Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
kole
“I fold,” Harry grumbled, tossing his cards down.
With a grin, I looked across the old, wooden table at Kyle who was staring hard at the five cards in his hand. His brown, curly hair covered one of his eyes, and he pushed it out of his face distractedly as he came to a decision.
“I’ll call,” he stated, tossing a few more poker chips into the middle of the table.
I leaned back in my chair, waiting for him to reveal his hand.
He’d need a miracle to beat my straight flush.
We had a poker night a couple times a month, and even though I didn’t particularly enjoy conversing, it was a way to pass the time.
And I usually came home with a good chunk of cash.
The night started with five, and now it was the three of us left.
Kyle tossed his cards down, revealing two pairs.
I showed my hand before reaching out and scooping up all the chips. “How’s things at the station, Harry? Get anything back about Lucas’s death?”
Information was the largest reason I attended poker night at Harry’s house. While I heard most things at my bar, it was always good to see what else was happening. Kyle was the local handyman, so he was in on the town gossip just as much as Fiona was.
Harry took a puff of his cigarette. “The doctor can’t determine if it was an accident, but he’s signing off that it was a fall.”
He didn’t sound convinced, and I frowned. “They think someone might have pushed him?”
“Possibly, but there’s no proof.” Harry shook his head as Kyle began shuffling the cards. “Lucas was stone-cold sober when he died with no alcohol or drugs in his system. He knew about the trail…the kid might have been an asshole, but he wasn’t stupid. I don’t know how he could have just fell.”
“People are asking questions,” Kyle piped up. “If you want to rule it an accident, better do it now before it gets worse. Some of the interns are freaked out.”
“They’ll be fine,” I said gruffly. “Death happens everywhere. They’re just hearing about it more because this place is so small.”
“I’ve had five calls this week to check the locks on people’s houses,” Kyle said, looking agitated. “A waste of my time. Break ins don’t happen here.”
They didn’t. Until the butcher shop was robbed. While there had been whispers about it, Harry had kept it decently contained, and no one knew that knives had been taken. I was sure if that was public knowledge, the panic would be a lot worse.
Kyle dealt out the cards, and we played another round as my mind wandered.
Instead of focusing on the game, I was thinking of Dani.
Our interaction yesterday was still playing on repeat in my head.
I was seriously regretting my fucking decision to challenge her about keeping the light on.
Because now I was stuck imagining what could have happened if she hadn’t walked away.
The woman was a mystery. Clearly something had happened in her past to keep her so closed up. I wanted to know what it was. I also wanted to hear her screams of pleasure again.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t get both.
“I’m out,” I muttered, tossing my cards down when Harry upped the ante. “One more round and I’m done.”
“It’s only ten,” Kyle said as he looked at his watch. “Have somewhere to be?”
“I’m sure he stays busy with that girl he’s rooming with.” Harry chuckled.
I scowled. “She’s nothing more than someone sharing my house. Thanks to you two assholes.”
Kyle threw up his hands. “I was just doing my job. Your house was on the list of codes to add for the interns. Not my fault they added your address to the list.”
“That was Fiona, not me,” Harry said, smashing his cigarette out on the ashtray. “But if you have such an issue with it, I can invite her to stay here with me. Or maybe Kyle wouldn’t mind a new roommate.”
“Not a fucking word,” I growled when Kyle opened his mouth. “She doesn’t need to live with someone who is going to hit on her constantly.”
“And you don’t do that?”
Harry’s question had me glowering at him. They had no idea that I’d already been between her legs, and they didn’t need to know. But she sure as fuck wasn’t moving out of my place just to go live with one of them.
“I doubt she’d be any fun to live with,” Harry continued with a shrug. “She barely talks at the station. She doesn’t seem to enjoy anyone.”
I didn’t like the hopeful look that Kyle still had on his face. If he thought he’d be going anywhere near Dani—I went still, my pulse thudding. What the hell was I doing? Acting possessive over a woman I barely knew?
Before I could say anything else, someone pounded on Harry’s front door. Not just once, but again and again, making Harry curse under his breath.
“Do people forget we have phones?” he muttered irritably.
He ripped open his door, and I straightened up when I spotted Tristin. He was supposed to be at the station, working the emergency phone line. His frantic eyes darted past Harry to look at me and Kyle.
“Why aren’t you at the station?” Harry asked gruffly.
“Something happened—”
“What was that?” Kyle cut him off, jumping to his feet.
I saw it too, and I rushed toward the door, pushing past Harry to look outside. Tristin glanced over his shoulder. People were walking down the street, all heading in the same direction.
“What the hell is going on?” Harry asked, grabbing his flannel coat from the hook.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t gone there yet,” Tristin sputtered out. “But someone came into the station, saying there’s a dead body—”
He stopped talking when a faint scream tore through the air. The back of my neck prickled, and I strode back to the table, grabbing my jacket from the chair. Kyle was already heading out the door after Harry, and I followed them into the chilly night.
Tristin pointed toward the main street where a crowd was forming near the center of town, around a cluster of benches encircling a tall statue of a bear with the town’s name carved under it. As we got closer, and the murmurs grew louder.
“Alright, back up,” Harry boomed as he pushed through the bodies. “Move.”
The crowd parted for him, and I ignored the stares as I followed. Harry halted mid-step causing me to nearly slam into him.
“Christ,” he muttered, shock coating his voice.
Peering around him, my heart sank when I saw the scene in front of me.
A body was propped up in a sitting position against the statue with a knife buried in her chest. Her head was tilted up, her eyelids open to make it seem like she was staring at the sky, but there was no life in her horror-filled eyes.
It was like she was stuck in her last moments, staring at the person who’d killed her.
My gaze drifted to the ground in front of her where dark blood covered the concrete. But it wasn’t pooled from her being stabbed. The killer wrote a message using her blood.
Want to play?
The large letters were scrawled across the pavement, and while messy they were still easy to read.
My heart was thundering in my ears, drowning out the crowd.
In all the years I’d been here, this was the first murder.
Crime like this didn’t happen here. Since I didn’t recognize the woman, I had a feeling it was an intern.
“Kole…Kole,” Harry’s loud voice broke through my thoughts. “Tell Kyle to go get Natalie. We’re going to need all the help with this one.”
My eyes snapped to him as he stared at the body with a heavy frown on his face.
I noticed the people surrounding us had shock on their faces.
I searched the crowd, my gaze stopping on Dani.
She was standing completely still, but unlike everyone else, she wasn’t looking at the gruesome scene. She was studying everyone around her.
I stared at her, trying to catch a hint of what was going on in her head.
She didn’t look scared or terrorized. In fact, she was the calmest of everyone in the area.
Her face was paler than I’d ever seen, but that was the only outward reaction she had.
Maybe it was because she’d seen this kind of thing before.
I had no idea what she did for work in her past, but with her being a forensic psychologist, she could have witnessed crimes like this.
“This is going to be a long fucking night,” Harry grumbled, swiping a hand down his face.
“One of the butcher knives?” I asked under my breath.
“Looks like it.”
“How many were stolen?”
He sighed. “Seven.”
“Shit.”