.

“But her mother’s name isn’t mentioned. Just the names of her father and siblings, who died before her.

I suppose it could have been an oversight. ”

“Let’s have a look at any property owned by Jane or her father,” Steve suggested.

Allie opened another tab and went to the official county property search site.

A few taps of the keys later and she had just one listing on screen.

The property was different from the one listed as Thomas Madison’s home.

A look into transfers and Allie figured out it was the property owned by the wife’s father that she had inherited more than thirty years ago. Again, no mention of her mother.

“She inherited this property about five years before my parents died,” Allie noticed, saying as much out loud.

“Which means your parents may have visited the Madisons there. You may have as well.”

“Only one way to find out.” Allie closed her laptop. “Let’s have a look.”

“You’d make a great investigator,” Steve said as he followed her out of her office.

Allie laughed. “I may have been guided toward where I needed to look by someone with considerable experience.”

He chuckled. “We all start somewhere.”

She couldn’t help thinking again how lucky she was to have him helping her out with this total mystery that had descended upon her life.

She just hoped that, however this ended, it wouldn’t be the conclusion of this rekindled friendship.

If she was really lucky it would be just the beginning.

She almost laughed out loud. Wishful thinking, Al.

Talbert/Madison Residence

Justen Road

McHenry, Illinois, 7:00 p.m.

The property was around half an hour away from Allie’s home.

But it was not what she had expected at all.

The twenty acres had been listed on the county map, but the house was totally different from what she’d envisioned.

It was a massive barn that had been renovated into a home.

Those sorts of renovations had become popular in recent years, but it seemed unexpected three decades back.

Maybe the Madisons had been ahead of their time where home design was concerned.

Or perhaps Mr. Talbert had done the renovations before giving it to his daughter.

As they parked, Allie noted a good many other details.

The place was a little rundown. Slightly overgrown.

It looked as if no one had been here in years.

Made sense, she supposed, since Madison’s wife had been dead for three years.

Maybe he hadn’t found the time or the desire to see after the property.

They had moved to their most recent residence twenty-nine years ago.

Steve parked. “You want to get out? We still have some daylight left.”

Allie nodded. They were here. Might as well have a look around.

She almost smiled at the idea. Though she rarely left the house, he somehow managed to have her ready for all sorts of adventures. Just went to show that you could do whatever necessary when thrust into a situation like this one.

Maybe all she’d needed this whole time to come out of her protective shell was someone to be adventurous with. Or perhaps the more likely scenario was that deep down she wanted to impress him. She did not want this man to see her as a shut-in or a recluse…or a nobody.

What better way to prove the rumors untrue than to be adventurous?

The woods were thick all around the yard that had been carved from it.

The house sat smack in the middle of that clearing, lending even more privacy to the structure since only the driveway made any sort of path through the thick circle of trees.

Based on the aerial view she’d seen on the county listing, more woods and some pastureland rolled out behind the yard and the house.

They emerged from the SUV and walked to the front door.

Sunlight filtered through the massive windows along the side of the house as they passed, allowing her to see inside.

There was furniture. Did that mean someone lived here?

Maybe. A ring of the doorbell and a knock on the door garnered no response. A repeat of both resulted in the same.

A cautious walk around back found more needed maintenance for the home and landscape and no sign of human habitation. How strange that the house had been seemingly abandoned with all its contents. Didn’t people usually take their things or sell them when moving?

Allie studied the outside of the house. She suddenly felt jittery, and she had no idea why…

until she discovered the large pavilion—a gazebo-like structure detached from the back of the house and almost hidden in the trees.

The fading sunlight trickled through the vines and shady branches that grew over it.

Something about the way the faint light dappled through and formed shapes tugged at her memory.

“I know this place.”

The words she whispered were so soft she doubted Steve had heard her, but she was lost in a memory she couldn’t quite capture. Some elusive slip of something she recognized but couldn’t grab on to.

Allie walked around, studying the wood structure with all its vines and overgrown shrubs. The wood was failing in places, screaming for attention.

“You believe you’ve been here before?” Steve appeared next to her.

“I don’t know…but it feels like I have.” She turned to him. “You know that feeling of having been somewhere, but you can’t quite place it? Maybe I saw it in photos. If my parents had been here, then there were likely photos. My grandmother said my mother loved taking photos.”

“Then let’s take our time.” He assessed the yard that spilled beyond the trees to a fenced pasture. “We’ll walk the grounds and then come back to the house and have a look through any window we can reach.”

She was moving before he finished speaking, her mind searching for a place to land. A place that some part of her recognized.

At one time, the property had been beautifully landscaped.

The long-neglected shrubs were not the sort to be found growing wild.

Many boasted scattered blooms that spoke of their beauty.

Others were just beginning to bud. Stacks of stones and boulders guided them into other little venues designed for outdoor use.

Tables and benches dotted the landscape, most badly in need of maintenance.

In the center of it all was a massive swimming pool that sat half full of dark green water.

The pool had an hourglass shape. Allie could imagine that at one time it had been gorgeous.

A path that meandered from the pool toward the woods circled a large three-tiered fountain.

Around the base of the fountain were rose bushes.

Some struggled to bloom, but most were overgrown with weeds, the leaves speckled with holes from whatever insect had decided to feed on them. So sad.

She wandered back to the house. The windows on the first floor didn’t prompt any additional feelings of recognition. But she peered at length through each one nonetheless. It was almost dark by the time she felt she had seen anything potentially relevant to the fleeting memory that tugged at her.

“You need to see anything else?” Steve’s patience seemed endless.

Her own patience had run out, but she took one last lingering look around. “I think I’ve seen all I need to. Whatever I feel like I remember, I can’t quite capture it.”

“You want to grab dinner at a drive-through on the way back to your house?”

She paused at the front of his SUV. “Works for me.”

She hadn’t placed a delivery order for groceries in a while. The offerings in her fridge and pantry were likely sparse.

It was dark when they reached Woodstock.

She insisted that Steve choose the fast food.

Burgers and fries were his choice, and she was so thankful.

She could use all those carbs right now.

She wouldn’t have selected a burger joint for fear of insulting his culinary senses.

He looked so fit. She suspected he ate only the healthiest items on a menu.

It was good to know he was an occasional let’s-eat-the-greasy-stuff guy.

It was also nice to know he wasn’t totally perfect. No matter that he seemed completely perfect to her.

“What does your girlfriend think of you staying with an old friend for a few days?” She suspected he wasn’t married since there was no ring or mention of a wife, but surely there was someone.

If she hadn’t been completely exhausted and floating in anticipation from the scent of those fries wafting from the bag on the console between them, she might have done a better job of filtering herself.

Too late to regret the question now.

He glanced at her. “I do not have a girlfriend or a wife.” He exhaled an audible breath as if saying so saddened him somehow. “I’ve been so focused on the agency for the past few years there really hasn’t been a lot of time for a social life.”

“A totally overused excuse,” she told him straight up, feeling bolder now, maybe because she was almost home and he was… single . “Try again.”

He glanced at her, grinned. “I’ve dated. Just haven’t found the right one.”

“Is that because you’re too picky?” This was also a seriously overused excuse.

He laughed then. “Maybe. How about you? Are you too picky or just too busy?”

No one to blame but herself for creating the corner into which he’d just backed her.

“I’m not sure I’ve even considered a social life.

Not since college anyway.” She shrugged, thinking back to the last time she actually thought about dating.

“I had lunch with someone a couple of times before I left the hospital. Not really anything since. I guess I’m just a loner.

” She laughed. “Wow. That’s pretty sad. Almost ten years with no tangible social life. ”

“We’re busy,” he repeated as he navigated into her driveway. “You had your grandmother to take care of. I was finishing law school.”

“That’s such a lie,” she suggested with a soft laugh. “Personally, I think it’s easier to believe I’m too busy than to put myself out there and risk… I don’t know. Rejection? Dissatisfaction? Total emotional gutting?”

He shot her a look. “You may have a point.” He parked and shut off the engine. “You’re what? Thirty-two? I’m thirty-three. Going forward, we should make ourselves a priority. I’m game if you are.”

“All right, Dr. Phil. I can do that.”

They both had a good laugh at that one. Laughter was good. She, for one, had needed a decent laugh.

Steve unlocked the door and went inside first to ensure there was nothing amiss. Allie kind of enjoyed the chivalry. It was a pleasant change from doing everything herself. He was a nice guy. Even nicer now, she decided.

Again, she considered how fortunate she was that they had reconnected, in spite of the reason.

While he unbagged their dinner, she went to the bookcase where her grandmother had kept all the family photo albums. That memory she couldn’t quite grab from the gray matter deep in her head had nudged her all the way home.

She sat down on the floor and picked up first one and then the next album, flipping through the pages looking for something she couldn’t name.

Then she paused, her fingers on the edge of a page she’d been ready to turn. “Found it!”

Steve joined her on the floor. She moved the album to where he could see the photos as well. There were several pages of two of the couples, the Madisons and her parents, all photographed at the Madison/Talbert property.

“Wow,” she said, “it was really beautiful back then. I knew I’d seen it somewhere.”

“But why hide the photos we found in that closet door and not these?” Steve studied the photos. “It had to be about the third couple—the mystery couple—or surely these photos would have been hidden as well.”

He was right. That third couple was the only different aspect in the photos. Made sense.

Allie turned to him. “We need to figure out who the third couple is, and maybe we’ll learn some part of the story.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”

She stared at his lips, thought of how he would taste.

“But first—” he hitched his head toward the dining room “—we need to eat those cold burgers and fries.”

“Oh.” She grimaced at herself for staring at his lips. “Sorry about that. I got completely caught up in figuring out where I’d seen the place before and lost all track of time.”

He stood and offered his hand to assist her in getting up. “The wine will help the fries go down easier.”

Allie grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. She glanced at the table. He’d found her stash and opened a new bottle of red. The flush of embarrassment crept over her cheeks.

“You know I really don’t drink that much. I just believe in having plenty on hand in case of an emergency.”

“It’s always best to be prepared.” He grinned at her. “I have my own stash exactly like that at home.”

Her heart took an extra beat. Preparation was important. She’d always believed so. She really liked that he did too.

But after years of self-imposed seclusion, she wasn’t sure it was possible to be adequately prepared for this man.

Panic nudged at her…all the other thoughts she wanted to ignore closing in.

Or being suspected of murder.