“Not exactly a database monitoring that, no.”
Setting the lipstick evidence bag back on the desk, she picked up the other one with shards of paper. “Too bad this isn’t a receipt or something. But that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?” She examined the corners of paper closely, but didn’t seem to draw any better conclusions than he had. “Looks like junk mail,” she said with a sigh.
“That’s what I thought, too.”
He went to take the bag from her, but she tugged it back. “Wait. I think—I think I can make out part of a name.” She shook the bag, attempting to bring the piece that’d caught her attention clear of the others. “Some letters are missing off the beginning and end, but I swear it spells out a very familiar name.” She looked straight at him, sending his pulse racing. “Henry Davenport.”
Chapter Nine
Laurel
Laurel had pushed the idea to have Ava’s birthday cookout at Chase’s house, mostly because she thought it was a shame for such a lovely firepit area to remain empty night after night. They couldn’t light a fire, not until Sunset Ridge got some very badly needed rain, and maybe not even then, but it was a great gathering space. A vision of hers Chase had brought to life in her absence. It was hard for thatnotto touch her heart.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Chase carried an empty plate in from the grill and rinsed it off in the sink.
“I didn’t. Your sister did.”
“And who convincedher?”
Their easy banter was growing more dangerous with each passing day, but Laurel’s guard had begun to collapse, and that could be blamed almost entirely on their explosive kiss. Memories of it drew her gaze even now to the second-floor staircase. “You never did tell me about your renovation project upstairs.”
“I haven’t really gotten a good start on it. Not with this case chewing up so much time and energy.”
“Talk to Henry yet?”
“Not yet. Planning to do that tomorrow. Only want to bother him once for questioning so I don’t get reprimanded for that too.”
Sensing discussing the case was only going to work Chase up, Laurel switched tactics. “What’s your plan with the upstairs?”
Chase searched a cupboard, his arm disappearing up to his elbow as he reached in for a bottle of seasoning. “Thought I’d make those two smallest bedrooms one larger guest suite.”
Laurel immediately warmed to the idea. “Like a place where your parents can stay when they visit.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Their gaze met, and Laurel found herself trapped by it so long her heart fluttered erratically. The same way it had when they first started dating.
She forced her attention to the macaroni salad, stirring it despite that it was already well-mixed. “How are your parents? They’re in Minnesota, right?”
She felt the heat of him as he hovered beside her, and gulped a swallow. With Chase this close, all she could think about was kissing him again. But another kiss would be selfish on her part. She hadn’t changed her mind about the papers. “You know how they are,” he said in a low voice that tickled her ear and sent shivers throughout her chest.
“Chase—”
“Knock, knock!” Ava’s lyrical greeting rang through the house, causing Zeus to bark in excitement as he rushed to the door. Ava didn’t wait to be let in this time.
Chase stared at Laurel a beat longer, dropping his gaze to her lips, no doubt on purpose. He was making thissohard. Which was why Laurel vowed to tell him the one painful truth she’d kept under lock and key after the party ended. Tonight.
“You weren’t supposed to bring anything,” Laurel scolded at the sight of Ava carrying a stack of bowls.
“I’m the birthday girl,” Ava insisted, setting three covered containers of various colors on the counter beside Laurel’s macaroni salad. A fourth she stuck in the fridge. “I can do what I want.”
“I tried to stop her,” Brayden, Ava’s fiancé, said with a helpless shrug as he and their golden retriever, Elsie, followed. The two dogs sniffed in greeting, tails winding slowly until they were wagging excitedly. Chase opened the sliding door and both pups zoomed outside. “But you know Ava. When she has her mind set to something—”
Ava cut him off with an enthusiastic kiss that made Laurel jealous. She missed that feeling of being completely immersed in someone. Totally and undeniably in love. So ridiculously happy the negativity of the world couldn’t penetrate such a strong shield.
Laurel’d never felt with another man the way she’d felt with Chase. She doubted she ever would again. The idea of these birthday gatherings—one or both of them bringing someone else—ripped at her heart.
“Why don’t you go help Chase with the grill?” Ava suggested when the two finally came up for air. Turning to Laurel, Ava looped her arm through hers and dragged her toward the living room. “I need to talk to Laurel. It’s really girly stuff. You guys’ll just be bored.”
“Am I in trouble?” Laurel asked with a halfhearted laugh, hoping to cover up her anxiousness once they were alone.
