Page 116 of Moonlit Colorado

“We’re in the process of determining that. It’s one of the questions I have for you, in fact. Wasn’t planning to start there, though.”

“Grace and I have no idea. We weren’t even in Colorado until a few hours ago. We came straight here. Found the door open and Nina on the floor inside.”

“We explained that to the first officers on the scene after I called 911,” I added.

Sheriff Douglas took off his hat, scratching at the buzzed hair beneath. “Yes, but I’m going to need to hear a lot more about why a rich New York businessman and a Silver Ridge local wound up here looking for a woman who turned out to be… Well, there’s no way to put this delicately is there?”

“She had her throat cut,” Dane said.

The sheriff squinted at him. “How do you know that?”

“How do you think? I have eyes.” Dane had already told me that was what it looked like. But I suppressed another shudder and a wave of nausea. Dane’s hand went to my thigh, a reassuring weight.

“A woman has been murdered,” Douglas said. “I recommend cutting the sarcasm.”

“We want to help,” I interrupted. “But we already know who did this. His name is Vincent Brady.”

“Did you see him here?”

“I haven’t seen him since he attacked me in New York. But I’m sure it was him. We’ll tell you everything we can.”

I started with meeting Nina at the hotel’s grand-opening party, though of course I hadn’t known her name at the time. I shared how Nina had given me her mask. How Dirk Lancaster had mistaken me for her, and later Vincent approached me trying to find her.

Nina had disappeared that night. Whatever she’d been running from, she must’ve already known the danger by then. Why else would she hole up in this motel under a fake name?

Yet I didn’t believe she’d wanted to putmein danger. The strap on my mask broke simply by chance. Nina made a snap decision to give me hers. She’d probably thought I might attract Dirk’s and Vincent’s attention, but then they’d forget about me once they realized I wasn’t her. Even after the break-in at my house when the mask was stolen, Vincent left me alone.

Until, of course, I showed up in New York and saw him threatening Lexi. And got myself involved again.

I’d heard Vincent threaten Nina when he was talking to Lexi Sanders. Lexi was probably in extreme danger too, and I hoped she was staying hidden. But Nina had tried to hide, and Vincent had found her, just like Dane’s investigator had.

Vincent had made it here first.

But what we still didn’t know waswhy. Why Vincent would want to kill Nina to silence her. Why any of this was really happening.

Sheriff Douglas listened to all of it with a serious but impassive expression. “So Vincent Brady was searching for Nina, and so were you. Mr. Knightly’s investigator tracked her down, and that’s why you arrived today. To have a chat with her. But you haven’t explained what you hoped she could tell you.”

“That has to do with my father’s company,” Dane said. “Knightly Global. And a possible high-end escort business being run at my family’s hotel properties.”

The sheriff’s stoic expression finally broke, revealing his shock. “Escorts?”

We answered the rest of Douglas’s questions, but there wasn’t much else we could add. There were so many gaps in what we knew. Finally, the sheriff fit his hat on his head and stood. “I would appreciate if neither of you leaves the county for the next week at least, in case I have more questions for you.”

“Not a problem,” Dane said. “We’re planning to stay in Silver Ridge for a while.”

“Chief Landry at Silver Ridge PD might also want to speak to you, since the break-in at Grace’s home was his jurisdiction. I’ll keep him updated on my side of things, and he can let you know.”

After Sheriff Douglas left the motel lobby, Dane turned to me, his gruffness melting away. “How are you doing? This has been a lot.”

“I’m pissed off. And I hate the thought that we might’ve stopped this. If Warren had found Nina sooner, or maybe if we’d tried to call her yesterday as soon as we figured out she was here, I could’ve told her Vincent had been looking for her.”

Dane put his arm around me and rested his cheek against my temple. “She was in hiding, baby. She already knew. There was no way to predict if she would talk to us or if we could’ve made any difference at all.”

I didn’t want to accept that. I had to believe there would be some kind of resolution to all this. Some kind ofjustice.

“We passed a pizza place down the road,” Dane said. “Let’s get some food, and then we can head to Silver Ridge. I’m sure you’re anxious to see your family.”

“I am. I want to hug Maisie and I just… I just want to be with them. And you. I haven’t even asked howyou’redoing.”

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