AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I read about the whole thing online when I got here. So much for peaceful little Timberline.”
He checked the windows in the guest bedroom, and then she led him to her own room. As he took a turn around the bedroom, she actually blushed—not out of modesty but because she’d just had a sudden vision of this man spread out on her bed.
“You should keep these closed at night.” He yanked the curtains together and she jumped. “Are you still nervous?”
“It’s not every day someone is murdered in your neighborhood.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. She should be feeling more anxious about that instead of daydreaming about Jim Kennedy in all his naked glory. She’d put it down to shock.
He tilted his head and that lock of dark hair fell over one eye—just like in high school. “Let’s take a look at that back door.”
As she led him to her studio, she clasped her hands in front of her, twirling her ring around her middle finger. She usually didn’t invite people into her inner sanctum, unless they were other artists. Not even potential clients saw her workspace.
Dragging in a breath, she threw open the door and flicked on the light.
Jim froze at the doorway, his mouth hanging slightly ajar. “I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.”
“Well—” she waved her arms around “—it’s an artist’s studio.”
“You’re very...productive.” He swiveled his head from side to side, taking in the work on the walls, canvases stacked in the corner and unfinished pieces languishing on easels stationed around the room. “And kind of schizophrenic.”
“I guess that’s one way of putting it.”
“You’ve got normal stuff over here—” he flung out his right arm “—and...different kind of stuff over here.”
“Landscape watercolors on the right and modern, abstract oils on the left.”
“Let me guess.” He pointed to a painting comprising of skyscrapers, a pair of eyes and a wolf head. “This is the expensive stuff.”
“Good guess.” She held her breath waiting for him to ask her to explain the painting.
He studied it for several seconds with his head to one side and then shrugged. “This room isn’t secure at all.”
She released the breath. “Because of the glass wall.”
“It must look incredible during the day, but at night anybody could peer right into this room. If you keep expensive work in here, I’d think you’d want to protect it better.”
“This is Timberline. I really didn’t expect to move back here and experience a crime wave.” She rapped on the glass. “What do you suggest?”
“This is the back door?” He navigated through the easels and stands and yanked on the handle of the sliding glass door. He crouched down and inspected the track. “You can put a rod in here for an extra measure of safety in case someone breaks the lock. A camera wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.”
Twisting her braid around her hand, she sighed. “I might as well go back to the big city.”
“That man who died tonight probably has nothing to do with you.”
“Don’t try to make me feel better now after you just did a security check on my home...and found it woefully inadequate.”
“Problem is, we don’t know what he was doing out there, why he was killed or who killed him.”
He straightened up, grasping the door handle for support. She would’ve offered a hand, but Jim didn’t seem like the type of man who would accept assistance easily.
“Hopefully the county sheriff’s department can figure that out. I don’t need any more people lurking around my cabin, causing trouble.”
“Jordan Young was after that TV reporter, not you, right?”
“Jordan turned out to be Beth St. Regis’s biological father. He’d murdered her mother, his mistress, twenty-five years ago and sold Beth on the black market when she was a baby. He just turned his attentions toward me because I was helping Beth.” She shivered and pressed her hands against her stomach. “Pure evil.”
“He figured if anyone noticed his daughter’s disappearance, he could pass it off as another Timberline kidnapping?”
