Myths, Murder & Love

Chapter 12

Morning came slowly through the motel curtains. Thallia opened her eyes and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.

Then she smiled. Leon. The memory arrived warm and immediate. His hand at her waist. The quiet way he'd waited for her to make the choice. The kiss she'd given him because standing that close and wondering what it would feel like had become impossible.

Thallia pulled the pillow over her face. She had known the man for less than a day. She shouldn't be smiling beneath a motel pillow like she was twenty-two.

Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. A message from Leon waited on the screen.

GOOD MORNING. I WOKE UP THINKING ABOUT LAST NIGHT. I'M STILL GLAD YOU KISSED ME.

A second message contained directions into Olympia Springs.

DON'T TRUST YOUR GPS AFTER THE LAST TURN. BREAKFAST BEFORE GETTING ON THE ROAD?

Thallia smiled and opened the reply.

YES

I'M GLAD TOO. ALTHOUGH NOW I'M WONDERING IF I SHOULD HAVE KISSED YOU LONGER.

She stared at what she'd written. That was flirting. Wide awake, completely sober, eight-in-the-morning flirting. Thallia hit send before common sense could interfere.

His answer appeared moments later.

I WAS TRYING VERY HARD NOT TO SUGGEST THAT.

Heat climbed into her cheeks. She typed another response.

THEN MAYBE WE SHOULD DISCUSS YOUR SELF-CONTROL LATER.

His reply took longer.

I'M BEGINNING TO THINK YOU ENJOY MAKING MY LIFE DIFFICULT.

Thallia grinned.

WE'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER LESS THAN A DAY. GIVE ME TIME.

His reply was quicker than the last one.

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. MEET ME AT THE COYOTE WHEN YOU'RE READY.

That got her. Thallia lowered the phone against her chest.

She had forgotten how much fun this could be without wondering whether every affectionate gesture came with a price attached. Just wanting a man and knowing he wanted her.

Her phone buzzed again. Jenna's name filled the screen.

Thallia answered. "Good morning."

Jenna skipped the greeting. "Trevor broke his nose."

Thallia sat up, "He did what?"

Jenna's amusement carried clearly across the line. "I guess introducing his face to a metal fire escape was a bad idea."

Thallia remembered seeing Trevor sprawled across the landing. "I knew he'd knocked himself out. I didn't know he'd broken anything."

Jenna sounded entirely too pleased with herself. "He's fine. He bruised his face, broke his nose, damaged his pride."

Thallia couldn't help laughing.

Jenna paused before adding, "And the Chronicle fired him."

Thallia’s laughter stopped. "They fired him?"

Jenna's amusement disappeared. "Yesterday. Management looked into the articles and emails. Trevor knowingly stole your work, and they had enough evidence to act."

Thallia let that settle. "What about Bianca?"

Jenna hesitated before answering. "Still employed. She claims Trevor told her he had permission to use the articles."

Thallia stared at the blank wall. "She knew."

"Yes, but proving it is another matter."

Thallia wasn't surprised.

Jenna continued, "She also dumped him. Trevor had a very bad day."

Two days ago, he'd stood in the newsroom and made Thallia wonder whether anyone would believe her. Now his own choices had answered that question.

Jenna's tone turned serious. "How are you feeling?"

Thallia considered it. "Better than I probably should."

The faint hum of Jenna's sewing machine stopped. "You don't get to feel guilty about consequences you didn't create."

Thallia smiled. "I don't want him ruined, Jenna. I just wanted what he did to matter." Some of the anger Thallia had carried since Chicago eased. “Maybe that's enough.”

"Maybe for now," Jenna agreed. Then her voice brightened. "So. Utah."

Thallia laughed. "I'm heading to Olympia Springs after breakfast."

“And?” Jenna prompted.

Thallia sat up, pulling the pillow into her lap. “And what?”

Jenna's amusement returned. “Don't play with me. You sound happy. Who is he?”

Thallia looked at Leon's messages and surrendered. "His name is Leon."

Jenna made a delighted sound.

"He's the sheriff of Olympia Springs. We had dinner, danced, took a walk..."

"And?"

Thallia smiled. "I kissed him."

Jenna went silent. Then she practically squealed. "You kissed him first?"

Thallia was glad Jenna couldn’t see the heat rushing over her face. "I don't know what came over me."

"Was it good?"

Thallia remembered Leon's hand at her waist and the warmth of his lips. "Very."

Jenna laughed. "Oh, you're in trouble."

"I'm not in trouble."

Jenna didn't sound convinced. "You're hugging a pillow, aren't you?"

Thallia looked down at the pillow in her lap and dropped it.

Jenna burst out laughing.

Thallia shook her head. "You're annoying."

"And I'm right." Jenna let her off the hook. "When are you seeing him again?"

Thallia glanced at Leon's messages. "Breakfast."

Jenna's excitement came straight through the phone. “Breakfast too? I expect updates.”

Thallia climbed out of bed. "I'll call after I see the house."

"You'd better. A house, mysterious town, Sheriff Very Good Kiss. I want all of it."

"Goodbye, Jenna."

Jenna was still laughing when Thallia ended the call. Next, she called her parents. The house phone went to voicemail, which didn't surprise her.

“Hi, it's me. I made it to Moab, everything's fine, and I'm heading to Olympia Springs this morning. I'll call after I've seen the house. Love you both.”

She hung up and got dressed.

Thallia chose jeans and a soft pink blouse Jenna had made for her, then pulled on the ankle boots she'd worn the night before. Her hair went into a loose, messy bun. Practical won over pretty for a morning of driving and exploring an unfamiliar town.

She transferred what she needed into the chestnut crossbody bag, smiling again at Jenna's insistence that a messenger bag wasn't a purse.

Thallia packed the rest of her things, carried her luggage and hat box out to the Bronco, and loaded everything into the back.

A few minutes later, she returned the motel key and climbed behind the wheel.

Breakfast first, then Olympia Springs.

The Red Coyote was quieter in the morning, but hardly empty. The dance floor had given way to breakfast tables, coffee cups, and a different collection of locals than the night before.

Leon sat near the windows with a cup of coffee in front of him.

He saw Thallia the moment she walked through the door and his entire expression changed.

The easy smile came first, followed by something warmer that he made no attempt to hide. He stood as she approached, looking so genuinely pleased to see her that Thallia felt the last of her uncertainty disappear.

He had waited for her. That shouldn't have mattered quite as much as it did.

Thallia didn’t even consider another table. “Good morning.”

“Very good morning,” Leon answered.

The pleasure in his voice made her smile. It also caught the attention of several people nearby.

A woman carrying two breakfast plates looked from Leon to Thallia and nearly missed the table she was aiming for. Two older men at the counter stopped talking. A sturdy woman in her sixties paused mid-pour with a coffee pot in hand, her expression shifting into the unmistakable look of someone who had just acquired information worth sharing.

Leon appeared completely unconcerned.

Thallia sat across from him. “Are they always this subtle?”

Leon glanced around the room. “This is actually impressive restraint.”

She laughed. “That's concerning.”

Breakfast passed quickly after that. They flirted and didn’t even pretend not to, talked about her drive and the house she still hadn't seen, and avoided anything serious enough to spoil the morning.

Leon was far too pleased to have her sitting across from him again.. His attention had barely left her since she sat down.

Thallia was feeling much the same. She wanted more time with him. The fact that he could also lead her into a town her GPS couldn't find was merely practical.

Mostly practical.

By the time they finished, the morning crowd had seen enough to keep several telephone lines busy.

Outside, Leon walked with her toward the Bronco.

“I'll lead,” he told her. “Stay behind me after we leave the highway. The turn is easy to miss.”

Thallia rested her hand on the door handle. “That's becoming a recurring theme with Olympia Springs.”

His smile held a hint of amusement. “You'll understand when you see it.”

Leon headed toward his vehicle while Thallia climbed into hers.

A moment later, she pulled out behind him. Twenty minutes to Olympia Springs.

And back in the Red Coyote, Thallia suspected someone was already reaching for a telephone.

The road south carried them deeper into open desert. Joshua trees appeared among the sand and scattered brush, while red cliffs rose in the distance beneath a cloudless blue sky.

A hawk circled high above the highway, riding the morning thermals without seeming to move its wings.

Leon slowed and turned onto a narrow road cutting toward the cliffs. Thallia followed, watching Moab and the last traces of traffic disappear behind her.

A desert hare darted across the asphalt and vanished into the brush. Beyond that, they seemed to have the road entirely to themselves.

The narrow asphalt road wound between rising walls of red stone, its rough surface patched and weathered. Thallia lowered her window, letting the cool April air rush through the Bronco. Dry sand and sun-warmed earth replaced every lingering trace of the city.

Leon slowed again as the road curved around a massive outcropping.

Thallia looked up.

Wind and time had carved the stone into something strangely familiar. Tall natural columns supported a broad shelf of rock, giving the formation the unmistakable appearance of an ancient Greek temple built into the mountainside.

The coincidence amused her. “Okay. That's a little on the nose.”

The canyon narrowed again. Then the vegetation began to change.

Wildflowers dotted the roadside. Scrub oak thickened along the slopes, joined by Piñon pine and stands of aspen. Water flashed between the trees, dividing into narrow branches that carried green deeper into the valley.

Then came the cypress and olive trees. Thallia slowed down.

The canyon opened ahead of her, and Olympia Springs appeared.

At first, she almost missed the houses among the trees. Adobe and brick structures seemed to grow from the landscape itself, some unmistakably descended from Utah pioneer homes, others shaped with columns, courtyards, and pale stucco that whispered of Greece.

Sand. Terracotta. Cream. Muted yellow. Sagebrush green.

Red cliffs rose behind all of it.

Thallia pulled to a stop behind Leon at an overlook and stepped from the Bronco.

The silence caught her first. She was accustomed to the constant background hum of traffic and city life, but here she heard only wind moving through the trees and water flowing below. Thallia stopped beside the Bronco and listened.

Grandma had known this place. Not merely visited it, but owned a house here and kept that part of her life quiet enough that Thallia had never heard the town's name.

Why had she left it to her?

Something inside her answered the place.

The feeling wasn't quite memory. She had never been here, and she knew it. But warmth spread slowly through her chest, carrying the same strange sense of recognition she'd felt in the dreams and on the road into Utah.

For one impossible moment, she had the feeling that Olympia Springs had been waiting for her.

Thallia drew a slow breath and looked across the valley. She had never been here before, yet the warmth in her chest refused to fade.

Olympia Springs was real, and the connection she felt to it was impossible to ignore.