Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Huck flicked her a glance. “They’re not as good as you.”
Her shoulders sagged. The fact that she could get into a killer’s mind would always bother her. “You were deliberately set up,” she murmured.
“Could it be by Abigail?” he asked.
“She, for some unknown reason, wants a close relationship with me, or at least whatever ‘close’ means to her. You are in the way.” Did it track, though? Abigail wasn’t somebody who liked to get her hands dirty, and drowning a woman by forcing her head beneath ice was definitely dirty. Yet Laurel had no doubt Abigail would sink to such lows if the ends justified her means. “We’ve been looking at this case by asking why each victim was murdered.”
“That sounds standard to me.”
“What if it’s all about you?” she murmured.
Huck looked at her. “The fact that my mother was the first victim makes that entirely likely, but I don’t have any enemies.”
She sat back. “Everybody has enemies. You’ve had a long career, Captain. You’ve put many a criminal in prison.”
“Sure,” Huck said, “and I’ve let people down.”
She studied him. “It wasn’t your fault that child died in your Portland case.”
“I know, but he left behind a great-aunt who hated my guts.”
“We need a list of anybody who might want to hurt you and who you think is diabolical enough to go about it in this manner.” Just to cross them off. That theory didn’t track for her.
He pulled into his drive and parked near the shop. “You haven’t had a chance to tell me how the interview with Zeke Caine went earlier.”
“I metaphorically poked the beast,” she said.
“Meaning?” Huck turned off the truck and looked at her. Silence echoed through the cab.
She swallowed. “He’s furious. If he’s going to make a mistake or slip up, it’s going to be now.”
“You think he’s the killer?” Huck asked.
“The puzzle pieces won’t snap into place.” His smirk said he was. Or he was just messing with her head because he could? “If he wants to hurt you, I think he’d just shoot you. So if Zeke is the killer, this actually isn’t about you.”
“Ug. My head is aching.”
She rubbed her temple. “As is mine. To be thorough, we still need a list of anybody who’d want to harm you. We can pass that on to Nester or even Agent Norrs, but Nester won’t yell at us when we do.”
“Good point,” Huck said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let’s go in and find something to eat.”
“Agreed.” She stepped out of the truck onto the icy ground and shivered when the wind assaulted her. She peered up at the moon shining through gaps in the rain clouds, but looming purplish clouds were sweeping in from the north. “We’re about to be impacted by another storm.”
“Aren’t we always?” Huck reached her side. “I was thinking, after this is all over, let’s really take that vacation we’ve been talking about.”
“Somewhere sunny. I could use the vitamin D.” She took his hand. “Definitely somewhere sunny.”
Somewhere sunny. Streaks of blond. All dead blondes. The puzzle pieces slipped nicely together in her mind. Shock held her still for a moment. How evilly diabolical. The malignant narcissist who’d been thwarted. Of course! She couldn’t believe it. “Huck. I’ve got it. It’s—”
A shot cracked out from nowhere, and the captain’s body doubled over as he emitted a harsh grunt and then fell.
“Huck!” Laurel screamed, scrambling in her bag for her weapon.
A blur of motion caught her attention, and then a hard body tackled her onto the ice. She skidded several feet. Her purse spun away, end over end, her weapon inside. She looked up to see Zeke Caine’s face right before he swung his fist and punched her in the cheek, hard. She’d been right. Her head flopped down again. Her body shook, and she sucked in frigid air, forcing herself to remain conscious. She kicked out, nailing him in the knee.
Grunting, he punched her again in her face, and her head snapped back, hitting the ice. Darkness stole her vision, and she turned, trying to scream for Huck. Was he okay? Was he alive? Was he dead? She scrambled to find him.
Aeneas barked loudly from inside the home, sounding frantic.
Rough hands grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the cabin and then around the side through the scrub brush. She started to fight, but her limbs became heavy and her vision blurry.
“You fucking bastard. I figured it out,” she croaked.
Zeke laughed. “You have my brains. Yet I won’t accept betrayal from any of my women. Ever.”
As they neared the river, Laurel fought to stand. She stood and tried to strike back. He kept his hold on her hair and pulled her along, throwing her down again. She landed on her hands, and pain ricocheted up her arms as agony spread along her scalp. “You couldn’t care less about killing blondes.”