Fourteen
The skull was crushed on the side with several teeth missing, but Felicity wasn’t sure if that was from being dragged around by predators after he was dead or if that was why he died. A piece of dirty cloth was half-buried in the rocks and dirt covering the shallow cave’s floor, and Felicity set her phone down and reached toward it.
A tap on her shoulder made her look at Bennett, and he thrust a pair of latex gloves at her.
“Sure, now you have latex,” she teased quietly, holding back a snort at the way his cheeks darkened with a blush.
“It worked out,” he said close to her ear, and then it was her turn for her cheeks to get hot.
“It really did,” she said almost inaudibly, but when his hand gave her hip a brief squeeze, she had a feeling he’d heard her. It felt surreal to be joking right now, but it was either that or run screaming, and all the second option would accomplish would be to get them killed by a militia guard.
Pulling on the gloves, she reached out again, tugging the scrap of fabric out of the dirt and holding it close to her face. “Red-and-white-plaid flannel?” she guessed.
Bending over her shoulder, Bennett peered at it for a moment before giving an affirmative grunt.
Returning the scrap to the spot she’d gotten it, Felicity did a quick scan of the rest of the area around the skull and scattered vertebrae. Although she knew she could probably find more clues if she dug around, she didn’t want to disturb the crime scene any more than she already had. Besides, CSU techs tended to get cranky if you messed with their evidence, she’d found.
Shuffling backward, she gave Bennett a gentle shove so he moved out of the cave. Even though she usually didn’t have any issues like he did with small spaces, small spaces with human bones in them were a little more claustrophobia-inducing, she was discovering.
Their walk back up the trail to their car was silent, and she was wary to the point of being paranoid. Every pebble shift, every bird cheep, every rustle of the wind in drying leaves made her suspect a militia member was following them. From his tense expression, Bennett felt the same way.
It wasn’t until they were locked in her car that she felt like she could take a real breath.
“Okay.” Despite the car’s limited sound-muffling powers, she still spoke in a whisper. “No reception here, so we’ll have to drive to Moose Peak Road. What’s the plan down there? Should we call our new friend Deputy Daisy’s Husband or use one of the burner phones I know you have to call it in as a clueless random hiker? Not to brag, but my stoner tourist impression is stellar .”
“Chris,” he said after barely a pause. “Cops’ll waste our time, but nothing like if they find out we discovered the remains and lied about it.”
“Good point,” she admitted, although her nose wrinkled in distaste at the cops-wasting-their-time portion. “We might even be able to get some info from him about the case if we’re ultra super cooperative.”
This time, it was Bennett who made a face. “I’m not great at being cooperative, much less…”
“Ultra super cooperative?” She wanted to laugh but worried that she might not be able to stop once she started, so she swallowed her hysteria down. “Just do your usual silent thing, and I’ll be good witness to your bad witness.”
The skin between his eyebrows wrinkled.
“Like good cop and bad cop?” She was definitely a little shocky. “Good witness and bad witness?”
He gave her a long look, but even he couldn’t completely hide his amusement. “Start the car.”
“Yes, sir.” After carefully turning around and starting down the logging trail, she shot him an innocent sideways look. “Remember, you approved that hike. This is all your fault.”
“Isn’t this the fault of whoever smashed that person’s head in?”
“True.” She slowed to take a hairpin turn, resisting the urge to fly recklessly down the hill, to escape the dead body and the militia members who very likely caused the person’s death. “They’re the most at fault, then you’re next, and I’m last. Blameless.”
His snort was amused. The sound of it was so Bennett-like that it was comforting, and her fingers relaxed their grip on the steering wheel. Bennett was here with her, so everything would turn out all right.
She almost laughed at the thought. Nothing had gone right since she’d partnered up with Bennett. Despite that, she was still happy to have him there.
Once they were parked on the side of Moose Peak Road, Felicity realized she didn’t have Chris’s direct number—well, except for 911—so she texted Callum for it. His response was quick, with the contact attached to a single word text: Problem?
She thought for a second, her fingers hovering above her screen, before she tapped out her response. Not urgent, but the murder ladies will be excited.
The ellipsis showing that he was typing flashed by as she saved Chris’s contact information and called his number with her phone on speaker.
Great. Callum didn’t even need to use the eye-rolling emoji for Felicity to hear the sarcasm in his short text, and she gave a bark of semihysterical laughter. When Bennett looked at her in question, she showed him the screen, and he gave an amused huff as Chris answered.
“Chris Jennings.” His voice was clipped and formal.
“Chris, it’s Felicity Pax and Bennett Green. Hope it’s okay Callum gave us your direct number.”
“Hey Felicity.” His tone lightened dramatically, and he sounded like his usual friendly self. “I’m glad you called. Would you be available this afternoon to have that talk we discussed?”
“Um…I’m not sure you’re going to be available this afternoon,” she said. “We made a bit of a discovery in the gully just northwest of the militia complex.”
Chris muttered what might’ve been a curse. “Don’t tell me you found a body.”
After a surprised blink at the phone screen, she said, “Your guessing skills are on point.”
This time, he definitely swore. “Just what we needed, another body.”
“It’s not a whole body.” She wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or not. From the choking sounds coming from her phone, it probably wasn’t.
Chris’s voice sounded strangled. “It better not be missing a head.”
“It’s not,” she assured him, glad she could give him some good news. “It’s pretty much just a head. Well, most of a skull at least. And some vertebrae.”
“You sure it’s human?”
Exchanging a glance with Bennett, Felicity said slowly, “It’s a skull , Deputy. Unless it’s from an alien, a human skull is pretty obviously, you know, human .”
Heaving a deep sigh, he said, “Okay. I’ll send the troops. Did you disturb the scene?”
“Just got close enough to make sure it was what we thought it was.” She crossed her fingers at Bennett’s mocking look. “It’s pretty disturbed already though. I think animals got to it, and the bones look sun-bleached, so I doubt this was where the victim died—or even where they were originally dumped.” There was a speaking silence, and she hurried to backtrack. “Not that they were dumped necessarily. They might’ve not been murdered, just happened to bite it right next to a militia compound.”
Chris’s sigh this time was even heavier and ended in a groan. “I can already tell this is going to be a mess, and the investigation hasn’t even started yet. You still with the remains?”
“No reception up there,” Felicity said. “We’re parked on Moose Peak Road.”
“Always comes back to Moose Peak Road, doesn’t it?” Chris asked with a hint of his usual good humor. “Sit tight. I’ll let the sheriff and the CSU know, and then we’ll head your way.”
“Got it. Bye, Deputy.” She ended the call and looked up at Bennett. “Not really the way I expected to spend our afternoon. Here comes the time-wasting part.”
There was a warm gleam to his eyes that made her wary and thrilled at the same time.
“What?”
That wicked half smile of his curled his lips. “I know a good way to kill some time.”
Felicity mock-frowned at him. “Chris’ll probably be here in five minutes.”
“I can finish in four and three-quarters?” He looked at her with a sweetly hopeful expression, using those deadly eyelashes of his to full advantage.
A pulse of heat flared low in her belly, but she had to laugh. “Don’t think that’s a bragging point.”
Still, his wicked smile stayed as he moved closer to her. “One little kiss then?”
By the time she realized she was leaning toward him, their lips were just inches apart. “Nope!” With a huge effort of willpower, she shifted as far as she could toward the door and away from Bennett’s tempting mouth. “I know how wrapped up we get when we kiss. Elephants could stomp over the car, and we wouldn’t even notice.” Bennett gave a smug smile at that. “I’m not going to be caught by the local deputy making out in my car like a thirsty teenager.”
“We’ll crack a window so we hear him coming.” Bennett was advancing again, and that teasing heat in his eyes was almost irresistible… almost .
“They’re going to know we were making out,” she warned, unable to retreat any farther and unsure if she even wanted to escape from him. “They’re going to think we’re creepy, since finding a dead body made us horny.”
That stopped him. “It is a little creepy.”
“Very.” Although she tried to hold her stern glare, a laugh tickled her throat.
Retreating to his passenger seat, Bennett sighed. “Fine. We’ll wait until we’re back in the honeymoon suite.” He gave the last two words an extra emphasis that sent a little jolt of electricity through her.
She opened her mouth to make some reply—she wasn’t sure what, since his attempted kissing and all-around adorableness had melted her brain—when the faint wail of a siren caught her attention. “Really?” she asked, opening her window so she could hear it more clearly. “They’re coming in hot to this? Those remains are pretty old. And do they really want to alert the militia that cops are in the area?”
“So much for doing any more surveillance today.” Bennett didn’t look too upset by that. “Told you we’d hear them coming.”
Felicity gave a skeptical snort. “Doubt we would’ve noticed, even if they all had their sirens blaring and surrounded us.”
“Maybe if they got out the bullhorn.” Bennett had his deadpan expression back, but the line of his lips ticked up just slightly as she eyed him.
The first squad car rounded the curve in front of them, sliding on the loose gravel, and Felicity had a nasty suspicion. “That better not be our least favorite deputy.”
Bennett grumbled inaudibly as the squad pulled up facing them. “Of course it is.”
“You know,” Felicity said as she watched Deputy Boaz Litchfield climb out of his car, adjusting his aviator sunglasses in a way that made her want to punch him even more than she already did. “Judging by the karmic evidence, I’m coming to the conclusion that I was a serial killer in my former life.”
“Or maybe someone who scammed old people out of their life savings.”
She grunted agreement.
“Or a murderous dictator of a small downtrodden country.”
“Highly possible.”
“Or maybe a magician.”
“No.” She turned her head slowly to glare at him. “That’s just a step too far.”
Despite her giving him the evil eye, he grinned, looking happy and easy, as if he wasn’t usually a stiff, buttoned-up, socially awkward tower of silence. As usual, she couldn’t resist his look—or him in general—so she shot him a quick grin before turning back to her least favorite deputy, her punishment for whatever terrible things she’d done in a former life.
“Deputy Litchfield!” she called out. “Are you here to help with traffic control?”
Bennett actually snickered, a sound she hadn’t thought he was capable of making. It was, as so many facets of him were, super cute.
Litchfield wasn’t amused. “Funny how you two keep getting involved in active cases.”
“Mmm…not sure how active this one is, mate.” She wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly gone Australian with her mockery, but it just seemed right.
“He didn’t look very active. Opposite of active, in fact.”
Felicity held a straight face with an incredible effort. If Bennett was going to be her sidekick in tormenting the deputy, she wasn’t sure if she could swallow her laughter much longer.
The deputy was already going red in the face. “A man is dead, and you’re making jokes?”
“It’s the shock.” Felicity widened her eyes at him.
His mouth twisted into a sour sneer. “Shock my a—” Whatever body part he was going to reference disappeared in the crunch of tires as Chris rolled up behind Litchfield’s squad.
“Is anyone else getting déjà vu?” Felicity asked. “Because I’m getting déjà vu.”
Bennett raised his hand like he was an oversize first grader.
“That’s it,” Litchfield spat. “Out of the car, both of you.”
“Boaz,” Chris said in long-suffering tones as he approached. “For the last time, you can’t arrest people for snarkiness.”
“These two need to be interrogated about the remains they ‘found,’” Litchfield said, making finger quotes.
“They need to be questioned ,” Chris said in the slow, careful, yet hopeless way someone would use to verbally explain housetraining to a puppy. “They’re not suspects. They’re traumatized tourists.”
“Traumatized,” Litchfield scoffed under his breath. He looked like he was going to argue further, but yet another squad car, followed by a tan-colored van with Field County Sheriff Crime Scene Unit on the side, pulled up and parked, distracting him. A woman got out of the squad and made her way over to them.
“Sheriff,” Chris said before Litchfield could start talking. “This is Felicity Pax and Bennett Green. They’re the ones who found the remains. This is Sheriff Eva Summers.”
“Like Buffy?” Felicity said before she could stop herself, and all eyes turned to hers. “And Cyclops?”
“Yes,” the sheriff said with the long-suffering tone of someone who’d been asked this question before. “Like Buffy and Cyclops. Can you clearly describe how to reach the remains, or will you need to lead us to them?”
Felicity glanced doubtfully at Bennett, and they had a silent conversation that ended with her turning to the others with a sigh. “We’ll need to lead you there.”
The sheriff gave a short nod. “Boaz, you block off traffic coming from that direction. I’ll get Harvey out here to block the other side.”
Litchfield looked crushed that he was, indeed, being stuck on traffic duty. It was with the greatest difficulty that Felicity swallowed her laugh.
“Chris, you get a quick statement from Mr. Green,” the sheriff continued, “and I’ll talk to…Ms. Pax, was it?”
Felicity had a feeling that the sheriff knew exactly what her name was even before Chris had introduced them, but she just nodded, climbing out of the car and joining the sheriff behind it. Bennett did the same, walking with Chris until all three cars separated them. He shot Felicity a speaking backward look that she wasn’t sure how to interpret, although it gave her a warm, giddy feeling that she wasn’t in this alone even though her sisters were hours away. She and Bennett had somehow become partners in all this chaos. She made a mental note to promote him to colonel in her bounty-hunting army.
“Congratulations,” the sheriff said, her tone dry, drawing Felicity’s attention away from Bennett. Although she had a sneaking suspicion what Summers was referring to, Felicity offered the sheriff her best blank expression. “On your recent marriage.”
“Oh, right.” Felicity smiled. “Thank you.” She hadn’t decided whether the sheriff was a potential ally or roadblock yet, so she was playing her cards close to her chest. Felicity would’ve been impressed by how quickly Summers had learned about their impromptu wedding except that she’d announced it in Levi’s the night before, so it would’ve been more surprising if the small-town gossip pipeline had failed to spread the news to everybody in Field County.
Abruptly, Summers shifted to an all-business tone, turning on her voice recorder before collecting Felicity’s personal information and getting a quick synopsis of how she and Bennett discovered the remains. Even though the sheriff’s eyebrows shot up a few times during the statement, she didn’t interrupt. Once Felicity finished, they eyed each other in silence for several minutes. Accustomed to this technique—one she used on skips as well as sisters guilty of borrowing her things without asking and then returning them broken—Felicity smiled genially and waited her out.
“After you,” the sheriff finally said, waving an arm toward the logging road.
“We can drive to the start of the trail,” Felicity said, turning to get into her car.
Bennett must’ve spotted her movement, because he started walking away from Chris. From the deputy’s startled and slightly exasperated expression, the interview wasn’t done.
“Ride with me,” the sheriff commanded.
Felicity made a face before turning back around. Apparently, she wasn’t going to escape the sheriff so easily. Hiding her feelings behind a breezy smile, she said, “Front seat, right?”
There was a pause before Summers smiled back, although it was more of a teeth-bared warning. “Of course.”
Biting back an honest laugh, Felicity walked toward the sheriff’s car.
Before they got far, one of the CSU techs intercepted Summers. The sheriff waved Felicity on. “Go ahead and wait in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Hoping for a quick word with Bennett, Felicity hurried to where Chris was talking to him, appearing more aggravated than she’d ever seen the laid-back deputy look before. Unable to contain her amusement, she laughed out loud.
“Poor deputy,” she commiserated, joining their small circle of two. Bennett immediately moved close to her side and rested one of his hands on the small of her back. The heat soaked in, relaxing her more than any massage could, even while it ramped up her heart rate. She gave him a smile before turning back to Chris. “Getting one-word answers, are you?”
“If that.”
Taking pity on him, she asked, “What are you missing from his statement? Can I fill in the holes?”
“Sure. His birth date?”
Tsking at Bennett, Felicity scolded, “You didn’t even tell him that? Why not? We like Chris.”
Bennett twitched his shoulders in an irritated shrug. “He already has it. Why does he need to hear it again?”
Rolling her eyes at the stupid male posturing, she opened her mouth to answer the deputy’s question but then closed it again when she realized she didn’t know. “What’s your birth date?” Her tone was more curious than anything.
Before he could answer, Chris barked a laugh. “You don’t know? I thought you were married.”
Unbothered, Felicity just shook her head, still waiting for Bennett’s answer. “We’re still learning all the interesting things about each other. We haven’t bothered with the boring details yet.”
A slow smile dented Bennett’s cheeks in a way that made her want to kiss him. “Exactly. And it’s January third.”
“Mine’s a third too!” She wanted to roll her eyes at her sappiness, but she couldn’t help the glee in her voice at the silly little coincidence. “The third of August.”
The way he gazed at her, as if she was the most interesting person in the universe, made her forget the deputy was even there.
Chris reminded them of his presence. “Year?”
Before Bennett could answer—if he even would answer—the sheriff was there. “Let’s go,” she said, charging for the driver’s door of her squad car.
“We’ll finish later,” Felicity promised, hurrying around to the passenger side door. She wasn’t sure why she was rushing. If the sheriff left without her, that was fine with Felicity. She’d prefer to ride with Bennett anyway.
The sheriff had other ideas though. Through her open window, she ordered, “Chris, you and Mr. Green ride in the CSU van so we limit the number of vehicles going up. No reason to attract the attention of anyone at the compound.”
“Um…pretty sure that cow’s already escaped the barn,” Felicity said. “Deputy D—ah…Litchfield arrived on scene with sirens at full blast.” She had to watch that she didn’t call him one of her and Bennett’s pet names.
Sheriff Summers’s head dropped back against her seat as she muttered to the ceiling, “Sweet baby Jesus, give me strength.”
Felicity was fairly sure that the strength the sheriff was asking for was to resist killing Deputy Donkey-Face.
“We’re still just taking the two vehicles,” Summers said once she’d sucked in a long breath. “Donaldson, follow us.” The last part was directed to the tech she’d been talking to, and the tall, middle-aged Black man gave a wave and got in the driver’s seat of the van.
With a frown, Bennett headed that way as well, although when he glanced toward Felicity’s car, she could almost read his mind. The two of them could be driving away from this whole mess right now rather than genially being held hostage by local law enforcement as they tromped all over the militia’s territory looking for human remains.
The sheriff’s amused snort brought Felicity’s attention back to the woman next to her. “The two of you are newlyweds, that’s for sure.”
Fully aware that her googly eyes were bordering on ridiculous where Bennett was concerned, she just smiled. “Only two days ago.”
Summers’s grunt sounded unimpressed. “Where are we going?” the sheriff asked.
“Up the hill.” Felicity gestured at the logging road. “There aren’t any turnoffs. Just follow the two-track until it dead-ends in a cluster of trees.”
With a short nod of acknowledgment, the sheriff followed her directions, and they rode silently until they arrived at what Felicity had been mentally calling the lookout. Summers turned the squad car around with some difficulty until she was facing back down the hill, and the CSU van did the same, although it took them a few extra points on their turn.
Bennett was out of the van and opening Felicity’s car door almost before the van came to a complete stop.
“You know,” she teased as she got out. “You look pretty natural coming out of that van. Every stalker needs one.”
His only response was a light pinch to her side, right where she was the most ticklish. She twisted out of reach, not wanting to laugh when they were on such a grisly mission. He reached out toward her again but only to take her hand.
“Lead the way,” the sheriff said once the two CSU techs—Donaldson, the man who’d spoken to Summers earlier, and a short blond white woman—had their packs adjusted on their backs.
Felicity went first, but Bennett stayed close behind, still holding on to her hand. As she reached the spot they’d used as a second lookout, dread began curling in her stomach, and she tightened her grip on Bennett’s hand, searching for comfort. An answering squeeze did help soothe her nerves, although she still wished they could call off the search and return to Simpson, maybe have a nice smoothie and a chat with Lou at the coffee shop.
Tightening her jaw muscles, she pushed on. It was important that the bones be identified and the killer—if there was one—brought to justice. She just wasn’t used to interacting with dead bodies, no matter how little remained. Earlier, she was able to shove it to the back of her mind and make jokes to distract from the horror of it, but now she was going to face the bones directly for a second time, and the memory of it loomed large in her mind.
A big hand rubbed her shoulder, giving her a long, reassuring squeeze before dropping away, and she managed a small smile. As unpleasant as their mission was, it was nice to have Bennett there.
When rocks stood around them during a particularly claustrophobic section of trail, she had a worried moment that she was headed in the wrong direction. Then she got a glimpse of the gully and relaxed slightly. The sun had shifted, and she wasn’t seeing the gleams of white she’d noticed before.
The gully was an even better landmark, however, and she led her small group down to the narrowest section, where the washed-out area under a rock overhang created a shallow cave. Peering inside, she had the sudden fear that the bones wouldn’t be there, that someone had moved them or—even worse—that she’d imagined them. But Bennett’s bulk behind her reassured her that it wasn’t just her imagination involved. He’d seen them as well.
Then she glimpsed one of the vertebrae, then another, and finally the dim lump of white that made up the skull was visible at the back of the cave. “There,” she said, breaking a long silence they’d all held on the hike.
“Thank you.” The sheriff shifted forward, nudging Felicity and Bennett to the side so that the CSU techs had access. Donaldson and the other tech crowded into the small space.
“Human,” Donaldson soon announced, and Summers and Chris shared a grim, tired look.
“Definitely,” the other tech agreed, her digital camera clicking as she photographed the scene, and the sheriff silently sighed.
“Okay, go ahead and process this. I’ll give the BCA a heads-up since we don’t have the resources here to do the type of forensic analysis this is going to require.” The sheriff looked at Felicity and Bennett. “Good find. Chris, can you give them a ride back to their car?”
“Sure,” the deputy agreed easily.
Felicity blinked in surprise. She’d expected a great deal more time wasting before they’d be allowed to leave.
As if Summers had read her mind, she gave a wry smile. “No sense in you hanging around while the techs work. Appreciate your cooperation. Don’t go anywhere for a few days, okay?” Without waiting for a response, she turned back to watch the two techs.
“Ah…Sheriff?” Felicity asked. “When you say ‘don’t go anywhere ,’ can you be a little more specific? We’re staying in Rosehill.”
“Just don’t go back to Langston yet,” the sheriff said absently without looking away from the bones. “And for the love of god, please don’t return to Vegas until this mess is cleared.”
“Got it.” Felicity wondered how much more information the sheriff had on them, but she kept her mouth shut. There was no way she was going to sabotage their chance to get out of there.
To her surprise, Chris didn’t question them on the foot trail or in the car on the way down the logging road. Instead, he talked lightly about Daisy and some of the other murder club ladies. When they pulled up next to her car, however, he turned toward them and fixed them with a serious look. “We still need to have that conversation.”
“You have my number,” Felicity said, scooting out of the passenger seat and opening the back door for Bennett. She felt bad he’d been stuck in the back, although he’d insisted, using his bigger bulk to gently nudge her out of the way and slide into the back seat before she could protest. He had to have been claustrophobic in there though. “We’re not going anywhere, on orders of the sheriff, so we should have some free time.”
“I’ll text you,” Chris promised, giving them a wave before turning around and heading back up the logging road.
Bennett and Felicity looked at each other.
“Coffee shop?”
He gave a decisive nod, so she tossed him her keys.
“Let’s go, hubby.”
“Yes, wife. ” His steamy look nearly melted her brain, and only her empty and complaining stomach kept her focused enough to get in the car and not stand there staring at him like a lovesick idiot.