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His knuckles were grazed with light brown hair but the skin was white from his tight grip. Dare she say death grip?
Was this man really capable of taking matters into his own hands and killing his niece’s murderer?
Yes. She was certain that under extreme circumstances, anybody was capable of violence. But she was having a difficult time figuring him out.
Would he brag about being able to hide bodies knowing that she was looking for evidence of just that? He spoke so matter-of-factly about the case…yet right now, he looked like he wanted to beanywherebut here.
Kelsey and her boyfriend had lived off the beaten path, and on a more remote area of the mountains, but they weren’t so far out that they were isolated. Patches of woods separated the properties. This raised many questions in the minds of every investigator. The neighbors never heard a thing. Not a single camera picked up suspicious activity.
And there weren’t any prints to speak of. Of course, that was due to the local authorities making a mess of the investigation. No search dogs were brought to the scene at the time. What forensics they had were bad and slow. Whenever she thought of what should have been done versus whatwasdone, her teeth ached from grinding them.
She picked up a barely detectable noise coming from Tripp. A low trickle of air expelled from his nostrils.
In her line of work, she saw a lot of grieving family members, and he was definitely one.
The long driveway leading to the simple ranch home in the wilderness wound through the trees into the clearing. The house sat there, still and empty. Looking almost sad that its inhabitants were gone.
Tripp’s Adam’s apple bobbed on a hard swallow.
“Park there.” She pointed out the spot of snow that hadn’t yet melted.
He parked the Humvee but didn’t move. Just stared straight ahead.
“Tripp?”
When he twisted his head to meet her stare, she felt a punch to the stomach at the expression of deep torment in his eyes.
She always kept a professional distance from things like this. But right now, seeing that bald pain on his face, she got too close.
“You okay to go through with this?” she asked.
Her question swiped the look off his face, and he replaced it with a cool blank mask.
“I’m fine. I’ve been here before.”
With that, he shoved open the door and jumped out of the SUV. She did the same, and their paths converged in front of the vehicle.
As they approached the sage-green front door, Alexia suddenly wondered if his niece had picked out the color. If her boyfriend had painted it himself.
A planter sat next to the door, the dried twigs of some fall planting poking up through the thin layer of snow on top. On the door a wreath hung in a macabre welcome.
Without hesitation, Tripp reached into his pocket and withdrew a key.
Shock rippled through Alexia. “You have a…key to the house?”
His gaze slid to her. “I told you we were close.”
So he had access to the home. No reason for forced entry that was suspected but the cops hadn’t found evidence of. He simply could have walked in and killed the boyfriend.
He quickly opened the door and waved for her to enter first. She stepped into the quiet, stale space. The place wasn’t tidy in the least, not after what the local PD had done to it. And after that, the cleaners had come to make sure the blood was cleaned up.
Tripp paused in the doorway for a long heartbeat.
Alexia slid into work mode. Stepping around him, she accidentally brushed against his big, hard body.
He caught her by the upper arm and held her there. Her lips parted on a gasp as she stared up at him.
“You should let me check the place out. Just in case there’s a squatter.”
