Page 12 of Passion in Bloom

My cabin wasn’t far.

Satisfied that Heather wasn’t alone at work, I drove the rest of the way to the very small police station. Marty was working, and I was glad that it was his shift. Brent, the other cop, wasn’t that bad of a guy, but I automatically never liked him too much because he was Jerry’s brother.

“Hey. How’s it going?” Marty asked when he looked up from the front desk where he was checking something. The receptionist walked back with a coffee in hand. “Oh, hey, Roarke.” She grinned and then winked at me.

“Hi.” I could not remember her name, and I wasn’t about to butcher it in guessing. “You got a minute, Marty?”

“Sure.” He raised his brows in question. “You wanna talk out here, or in my office?”

“The office is better,” I replied.

His brows shot up higher.

Once we were in his small office, he closed the door and I sat.

“What’s going on?” he asked as he rounded the desk and then sat in his ugly-ass but seemingly comfortable chair. He swore he’d never get rid of the squeaky thing, a hand-me-down from the previous cop who used to take this tiny office space.

“Some asshole showed up at Heather’s cabin yesterday.” I blew out a deep breath and launched into explaining all that I could. What the blond-haired asswipe looked like. The make and model of the car he parked further from her cabin. How he talked. What he said.

“She was terrified and stood behind me.”

“But she knew him?” Marty asked, pausing in jotting notes.

“Yeah. She did. Somehow.”

He frowned. “She didn’t say who he was, though?”

I shook my head. “She clarified that he wasn’t her boyfriend. But I don’t know if that means he is her ex. Or just some pushy asshole who was bothering and targeting her.” I ran my hand over my face, still unused to the lack of a beard. “He was adamant that he was her boyfriend, but she didn’t give any indication that was true.”

“Well, what did she say?” he asked.

“Fucking nothing, man. She was scared, that was obvious. And thankful.” I rolled my eyes. “She was grateful that Todd showed up and had that gun on him.”

He smirked. “Well, this isn’t going to turn into me reminding him that he’s gotta be careful about how he keeps that damn rifle in his truck like that...”

I doubted it would. Todd was too damn old to be “policed” by men a third his age.

“You said he was driving a black Ford?”

I nodded. “I didn’t catch a good look at the license plate.”

“No need to. He’s gotta be the arrogant asshole I’ve pulled over for speeding.” He typed on his computer and turned the monitor around for me to see. “This the guy?”

I nodded, angry all over again at the sight of his gelled blond hair, the smug smile in his ID picture. “That’s him.” I narrowed my eyes. David Kenning. Hmm. I supposed it served a purpose to be able to put a name to his face.

“I already looked him up. I ran him for speeding multiple times. He didn’t care that I ticketed him twice already.”

“Smug bastard.”

“Sounds like it. But I was curious what a fancy lawyer from Chicago would be doing around here.”

“He’s a lawyer?”

He nodded, reclining in his chair. “And a squeaky clean one. No record at all. Not even a speeding ticket, and that alone shocks me for how much of a lead foot he seems to have around here.” Sitting up, he gave me a serious look. “And since Heather just came back from Chicago, I got a little interested if that could be a coincidence. I pulled her up, too.”

“And?” Not for one second would I suspect Heather could be running from a crime. She didn’t look like someone who’d break the law.

“Nothing.” Marty shook his head again. “Not a thing on either of their records, but their addresses did link to the same apartment building.”