Page 63 of Home Town Knight

Soon enough, though, my thoughts of the handsome sheriff receded as I got caught up in the Tucker file. Letting the story begin to take shape in my mind.

After glancing through the crime scene report and photos, as well as the statements of the hotel guests, I moved on to Owen’s notes on the autopsy yesterday. The final report from the coroner would take longer. It sounded like the rifle bullet had killed Tucker instantly. Once the shooter had lined up that shot, Tucker hadn’t stood a chance.

What had he really died for?

I went next to the results of the hotel room searches. All four of the hunting buddies had bunked separately. Tucker had emptied several of the tiny liquor bottles in his minibar. He’d also left a generous tip for the maid. A stack of twenty-dollar bills. I noted that the bills had been taken into evidence and examined, but there was nothing distinctive about them.

Had Tucker found those twenties along with the other cash when he and Ellis had been out in the wilderness? What had they really been doing out there? Owen and I had speculated that Ellis and Tucker stumbled onto the money by chance. But was that true?

I scrolled to the next photo from the victim’s hotel room. And everything seemed to stop.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The moment was surreal. I had to zoom in on the photo. But it was right there in front of me. Photographed along with the measuring tape the forensics techs used.

A gold coin.

It was about an inch and a half in length. It had rolled partway beneath Tucker’s bed, as if he’d dropped it by accident and hadn’t realized. More photos showed the coin in detail. It was engraved with a tiny ancient warship on one side and the wordsAquae Altissimaeon the other.

My hand shook on the laptop’s track pad. I had seen a picture of a coin like this before. My hacker source had shared it with me, part of the info on Stillwater.

I had to tell Owen about this. He hadn’t mentioned the coin, so there was no way he guessed at its significance. Not that I knew what this meant either.

Why on earth would Ace Tucker have one of these? What did he have to do with Stillwater?

Using my phone, I snapped a photo of the laptop screen, saving the image to my encrypted cloud drive. Then I closed the files and the computer. Owen’s office was just around the corner.

But I stopped in my tracks when I heard footsteps in the hallway, and a silhouette stopped right outside the conference room door.

I saw the person’s outline through the blinds, which were mostly closed. It wasn’t Owen, and it wasn’t Keira. This person was just standing there. Not even knocking.

A cold tingle of fear slid down my spine.

Reaching out, I flipped the lock. Then gasped when the doorknob shook. I backed away a few steps, glancing around the conference room, but there was nowhere else to go.

The silhouette receded as the person moved on. Meanwhile, my heart was thumping at the base of my throat.

I fumbled with my phone, intending to text Owen. There was another noise outside the door, the knob shaking again, and I bit back a scream.

“Gen? Are you in there?”

It was Owen. I unlocked the door and opened it. He stood there with his brows creased and held a mug. “I was bringing you some tea. Are you okay?”

I stepped out to look up and down the hallway. There was nobody else here. “I… There was someone trying to get into the room. Freaked me out a little.”

His mouth opened, eyes narrowing. “Could’ve been the district attorney. I thought he’d left, but he’s been snooping around. Not sure yet what to make of it.”

I pulled him into the conference room and shut the door. “There’s something else. I was going to come to your office to show you.” We both sat at the table, and I opened the laptop, navigating to the photos of Tucker’s hotel room. “This gold coin was under the bed of the murder victim.”

Owen peered at the screen. “Pretty conspicuous. And no dust on it. Suggests that it was Tucker who left it and not some prior guest.”

“Exactly.”

“But what’s the significance?”

“You see the Latin words engraved on one side?Aquae Altissimae.That means ‘deep waters.’ Part of Stillwater’s motto.”

His eyes shot to mine.

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