Chapter Sixteen
Cully lay curled up next to a naked Declan, a position they had landed shortly after they’d had sex and a shower. In the silence, she could hear the sound of his breathing, mixed with the occasional distant rumble of thunder and the rain hitting against the window of the inn.
The sounds were familiar. Soothing.
And a little troubling.
Because being with Declan felt right, and it might not be. This could be yet another mistake in the long string of mistakes she’d made when it came to Declan and her.
What he’d said to her earlier started repeating in her head. Let’s just move forward and see what happens . He’d certainly made no promise of a reconciliation. Nor should he have. Because going forward meant falling in love with him all over again.
It meant possibly another broken heart.
Cully had barely survived the last one, and she’d taken great care to make sure she never went through something like that again. Not only with Declan but with anyone. She had basically cut herself off from any kind of deep emotional entanglement. Yet, here she was now in bed with Declan and with her body still humming from the great sex.
Humming for other reasons, too.
Her feelings for him were so strong, and No matter how many emotional barriers she tried to put up between Declan and her, she was afraid he could dissolve them with a single kiss. Because simply put, she couldn’t resist him.
Didn’t want to resist him either.
And that’s how she’d ended up here with another crushed heart looming on the horizon.
“I can hear you thinking,” Declan muttered. He lifted one eyelid, located her mouth and gave her one of those barrier dissolving kisses.
Mercy, how could he look this good without even trying? His looks, and that sly smile he flashed her, definitely packed an emotional punch.
“Lots to think about,” she admitted.
He made a sound of agreement and shifted onto his side so he was fully facing her. Declan must not have seen something he liked about her expression because he sighed.
“This wasn’t a mistake,” he stated as if it were gospel truth. “It’s not a repeat of the past.”
Cully hoped that was true. And maybe it was. It was just so hard to sort out her feelings when there was a killer at large. A killer who apparently wanted Declan and her dead.
Declan opened his mouth to say something else, something that she hoped would soothe all these nerves and doubts she was having. But he didn’t get the chance to do that.
Because his phone rang.
Cursing, he rolled over, giving her an eyeful of his great butt and muscled back. The tat caught her attention. A little heart with some numbers in it that she tried to make out, but he turned too soon, practically tumbling off the bed to reach his phone.
“It’s Owen,” he said, answering it and putting it on speaker. “Cully’s with me and listening,” Declan let Owen know.
Owen greeted both of them and then added, “I have news. Not especially good news, but it’s something you need to know. Renee’s been discharged from the hospital.”
Cully groaned and because it didn’t feel right talking to her boss while she was naked, she located the robe on the floor and put it on.
“The hospital won’t give specifics about her medical condition, and Renee isn’t volunteering anyway,” Owen went on, “but her doctor did inform me that she needs rest.”
“Please tell me Renee won’t be coming here to the inn to stay the night,” Declan remarked.
“No,” Owen assured him, “but she’s not going home either. Her lawyer said she’ll be at a hotel near the interstate but would be available to finish her interview sometime tomorrow.”
Good. Cully had thought Renee might use her medical issue to continue to stall them for days or even longer.
“So, Renee, Roscoe, Harley, and Noah are all free,” Owen went on a moment later. “It’s nearly six pm so I’ll bring them all back in tomorrow for questioning. Maybe if I stir things up enough, someone will admit to something we can use for an arrest.” He paused. “Depending on how Alice’s psych eval goes, I might be interviewing her as well.”
Cully’s stomach immediately twisted into knots. “Any idea when the eval will be?” she asked.
“It’s going on right now,” Owen replied.
“Oh,” Cully muttered.
Owen obviously picked up on her concern. “The psychiatrist that I brought in is solid,” he let her know. “Dr. Larson Bennett. I think you’ve worked with him before.”
“Yes. He consulted on a couple of my cases.” And, yes, Cully’s impression of him was that he was competent along with him being very expensive and also in high demand.
“Larson owed me a favor so he agreed to do the eval this evening,” Owen went on. “He’s using one of the clinic offices, and Tansy’s keeping watch in the hall while Hayes is standing guard outside the exterior exit.”
Until he added that last part, Cully felt her worry spike more than a little. The clinics were inside the hospital itself, but many of them had secondary entrances for patients.
“Hold on a sec,” Owen said. “I’m getting a call from the lab.” And he put them on hold.
“Hopefully, this will be good news. Or least news that implicates someone other than my mother,” Cully muttered, nibbling at her bottom lip.
Declan studied her a moment, got to his feet and started putting back on his clothes. “I’m guessing you’d like to be at the hospital right about now so you can make sure your mom’s okay and be there to talk to her after this Dr. Bennett had finished the eval.”
“Yes,” Cully couldn’t say fast enough. “Is it safe for us to do that? I mean, I don’t want the killer to follow us there and end up putting my mother in harm’s way.”
Of course, Declan and she would be in harm’s way just by stepping outside the inn. Still, she wanted to take the risk and hoped that it didn’t turn out to be a serious mistake.
“We’ll make sure the killer doesn’t follow us,” Declan assured her, giving her a quick kiss.
Cully felt the relief wash over her. It was overkill for them to be with her mom since Tansy and Hayes were already there, but she was hoping it would take some of the edge off her raw nerves.
“We can take precautions,” Declan added before he pulled on his boxers.
No more peep show, but something else caught her attention. That heart tat on the back of his shoulder that she’d spotted earlier.
“When did you get this?” she asked, leaning in for a closer look.
She saw his muscles stiffen, and she froze as well. Because that’s when Cully saw what was inside the heart.
CLO.
She certainly hadn’t been expecting that . “Either that’s my initials or some kind of military acronym,” she muttered.
Declan shifted to face her. “Your initials. I would say I had it done when I was shitfaced, but I was stone sober.” He paused, cursed under his breath. “Before I could show it to you, you asked for a divorce.”
“Shit,” she spat out, and because she didn’t know what else to say, Cully repeated it.
Thankfully, the awkward silence that followed didn’t last long because Owen came back on the line. “That call was about the ring,” he explained.
That got Cully’s attention. She certainly hadn’t forgotten about the ring her mother had found, but she hadn’t expected any results this soon.
“There are fingerprint smudges on it and some DNA,” he went on. “Multiple sources DNA,” Owen amended. “Swabs have been taken, and if the DNA hasn’t degraded too much, we might know who handled the ring.”
Cully hoped the lab could give them that info. Because that in turn would tell them who’d put the ring in that jewelry box to try to set up her mom.
“We don’t have Savannah’s prints on file,” Owen went on, “but I’ll get Alice’s for elimination purposes since we know she touched the ring. When Noah, Harley, Renee, and Roscoe come in for their interviews, I’ll have warrants to get their prints and DNA as well.”
Considering they had four unsolved murders and two attempts to kill them, Cully suspected it wouldn’t be hard to convince a judge that they needed those prints and DNA.
“What about the search warrant at Roscoe and Renee’s?” Declan asked. “Did it turn up anything else?”
“Not yet, but the search will resume in the morning. In the meantime, the place has been locked up so no one can get in and tamper with anything.”
“Good.” Declan continued getting dressed. “Any objections to Cully and me going to the hospital so we can be there when Alice’s eval is done.”
“No objections,” Owen replied.
He didn’t tell them to be careful or to keep him updated if they learned anything, probably because he knew that was a given with Declan. Owen just said his goodbye and ended the call.
Declan had no sooner put his phone away than Cully’s rang, and she saw her mother’s name on the screen.
“Maybe the eval’s already over,” she said, showing Declan who was calling.
She answered, putting her phone on speaker just as she heard the sound to indicate she had another incoming call.
From Tansy.
That caused her heart to drop to her knees. Cully couldn’t think of a good reason why both would be calling her at the same time. And the worry about that skyrocketed when Declan’s phone rang and she saw it was from Hayes.
God, no. This couldn’t be good.
“Mom?” was all Cully managed to say before her mother started talking right over her.
“I’m sorry,” her mom said, fear coating her voice. “The killer has me.”