“You’re verylucky to work in these mountains, young man.”
Kayden looked down at the older woman as they neared the visitors center. His tour group was small, with three men and two women, all in their sixties. It had been a slow hike but also a nice, easy one.
“I remind myself that every day, ma’am.”
“Oh, please. I’ve told you, call me Beatrice. Ma’am makes me feel old.”
Kayden dipped his head. “Well, that brings us to the end of our tour. Thank you all for visiting, and I hope you come again.”
The second woman touched his arm…she’d been touching his biceps all tour. “Oh, we will.”
One of the men scoffed. “Come on, Betty, the young man’s probably had enough of us.”
Kayden bit back a grin as he watched the group walk the few remaining yards to the visitors center. It had been good to have several tours come through today. It took his mind off what had happened this morning with Tilly’s father.
The muscles in his arms contracted at the memory. He’d pulled a fuckingpistol. Why had he been carrying that to visit Tilly? Was it just precautionary? Or had the man had other intentions?
Theo and Hendrix rounded the building, laughing at something between them. Theo, in particular, looked pleased.
“Something funny?” Kayden asked as they neared him.
Both men turned their attention to him, the smiles wiping clean from their faces.
Hendrix cleared his throat. “You hear the news?”
“What news?”
There was a subtle smirk on Theo’s face. “We were talking to Pixie at the desk, and she told us your brother came in with a few other officers.”
Kayden frowned. What the fuck? Eastern hadn’t told him he was coming. “What did they want?”
“Apparently,” Theo started, “our boy Jake called them after spotting a watch in Tilly’s hands. The same watch that he found covered in blood just before he was shot.”
Kayden’s throat closed. “That’s not fucking possible.”
“It is,” Hendrix said quietly. “I’m sorry, Kayden.”
What the hell?
Kayden ran toward his truck, the need to get to Tilly, protect her, so fucking strong he couldn’t feel anything else. He tugged his phone from his pocket and called his brother. When Eastern didn’t answer, he cursed and got behind the wheel.
Had Jake spoken to anyone before calling the fucking sheriff’s office? Or had he just assumed the worst?
He got to the station in half the time it should have taken him. He’d just stepped inside when he saw Jake coming down the hallway. Kayden was moving before he could stop himself, grabbing Jake by the collar of his shirt and pushing him against the wall before shouting, “What the hell did you do?”
Jake lifted his hands as an officer shouted at Kayden from behind.
He ignored the noise around him and pulled Jake forward before smashing him against the wall again. “Did you even talk to her first? Ask her about the watch?”
“Why would I give her a chance to run? It was the watch that was covered in blood, probablyMacy’sblood, and she had it!”
“She was withmewhen you were shot, so that couldn’t have been her. And to just assume that the blood is Macy’s, that Tilly was involved, shows you don’t know a fucking thing about her!”
“Let him go, Kayden,” Eastern said from behind. “Now, or I swear to God, I’ll cuff you.”
Jake’s mouth opened and closed. “I was just trying to do the right thing!”
“You made a big fucking mistake.” One more shove, and he released the asshole’s shirt.
