Page 16 of Investigate Away
She chuckled. “Since when do you toss around compliments like they are candy.”
He shrugged.
“Any news from the lab?” she asked.
“Too many prints so it’s all compromised. And the note is clean, except your prints.”
“I can’t believe no one saw anything,” she said.
“Well, the good news is that the art gallery right behind the inn has a security camera that faces the back of the inn. There is a shadow of a person running out the back at around five in the morning.”
“So, whoever it was had to have taken a ferry over yesterday.”
“No. They could have driven over the deception pass bridge. Or they could have already been here.” He rested his head against the cushion and stared at the sky. He found a couple of stars, and the white moon glowed through a thin layer of gray clouds. “I’m taking this threat seriously, which is why I am being a bit of a dick by having you stay here, but I don’t think it’s the Trinket Killer.”
“I have to agree. You are being a dick.”
He chuckled. “But you’re staying.”
“Just for a couple of nights. Because it’s so pretty here and the motel down the street doesn’t have anything until Monday.”
“I can’t force you to stay, but someone wants us to think the Trinket Killer is watching us and ready to strike again.”
“What if he is? What if me being back in Seattle is some kind of trigger? What if I just set in motion another killing spree?”
Jag had to admit, at least to himself, that those same questions filled his mind, but it didn’t make sense if he pulled it back to the beginning. “What were you doing when the first murder took place?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were a junior reporter, and you didn’t even cover that case. I was a beat cop. I had just taken my detective test, but it was a full year before I got my first case.”
“Which was the fourth victim,” she said. “And that was the second murder I covered.”
“I know. You pissed me off when you gave the killer a name and then publicly made the connection between a couple of the murders before we were ready to make that announcement.”
“People have the right to know there is a serial killer in the neighborhood, but I now see how I went too far sometimes.”
“You were just doing your job,” he said.
“Wow. Who are you, and what did you do with my ex-fiancé?”
He spit out half his beer as he burst out laughing. “We were engaged for less than a day, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use that word and my name in the same sentence.”
“It did feel very weird on my tongue.”
“Don’t turn your head or anything, but we’ve got company,” he said.
“Who? Where?”
“I don’t know. I don’t recognize the car, but someone is definitely sitting in it. Without causing alarm, I want you to quickly go inside.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Call my officer on duty. I always have two. And have them do a sweep while I sit here with my gun.” He pulled it out of its holster and put it on the table. “And watch.”
“I’ll be inside.” She scurried through the front door, shutting it quickly. At least she didn’t argue. That was a change from the days of the past. She always had to be in the thick of things. Right there with him on the front lines. The story meant more to her than anything else, including him.
But who was he to talk? She often took a back seat to his job.
