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THE NEXT DAY ON SUNDAY afternoon, Dana took a jog on one of Berry Cove’s breathtaking walking trails by the stunning blue lake. She was happy that her MacBook showed up the next morning in the kitchen. But why had she missed it before?
Dana shrugged it off. She was not going to let her mind play tricks on her. She remembered studying a case once about how when a person was stressed out, sometimes they could miss things right under their noses. After a relaxing night of sleep, her mind was able to process things better.
Note to self: get plenty of rest all the time.
That had been one of Grandma Rae’s favorite sayings. Dana smiled at the memory and the beautiful morning ahead.
The water sparkled under the sun. The sun shone brightly on this afternoon and the leaves looked golden brown as the fell on the grass. She had one of her head phones plugged in her ear listening to her favorite classical music piece to relax her.
That sexy and gorgeous detective Troy Anders had told her once to never have both ears plugged while walking or jogging alone in case she was ever approached from behind. Good thinking.
Her heart fluttered just thinking about tall, dark and deadly handsome cop Troy.
The guy practically saved her butt, and her life last month. How could she ever repay him? Not to mention she thought she’d seen a spark there in his gorgeous ocean blue eyes of his.
Okay, she just couldn’t resist an opportunity or excuse to meet up with him again. He’d been so busy over at the police district and she’d seen him a few times. He was also quite busy taking care of his mother who was visiting in town. How sweet of him.
She sighed heavily thinking about him. A smile touched the corner of her lips. She wondered if he was in fact working on the Karla Sweet murder case. Wouldn’t that be something? She could actually work with him to solve this riddle—er, rather, this case.
And speaking of riddles, what a riddle this was turning out to be. Inga had step-daughters? She didn’t even know that Inga was even married. Talk about finding out new things. Inga rarely spoke about her own personal life. In fact, Inga rarely spoke at all. And Uncle Max’s secretary was Inga’s step-daughter? Well, it seemed as if there was certainly no loss of love there.
Could Inga be right?
Could her step-daughter have had anything to do with it?
Or was Inga having a case of sour grapes and eager to get some sort of revenge on her step-daughter for ruining her marriage?
Bump.
Dana crashed head on into a burly hard chest.
“Are you all right, Dana?” Detective Troy Anders deep, silky voice slid into her ears.
“Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”
Which was true, Dana was busy thinking of the scenario with Inga’s step-daughter, who didn’t waste any time in spilling the beans to Dana about Uncle Max’s wife. She was looking at the ground while thinking and did not see, Troy, jogging toward her.
Well, duh!
“No worries. Just as long as you’re okay.” He regarded her with a warm smile.
Dana’s heart fluttered inside her chest. Heat climbed to her cheek and it wasn’t anything to do with the warm sun this afternoon.
The water from the lake rolled and crashed against the shoreline and the wind from the water whisked her brown tendrils into her face.
Troy looked positively stunning with his broad shoulders and sexy biceps which were nice and prominent in his light grey T-shirt. He wore blue jogging pants and Nike sneakers. And had a baseball cap on. God, he looked breathtaking. His ocean blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones with his dark skin and short dark hair caused waves of excitement to slide through her.
Oh, great. Now, she really lost her concentration.
Think, Dana. Think. What were you just thinking about? Oh, right. My uncle’s murder case.
“Um, Troy. I’m glad we...er...bumped into each other.”
“You are?” He arched his brow, his blue eyes penetrating her.
“Yes,” she said, trying to still the pounding of her heart. She kept trying to tell herself that she was taking a break from men after what her ex-fiancé did to her by running off with her ex-best friend from college. But, oh well. He’s in New York and she was in Berry Cove and that was her past. This was her future. Or, was it?
“Well, what I mean is,” she continued. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about the arrest of Max Sweet.”
“Oh, right,” he sighed heavily. He panted slightly as he settled down from jogging. She could see mild bead sweats on his face and on his moist skin. He looked stunning but she had to keep her attention focused on her case. Well, it wasn’t officially her case because she was an online mystery riddles blogger not a real life mystery solver, or was she?
“I’m sorry about your uncle Max.” His voice was firm and sincere.
“Thank you, Troy. But you’ve got to believe me. I don’t think he did it.”
Troy arched his brow. “We’ll have to leave that up to the courts to decide, Dana. You know how the law works.”
“I do. But he has a bail hearing coming up. I’m going to ask him a few questions. I think someone is trying to frame him, Troy.”
“Now, Dana. Remember what we spoke about last month.”
“I know. I know.”
“I don’t want you meddling in police business. It’s not a game, Dana. It’s not a riddle on your blog.”
She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. “Do you really think that’s all I’m about? Solving mystery puzzles?”
“Yes, I do,” he said, arching his brow, a grin touched the corner of his luscious lips.
“Okay, okay. So I like to solve puzzles. But this is not a game. I agree with you. It’s my uncle’s life and well, I really know he’s innocent.”
“You do? How do you know that, Dana?”
“Because I...” What was she going to say? That she possessed some sort of newfound psychic ability? “Well, I just have this feeling.”
“This feeling, huh?” He looked dubious.
“Yes, this feeling,” she defended herself. “Besides, I know what it’s like to have fingers pointing to you about a murder that happened.”
“Oh, right. I know it must have been pretty rough on you with what happened to Brad Jackson. But, Dana, this is not the same thing. Obviously, evidence was gathered at the scene.”
“Evidence? What evidence.”
He regarded her with his deep blue eyes and her pulse exploded.
“You know what I mean, Dana? Let the justice system do their job. And you do yours.” His words were soft and his lips curled into a warm smile but Dana could not help but feeling stuck.
She frowned again and bit down on her lower lip. She noticed his eyes dart toward her lips and she immediately stopped. What was he thinking?
“Listen,” he sighed deeply. “I’ll look into every aspect of the situation, as always. I’ll let you know if we come up with anything, okay? We wouldn’t want the wrong person charged. But in the mean while we go by proper procedures, got it?”
“Got it.”