Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Claire
“So, what do we do?” My body felt like a snake coiled, ready to strike. I wanted to rush over and arrest Serena right now.
But Vance was the voice of reason. “We make our case.” He held up fingers as he ticked off points.
“One. We believe the body was dumped via snowmobile. That’s the most logical explanation for how someone got into the park that time of year.
Two. We know Serena owns a snowmobile. Three.
We know what her motive was. But we have to be able to prove it. ”
My eyes lit up. “The video. From the bistro. It has proof that Serena knew Sheriff McGrath had cheated on her.”
“Did she say Katelyn’s name?”
My shoulders sank. “No, I don’t think so.”
“It might still be enough. We have a witness statement that they were seen cozying up at a coffee shop, plus video proof that Serena knew he recently had an affair and was upset by it. That, along with the snowmobile registration, might be enough for a warrant.”
“An arrest warrant?”
He shook his head. “A search warrant. If she used the snowmobile to dump the body, there will probably be forensic evidence on it. Blood, hair, skin cells. That would make our case. Has your contact sent the video yet?” Vance’s eyes were sharp, like a predator ready to pounce on his prey.
But unlike me, he knew how to slowly stalk a victim.
How to wait patiently for exactly the right moment.
I wanted desperately to know what it might feel like to have that slow intensity focused entirely on me.
“Well?”
I shook myself, realizing I’d gotten lost in a fantasy and hadn’t responded to his question. “Um. Let me check.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked. “Yes! He did.”
“Here.” Vance took my phone from me, typing quickly before handing it back. “I just emailed it to myself. We can watch it on my laptop.”
“Perfect. But I need coffee first.”
I felt my eyes sparkle. Knowing that Serena was our bad guy had improved my mood immensely. I felt no loyalty to her, no sense of betrayal because of her actions. And it redeemed Sheriff McGrath somehow, too. Hiding the truth from us had been wrong, but he had done it to protect his family.
I could respect that.
“Help yourself,” Vance said, shooting me a grin. “I’d ask you to pour me a cup, too, but…”
I blushed, remembering how I’d snapped at him the day we’d been paired together, thinking he was going to treat me like I was less than all the others because I was a woman.
I was so glad I’d been wrong.
I went to the kitchen and poured us each a cup of black, carrying both mugs in one hand so I could grab the bag of desserts, too.
While Vance pulled up the video on his laptop, I settled in on the couch, taking a sip of the delicious dark blend before diving into my creme br?lée.
The combination was as heavenly as I could hope for.
“Ben’s a genius,” I said around a mouthful of sweetness.
Vance cut his eyes toward me. “Genius, huh? Should I be worried that he’s going to swipe my partner away from me?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing. “I’d marry Ben in a heartbeat, just so he’d make me breakfast every day.”
Vance attempted a casual smile, but the jealousy in his eyes was clear.
It gave me a thrill to see him as jealous over me as I was over him. I was tempted to tease him just to see a little more of it. But I smoothed it away instead.
“Unfortunately, I’m not his type,” I said, winking. “You’d have better luck seducing him than I would.”
Vance relaxed. “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.”
“Try this and see if you feel differently.” I held out a spoonful of the delicious dessert for him to taste.
He locked eyes with me and wrapped his lips around the spoon as I held it, heating my blood and sending a delicious ache between my thighs when he licked off the last of the cream.
“Delicious,” he murmured, those eyes still locked on mine. “But unless Ben’s a blonde with the eyes of a mermaid, I’m not interested.”
“The eyes of a mermaid?” My voice was almost breathless, like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Vance’s intensity held me captured.
He nodded, his gaze darkening. “Those eyes of yours are dangerous. A swirling ocean. And you’re tempting enough to make a man want to drown in it.”
Serena, the case, the creme br?lée, all of it—forgotten. One more second of his smoldering gaze on me and I would have climbed into his lap again, savoring the taste of his lips more than the dessert in my hands.
I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or grateful when his phone buzzed, pulling his attention away from me.
“Who is it?” I asked, trying to be casual even though my heart was still racing.
He frowned. “My father.”
“Do you need to take it? I can give you some privacy.”
He thought about it, then shook his head and flipped the phone over to where he couldn’t see it. “No.” He swallowed hard. “No distractions.”
I knew he was talking about more than just his phone.
His face hardened as he started the video on his laptop and turned all his attention back to the case.
Hours later, I stretched my arms above me and yawned. “I’m starved,” I announced.
Vance looked up from his computer. “Really?”
“Really.” I pushed to standing and slipped my feet into the boots I’d discarded earlier, bending to tug the suede up my calves.
After watching the video, Vance had drafted a warrant request for the Sage County SO storage locker and the McGraths’ home.
We had debated long and hard about whether we were ready to tip our hand.
Both of us would have preferred to find rock-solid proof of Serena’s guilt before letting them know we were onto her.
But the only hard evidence might be on that snowmobile.
So he called Judge Barrington and pleaded our case, asking him to keep the request quiet so we could execute the warrant without giving them time to get rid of potential evidence.
Judge Barrington had been shocked and said he needed to process all of it before he made a decision.
All we could do was wait—and plug away at every potential lead we could think of.
I’d called motels and cabin rentals, trying to find out where Katelyn had stayed when she got here.
Vance had called snowmobile rental places and checked with the storage unit to see if they had footage from back in March.
We’d combed through photographs on Katelyn’s phone, looking for anything that might give us proof of her affair with Sheriff McGrath.
It had been a long day with very little to show for it.
Some businesses had been cooperative, but others hadn’t.
Vance had submitted warrant requests for a couple of hotels and some cabin rentals in between the park, and he had sent them over to Judge Barrington to sign, too.
The judge had signed those right away—those didn’t threaten to blow up our entire town with controversy.
Everything we’d done was important work, but I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t get a break. “Come on,” I said, pouting. “Let’s get some dinner.”
“Sure,” Vance said. “On one condition.” He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes that made my heart beat just a little bit faster.
“What’s that?”
He closed his laptop and tossed the papers beside him onto the coffee table, then stood. “Your mom said I was invited to dinner anytime, even if it was just the family.”
“Oh, no,” I began, shaking my head.
“Oh, yes.” He gave me a pleading look, but there was humor in his eyes. “Come on. We already did Whiskey Creek for lunch. Don’t take away my chance for a home-cooked meal.”
“Fine.” I relented. “But I have a condition of my own.”
“Anything,” he said, giving me that charming smile.
“Eat fast.” I winked. “And as soon as we’re done eating, you tell them we have more work to do and we leave.”
He laughed. “Deal.”
We locked up, then slowly walked up the driveway toward the two-story eastern-white-pine cabin that made such a pretty picture against the background of the Bighorns.
The ranch was winding down for the day. A handful of people milled around the front of the horse stables, likely just back from one of the daily trail rides Rhett and Cheyenne provided for guests.
A mom snapped photographs of her kids petting the horses that had meandered over to the pasture gates.
Travis and Jonathan were in the pasture, leading horses one by one to take their saddles off.
Behind it all, the sun hung low in the sky, painting the mountains purple.
It was one of my favorite times of the day—both because of the beauty of a Wyoming sunset and because it meant the day’s work was nearly done.
As a ranch-raised kid, you learned to appreciate that more than most.
Vance glanced my way. “You’re happy here,” he commented.
I took a deep breath and let it out, smiling before I answered. “Yeah. I am.”
“But it’s not enough. You want more.”
I looked up at him in surprise. How could he know that when the people closest to me didn’t seem to have a clue? “Yeah,” I finally said. “I do.”
He focused his eyes on the mountains ahead, sticking his hands inside the pockets of his black jeans as he walked lazily toward the house, like he wasn’t in any hurry to get there. “It’s hard. Being torn between two things you love.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
Silence hung between us until he finally answered. “Yeah.”
“What did you choose?” I held my breath, waiting for an answer—maybe because I was hoping his answer would tell me what mine should be.
He looked back at me with a strange expression on his face. “The job. I chose the job.”
There were layers of emotion there. Pride. Regret.
I knew some of the choices he’d made. He’d chosen between Maine and New York, between his mom and dad. Now, he was choosing New York over staying in Wyoming and pursuing a relationship with his father.
But something in his eyes told me he was talking about more than that. Something even deeper. Something that had truly broken his heart.
I wanted to pry. But something stopped me. Maybe I was afraid to know. Afraid to hear the truth. Afraid that there was someone else he’d loved but left anyway.
Afraid he was talking about me.
Either way, the outcome was the same. He’d chosen the job. And that broke my heart, too.