“When can I see Mitchell? I haven’t been able to talk to him since you pulled me out to talk earlier.”
“We’re going to him right now.”
His neutral tone pricked a little.
Eve looked sidelong at him.
“I heard that Scott was helping the sheriff. Did they find something? Do you know what happened to Gary?”
Darius didn’t look her way, even as they slowed to a stop at a red light.
“We’re working a lead right now.”
Eve waited for more.
She didn’t get it.
“What’s the lead?”
Darius kept his eyes right on the road. The badge on the chain around his neck still shone in the fading sunlight.
For the first time since being back in Seven Roads, Eve saw the boy next door for what he was now.
A man of the law.
And, she realized too late, that his offer to take her to the department might not have had anything to do with their past at all.
“Darius, what’s the lead?”
In profile she watched him clench his jaw. It took a moment for him to answer.
And it wasn’t even an answer at all.
“Let’s wait until we’re at the department.”
IT WAS HARDto tell who was the most unhappy in the room. There was Liam with his thumbs hooked into his belt loops, brows drawn in and lips thin, standing at the head of the meeting room table. His chair was empty behind him. He didn’t seem like he was going to use it anytime soon.
Price wasn’t as robust in his aggravation. He had come into the room and sat down at his usual spot next to Rose. Despite her promotion, she looked more at ease next to the deputy, likeold times. One hand was on her belly, the other was balled on top of the table.
Deputy Gavin, usually quiet, sat across from Darius with a frown.
The sheriff spoke first.
“I know we’ve been through a lot of tricky cases over the last few years, but I have to point out that this one is a bit more complicated than I would like. And we need to make sure we keep everything—everything—aboveboard. No breaking the rules for the greater good. No going rogue. No missed check-ins because we’re all friends here. Got it?”
He pressed his fingertips down onto the tabletop but let his gaze sweep over each of them until everyone had nodded.
Darius also dipped his chin too.
Liam didn’t seem as convinced. Still, he moved on.
“As of right now we still haven’t found where Gary Whittaker was killed, but according to Doc Ernest, the cause of death was from the shot to his gut. Wherever he was before, he bled a lot. That’s where I need you two to use your powers that come with being long-time locals.” The sheriff motioned to Rose and Price. Even though Darius had also been born, raised and mostly stayed within the Seven Roads’s zip code, Price had a penchant for gossip, and Rose had a way with locations. Her husband, the only local mechanic, also had proven to be an asset when it came to local information-gathering.
“He was staying at the new hotel with the rest of the wedding party and last seen this morning in the lobby. Doc Ernest says he hasn’t been dead for more than a few hours. Wherever he was killed, we need to find it.”
Rose nodded.
Price looked to Darius.
