The shower was amazing and quick. Makena couldn’t help but think about the case, despite trying to force it from her thoughts. It was impossible for questions not to pop into her mind after the update they’d received from Gert.
It was probably odd to appreciate the fact that she knew River. He had a physical description and a job. She couldn’t imagine being targeted by someone without any idea who it could be or why.
Granted, in her case, the why was still a question mark. It could be his jealous nature. Or it could be that he believed she’d overheard something.
At least she wouldn’t walk down the street next to the person targeting her without realizing it. Even Red and Mustache were on her radar.
And then there was Colton. She couldn’t imagine having a better investigator or a better human being on her side. He’d grown into quite an incredible person, not that she was surprised. His cobalt blue eyes had always been just a little too serious and a little too intense even in college. He saw things most people would never notice. After hearing more about his family, she was starting to get a better understanding of him and what made him tick.
To say her feelings for him were complicated barely scratched the surface. She got dressed and brushed her teeth before venturing into the living room.
Colton sat in front of the fire, studying his laptop. Her heart free-fell at the sight of him looking relaxed and at ease. Butterflies flew in her stomach and she was suddenly transported back to biology lab at the time they had first met. Those feelings were very much alive today and sent rockets of need firing through her.
“Hey, I thought we agreed. No more working on the case tonight.” She moved to the kitchen and heated more water. The lemon and honey water had done the trick earlier.
“I was just mapping out our route to the motel tomorrow morning. I wanted to be ready to go so that we’re there the moment Gloria Beecham checks in for work.”
“That sounds like a plan.” The buzzer on the microwave dinged and she poured the warm water into the mug she’d used earlier.
“It’s about a half hour’s drive, so we should probably get on the road at five thirty at the latest.”
“In the morning?” She gripped the mug and added a slice of lemon along with another teaspoon of honey. After stirring the mixture, she made her way back to the sofa, noticing how badly her attempt at humor had missed the mark.
Colton continued to study the screen without looking up. She hoped she hadn’t offended him earlier before the showers but the air in the room had definitely shifted. A wall had come up.
Makena pulled her legs up and tucked her feet underneath her bottom. She sat a couple of feet from Colton and angled herself toward him. From this distance, she’d be less likely to reach out and touch him. The feel of his silk-over-steel muscles was too much temptation. It would be so easy to get lost with him.
But then what?
There was no way she wanted to do anything that might drive a wedge between her and Colton. He was her best and only friend right then. She had no plans to cut off her lifeline. An annoying voice in the back of her head called her out on the excuses.
“So, the way I understand it, there’s a story behind why everyone in law enforcement got there. What’s yours?” She wanted to know why he’d chosen this profession versus taking up ranching.
He chuckled, a low rumble in his chest. “Do you mean more than the fact that I grew up with five brothers, all of whom were close in age?”
“That would challenge anyone’s sense of justice,” she laughed.
“I think it was always just inside me.” He closed the laptop and shifted it off his lap and onto the sofa. Then he turned to face her. “We all used to play Cops and Robbers. Growing up on a ranch, we had plenty of room to roam and enough time to use our imagination. I was always drawn to the cop. For a while, I tried to tell myself that I was a rancher. Don’t get me wrong, ranching is in my blood and it’s something I think I’ve always known I’d do at some point. We all pitch in, especially me before the boys came. I think I always knew it was just a matter of time. I want to take my place at the ranch. Later. I’m just not ready. So in college, when my parents tried to get me to go to the best agricultural school in the state, I rebelled. Our university had a pretty decent business school, and that’s how I convinced my parents it was right for me. They weren’t really trying to force me into anything so much as trying to guide me based on what they thought I wanted.”
“They sound like amazing parents.”
“They were...my mom still is,” he said.
“I’m guessing by that answer there’s no news about who is responsible for your father’s death. I’m really sorry about that, Colton. About all of it.”
“Before I checked the map, I was digging around in the case file. I couldn’t find anything else to go on.”
“Maybe no one was supposed to find him,” she offered.
“It’s possible. There are just so many unanswered questions. When I really focus on it, it just about drives me insane.”
She could only imagine someone in his shoes, someone who was used to giving answers to others in their darkest moments, would be extremely frustrated not to be able to give those answers to his own family. She figured that between him and his brothers who worked for the US Marshal Service, they wouldn’t stop until they found out why their father was killed. Their sister’s kidnapping must have influenced their decisions to go into law enforcement in the first place. “How long has it been?”
“A couple of months now. He was digging around in my sister’s case.”
“You mentioned that she was kidnapped as a baby. Thirty-plus years is a long time. Wouldn’t any leads be cold?”
“Yes. The trail was almost instantly cold and has remained so to this day. We’re missing something. That’s what keeps me up at night. It’s the thing that I don’t know yet but know is out there, which gives me nightmares. It’s the one piece that, when you find it, will make the whole puzzle click together. That’s been missing in my sister’s case for decades.”
This was the first time she’d ever heard a hint of hopelessness in Colton’s voice. Despite knowing just how dangerous this path could be, she reached over and took his hand in hers. He’d done so much for her and she wanted to offer whatever reassurance she could. The electricity vibrating up her arm from their touch was something she could ignore. She needed to ignore it. Because it wasn’t going to lead her down a productive path.
She couldn’t agree more with Colton about timing.
“I wish there was something I could say or do to help.”
“Believe it or not, just being able to talk about it for a change is nice. We never talk about Caroline’s case at home. Our mother has a little gathering every year on Caroline’s birthday and we have cake. She talks about what little she remembers about her daughter. It isn’t much and it feels like Caroline is frozen in time. Always six months old. I’ve already had more time with my sons than my mother did with my sister. And I can’t imagine anything happening to either one of my boys.”
“It hardly seems fair,” she agreed.
Colton rocked his head and twined their fingers together.
“We better get some sleep if we intend to be out the door by five thirty.” He squeezed her fingers in a move that she figured was meant to be reassuring. He got up and turned off the fireplace. From the other room, he grabbed a pillow and some blankets. “For tonight, I’ll take the couch.”
“I thought we already talked about this.” The last thing she wanted to do was steal the man’s bed. It was actually a bad idea for her to think about Colton and a bed because a sensual shiver skittered across her skin.
“We did. I said I’d take the couch tonight and you’ll take the bed. If I have to, I’ll walk over there, pick you up and carry you to bed.” At least there was a hint of lightness and playfulness in his tone now that had been missing earlier. There was also something else...something raspy in his voice when he’d mentioned his bed. And since she knew better than to tempt fate twice in one night, she pushed up to standing, walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek...and then went to bed.
COLTON SLEPT IN fifteen-minute intervals. By the time the alarm on his watch went off he’d maybe patched together an hour of sleep in seven. It was fine. He rolled off the couch and fired off a dozen pushups to get the blood pumping. He hopped to his feet and did a quick set of fifty jumping jacks. He’d been sitting way more than usual in the past thirty-six hours and his body was reminding him that it liked to be on the move.
He followed jumping jacks with sit-ups and rounded out his morning wake-up routine with squats. As quietly as he could manage, he slipped down the hall past his master bedroom, past the boys’ room, where he lingered for just a second in the doorway of the open door. And then he made his way to the master bath where he washed his face, shaved and brushed his teeth.
Makena didn’t need to be up for another hour. There was something right about her being curled up in his bed. He didn’t need the visual, not this early in the morning. So he didn’t stop off at the master bedroom on his way to the coffee machine.
The supplies were all near the machine, so he had a cup in hand and a piece of dry toast in less than three minutes. It didn’t take long for the caffeine to kick in or for questions to swirl in the back of his mind.
At first, he thought about his father’s case. Colton had a dedicated deputy to untangle Mrs. Hubert’s financials and the contact information that had been found in her computer. Her files were all coded and his deputy was presently on full-time duty trying to crack the code. The older woman who was murdered a few months ago had ties to a kidnapping ring. Had she been involved in Caroline’s case?
As a professional courtesy, and also considering the fact they were brothers, he was sharing information with Cash and Dawson. Those two were working the case in their spare time, as well. Even with a crack team of investigators, it would take time to unravel Mrs. Hubert’s dealings. Time to get justice for Finn O’Connor was running out. A cold trail often led to a cold case. It occurred to Colton that his mother could be in danger, too.
There could be something hidden around the house, a file or piece of evidence their father had been hiding that could lead a perp to her door.
Colton tapped his fingers on his mug. He thought about time. And how short it could be. How unfair it could be and how quickly it could be robbed from loved ones.
It was too early in the morning to go down a path of frustration that his boys would never know their mother. Besides, as long as he had air in his lungs, he would do his best to ensure they knew what a wonderful a person she was.
Colton booted up his laptop and checked his email. Several needed attention, so he went ahead and answered those. Others could wait. A couple he forwarded on to Gert. She’d been awfully quiet since the phone call last night, which didn’t mean she wasn’t working. It just meant she hadn’t found anything worth sharing.
He pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the headache threatening. Then he picked up the pencil from on top of his notepad. He squeezed the pencil so tight while thinking about the past that it cracked in half. Frustration that he wasn’t getting anywhere in the two most important cases of his life got the best of him and he chucked the pencil pieces against the wall.
Colton cursed. He looked up in time to see a feminine figure emerge from his bedroom. Makena had on pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. The bottoms were pink plaid. Pink was his new favorite color.
“Morning.” She walked into the room and right past the broken pieces of pencil.
“Back atcha.” He liked that she knew where everything was and went straight to the cabinet for the coffee. She had a fresh cup in her hands and a package of vanilla yogurt by the time he moved to the spot to clean up the broken pencil.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked her as he tossed the bits into the trash.
“Like a baby.” She stretched her arms out and yawned before digging into the yogurt. The movement pressed her ample breasts against the cotton of her T-shirt.
Colton forced his gaze away from her soft curves. “How’s your hip today?” He’d noticed that she was walking better and barely limped.
“So far, so good,” she said. “I don’t think I’m ready to run a marathon anytime soon, but I can make it across the room without too much pain. The bruise is already starting to heal.” She motioned toward her hip, a place his eyes didn’t need to follow.
Colton made a second cup of coffee, which he polished off by the time she finished her first.
“I can be dressed and ready in five minutes. Is that okay?” she asked.
“Works for me.” He gathered up a few supplies like his notebook and laptop and tucked them into a bag.
Makena emerged from the bedroom as quickly as she’d promised, looking a little too good. He liked the fact that she could sleep when she was around him, because she’d confessed that she hadn’t done a whole lot of that in recent months.
He smiled as he passed by her, taking his turn in the bedroom. He dressed in his usual jeans, dark button-down shirt and windbreaker. He retrieved his belt from the safe and then clipped it on his hip.
He returned to the kitchen where Makena stood, ready to go.
The drive to the motel took exactly twenty-nine minutes with no traffic. The place was just as Gert had described. A nondescript motel off the highway that fit the information Gert had passed along—that it rented rooms by the hour. There was an orange neon sign that had M-O-T-E-L written out along with a massive arrow pointing toward the building. Colton had always driven by those places and wondered why people needed the arrow to find it. He could chew on that another day.
“It’s best if you stick to my side in case anything unexpected goes down. I’m not expecting anything, but should River still be in the area or pop in to rent another room, I want you to get behind me as a first option or anything that could put the most mass between you and him. Okay?”
She nodded and he could see that she was clear on his request. She’d been silent on the ride over, staring out the window, alone in her thoughts. Colton hadn’t felt the need to fill the space between them with words. It had been a comfortable silence. One that erased the years they’d been apart.
The office of the motel was a small brick building that had a screen door in front of a white wooden one. The second door was cracked open enough to see dim lighting. He opened the screen door as he tucked Makena behind him.
With his hand on her arm, he could feel her trembling. River’s connection to this place seemed to be taking a toll on her. A renewed anger filled Colton as he bit back the frustration. Of course, she’d be nervous and scared. She’d been running from this guy for literally months and here she was walking inside a building where he’d recently stayed.
Inside, they were greeted by a clerk whose head could barely be seen above the four-and-a-half-foot counter. The walls were made of dark wood paneling. The worn carpet was hunter green, and the yellow laminate countertop gave the place a leftover-from-another-era look.
“How can I help you, Sheriff?” The woman didn’t seem at all surprised to see him, and he figured his deputy might’ve let her know someone would most likely swing by to speak to her.
“Are you Gloria?” he asked. Aside from the long bar-height counter that the little old lady could barely see over, there were a pair of chairs with a small table nestled in the right-hand side of the room. To his left, in the other corner, a flat-screen TV had been mounted.
“In the flesh.” She smiled.
“I understand you spoke to one of my deputies yesterday. My name is Sheriff Colton O’Connor.” He walked to the counter and extended his right hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
The little old lady took his hand. Her fingers might be bony and frail but she had a solid handshake and a formidable attitude.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sheriff. You’re in here to talk to me about one of my clients.” She had the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. He didn’t get the impression she’d had an easy life. The sparkle in her eyes said she’d given it hell, though.
“Yes, ma’am. This is a friend of mine and she’s familiar with the case.” He purposely left out Makena’s name.
Gloria nodded and smiled toward Makena. “My name might be Gloria but everyone around here calls me Peach on account of the fact I was born in Georgia. I’ve lived in Texas for nearly sixty years but picked up the name in second grade and it stuck.”
Peach’s gaze shifted back to Colton. She nodded and smiled after shaking hands with Makena.
“Can you tell me everything you remember about the visitor in room 11?” Colton asked, directing the conversation.
“The name he used to check in was Ryan Reynolds. I can get the ledger for you if you’d like to see it.”
“I would.” Ryan Reynolds was a famous actor, so it was obviously a fake name. Colton figured that Makena could confirm whether or not the handwriting belonged to River.
Peach opened a drawer and then produced a black book before finding a page with the date from five days ago.
“I get folks’ information on the computer usually, but my cash customers like to sign in by hand the old-fashioned way.” He bet they did.
She hoisted the book onto the counter and, using two fingers on each hand, nudged it toward Colton. He looked at the name she pointed at. Ryan Reynolds. The movie star. Somehow, Colton seriously doubted the real Ryan Reynolds would have come all the way to this small town to rent a motel room. Last he’d checked, there were no movies being made in the area. But this wasn’t the kind of place where a person would use his or her real name, and Peach clearly hadn’t asked for ID.
Colton leaned into Makena and said in a low voice, “Does that handwriting look like his?”
“Yes. He always makes that weird loop on his Rs. I mean, wrong name, obviously. But that’s his handwriting.”
“Do you mind if I take a picture of this?” Colton glanced up at Peach, who nodded.
Colton pulled out his phone and snapped a shot.
“I’d also like to keep this book as evidence. Did Mr. Reynolds touch the book or use a pen that you gave him?”
“Now that I really think about it, I don’t think he did touch the book. I can’t be sure. But the pen he used would be right there.” She reached for a decorated soup can that had a bunch of pens in it.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to admit that as evidence.” Colton’s words stopped her mid-reach.
“Yes, sir. I’m happy to cooperate in any way that I can.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Colton tipped his chin. “Has anyone else who looked suspicious been here over the last week or two?”
“You’ll have to clarify what suspicious means, sheriff. I get all kinds coming through here,” she quipped with a twinkle in her eye.