Or has it always been that way…?Either way,for some reason, that doesn’t piss my captain off as much, even if I still am making messes everywhere I follow in her wake.
Ignoring his rhetorical question and the side eyes from my peers, I tell the group, “Maeve was at her house this morning, too. She didn’t appear disheveled or like she’d done anything like that recently.” I lift my hand in the direction of the very much alive headshot of the actually dead man nailed to a tree.
The crime scene techs are still surveying the scene, but have confirmed for us that his death occurred sometime early this morning. And besides the fact that Maeve wasn’t covered in blood when she showed up to Chloe’s, she also doesn’t look strong enough to overpower any man, let alone nail him to a tree. Though neither does Chloe, and that never stopped me from suspecting her.
“So why is her name carved into his stomach?” Lucy asks, grimacing, probably remembering the image burned into all our brains of those five letters etched into his abs.
“That’s what we need to figure out.” Alex rises from the table and moves to stand next to Captain Barrett, the two of them looking grim as fuck. “We’ll work through the weekend,” Alex says.
“Can’t,” I say bluntly. “I’m going to visit my mother. And someone needs to keep an eye on Maeve, because Chloe’s coming with me.” Captain Barrett rolls his eyes and storms out of the room at my words. “None of them are safe with the third guy still unaccounted for.”
The other two of Chloe’s friends, Stone and Stella, appear to have been out of the county entirely for the past twenty-four hours, which Micah confirmed for me when I was curious if maybe the brawn in the group could have helped the girls string this guy up.
Micah very easily pinged their location, finding them stationery in a rural logging town east of Mt. Lance. So all four of them are safe from my suspicions, though I can’t seem to figure out how they’re all connected to this trafficking ring, even though it’s obvious to me that they are.
“Fine,” Alex says. “Lucy and I will work this. Daniel, you watch Maeve.”
Daniel huffs like he’s annoyed to be stuck with the boring job, but it’s an important one, and I tell him as much as I stand and move in his direction, leaning over the desk until he meets my eyes. “She’s in danger, Baker. And you need to protect her.” I give him an encouraging nod, and the annoyance in his eyes shifts to understanding before he gives me a nod in return.
“And we expect you to be ready to dive back in when you return,” Alex says to my back as I retreat from the room. “No more dicking around with your girlfriend.”
I laugh as I continue out of the room, because Chloe isnotmy girlfriend, but it’s kind of starting to feel like she is. Especially after kissing her in her bedroom.In her bed.Fuck.
The memory of her lips on mine, of her tongue in my mouth, it awakens an urge deep inside me that feels like it’s been stewing and brewing, waiting to be found. To be woken from a sleep I’ve forced it into.
“Would you do me a favor?”Goddamn. I would have done anything for her in that moment. And I didn’t know how I’d gotten to that point. She was being targeted. She was vulnerable. She was nothing like the image I’ve conjured up in my mind of her. And it made me fiercely protective of her. Which is why I will not be leaving her in Devil’s Peak while I head to Sunset Peak to visit my mother.
***
“You want to introduce me to your mother?” Chloe leans against the back of her couch, her eyes bright with surprise.
That’s notexactlywhat I said, but she’s not entirely wrong.
Why I want to introduce her to my mother when not a week ago I swore she was a cold-blooded killer is beyond me. Maybe because my mother is the most important person in my life, and I’m slowly coming around to the idea that I haven’t been stalking Chloe simply because she’s been on my suspect list.
“It’s not safe for you to be here alone with Chase still out there.”
“And you care about my safety because…”
I snort a laugh from across the foyer. “Why do you have to make this so difficult?”
“You’re the one making it difficult, detective,” she returns, her gaze never leaving mine, hands propped on the edge of the couch behind her.
I know she just wants me to say it. That I feel more for her than I’ve let on. That it’s not just my suspicion that’s drawn me toward her all this time. That the simmering tension between us that’s been alive and well since I took her statement all that time ago is beyond skepticism.
That ever since the day I questioned her after her stepdad’s death, I pictured the imprint of her lips she left behind on the Styrofoam coffee cup pressed to my body on more than one occasion. Too many occasions, to be honest.
I just can’t bring myself to say the words out loud. Not yet. Because I still don’t have the full picture of who she is, and I’m too afraid to dive in without it.
“The last thing I want is for you to end up nailed to a tree like that piece of shit, with someone’s name carved into your stomach, okay?”Someone’s name who isn’t mine.
As if the reminder cleared her wonderous haze, her eyes grow wider, now filled with concern. “It’s not safe for Maeve, either.”
“My co-worker will be watching her,” I tell her, appreciating the change of subject.
Her eyes narrow. “The tramp?”
“The tramp?” I repeat, my brow furrowing, until I realize she’s referring to Lucy. And then it hits me that she’sjealousof Lucy. Which doesn’t surprise me, because Chloe looked like she wanted to slit her throat the entire time she sat on her couch when she came by for her statement a couple of nights ago. “No. His name’s Daniel. He’s a good detective.” Well, he’s okay. He earned brownie points in my book when he got off his ass andfigured out the missing puzzle pieces that ultimately closed the case I was trying to take Chloe down for.
