Tessa Stark: Desert Heat

Chapter Twenty Eight

 "Well, hot damn," Cole intoned.

Tessa stared at the young man, feeling a bit of numbness sweep through her. "Senator Richard Whitmore?" she repeated, her voice sounding slightly weak, even to her own ears. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure?"

Lucas nodded. "I was right there when he asked my folks. But, I mean...he could have let somebody else use his phone."

Richard Whitmore...

"Um...Lucas..." Tessa croaked out past her suddenly dry throat, her addled mind trying to pull itself back into focus.  "Have...have you ever called Richard Whitmore at this number?"

"I haven't. But, my folks might have," he answered. "I mean, they schedule quarterly meetings with our partners..."

"Does your cell phone come up as StoneHouse Vineyard on caller ID?" she asked, feeling a bit off kilter.

"Yeah. It does. Why?" wondered Lucas, uncertain.

"How far do we have to drive to get decent cell reception?" was her next question.

"I don't know. You just have to drive until you catch some bars. My folks usually wait until they're going into the city to make important calls, otherwise, we do everything online."

"I'm going to need you to come with us for a few minutes," she stated. "And I need you to come up with a reason why you'd need to call Richard Whitmore, without bringing me into it."

"I-I can't leave. I'm the only working here right now--"

"That's not a problem," Cole interjected. "I'll hang out here until you get back. I'm sure you won't be gone long."

"Look, I can't just let somebody—"

"I'm not just somebody. I'm the Chief Deputy of Harris County," Cole quantified. "I'll stand by until you get back."

Lucas balked. "Well, what am I supposed to say to the man? I don't think I've ever really spoken to him, so why would I be calling him?"

Tessa held her free hand out toward Cole, who pulled his keys from his pocket and dropped them into her palm. "We'll figure that on the way. And the sooner we leave, the sooner we'll get back."

With Cole glaring down at him, Lucas Simmons had little choice but to submit. With a sigh of defeat, he put his phone in his pocket, pulled his black clip-on tie off and laid it beneath the bar, before quickly unbuttoning his white dress shirt and pulling it off, leaving him wearing a white under shirt.

"Sorry. Its hotter than balls out there," he mumbled, stuffing the dress shirt beneath the bar and moving around to join she and Cole.

"A truer word was never spoken," she agreed, motioning him toward the exit.

"You two kids be careful," Cole said by way of a send off.

With a quick wave to the Chief Deputy, she followed Lucas Simmons across the room, with him exiting first and holding the door open for her. Stepping out into the sharp, burning midday heat, she pointed them toward Cole's truck, jumping behind the wheel and waiting for Lucas to buckle up before handing him Hallie's phone and then pulling from the parking space and speeding them away from the building.

"What on earth am I supposed to say to Mr. Whitmore?" Lucas questioned as Tessa rolled the windows up and turned on the air conditioning, which Cole hadn't thought about using.  But, since he wasn't there...

"Why would your parents call him? Is it time for a meeting? Do they discuss any problems that might pop up around here?" she posed.  "You just need any reason, even if its thin.  All I need is to hear his voice on the other end of your phone."