They walked away before Trent could respond, picking their way through the headstones toward a silver sedan parked on the access road.
Dove waited until they were out of earshot. “They didn’t just offer to buy Mallor’s Landing again, did they?”
Trent exhaled through his nose, watching the Hendersons' car pull away. “I believe they did just that.”
“Did you even invite them here?”
“Nope.” He ran a hand over his freshly shaven face. A rare thing for Trent. He always sported a little scruff. “My mom thought they were nice.” He shook his head. “But she’s rolling over right now knowing they just showed up and did that.”
"I'll look into them."
“Don’t waste your time. They can offer all they want, but my answer will never change.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Besides, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
“What does that mean?”
“Fucking Karl,” Trent mumbled. “Asshole texted me this morning asking me to meet him later. Says it’s important. That we need to talk, and that I should remember he saved my life.”
“The shady dude you used to be friends with?”
“Yup.” Trent sucked in a breath and let it out with an aggressive sigh.
“How did he save your life?”
“Python wrangling when I was a senior in high school. I got cocky. Was showing off and I didn’t realize there was another snake. It got the upper hand, and Karl saved my sorry ass.” He took a step back and planted his hands on his hips. “He likes to hold it over my head like I owe him. He knows I was burying my mom today, and yet, all he can think about is whatever get-rich scheme he has going that involves me doing something illegal. Not gonna happen. I have half a mind to meet him just to punch him in the face.”
“Last thing you need is the police chief tossing you in lock-up for the night.”
“You’re right, but planting my fist in Karl’s face would feel good.” Trent ran his fingers through his hair.
“For about thirty seconds,” Dove said. “I can look into him. Maybe tail him for a day and see what he’s got cooking and give that information to?—”
“You’re sweet, but it’s not worth the effort. Karl will go away on his own. He always does if you ignore him long enough. It’s nothing.”
Dove opened her mouth to argue, but something caught her eye. Movement in the cypress stand at the edge of the cemetery. A shape that didn't belong—too vertical to be a tree, too still to be an animal.
"If it's nothing," she said slowly, "then why is there someone watching us from those trees?"
Trent followed her gaze. His body went from tense to coiled in the space of a heartbeat.
“If that’s Karl, I’ll…Stay here," he said.
“I do love it when you get all alpha on me, but I’m a much better shot. Besides, dealing with shadows lurking in the dark is what I do for a living.”
They moved together, crossing the cemetery in long strides. The figure in the trees seemed to realize he'd been spotted. He shifted, started to retreat—slowly at first, like he was trying to convince himself he hadn't been seen.
Then he bolted.
"Shit." Dove took off running.
The man had a head start, but she was fast. Trent was faster, his long legs eating up the distance, dodging bushes and low-hanging branches. But the stranger knew where he was going. He cut through the cypress stand like he'd mapped it beforehand, his dark clothes making him hard to track in the dappled shadows.
By the time they burst through the tree line onto the dirt access road on the other side of the private cemetery, he was already behind the wheel of a dark SUV. The engine roared to life. Tires spat gravel.
Dove squinted at the license plate as the vehicle fishtailed away. "Can you read it?"
"No." Trent breathed hard, his hands on his hips. “Looks like it’s covered in mud, and that’s not Karl’s vehicle. He drives a white pick-up.”
The SUV disappeared around a bend, swallowed by the trees.
