A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (15 page)

Dammit, what would Thelma do in this situation?

She’d give Thor a Scooby snack to get him to do what she wanted . . . then she’d solve the mystery. Fine, lunch it is. Besides, Scooby Doo was only a thirty-minute show and they always got their man, how long would I actually have to spend time with Max?

The two-story, wood-framed building which housed the Mayor’s office and police station, sat at the end of Main Street across from the town square. The building had a bell tower, it was painted white with black shutters, and it was decorated for fall. Town square had an old weathered gazebo, covered in vines, and it was large enough to hold a small band. The picturesque setting, like a Norman Rockwell painting, was now full of angry men and women.

The town’s residents were outraged over the death of Curly Potter, and the vultures were circling with their cameras. Max had seen two news vans when he arrived earlier, and figured more would come now that word was out they had a killer in their midst. Nothing sells like death, even in a small town like Trails End.

Zimmer’s untimely death would make national news of course. He knew it and couldn’t stop it. His peaceful town had become headline news all because one of his own had decided to kill. The remaining question was who.

The meeting went as he expected. Citizens were concerned and everyone was suspicious of their neighbor’s actions. One person even suggested they move the bears off Grizzly Pointe to avoid future activists from coming. What had surprised him the most were the questions about Mia being the killer. How anyone could think that half-pint of a woman could kill anyone was beyond him.

However, he’d wanted to wring her neck himself. She could run, but she couldn’t hide and he planned to rectify that as soon as he locked his mother up in a home for wayward parents.

Leave it to his mother to come up with a hair-brained scheme that she and Martha could catch a killer.

Christ, he didn’t have time for this shit, Max thought.

He didn’t have time to worry about his mother, but he didn’t have a choice. Spread thin on a good day, now he had to add hunt down his mother to his list of things to do for that day.

Descending the steps, Max headed for the parking lot. When his eyes caught sight of his mother’s VW van, he turned and searched the crowd for her. Since she was here, he could mark one fuckin’ thing off his list and move on to the next.

As he scanned the crowd, looking for her braided gray hair, he was surprised at what he found instead. Raven-black hair, men’s frames that hid crystal blue eyes, and a Scooby-fuckin’-Doo T-shirt that made his mouth twitch.

Mia hadn’t seen him and he wasn’t sure if she was there for him or looking for Stetson, but he didn’t care. One scan of her body had his feet moving towards her determined to get a few things straight, namely, she wasn’t running from him again.

Text sent I kept searching the courtyard for Max. It looked like the whole town had shown up for the meeting, which meant Maxine was right, this was the perfect place to ask around without being caught. I chuckled at her cloak and dagger plan as I stared at her unbelievably awesome VW van.

As far as I could tell, she was the original owner and had kept it in mint condition. Sometime in the past eight years she’d had a custom-paint-job done that advertised her business. Now, instead of a two-tone color scheme, the van had a kaleidoscope of colors with their business logo “FindYourPassion.com” on the side. Looking at it now, it wasn’t lost on me it was our very own Mystery Machine. Now, I just had to find Max and keep him busy while the Scooby Doo gang did their thing.

I was about to head inside to look for him, when warm breath tickled my ear and Max asked in a low tone, “You wanna tell me why you ran?”

I, of course, jumped, squeaked a small scream, then spun around losing my balance. Max reached out and grabbed me at my waist, stopping my descent as he pulled me back into his body. Then he repeated his question as he pressed me against his chest, “Why’d you run?”

“I don’t wanna be another notch on your bedpost,” spilled from my mouth like an idiot. He’d caught me off guard so I didn’t have time to formulate a good lie.

His head snapped back and he narrowed his eyes as he bit out, “How the fuck did you come up with that?”

Not seeing any way to avoid this conversation I decided honesty was the best policy, so I blurted out “Annie, you have a thing with her. I don’t want to be one of your “friends with benefits,” that’s all.”

Surprisingly, he grew more pissed off and seethed, “I don’t fuck women over. I called Annie and ended things with her after your performance at Curly’s crime scene. It was never more than casual with her, but I respect her enough not to be a dick.”

“What? Why would you do that, I’m only here for a week.”

Max hesitated for about a nanosecond, shrugged as if it was no big deal, then bluntly told me “I go with my gut and since I laid eyes on you it’s been in fuckin’ knots. Now, are we clear on this or do I need to lay it out even more?”

“Um, no, I’m clear, but—” he interrupted me before I could tell him I still didn’t think it was a good idea. I had work to complete and then I was gone, I didn’t need emotional entanglements.

“Good, now I can mark one thing off my to-do list,” he smiled.

“Excuse me? I was an item to mark off your “to-do” list?” I snapped.

Pick up bread, check, fill the tank, check, straighten out Mia’s head, check, check!

“I see we’re not clear,” he sighed as he grabbed my arm and hauled me to the side of the building.

Then he backed me into the wall and leaned in trapping me with his arms. He scanned my face and then removed my glasses while I glared at him.

“Jesus, you’ve got great eyes,” he whispered as he cupped my face.

“What are you doing?” I whispered back, my glare gone and in its place was wide-eyed fright that he might kiss me. If those lips touched mine, I knew I’d never be able to resist him.

“What I should have done the first time I saw you.”

“Shoot me?” I tried for humor to break the mood, but he shook his head slowly as his lips came closer.

“Time to find out how much of a headache you’re gonna be,” he mumbled, then brushed his lips across mine until I gave in and opened my mouth.

His kiss was more of a seduction of the senses as our tongues danced the age-old game the first time. It was wet, it was demanding, it stoked a fire the likes I’d never experienced, and the taste of him was a pheromone-laced cocktail of desire. Moaning as he deepened the kiss, I raised up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and let nature take its course. He tugged my head sideways deepening the kiss, and then, as if I’d been lost, every part of my soul told me I was home in his arms.

The kissed ended abruptly when Max ripped his mouth from mine and placed his forehead against my own whispering, “Tell me you felt that.”

Oh, yeah, I felt it. I just didn’t know what to do with it.

“I’m so screwed,” sprang from my lips and Max smiled.

“She felt it,” he chuckled.

Then he placed my glasses back on my face, kissed my nose, pulled me from the wall, and as we turned to leave, he stopped abruptly and mumbled “Time to go.”

When a reporter started shouting “Ms. Roberts, Fairbanks Sentinel,” I picked up the pace and started running dragging Max with me. The crowd seemed to grow in my path so he released my hand. I stopped, looked back, and watched as he walked towards the reporter, halting her in her tracks. Then he looked back at me and with just his eyes, ordered me to leave.

When I ignored Max, because, let’s not forget, I was a decoy for his mother and I had to have eyes on him at all times, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. Either he was used to getting his way, or, well, there was no
or
about it, he was just used to getting his own way. Either way, he wasn’t getting it this time. Therefore, I crossed my arms and stared back.

He shook his head and then turned to the reporter leaning in. Max must have said something flirty because she laughed, blushed, and then watched him with unconcealed lust as he turned on his heels and headed towards me smiling.

Yep, he totally flirted his way out of that.

He’d made it halfway to me when Buddy, the man who’d interrupted us last night, stopped him and had a brief conversation. When he was done, he made his way over to me, checking his watch.

“Got a situation at work I have to handle.”

“Oh, well, by all means, go. You’re heading back up the mountain right?”

“Yeah, that’s where my work is.”

“Then don’t let me keep you, I’ll just, um, head back to your mother’s and have lunch with her.

“You in a hurry to get rid of me?” Max chuckled as he pulled me closer.

“No, no, nothing like that, I, uh, just know how busy you must be and that you can’t keep your men waiting, that’s all.”

“You like steak?” he asked unexpectedly.

“Um, yes?”

“Just makin’ sure you eat meat. I’ll pick you up after work and we’ll throw a couple of steaks on the grill, sound good?”

“Oh.”

Shit, now what did I say?
Decoy during the day was fine, no way was I going to his house so he could seduce me.

“Look Max—”

“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he interrupted before I could back out. Then he leaned in, swiped his lips across mine, mumbled “Later,” against them, and then left me standing with visions of Naked Max in my future.

Time to find the troops and come up with plan B!

Nine

A pain in the ass or someone more

You know when you see flashing lights in your rearview mirror and your first thoughts are “Is my seatbelt on” or “Really? I was only going ten miles over the speed limit.” Well, I knew my seatbelt was on and I knew I wasn’t speeding because I hadn’t left my parking spot in front of Town Hall. Yet, here I sat, blocked in by Stetson, while residents of Trails End watched and the news media caught it all on tape. I knew what was coming, I knew it, I knew it, but even though I did, I still couldn’t believe it. No way was he about to take me in for a murder I didn’t commit. Maxine was right; thousands of people were convicted of, or bullied into, confessing to crimes they didn’t commit every day. And I had a sinking suspicion I was about to join those ranks.

I watched Stetson get out of his car, adjust his hat so he’d look good for the cameras, then walked with a swagger as he puffed out his chest for the news. My wits came to me just in time to grab my phone and send a text to Lucy.

.

When I looked up from my phone, Stetson was at the driver’s door staring at me. He raised his hand, crooked his finger instructing me to get out, and naturally that’s when I lost my temper. I threw open my door, jumped out of the van and asked “Are you arresting me?”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way Ms. Roberts. We need to ask you some questions so come along quietly.”

“Are you an idiot or just obtuse? I didn’t kill anyone,” I hissed.

“I guess we’re doin’ this the hard way,” he replied as he pulled out his cuffs and told me to “Turn around, put your hands on the vehicle and spread your legs.”