AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Then why—”
“I’m the sheriff,” Tate interrupted, his voice harsh. “You’ll do as I say.”
Marla sniffed. She’d known him too long and too well to be intimidated. “You’re theactingsheriff and you don’t have any right to be in here. Not unless you have a search warrant.”
“What do you know about search warrants?” Tate sneered. “I can arrest you if you impede my investigation.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Marla held his gaze, her hand reaching out to grab the phone receiver from the old-fashioned landline on the desk. “I’m calling Mrs. Burke. I think she’d like to know you’re in here snooping around.”
Tate puffed out his chest. He was used to giving orders and having them followed. “I’m here on official business.”
“You can tell her that.” Marla started to dial a number.
Tate muttered a curse. She’d called his bluff and he had no choice but to back down. Dammit.
“I don’t have time for this nonsense.” He smoothed his hands down the expensive fabric of his trench coat. “I’ll be back later to do my search.”
“Bring a warrant.”
Tate lifted his hand, pointing a finger in the woman’s face. “Careful, Marla.”
“Or what?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to find out,” he warned, turning to head out the door. He paused, glancing over his shoulder. “And tell that son of yours to stop sniffing around my daughter. Unless he wants to end up in a hospital bed next to Drew Hurst.”
Marla’s face flushed an ugly crimson shade. “You’ll be sorry you threatened me, Tate Erickson.”
“Doubtful.”
Chapter 18
Lia leaned forward as Kaden spread the photos across the kitchen table. Her stomach clenched with horror, but she forced herself to study the gruesome close-ups of the bloody wound on the side of Ryan Burke’s head and the blue tint to his face. There was no doubt she was staring at a corpse. Just as there was no doubt he’d been murdered.
But they still had no idea who or why or when the killer might strike next.
As her grandpa would have said, they didn’t know jack shit.
“I can’t believe he’s dead,” she breathed, trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing. “We were just in his office.”
Kaden slid his chair closer to her, as if sensing the warmth of his body would help to ease the knot that had formed in the pit of her stomach.
“I can’t believe he’s not the killer,” he muttered.
“Yeah.” She lifted her head to meet his troubled gaze. “That too.”
“Everything was starting to point toward him.” Kaden tapped a finger on the nearest picture. “When I talked to the locals, they implied that Burke’s business ethics have always been sketchy. Something that might have attracted the attention of the EPA. And he obviously recognized Vanna’s name despite trying to act dumb. Plus, he hired a guard to keep people away. Only someone with something to hide would do that.”
Lia nodded. “And he would have had the sort of money necessary to pay off student loans seventeen or eighteen years ago.”
“Exactly. The Burke Fellowship ties him directly to Vanna.” Kaden huffed in exasperation. “If this was a television show, Ryan Burke would be the killer. . . .” He stiffened, as if he was struck by a sudden realization. “You know, just because he was murdered doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in Vanna’s death.”
Lia’s breath caught. It hadn’t occurred to her that there might have been more than one person who wanted the poor woman dead. It made the memory of that night even more disturbing. And their current investigation more dangerous.
“You’re right. If he had a partner—”
“Or partners.”
“Or partners,” she agreed. “Then one of them might be trying to keep the others from confessing to what happened to Vanna.”
