Page 80 of Home Town Knight

“No, I drove him separately.”

“Why would he tellyouabout what he and Tucker had found?”

Rossiter shrugged.

I shook my head. I could fill in the blanks. Rossiter had put some kind of pressure on him.

Then I thought back to the timing of events two days ago, the day Tucker had been murdered. Ellis and his hunting buddies had been waiting around at my office for their interviews because I’d taken Genevieve to Last Refuge. Meanwhile, the search warrants had been executed at the Alpine Hotel.

So Rossiter hadalreadyfound the coin by the time I was done interviewing Ellis. Rossiter had also helped question the other hotel guests, who must have mentioned the cash that Tucker had been waving around the night before. Then Rossiter had conveniently turned up at my office to escort Ellis alone back to the Alpine.

Thought he was so smart.

“You took a coin from Tucker’s hotel room. Don’t try to deny it.”

“Ellis said there were more,” Rossiter spit out. Almost like he was forcing himself to say it. “Tucker had found more of those gold coins, plus the cash. Ellis had been with him, and at first Tucker tried to lie to him, said he hadn’t found anything. But at the hotel, Ellis realized his buddy had been holding out on him. He was pissed.”

Which fit my theory exactly. Tucker had snuck out of the hotel the next morning, and that was when he’d been killed. The killer had taken his bag, which probably had the other gold coins inside.

“Ellis wanted to go back for more, right?” I asked. “Just like Tucker had planned before the killer got to him first. Ellis was just waiting for the right time. And you were going to go with him.”

“Even though Tucker had already been killed over it?” Gen said incredulously.

“We were going to be careful. Approach at night. I wasn’t going to keep any of the money! I was going to report everything once I’d seen it for myself. I just wanted to confirm Ellis was legit, that’s all. I was going to return the coin to evidence too, I swear.”

Rossiter’s claim was ludicrous. But if that was his story, fine. I cared far more about where they’d been going.

“Where did Tucker find the coins and cash? Where was Ellis taking you tonight?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. Insisted that he’d show me the turnoff when we reached it. We didn’t get the chance. You saw what happened.”

I knocked my fist against the steering wheel in frustration. Only Ellis had known where those Stillwater coins had come from. And now he was dead.

“I don’t know how the killer even found us.” Rossiter’s eyes bugged. “Am I in danger?”

I didn’t bother answering, grabbing my radio handset instead to check in with the other responders. I had no doubt they’d arrived at the scene of Ellis’s death, but I had to give them our current location. Someone would have to fish Rossiter’s car out of the creek. And send him the bill.

“Hey, reporter lady, you’ve seen this guy,” Rossiter said. “Do you think he’ll come after me next?”

Gen turned around and fixed him with a vicious smile. “If you’re looking for sympathy, you’ve come to the wrong woman.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Genevieve

“I’ve got some snacks.”Dean set a tray down in front of me, laden with small plates. “And a green tea.”

“You remembered that’s what I ordered the other night?”

“I did, but I can’t take any credit. Tex asked me to bring this for you.”

Even in the middle of all this craziness, Owen was taking care of me.

Right now, he was on sheriff duty. He’d called Dean to come pick me up and bring me to the Alpine, where Owen’s team was setting up a temporary command post to deal with the latest murder. Also to bring him a new set of clothes, since his had been soaked by that dip into the creek.

I knew Owen had hated sending me off with Dean. I would much rather have stayed with him. But Owen had two crime scenes to deal with, both Ellis’s murder and Rossiter’s car crash into the creek. So I was sitting in the hotel’s employee break room after midnight, and Dean was playing waiter and babysitter.

“Thank you for this.” I wrapped my hands around the warm mug. I was sick and tired of being managed, but nowthat the shooter had killed two people? I wasn’t about to refuse the extra protection. My pulse raced, and adrenaline was still thick in my veins as I thought of how close the killer had been. How lucky I was that he hadn’t realized I was there.

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