Page 16 of Home Town Knight

“And Dumb and Dumber here don’t understand the meaning ofget a warrant,” Gen snapped.

I might’ve smiled at that, but I was too concerned about Gen. What the heck had happened after I’d left?

“Are you hurt?” I asked her.

She shook her head, avoiding my eyes.

“I’ll handle the witness from here. You two go inside and separate any other potential witnesses. As you should’ve done already.” I pointed at the glass doors to the hotel. Inside, the night manager and the hotel guests were huddled together talking and staring at us. “They’re in there chatting it up.”

“Sure,Sheriff. We can do that for you.” Rossiter smirked, as if he was granting me a personal favor.

“And don’t search any hotel rooms without a warrant,” I warned them. “I don’t care what the night manager says or what some other sheriff does in another county.”

“Should we ask your permission to fart too?” Sykes quipped. “Since you’re up our ass already?”

“I’d prefer that, yeah. The forewarning would be nice.”

I thought I spied Genevieve smiling from the corner of my eye. But her expression smoothed over too quick for me to know for sure.

Sykes and Rossiter slunk toward the lobby entrance.I swear, if they made a mess of the murder scene, I thought. I’d survey the body in a few minutes. First, I needed to make sure Gen was okay. I sat on the bench beside her. Unconsciously, my fingers rose to the brim of my hat.

“Things must’ve gone off the rails after…after.” I rushed past that oblique reference to what had happened between us upstairs. “First, do you need anything?”

Genevieve’s eyes lifted, and her cool glare fixed me in its crosshairs.

Just then, Keira came over with a blanket from the emergency supplies in her vehicle. “Here, you looked chilly.” She held the blanket out to Gen, who took it and thanked her.

“Keira, could you get her a mug of tea?” I asked my deputy.

Gen’s hard expression softened by a fraction. “Green, please. Thank you.”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” Keira went inside to get the tea. Genevieve spread the blanket over her lap. Until now, I’d managed to avoid replaying the awful things we’d said to one another, but with her sitting right beside me, it was hard not to.

Jeez, had I really called her a harpy? What was wrong with me?

“I need to know what happened,” I said. “I’ll have to take you to the station for a formal interview.”

“I know. The victim is the hunter in the neon yellow hat. The one who was fighting with his friend in the bar last night. I also saw the killer’s face. I’d never seen him before.”

Shit. “All right. We can discuss the rest when we’re at my office.” I needed to follow proper procedure, which would include recording the entire series of questions and answers. “I’ll also set you up with a sketch artist to get an image of the suspect. Did I hear right that you have a video of what you witnessed?”

“I do. But I have no intention of turning over my device and passcode. I have confidential information about sources on my phone. Not to mention personal things that have nothing to do with this.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out. Does your device back up to a cloud? So we don’t lose the evidence in the meantime?”

She nodded. “Yes. But I can text you the video now. Which I would’ve done if those jerks had asked nicely.”

“Then I will. Ms. Blake, would you please text me what you’ve got? I’d sure appreciate it.”

“Don’t pull that charming cowboy routine on me,” she muttered. “What’s your cell number?”

I told her. But as she fiddled with her phone, I noticed she wasn’t shivering anymore, and she’d visibly relaxed. As if her guard walls were lowering again.

My phone dinged with her message. I resisted the urge to watch the video. That could wait. “Thank you. I need to take a look around the scene. Make sure CSP didn’t muck up anything else.” Normally, I wouldn’t badmouth other officers to an outsider, no matter how annoyed I was. But my guard was down as well. This woman seemed to have that effect on me. “Are you fine to stay here a few minutes? Would you rather sit in my SUV?”

“Sit in the back of your sheriff’s department vehicle, like I’m under arrest? No thanks. I’m fine.”

“Look, I’m not trying to be heavy-handed here.”

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