The heat between us felt almost tangible. After our sexcapades and then the investigation, things hadn’t lessened. If anything, it had made each brush of his arm and every glance feel like they were burning my skin. Every time together made me want him more than the last.
Kipp stood and stretched, muscles shifting beneath his shirt. He walked toward me with sawdust on his jeans and a look that made my breath catch. His hand drifted to my hip, caressing the curve.
“You all right?” he asked softly. When I didn’t answer right away, he tipped my chin up with one hand, so I was forced to look him in the eyes. “The truth.”
“I like watching you work.” I felt my cheeks warm. “It is peaceful here.”
He searched my expression as if he could read the whole truth, the strange fact that peace had become a rare and dangerous thing for me. His thumb brushed my hipbone again.
“You’ll come for dinner,” he murmured. His fingers threaded into my hair. “And then stay the night.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Are you asking or telling me?”
“I am trying to be polite, so you will not remind me later that you cherish your independence.”
“I do cherish my independence.” I laughed weakly, trying to think through the haze of desire buzzing through my blood right now. It was just lust that I was feeling. That was what I needed to tell myself, but instead I leaned into the crook of his arm and the heat of him. Somehow, I didn’t care too much about independence in this moment. I could be a badass and give a little.
“Then I am asking. Stay.”
I nodded because it felt impossible to do anything else. Before he could lean in, before I could make some excuse not to close the distance, Fish barked sharply. A moment later, boots thudded on the steps leading up to the deck.
“Kipp,” a voice called as a man came into view. He was dressed in a suit that seemed expensive, and at odds with the summer heat. “Sounds like you’re out here pretending you know how to use power tools.”
“Casper.” Kipp stepped forward with a grin and shook his hand. “Geez, a suit even in the middle of August. I shouldn’t be surprised. Casper, this is Hattie.” He waved toward me, but Casper’s eyes had already fixed on me.
He was clearly looking through a detective’s lens because I could practically see his mind working as he glanced at Kipp and then back to me. “Nice to meet you,” he finally said. “Why don’t you give me a tour of the air conditioning?”
Kipp laughed. “Casper’s not an outdoor fan,” he teased. “Might be the suit and tie. C’mon, pal.” He smacked him on the back, making Casper wince as sawdust flew over his neat suit. “Let’s go to the lodge. The air conditioning is on there, and there’s a table we can sit at.”
We skirted around the cabins with Fish bouncing at our feet and Casper looking at him suspiciously until we finally arrived at the lodge and the blessedly cool air inside. Kipp handed off a few drinks from the refrigerator and filled Fish’s water bowl for him.
“Alright. Getinto it then,” Kipp prompted, dropping next to me on the loveseat.
Casper nodded, his dark hair falling slightly onto his forehead, which seemed to irritate him. He pushed it back into place before setting a folder on the coffee table between us.
“First, before we start, I’d like to agree with you on your involvement in the case moving forward.” He tapped the folder with two fingers, giving me a menacing look, which he pulled off well.
My hackles rose, and even though I’d already had some mental talks with myself about how I wanted to handle things, that didn’t mean I wanted some man to tell me what to do. Kipp stiffened next to me.
“This is officially going to be an OSP CID investigation from today onward. We are running point.” His grey eyes glinted and narrowed at both of us. “I can’t have information leaked online from some hacker collective.” My mouth opened to defend my squad, but he held up a hand, and his following words could have knocked me over with a feather. “I’m a fan. A big one.”
“My hacker collective and I have already discussed this.” Keeping my composure was tough, but I pulled it off. Storm wasn’t back yet, and he would be harder to calm down than the others. “If you’re a fan, then you know what we stand for. Interfering with law enforcement while they’re working on a case isn’t how we operate. Weinvestigate when others fail, and you haven’t even tried yet.The J & J Hourisn’t about busting your balls or trying to jump over an officer’s investigation to expose that to the public. So, to be clear,” I held his gaze. “We won’t broadcast any information that hasn’t been made public or approved by you specifically.”
He relaxed back in his chair, exhaling with clear relief. I was still on edge, though. He’d pissed me off, and if he wasn’t leading the investigation now, I might have said more, but staying calm had served me better in the past than losing my temper.
“Alright. I just needed to clear that up. Don’t give me that look, Kipp,” Casper huffed.
“You were being an absolute dickbag.”
“You’re right, but you know if it were your case that you’d have the same concerns.”
Kipp grumbled beside me but didn’t say anything. I understood where they were coming from. Not being in law enforcement didn’t mean I didn’t get that they had their own rules for controlling how information was shared. They had to ensure that what they uncovered wasn’t revealed too soon, or suspects might vanish, or clues could disappear. There were all sorts of variables to consider.
“I understand how it works. It’s okay.” The words caught in my throat. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand; it was the lack of trust that affected me. Of course, he’d neededto start the conversation with me, but it didn’t mean that I liked it. He didn’t know me, so there was no reason for him to trust me. “We’ll still be okay to do the podcast as things are approved, right?”
“I’d actually like you tokeepdoing the podcast on the Finch case.” He pushed the folder toward me. “This is the evidence from the car that you don’t have.” My eyes widened. “You were right about the blood on the seat, but there was blood on the door that someone had tried to wipe and on the floor mat that we saw with luminol, even into the carpet. It had been cleaned, but our equipment still picked it up. It was a lot of blood. Too much. She bled out in that car.”
My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I thought it was going to explode as I snatched the folder off the table. My eyes went over the report. They’d been thorough. Fingerprints found matched Allison’s, Trent’s, and … Barry Galloway. Chief Galloway and a few of the other officers in Briar Falls, too.
