Page 101 of It Runs in the Family

Detective Colby shook his head. “She’s wearing a Caleb’s Diner shirt, so she might have been a waitress there. I’m gonna send Riggs over to ask about her.”

My breath stuck in my chest. Poor Garrett. That couldn’t be an easy task.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get a timeline on her,” the detective said. “The JP thinks she’s been dead less than six hours.” He took a step closer to the deputy. “She’s got bruises on her neck and wrists. Once we get an ID, I’m gonna have you and Riggs start interviewin’ people in her life. Find out when she was last seen.” He paused, turning solemn. “I’ll take care of the death notification.”

The deputy nodded. “I’ll be waiting for your orders.”

Detective Colby shot a glare over his shoulder. “I don’t want Big Balls anywhere near this investigation. If he tries to horn in, you let me know.”

“Will do.” The deputy nodded. “Looks like they’re movin’ her.”

Sure enough, the woman’s body had been placed in the body bag, and they were loading her onto a gurney. Two men in suits rolled the gurney to the van and loaded her in, then shut the doors.

The van drove off, giving me a better view of the area that had been blocked. Two deputies were bagging the items marked by the yellow tents, but whatever they were picking up was too small for me to identity.

I noticed movement to my left, and saw Boone heading toward me, still crouched down. When he reached my spot, he peered through one of the gaps. “I didn’t find out anything,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”

We hurried over to the cedar grove, then headed back to the truck. I cast Boone a curious look, but he kept his gaze on the ground.

Had he found out something and lied to me? Technically, he didn’t have to tell me anything. But he hadn’t asked if I’d found anything. He probably didn’t think it was possible.

Shows what he knew.

I had no doubt Boone knew more than he was telling me, even before this field trip. Maybe now I had something to trade.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“What do we do now?” I asked when he pulled off the dirt road onto the narrow country road.

He made a face. “I’m not sure.” He flicked a glance at me. “Have you checked out where Selena lives?”

“That would insinuate Selena has a place. She flits from boyfriend to boyfriend, crashing with her sister in between.”

“Where was she last?”

“With her sister,” I said carefully, not sure I liked where this was heading.

“Can we get in to look at her things?”

“You want to search my cousin’s room?”

“There might be some clues there.”

I was about tell him no, mostly because I didn’t want to explain him to Rita, and I doubted Selena had left anything that would give us any clues to her whereabouts. At the same time, there was a slight chance she’d left whatever she’d stolen from Tommy T.

“Okay, we can go to my cousin’s, but you have to keep your mouth shut if she realizes you were at Granny’s yesterday.”

A wicked grin spread across his face. “Am I your dirty little secret, Spitfire?”

“Yes,” I said with a glare. “And I want to keep you that way.”

His grin settled, leaving the corners of his mouth upturned.

It was unfair he had a very nice mouth that made me think about our kiss. Was it weird he hadn’t mentioned it? Did he think I’d forgotten? Or, worse, had he?

I needed to stop thinking about his mouth and that kiss. Sure, he said he’d planned to win me over, but he could have been leading me on just to get information. Would a cop do that? It made me question all over again if he was lying to me. Was I stupid to hang out with him today when I wasn’t sure?

Maybe, but I never would have snuck up to the crime scene if he hadn’t suggested it. And I wouldn’t have thought to look through Selena’s things. I’d stick with him for now.