“I still think my father’s death was an accident.There’s absolutely no reason to believe it’s not,” he said firmly.
When he didn’t continue, Sam leaned forward.“But?”she supplied gently.
He huffed out a breath.“But… I don’t like the timing.I haven’t thought much about my dad in over twenty years.Then you come talk to me, and a few days later, my cousin calls out of the blue that they’ve found my dad’s body.It’s too damn weird.”
“If you just got the report, they would have had to have found his remains a while back,” Sam pointed out.“It would take time to identify them.”
“Yeah, a few weeks ago when we had that warm spell beginning of March.Some hikers accidently dropped some gear, went searching for it and found him instead.”
A few weeks ago.Interesting.“Give me a date and the names of the hikers.”
Jake frowned.“What for?”
Sam shrugged.“Not sure.I just want all the details.”Because Jill had first asked her to look into Glenda back in February.Sure, Sam hadjustgotten to Gerald in the past few weeks, but…
It was probably nothing, but she was going to check everynothing.If there were no answers to be had for Jill, well, Sam would have made sure they weren’t just hiding.She’d know there were no answers to be hadanywhere.
“Fine.I’ll email it all to you,” Jake said, somewhat reluctantly.“But I want to handle talking to Everly, without Honor’s Edge involved.”
Sam would have normally argued, but an idea was starting to take shape.Instead of an argument over boundaries, maybe it was time to erase all the boundaries.“Actually, gentlemen, I’ve got a crazy idea.”Sam couldn’t deny she enjoyed the suspicious glances she got from both men.“You two join forces.You go talk to Mr.Everly together.”
“Why would I need Bennet?”Jake replied, his tone even, but temper flashed in his eyes.“I have every reason to go talk to Everly about my dad’s accident, especially now that they’ve found the remains.I don’t need Bennet.”
“You know, Jake, personal feelings are all well and good.You want to have a thousand pissing matches, that’s your business.But you saw Cal work that trial against his father.You know he’s good.You know he might have questions that you don’t think of.”Before Cal could interject, no doubt to ask why he neededHayes, Sam powered on.“And vice versa.Jake’s a fine detective with tons of experience.You could be a good questioning team.”
Silence seemed toechoaround them, and Sam let it for a while, but she didn’t haveallday.
“It’s probably a dead end anyway, but you might as well find out what happened on that hunting trip.Why not together?Who’s it going to hurt?”
Cal and Jake eyed each other, like that was the answer to her question.And hell, Sam wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up in some kind of fist fight, but they’d get answers first.
“What about you?”Jake replied, stillverysuspicious.“Why can’t you go?”
“I’ve got to go into Helena today and try to track down some paperwork.”She’d been hopping from county seat to county seat trying to track down Gerald Harrington’s death certificate and hadn’t gotten anywhere.Gallatin Countyshouldhave it, since that was where he died, but they hadn’t been able to find it.She’d checked Crawford County since that was where he lived, but they hadn’t had it either.
The state level was her last chance, and that was going to be an annoyance and a half.Probably take her the whole damn day.Especially if she stopped by the Harrington cabin first, just to see if Jill might let her test the waters on that front with Glenda first.
“If you guys can lock down a time to talk to Everly, it’s one thing off my overflowing plate, and I think he’ll be more likely to talk to his late friend’s son and his former mentee without suspicion or hesitation.”
Jake tapped his fingers.Cal ran his tongue over his teeth.Neither one agreed.
But neither one refused.
“Cal will be the representative from Honor’s Edge on this one.Now, I’ve got to get going.You two hash out the details, huh?”She got to her feet, had to bite back a chuckle at the way both men gaped at her like she’d lost her mind.
Maybe it’d be a bonding experience for them.Maybe it’d be a cage match.Their call.
As for her, she had work to do.
*
“She’s just messingwith us,” Jake said, still looking at where Sam had left.
When Bennet said nothing, he finally looked across the table.
There was a thoughtful expression on Cal Bennet’s face.
Jake kind of wanted to punch it off.
