Chapter 5
“Hello,” the smiley blonde said as I opened the door for her. “How are the newlyweds?”
Oh crap. Were my eyes too wide? Did they scream panic?
Reed came up behind me and looped his arm around my waist while making a big display of using his free hand to fix his hair.
I swear my skin jumped in shock, and not just because I had a hot guy touching me.
I sucked in my breath, hoping it made my stomach not so flabby.
The minute I made it home, I was buying a gym membership.
“I think the misses is getting tired out. She needs to hydrate.”
Oh god. I’d definitely died on that plane because this could not be my real life.
The woman laughed and held out her right hand. “I’m Selene. Casey is out, but I didn’t want to leave you two waiting. So I ran right over with a filter.”
She winked at him.
What the hell? Was the blonde bimbo Selene flirting with my man? I froze in annoyance and then remembered that he wasn’t my man, and I had no idea if she was a bimbo. My word. One hot guy touches me, and I go all killer kitten. Get a grip, Elenore.
It wasn’t like me at all. It had to be the sticky southern air.
“We sure appreciate it. I’ve never had such a fancy fridge, so I didn’t know how to fix it for her. I want my little lady to have safe water to keep her hydrated.” The fingers against my side tightened.
I stared at Reed, holding my breath in the ongoing attempt to seem skinny, not squishy.
What in the hell was he doing? Was this his attempt at being Southern?
Were we Southern newlyweds? Did I have to use an accent?
How the hell could I ask the important questions while maintaining a Southern drawl? I opened my mouth.
Hesitated. My heart pounded against my chest as I panicked.
No, I couldn’t do it.
Fuck it.
I just had to ask my questions while giving nothing away. She might not have been Casey, but I’d still learn something hopefully.
“You have such a pretty home. I’ve loved everything and all the details,” I said as Selene approached the fridge. That didn’t sound Southern at all. How did you sound Southern?
“Thank you. It’s been in the family.” She opened the door to the fridge. “I’ll just pop out the old and stick a new filter in and be out of your way. Oh… That’s weird.”
“Everything okay?” Reed asked as Selene stuck half her body in the fridge. How deep was this thing?
I kicked Reed in the foot and gave him a “help me” look. He brought her here before I had time to come up with a plan. Now he needed to help me with the impromptu interrogation.
He shrugged and shook his head at the fridge as if telling me to “get a move on it, Ms. Reporter.”
Ugh. Men.
Plastic clicked together and Selene gave a short swear under her breath before rejoining us and closing the door. “There you go. Someone removed the old filter but didn’t replace it.”
“That is weird,” I said, glancing at the fridge and kicking Reed in the foot again.
He jerked forward and grinned, squeezing me into his side. “Have you been renting the place for long?”
That’s it? That’s his interrogation-saving question?
Things were getting hot and not just from being squeezed in next to a man who could probably bench press me, but also literally hot.
We’d been shirt to shirt for a while now and I didn’t want to sweat on him.
I tried to slip away, but he held on tightly, his smile growing when I stared at him with my worst outraged expression.
Selene dropped the filter wrapper in the trash at the end of the counter as I desperately thought of a better question to keep her here.
“Casey’s mother used to live here, but she tragically passed.”
“That’s horrible.” I put my hand against my throat, going for Southern sadness.
“Oh, no.” Selene waved her hand between us. “Not in the home or anything. No worries about your stay.”
I liked the topic of discussion but wanted to move to something that might help me. How did a real reporter do that?
“It must have been hard for Casey to lose his mother. Were they close?” Reed asked.
Damn it. How did he come up with that so quickly?
Selene gave a little laugh. Was that flirting?
“Yes, but it’s harder to share a wall with your future mother-in-law.
You know what I mean? Now we just have Bud here who rents another unit, but he is of no relation.
Short-term stays like you two are great.
Once Bud moves out, we’ll open his place as well. ”
Reed moved his head from my side to around my neck. Maybe he was getting hot, too. “Breathe,” he whispered in my ear.
How did he notice I’d only taken shallow breaths since he’d latched on to me? My phone vibrated right before I hit the midpoint of my freak out.
“Excuse me,” I said, using this as my chance to break away from my captor. Reed removed his arm, but watched me as I walked into the living room to answer Delaney’s call.
“Did you write up a day one rundown yet?” Delaney asked.
I jerked to a stop in front of the television. “Well, hello to you, too.”
* * *
A long, fifteen hours later, on Tuesday morning, I paced back and forth in the living room while Reed finished up in the bathroom.
We’d spent the evening reviewing the case file and putting together a general overview of what we’d learned about the case so far.
Which wasn’t much. I’d only had one interview, but apparently Delaney wanted me to “put boots on the ground” after I’d canvassed the area.
Whatever all that meant. I needed to Google investigation procedures, but didn’t have time.
Reed stepped out of his bathroom wearing tight-fitted running pants and a sleeveless shirt. He stuck one earbud in his left ear and held the other one. “You’ll be okay while I go for a quick run?”
“Of course. I’m not a damsel in distress or anything.” What did he expect me to do?
He hesitated by the front door. “You could always come with me.”
“Oh, wow. Well…” I raised a hand and took a step backward, away from him. “I would, but… I don’t have the right shoes… or pants.” Or desire to have him watch me pass out on the sidewalk from breathing.
He laughed and left me to my own devices, promising to return in about an hour.
Quiet seeped into the corners of the rental the moment he shut the door.
None of the days on this trip were packed with interviews or other investigative things because Delaney wanted those boots to follow the trail.
The problem was that I didn’t pack boots, and we hadn’t seen a trail yet.
Except.
If I got that interview with Casey, I’d have more information to give Delaney.
We’d ended our evening with a brilliant theory on a ghost killing Lisa Boyd, but I didn’t think Delaney or her boss would buy it.
I needed something more. Delaney said the Halloween special needed creepy characters and a deep twist.
I just had to find them.
The idea deepened in my thoughts. It made sense and was basically a trail we’d started down yesterday. We only needed to keep trekking down it. Yes, this had to work.
The cabinet above the sink was six inches too high for me to reach, so I finagled my way to the counter and then hovered on my knees to open it. Right at the edge—thankfully—sat the water filter Reed hid yesterday.
I grabbed it, clutched it to my chest, and jumped down from the counter. Now I had a reason to get back on the trail.
Part of our research the evening before was laying out the building and each additional unit.
Selene and Casey didn’t actually share a bedroom wall with Lisa when she’d lived here but, instead, a kitchen.
I crept out the backdoor, doing my best to not appear suspicious, and took the short stone path—see, a path—to the tiny porch next door.
The door matched ours, but this one had a short curtain covering the opening, so I couldn’t see inside until the latch flipped and the door opened.
A man at least three inches shorter than me smiled with a quizzical expression. He had dark brown hair that hung in a shaggy cut reaching right above his ears. “Can I help you?”
“Right!” I said a little too loudly, remembering why I was there in the first place. “I’m staying in the Airbnb. Yesterday, Selene brought us a new water filter and well…” I held up the old one in front of me. “I found this one.”
Casey studied the white cylinder in my hand before reaching for it. “Where did you find it?”
I pulled my hand away, unwilling to give him my water filter. Then I’d have no reason to keep talking. Damn it. Why didn’t I think the entire story through? “The dishwasher.”
“Well, thank you for returning it… I guess.” He grabbed the filter from me and, in a panic, I stepped forward until we were almost chest to chest. Casey moved away, giving me an entrance into his apartment.
If I stepped inside, I’d be completely busting my way into his space. If I didn’t, I’d lose the only path I had for this case. I couldn’t let Delaney down. But what if he murdered his mother?
I stepped inside, wearing my best non-life-threatening smile full of teeth and happiness. “I just love what you’ve done with these places.”
Fingers crossed I hadn’t just put myself alone with a killer.