Chapter 34
Hattie
I walked to Cabin Twelve, letting the sunshine lift my mood and marveling at my good luck of being somewhere where trees towered over me and the world didn’t feel overwhelming like in some places I’d lived. Here, I felt… at peace.
Kipp knelt beside the frame of the seating area he was building for the hot tub out on the back deck, which he’d described on our car ride yesterday.
Some of the cabins would have amenities, like this one.
He’d started with a basic plan for his rental cabins, but he had stages to his property that included all sorts of things.
He’d impressed me with not only how meticulous he was, but also how intelligent he was in the stages he was taking things.
When he’d left this morning, he’d told me to come over today. Now I was glad I took him up on it. His hair had fallen over his forehead, and sweat clung to the back of his neck. He wiped his brow with the inside of his arm and glanced at me with a grin that tightened something low in my stomach.
“Afternoon. How was work?” I eyed him with appreciation.
Yesterday, he’d smirked at me the whole way home after our interaction at dinner.
The entire incident had left me with damp panties and wanting.
Then he’d proceeded to fuck me into oblivion until we’d collapsed against each other in exhaustion.
“Hey there. It was good.”
Fish trotted circles around my legs, nudging my knee with his nose until I noticed that he had a stick in his mouth. I tossed it for him and watched him barrel after it with the absolute enthusiasm only a dog could have before turning back to watch Kipp.
“You keep looking at me like that, Trouble, and I’m going to cut this whole thing crooked,” he said.
Sitting on the edge of the deck rail with my glass of iced tea, I tried to look innocent.
“I’m not looking at you like anything. I’m going to supervise with Fish.
” The truth was, I didn’t really want to admit to him that Allison’s case was pretty much done for me, and with Casper coming over, this might be the point where things would be wrapped up.
If it were any other case, I’d be feeling around for something else, but I’d been resisting.
In fact, I wasn’t even looking for another one.
I wasn’t ready for everything to be over.
“You and Fish teaming up?” He drove another nail, all his muscles flexing like some gorgeous, sweaty Adonis.
Smiling into my drink, I smirked, “You invited me.”
“Yeah, because I thought you’d sit on the deck and read or something. Not stare at me like you are sizing me up for parts,” he teased. It didn’t seem like he minded being gawked at.
“You do have nice parts.” I made a show of looking at him from head to toe. Everything about him was nice parts and there was no denying it, but I did like him for more than just the pretty packaging.
His laugh rolled through the quiet clearing, warm and deep. “You keep talking like that, and dinner is going to burn tonight.”
“You did say you could cook.” We hadn’t actually had a chance to cook for each other yet, despite claims that we both could. Hell, I was a decent cook when I had a kitchen, and the cabin had a great one, but it wasn’t much fun to cook for yourself.
“Not if someone distracts me.”
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. Get into 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.
We investigate when others fail, and you haven’t even tried yet.
The J it was the lack of trust that affected me.
Of course, he’d needed to 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 to keep doing 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.
“So she never made it.” Even though I’d known it all along, the thought sat in my chest like a rock.
“No. She never did. The blood matched hers, but another match was there. Want to guess? It’s not enough without a body, but it’s a start.”
“Barry Galloway?” It was the name that had been floating around in my brain since I discovered he had a fake profile on Allison’s online cam account and had been hiding behind it to DM her. It was odd, but people online could be strange, thinking they were anonymous. That was never really the case.
“Yep. The blood in the car and the online activity mean we can haul him in for questioning. Doubt we can hold him for long without a body.” His mouth turned down into a frown.
“It’s a start, though, and with the bungled investigation we’re on the right track.
We’re going into the whole case from the ground up. New interviews and a new search.”
“So, you want me to keep the pressure on.” It wasn’t a mystery from his perspective. Galloway was going to get out, but maybe they’d get more evidence. And his father would probably be suspended during the pending investigation. “We can do that. You’re picking Barry up?”
“As we speak.” Casper’s lips curled into a smirk. “I’m going to put the pressure on. Hope he breaks.”
“When are you starting the grids?” Kipp asked, taking the papers out of my hands as he read through them. “I’m assuming you’re going to go through the vista area first.”
“I have the formal requests, but I expect everyone will receive them tomorrow. Hattie, you’re welcome to join if you want, but some of the terrain is rugged. We’ll start there first, but I’m not sure that’s where we’ll find the body. Looks like the car was dumped there. We’re hoping for a tip.”
Kipp rose to his feet at the same time as Casper, leaving me to scramble after them as they clasped hands. My brain was still trying to catch up on the new developments racing together like a train on tracks that had been disconnected.
“We’ll wait to hear from you, but I’ll be there for sure.”
“Me too,” I added. Search teams were something I’d done before, and while they could bring back a lot of bad memories, they were also meaningful actions that helped close cases.
Casper gave us a quick nod before heading out, leaving Kipp and me to stare at the reports he had left behind.
“Well, you were right.” Kipp pulled me into his arms. “You’re amazing.”
His words were soft in my hair, but tinged with the sorrow that I’m sure we both recognized because now we knew that Allison was truly dead.
She’d died violently and had been forgotten for months.
If The J & J Hour hadn’t come to Wildwood Meadows to investigate, she’d have been swept away forever. Lost. Like Jane.