LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter 2

      Holding the Neville case file binder, Reese followed the receptionist through the cubicles to an office on the far side. At the door, the slender woman let her pass. She caught the name sign and grew confused until she spotted two men standing in the middle of a seating area, waiting for her. She hadn’t expected two detectives. Both big men, the one with sexy blue eyes and short black hair captured her attention first.

      What was Captain America with dark hair doing in Rock Springs, Wyoming? He stood with his hands at his sides, tall and unflinching, rippling muscles beneath a tight Henley shirt tucked into black jeans. This must be his office. Apparently he ignored company dress code. He seemed out of place in such elegant surroundings. Something more rugged would suit him better, like a battleship or a city riot. She gobbled up the sight of him, so hardened and forbiddingly handsome.

      Why did he magnetize her so completely? He wasn’t even wearing a cowboy hat. She’d have thought a man more country than him would be the one to catch her eye as undeniably as this man had.

      The receptionist closed the door, jolting Reese out of her sudden affliction of man hunger. She looked to the man next to him and recognized him instantly. Kadin. Her father.

      Her heart beat so heavily a lump formed in her throat.

      You’re here to explain the case...

      She cleared her throat and swallowed. “Um, hello.” She stepped forward, tripped on her shoe heel and had to take a few extra quick steps to catch her balance, nearly dropping the binder. She’d worn her only suit jacket and skirt today, gray with a white blouse underneath.

      The man beside Kadin reached out for her at the same time he moved toward her. But she caught her balance before he touched her.

      “Are you all right?” he asked.

      His deep, raspy voice transfixed her. She melted into his blue eyes. “Y-yes.” Feeling as though her breathy, stuttering answer revealed too much, Reese fought a flush and turned to Kadin with an outstretched hand. “I’m Reese Harlow.”

      “The deputy sheriff from...?” Kadin shook her hand.

      She found herself transfixed again, this time for different reasons. Now she studied her biological father. The hugeness of the secret she carried pushed her awkwardness away. She looked for similarities. He must be where she got her five-nine height from. Other than that, she didn’t see much resemblance.

      “Never Summer, Colorado, which is in Ute County,” she finally said, trying to gather the rest of her wits.

      Kadin smiled politely. “I’ve never heard of it.”

      “Not many have. It’s a small mountain town in southwestern Colorado.”

      “Ah. I have detectives from that area.” He turned to the other man. “This is Jamie Knox, my new security officer. Today is his first day on board.”

      Reese reluctantly moved her gaze to him. Immediate smoldering attraction swept over her. “Mr. Knox.” She sounded all breathy again.

      His mouth rose with a hint of licentiousness and his incredibly blue eyes reacted in kind. “Please—Jamie. What brings you to DAI? You said it was something personal?”

      She’d said that to get Kadin’s attention. She hadn’t lied. She had a whopper of a personal reason for being here. “A murder. Isn’t that what brings everyone here?” She laughed at her attempt to be funny, wondering if she sounded as nervous as she thought.

      While Kadin eyed her with some suspicion, Jamie’s smile expanded ever so slightly. “Why don’t we have a seat?”

      Having to pass him to sit down, she fed on the sight of his muscled chest and felt tingly as she sat on the sofa.

      Eyeing Jamie, Kadin sat on a chair across from her. Jamie boldly lowered his big, sexy body next to her, eyes still glinting.

      “What about this murder that brought you all the way here, Ms. Harlow?” Kadin asked.

      “You can call me Reese,” she said. “I learned of your agency and, given the length of time that’s passed in my case, I thought you’d be able to help me more than anyone else.” She placed the binder containing copies of everything on the Neville case on the coffee table. “That’s why I’ve taken a personal interest.”

      Kadin slid the binder toward him and began flipping through pages.

      She didn’t have to read along with him. She knew what it said. The coroner’s report stated the inspector arrived at the scene and noted the time. The weather was indicated as sixty-one degrees, along with the humidity and position, location and condition of the body. Lifeless. Female in her twenties. Injuries on the body indicated the victim had died prior to her tumble down the embankment. Fully clothed in a big-collared, long-sleeved, sapphire-blue, knee-length shirtwaist dress with big white buttons up the front. Dirt collected from the fibers had come from the slope. Ligature marks on the neck indicated strangulation as the cause of death. Rigor mortis had been established throughout the body. Estimated time of death was twelve to fourteen hours prior to the coroner’s examination.

      Notes on the crime scene indicated tire tracks on the side of the road—both from a driver with a flat tire and another vehicle. The tires may have been from a 1973 Volkswagen Passat. Photos were taken of the body and the surrounding area, including the slope up to the road.

      The first sheriff’s follow-up report said he hadn’t done any extra testing on the evidence. The second sheriff in office looked into the case and questioned more residents, particularly hotel and motel staff. One witness had reported seeing a blue Passat but couldn’t identify the driver, including whether it was a man or woman. The second sheriff had looked into the case again in the early 1990s and that had been the last time anyone had paid any attention to Ella Neville’s murder.

      While Kadin read, she stole a look at Jamie, catching his eyes doing a roam up her legs and slowly lifting to her chest and then finally her face. He grinned ever so slightly and made her feel a fresh burst of delighted tingles.

      When she turned back to Kadin, she saw he’d finished and now observed them.

      She cleared her throat. “As I’m sure you’ve ascertained from the report, no one knows what became of Ella after she closed the library. She never showed up to her husband’s work-related dinner party. Less than twenty-four hours later, a man with a flat tire saw her body and called the police. The evidence is limited. There were tire tracks and not much else. Lots of pictures. Her clothes and shoes were bagged correctly, each labeled Dress, Underwear, Pantyhose and Bra.”

      “How were they rebagged?” Kadin asked.

      Relieved

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