Page 17 of Home Town Knight

“So it just comes naturally.”

My jaw clenched. “I know things were awkward between us earlier?—”

“Which part? When you called me a bloodsucker? Said I couldn’t have paid you to make you stay in my hotel room?”

“After you insulted me and told me to get out.” I forced my mouth shut. Dang it, I usually had better control than this. The poor woman had witnessed a murder, and here I was whining about my own bruised ego. “I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly. All right? It didn’t reflect well on me. That’s not the kind of guy I am.”

“I know plenty about the kind of man you are.” She crossed her legs and arms, angling away from me.

I made a sound of frustration.

“Everything okay?” Keira stood with Gen’s steaming mug of tea.

“Wonderful,” I said. “Sit with our witness while I take a look at the scene, all right?” I strode away, hoping my deputy hadn’t noticed the sarcasm in my voice. But she was an observant one.

Then I had the disturbing thought that Gen might tell her about last night.Anything to make me look bad, right?

But no. She wouldn’t actually do that, would she?

Either way, nothing I could do about it. I had to do my job and trust that both women had better things to discuss than me.

Carefully, I went to the sealed-off area without crossing over the line. Soon, crime scene techs from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation would arrive to run our forensics. Like many rural counties, my department was far too small to employ our own techs. CBI had an outpost to serve this area. After that, the coroner would take the body for autopsy.

The victim was facedown in the snow. His yellow knit cap had fallen off and was darkened with blood. I shook my head, saddened by the uselessness of the loss. Just last night he’d been living it up with his friends. I didn’t even know his name yet, but soon I’d know every detail I could glean about his life.

The victim’s friends, the other hunters who’d been at the bar last night, were potential suspects. I’d need my deputies to bring them to the station right away for questioning. To be on the safe side, we’d need warrants to search their hotel rooms as well. Never a shortage of paperwork.

Walking along the perimeter of the scene, I didn’t see any bullet casings. The techs would search the area, but it was possible the guy had picked up his brass. Likely, if he’d been smart.

I spotted several sets of boot prints around the body. Keira had mentioned that Rossiter and Sykes were poking around when she’d arrived. Which was inexcusable. The only reason for them to get near would have been to administer aid. Given the size of the wound in the victim’s head, there was no way they could’ve thought he was alive. Hopefully they hadn’t destroyed delicate physical evidence.

I counted two, no three, sets of boot prints. One matched those worn by the victim. The others probably belonged to Rossiter and Sykes, so we’d have to take prints of their shoes to rule them out.

Then I knelt, studying the snow. There was a fourth pattern near the body. Shining my high-powered flashlight, I could just make out a trail of those same distinctive boots leading out of the woods.

The killer’s.

I already knew Genevieve had been out here with the killer, but this visual reminder sent a flare of anger down to my bones.If he’d seen her. Hurt her.Fury singed me from the inside out.

Why had she been outside at this time of the morning? Had she been upset and unable to sleep because ofme?

If only I hadn’t sat next to the beautiful blond last night. Better yet, if I’d driven past the Alpine Hotel and gone home, despite the storm. Gen wouldn’t have been out here in the path of a killer. But then, I probably wouldn’t have a single witness to this crime.

And I wouldn’t know how soft her lips were. How perfectly she fit into my lap when we kissed and teased one another, anticipating everything that was to come. Everything that wasnevergoing to happen between us, now that we knew each other’s real names. We’d said things that couldn’t be unsaid. Unless she miraculously forgave me…

What the hell was I thinking? That we could pick up where we’d left off?

Genevieve Blake wanted to root out every secret I was keeping. It would be madness to get close to her.

Yet as I turned to face her, watching her chat with Keira, all I could think about was the danger she was in. That was the worst part of all of this by far. She’d seen the killer, and the fewer people who knew that, the better.

Half an hour later, the CBI techs arrived. While they processed the scene, and the state troopers handled the minor witness interviews, I headed back to my Hartley office. Over her protests, I insisted on bringing Genevieve with me. But the roads were still slick, and I didn’t want her driving on her own.

Keira offered to drive Gen’s car into town for her with her belongings. In the meantime, my deputies were waiting on the magistrate to sign our search warrants to continue gathering evidence.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

Gen had her arms crossed once again. She was glaring at the windshield. “Keira brought me a granola bar.”

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