Page 122 of Noel Secrets

That made sense.

“Your son is David, right?”

“Yes. He’s eleven.”

“How long have you lived in Sheraton?”

“I met and married Brent in college. This was his hometown. We moved back here so he could work at the dealership with his dad. When he passed away, Brent took over the business.”

“What college?”

“Memphis State.” She glanced at him. “And you? Where did you go to college, Agent Walker?”

He smiled. “Well, first off, it’s Clay. Agent Walker is too formal.”

She realized she hadn’t even known his first name. “Okay, Clay.”

“I graduated from Mississippi State.”

“How should we say we met? Through mutual friends?”

He shook his head. “Too easy to get tripped up on something like that. Let’s just say we met through online dating. The fewer details, the better.”

She bit her lip to stop the smile from spreading across her face, but he noticed. “What is it? What’s funny?”

“We did kind of met online, didn’t we?” After all, an online ad for her death had brought Agent Walker—Clay—to her.

He connected those dots then laughed too, a hearty laugh. She liked it. “Yes, we did.”

They exchanged a few more details until they approached her house. Clay immediately tensed and Darby soon saw why.

A Sheraton police cruiser sat blocking her driveway, and a uniformed officer stood in the yard, chatting with the next-door neighbor.

“So much for laying low with the local police.” Clay pulled the truck to a stop. He turned to her. “Are you ready for this?”

Darby had little choice but she stood by her decision. She needed this threat gone before her son returned home.

Mrs. Buford turned and pointed her out to the officer as she and Clay got out. “That’s her. That’s Darby Foster.”

The officer turned to her. “Mrs. Foster?”

“Yes, I’m Darby Foster.”

“I’m Officer Hall of the Sheraton Police Department. We received a call from your neighbor and came by to check.”

“The dogs were going crazy, Darby,” Mrs. Buford said “They’d been barking for hours, so I came over to make sure everything was okay.”

Darby bit her lip at the obvious lie. She’d come over to complain about the noise again.

“The back door was standing open. I was afraid something had happened to you, so I went inside. When I couldn’t find you, I called the police.”

The officer took over. “It looked as if a struggle had taken place in the garage and mud room. I was about to call in a detective and fill out a missing persons report.”

Darby’s mouth went dry. What was she was supposed to say?

Clay gripped her elbow and took over. “Darby thought someone was watching the house, so she wanted me to come over. When I arrived, I spotted two men in a delivery van pulling her into their vehicle. I chased them down and they abandoned the vehicle in Courtland County. Sheriff Malone has the report.”

The officer eyed him up and down. “Who are you?”