A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (20 page)

“Morning sleepy head,” Jess laughed when I stumbled into Maxine’s kitchen. I reached for a cup and filled it to the brim as I tried to wake up.

“Has anyone seen my glasses? I took them off last night before we went to the bar and I can’t find them.”

“I don’t know why you even wear them, are you going for the hot librarian look or something?”

“I need them for distance.”

“You hide behind them is what you do. Those frames are huge, they’re like a barrier between you and the world,” she pointed out.

“No psychoanalyzing before I’ve had at least two cups of coffee, please. Where is everyone?”

“Well, while you were off getting laid
we
put our heads together and came up with a plan. Maxine is running down leads, Frank and Lucy got up early and headed back up to their base camp, and you need to give me the four-one-one on the gladiator.”

“I’m not gonna talk about my sex life with you,” I laughed.

“Oh, come on, humor your old auntie . . . was he good, please tell me he was good, oh, and hung. God, that would be a disappointment if a man who looked like that wasn’t great in the sack, please tell me I’m not wrong.”

“Did Maxine say when she’d be back?” I segued as I tried to avoid all topics of Max.

“Soon, and stop deflecting, I’m not letting you off the hook, now spill.”

I’d leaned against the counter as she spoke, but I knew she wouldn’t let up. So, I huffed, moved to the table, and pulled out a chair.

“Fine, what do you want to know?”

“Well, considering the way he manhandled you last night, I’d say this is more than just a passing fling. The question is, you’ve always avoided men for some reason, and now that you’re not, why’d you pick the biggest one I’ve ever seen? Not to mention the bossiest, who lives a thousand miles away from you and, as far as I can see, you have nothing in common with, so what gives?”

“All good points, one’s I’ve asked myself. Though, I hadn’t realized it till you said something, but you’re right, we have nothing in common.”

“So why are you getting involved? With all that stacked against you from the start, I think you’re just spinning your wheels. If you were anyone else I’d say go for it, sleep with him until you leave, but you’re not anyone else. You’re Mia. You’re not like me your heart gets involved. If it’s not going to work out, which is a big if, by the way, a man like Max would be hard to forget, trust me I know.”

Leave it to the irresponsible one in the room to point out the obvious. She was right; I’d end up with a broken heart. I may have wavered a tad about not getting involved after our night together, but Jess just slapped me with the cold, hard facts.

“You’re right,” I mumbled, “Thanks, Jess, I’m glad we had this talk. When he kissed me and, well, other things, the connection was so strong I let my heart lead my head and I gave in. But, you’re right, we have nothing in common and I’d drive him nuts,” I replied as I went to leave the kitchen for some quiet time and self-reflection.

Thinking about what she’d said, my stomach felt a little queasy. My head may understand it doomed to failure, now I needed my heart to understand. Which, by the way, is exactly why she was right. I couldn’t get in any deeper with Max because he’d be a hard man to forget.

As I made my way through the great room, I swore I heard Jess mumble “Connection?” When I turned back to see if she was talking to me, I found her staring out the window with her hand to her chest, playing with a golden locket she’d always worn.

When Buddy shouted at Max for the third time, he finally looked down at his foreman. He’d been surveying a tangle of trees that had grown too close together.

There was mathematics involved in bringing down trees. You couldn’t just walk up to one and mark cut here. You had a potentially deadly situation on your hands when you brought the wrong tree down first. He should know, he’d lost his father to just such a cluster-fuck of miscalculation.

Ten years prior, his father, Tom Hunter, had been overseeing the takedown of a crop of trees just north of the main operation. He’d taken a young crew with him who’d misunderstood his instructions and taken down the supporting tree first. His father had been downhill when they felled the supporting tree, and when it broke loose, without its support, another tree snapped and came down with it. Unrestrained with a line as it should have been, it slid down the hill and caught his father off guard, crushing him. They’d paid a high price that day, and ever since, Max made sure he was standing uphill and watching the first cut.

“Didn’t see you at Last Call last night,” Buddy replied as he handed Max a clipboard.

“Had a woman to find,” Max mumbled as he signed the paperwork and then handed it back.

“I figured as much. So, you dumped Annie for the scientist, you sure that was the right move?”

Max looked down, grinned at his friend, and then slapped him on the shoulder.

“Is that a yes?” Buddy laughed as he watched Max walk away, but Max just lifted a hand and waved as he headed uphill.

Christ, he didn’t want to believe it, fought it for damn sure, but Mia had gotten under his skin. When he wasn’t doing the job, keeping his head in the game while he held onto his saw, his mind had been on her over the past five days. The way she looked, or the way she smelled like sunshine on a cold winter’s day. That noise she made when she was frustrated, or the sound of his name spilling from her lips, it all played over in his head. He thought it was cute as hell the way she hated bugs and the adorable way she shrieked when it caught in her hair. Hell, he’d never thought of anything as adorable in his fuckin’ life, but something about that woman was just that, fuckin’ adorable.

He figured he had a week tops to find out if she fits into his life. But, like he’d said last night, as far as he could see, she had permanent pain in his ass written all over her. Fortunately, for him, “pain in his ass” finally meant something besides headache. Though, he’d bet she’d be a fair bit of that as well.

Max climbed into his truck and waved to his men as he headed into town to pick up replacement blades for the saws. When his phone rang, he pulled it out and saw Jack was calling, so he answered on the second ring.

“Jack,” Max answered.

“Max, got your message, talk to me,” his cousin replied, all business just like he needed.

“Got a Chief of Police, he goes by the name of Stetson, Duke Stetson. I need you to run a background on him. When we hired him, his recommendations were so fuckin’ sterling they’d make your eyes hurt. He’s been here a year, maybe more, and his handlin’ of these killings had me wonderin’ if someone polished his badge to get rid of him.”

“Is he barkin’ up the wrong tree, pushing his weight around?” Jack asked.

“He’s barkin’ up the wrong fuckin’ woman,” Max replied.

“Right, anyone I know?”

“Nope, still figurin’ her out myself.”

“She give you a headache?”

“Yep.”

“She piss you off?”

“Yep, in the best possible way.”

“I’ll get right on it then,” Jack chuckled.

“You do that. If you find anything call me ASAP,” Max told him.

“Name?” Jack asked.

“Stetson,” Max replied.

“Name of the headache, Max. Jenn’s gonna ask questions and I gotta have an answer or
I’ll
have a headache on my hands.”

“Right, tell Jenn her name is Mia and she works with bears.”

“Christ,” Jack chuckled.

It wasn’t lost on either man that Jenn had moved to Gunnison to live in the mountains with the deer and bear. A childhood dream if you could believe that. Now, Max had a woman who worked with bears and was involved in two murders. Jack’s wife, Jennifer, had been the focus of a psychopath and he’d fallen fast for the smart-ass reporter. Now, Max was in the same boat. The only difference was, he hadn’t fallen fast—he’d been pulled under kicking and screaming by a pair of crystal blue eyes. Only time would tell if he surfaced or drowned in those fuckin' pools. However, the tightness in his chest that seemed to steal his breath whenever he thought of her told him he was already in deep water and sinking fast.

Twelve

The game is afoot

“Got’em,” Maxine announced as she entered the kitchen throwing pictures on the table.

I’d had my eyes closed (trying to block out Naked Max flashbacks from last night) when she entered, so I’d jumped and spilled my coffee. Sighing, as I grabbed a napkin to clean up the mess, I looked up wondering what had her so excited.

“What’s going on?”

“Jess and I put our heads together after she came home last night and showed me that scrap of shirt you found. We talked it over and it made sense that whoever killed Zimmer had to have at the hand axe competition since they knew which axe you touched.”

“Right, do you remember who was there?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, my memory isn’t what it used to be. But I remembered a few who were there so I called’em and got more names. Then I called everyone to see if they’d taken any pictures during the event,” she answered tapping the photos on the table. “Smith’s has a digital film kiosk so I grabbed the memory cards from everyone and had prints made up.”

“And? . . . Please tell me you have a mad dog killer in one of those pictures,” I responded as I grabbed the package off the table. When I pulled them out, and started shuffling through, one thing was certain—I was still screwed.

Every picture had a different man, all in red and black plaid flannel.

“Shit, I didn’t even notice, is this like the town’s uniform or something?”

“No, but we dress up for Founders Day. Black and red checked flannel are the symbol of a lumberjack, of course, so it stands to reason there’d be a few,” she replied.

“How does this help, Maxine? There must be fifty men in these pictures wearing that shirt.”

“It don’t if we can’t put that scrap with the shirt. But at least we know who to look for.”

“And how do you propose we find out whose shirt the scrap of material came from?”

Just then, Jess walked in and dropped a large pink bag on the table.

“Hi, I’m Mia, your Passion consultant. We’re expanding our business going door-to-door. Would you like to see today’s special?”

“You can’t be serious?” I asked in disbelief.

“As a heart attack,” Jess laughed.

“And if they invite me in, then what? How does that help us find the shirt?” I countered.

“Hi, I’m Jess, Mia’s assistant, do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“So, you’re gonna do what exactly? Search their home while I demonstrate how to use a vibrator?”

“You, my dear niece, will do whatever it takes to keep them busy while I search.”

“Look, I appreciate your help, but there is no way I can demonstrate how to use a vibrator without laughing.”

“Then I’ll do the demonstration and you can be a decoy. Just dress sexy so they can’t take their eyes off of you and Jess can look around,” Maxine explained.

“I don’t know Maxine, what if Max finds out . . .”

“Pish posh, he can bellow all he likes it’s not like I can’t handle him.”

“Does he throw you over his shoulder to get his way?”