Roaming Wild (Steele Ridge Book 6) Page 9

  Deke closed his eyes. With his brother and sister now grown, there was nothing keeping his mother with her husband. Why did she stay?

  He listened to his breaths, focused on the stream of air moving through his body and nose. He worked to steady his heartbeat, calm the electricity sizzling in his veins.

  When he finally opened his eyes, his mind shied away from all thoughts of Mitch and Iris Conrad. Over the unkempt shrubs, Deke spotted a winding trail leading down to the river.

  “Up for a stroll?”

  Evie glanced back at the pavilion. “They won’t find us rude?”

  “After the show my family and I just gave them, they’re probably glad to be rid of me.”

  “You didn’t cause that scene back there.”

  “I didn’t end it, either.” He held out a hand and she accepted it. The simple contact warmed parts of him that had gone cold at the sight of his parents.

  “Where’re your sister and brother these days?”

  “Dara lives in Charlotte with her growing family. When she’s not popping out babies, she’s working as a landscape architect.”

  “How many kids does she have?”

  “Four.”

  “That’s hardly a brood.”

  “Maybe not from your perspective.”

  “True. Not many people have six kids anymore.”

  “Good thing Jonah bought himself a town. The Steele clan now has plenty of room to expand.”

  She smacked his good arm. “Not funny. Everyone in that town would’ve gone bankrupt trying to pay their property taxes. Jonah saved them, including my mom.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Didn’t mean to hit on a sore spot.”

  Sighing, she said, “My family’s constantly battling snide remarks, like your dad’s.”

  “You know I meant only to make you smile, right? I’m in awe of your brother’s generosity.”

  “What disturbed most people was changing the name from Canyon Ridge to Steele Ridge. But there would be no Canyon Ridge if not for Jonah’s intervention.”

  “Jealousy’s an unseen evil that eats away at a person’s good sense. Ignore them.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “Darwin’s survival of the fittest will soon take care of the problem.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”

  “Now that Britt, Grif, Reid, and Micki have found their mates, the Steeles are going to breed out the rabble rousers.”

  “You’re horrible!” She whacked again. “A little sympathy, please.”

  “Let me see if I can muster up a bit.” He paused. “Hmm, perhaps I need proper motivation. Do you think Jonah would name a street after me?”

  “Arghh! I’m not talking to you about this anymore.” She dropped his hand and surged ahead.

  Chuckling, he grasped her arm. “Okay, okay—”

  In a move she could have only learned from her Green Beret brother Reid, she broke his hold and spun around with the speed of a Tasmanian Devil, using her momentum to climb—climb—his back. All without jarring his injury.

  She wrapped her arms around his head like a monkey hunkered over a football—and squeezed. Within seconds, he struggled for breath. When he made to rip free her hold, she released him.

  Whispering in his ear, she said, “Never provoke a Steele.” She pulled his earlobe into the hot center of her mouth, taking away the sting of her action.

  He hardened beneath her erotic assault. His hand smoothed over her thigh where it clung to his waist. He pressed closer, into her warmth.

  The sun lowering behind the mountain did nothing to cool the temperature. In fact, the humid warmth of a moment ago now felt sultry and damn near perfect.

  Just when he’d made up his mind to walk them down to the lake and peel Evie’s clothes off, one by one, she stopped her sweet torture, kissing his neck before sliding off his back.

  As they stared at each other, he knew he appeared as off balance as she looked. He held out his hand to her again. “Shall we continue? Before we’re arrested for public indecency?”

  “Are you going to behave yourself?”

  “After that punishment, I’m not promising anything.”

  She smiled, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

  A chorus of cicadas pulsed around them, and the rhythmic belch of bullfrogs punctuated the air. A don’t-have-a-care-in-the-world peacefulness settled over him. A frame of mind he hadn’t experienced in years.

  “Should we turn back before it becomes too dark for us to see the path?”

  “There’s a historic schoolhouse right around the bend. Thought you might like to see it.” He caressed his thumb over her knuckles. “I have excellent night vision.”

  “Lead on.”

  When they rounded the bend, his pace slowed and his heart bolted like a racehorse. The lighthouse wasn’t the first thing they saw. It wasn’t even the second.

  The dead body took the number one spot.

  His kid brother leaning over the corpse took number two.

  A woman screamed, wrenching Evie’s attention away from the man crouching next to an unconscious woman lying in the middle of the trail. The guy jerked around at the passerby’s screech, spotting them at the trail’s edge.

  “What’s going on?” Deke demanded.

  The hysterical woman fumbled with her purse until she extracted her phone.

  The man’s features took on the appearance of a trapped animal. His instinct for flight was evident in the way his gaze darted around the area, though he remained in place. Something about his face seemed familiar. Had she seen him at the pavilion? Treated him in the Med Mobile?

  “I didn’t do this.” He peered down at the blood on his hands. “I didn’t.”

  The paralyzing effects of shock wore off, and Deke’s long strides ate up the space between the trail and the victim. “Does she need an ambulance?”

  Something in Deke’s commanding tone—or his actual words—snapped the guy into action. He snatched something from the body and took off in the opposite direction.

  “Dylan, wait!”

  Dylan? Could he be Deke’s younger brother? He had similar coloring, but she hadn’t seen Deke’s siblings in years, not since they moved away from Steele Ridge and returned to Rockton.

  Deke gave chase, barked a command her way, leaving her alone with a hyperventilating woman—and a body. She approached the woman with caution, clicking on her phone’s flashlight.

  The victim lay on her side in a pair of tattered jean shorts and a peach tank top. One flip-flop on, one flip-flop off. Long blond hair obscured her face and fanned over her upper body.

  Evie glanced at the bystander, who was holding her phone as if it were the only thing keeping her alive. “Is this your friend?”

  The bun at the back of the terrified woman’s head jiggled vigorously back and forth.

  “I’m a nurse.” Evie kept her voice low and calm, though her heart was sprinting toward the finish line. “Try to take deep, long breaths.”

  She circled the unconscious woman to kneel at her side. Blood drenched the woman’s hair and pooled into the nooks and crannies of the old asphalt trail.

  “Hello,” she called. “I’m here to help.”

  The woman didn’t move.

  Slowly, as if sticking her hand into an animal hole, Evie peeled back a rope of bloody blond hair from the woman’s face and throat. The woman’s eyes stared into space, lifeless and cold. Bile raced up her throat, intent on making her look the fool. She caught it and forced it back. She’d seen death before. But never murder. Never such violence.

  The victim’s neck had been slashed so severely that little more than skin kept it attached to her body. Evie pressed two fingers to the woman’s wrist, knowing her pulse would be silent, but unable to stop the confirming habit.

  When no heartbeat met her touch, she sat back on her heels. Grief for the stranger pressed on her chest. Such a horrible, senseless death.

  �
��She’s dead, isn’t she?”

  “Yes.”

  The bystander went off on another bout of hysterics. Evie ignored her instinct to care for the distraught witness. Her mind had turned inward.

  If the runner was Dylan, could he have done such a thing? The Conrad siblings Deke, Dara, and Dylan—the three Ds—were several years older than her and all bore the same coloring as their mother.

  What had Dylan said before he ran?

  I didn’t do this.

  So why did he take off?

  Where was Deke?

  Getting to her feet, she searched the shadows.

  “Oh, my God,” the bystander said. “Had I come through here a few minutes earlier, that could have been me! He could have murdered me, instead.”

  Any other time, Evie would’ve attempted to calm the woman. But she couldn’t see Deke anywhere. She spun in a half circle, worry building in her mind like a kettle of water on the verge of a boil.

  No longer able to stand by and wait, Evie headed in the direction Deke had disappeared. The logical side of her mind pleaded with her to stay by the trail and wait for the authorities. But the part of her brain controlling her feet ignored all reason and set off to find Deke.

  Within seconds of setting foot inside the woods, her stalker radar lit up. An overwhelming sense of being watched pushed down on her. The wind died down, the insects quieted, the leaves beneath her feet crackled.

  Unlike many, she didn’t fear hiking alone in the woods. She and her brothers had spent hours playing war games with paintball guns and whatever weapons they had on hand. So the prickling at the back of her neck had nothing to do with the darkening shadows or towering trees. No, the sensation forewarned her of the evil harbored within these forested walls.

  A branch snapped.

  She pointed her phone’s flashlight toward the sound, searching.

  What the hell was she doing? Time to get the hell out of here.

  But Deke was still missing. She stood frozen with indecision until she finally pushed past her fear and barreled deeper into the unknown, following Deke’s invisible trail. If her mother ever found out about this…

  Her light shone on a man, and she nearly pissed herself.

  “What are you doing out here?” Deke asked, sweaty and out of breath, but he appeared otherwise unharmed.

  “Looking for you.”

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”

  She recalled him barking out something before he took off. “Maybe. I was a little distracted by the dead body at my feet.”

  His voice softened. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Did you catch up to Dylan?”

  “No.” He grasped her hand and marched toward the trail. “The little bugger’s always been roadrunner fast.”

  “So it was your brother.”

  “Yes.” A world of disappointment lay within that one word.

  “The woman’s throat—it’s been cut.”

  “Cut?”

  “Yeah. Whoever did it either wanted to make sure she was good and dead or had a severe grudge against her.”

  “That bad?”

  She swallowed, nodding.

  He paused, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  Her hold around him tightened. She absorbed his heat, his smell, his solidness. “What’s going on?”

  “Good question.” He resumed their march. “One I’m going to figure out.”

  By the time they reached the corpse, streams of light bobbled along the trail. Authoritative shouts of “Mrs. Mullins, show yourself” filled the air.

  “Here!” called the hysterical woman, aka Mrs. Mullins, waving her hands in the air. “Over here, officers!” When the newcomers drew nearer, the woman asked, “Is that you, Sergeant Prickett?”

  At the sergeant’s name, Deke groaned.

  Following Mrs. Mullins’ direction, Sergeant Prickett made a beeline for them.

  The sergeant’s attention dropped to the dead woman. “Looks like you got yourself into a whole heap of trouble, fed man.”

  She frowned. “Deke didn’t kill her.”

  Deke gave her hand a warning squeeze.

  “Is that right?” Sergeant Prickett asked, sarcasm dripped from every syllable. “Since you’ve figured everything out, why don’t you tell me who murdered poor Gracie.”

  “You recognize her?”

  “Gracie Gilbert. Waits tables at the Olde Town Pub & Grill.” He bent down to get a closer look at her obvious wounds before pinning Evie with a nasty look. “Now tell me who killed her.”

  Deke nudged her half behind him. “We came upon the body at the same time.”

  “Did either of you see who slit her throat?”

  She hesitated. The image of Dylan kneeling over the corpse didn’t look good, though he might have found the woman seconds before they rounded the corner.

  “No,” she and Deke said in unison.

  “What are you talking about?” Mrs. Mullins pointed at Deke. “He took off after a young man. Someone named Dylan.”

  The sergeant smiled. An oily one. One he greased often and with relish.

  “Can only think of one Dylan in these parts. Wouldn’t have pegged your lowlife, thieving brother as a murderer. But people disappoint all the time.” Sergeant Prickett rested a hand on his sidearm. “Now tell me where I can find him.”

  13

  “I’m only going to ask you this one more time, son,” Chief Middleton said. “Who did you see kneeling over Gracie Gilbert’s body?”

  They’d been through this a dozen times. Deke wasn’t about to give up his brother’s name. He’d find the mongrel first and get some answers.

  “Same answer, Chief. It was too dark to identify the individual.”

  “Sally Mullins said she heard you call out the name Dylan.”

  “Not sure how she could’ve heard anything above all that caterwauling.”

  “So you deny seeing your brother?”

  “My brother and I haven’t been on speaking terms for a few years.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.”

  “Look, Chief. I don’t have anything for you. If something comes up, I’ll be sure to give you a call.”

  “What do you know about the drugs we found on the victim?”

  His attention sharpened on the chief. “Why would I know anything about a bit of marijuana?”

  “Why do you assume it was marijuana?”

  “Cocaine? Heroin? PCP?” He glanced at the scowling man standing to the right of the sheriff. “Maybe Sergeant Prickett can answer your question.”

  The sergeant unwound his massive arms and took a step forward.

  Holding up a hand, Chief Middleton said, “I could arrest you for obstructing justice.”

  “What am I obstructing? If you believe Mrs. Mullins, go find my brother.”

  “If I find out you’ve been lying to me, son, you won’t like the consequences.” The chief sat back. “Get him out of here, Sergeant.”

  Prickett grasped his upper arm, his fingertips digging into his flesh. Deke shrugged him off. “I’m pretty sure I’m capable of standing and walking without your assistance.”

  “Then get your ass out of here, fed man.”

  The sergeant led him from the interrogation room that was the size of a janitor’s closet. He hoped Evie’s interview had been less intense. Growing up with older brothers, she knew all about bluster and intimidation. He didn’t think she’d buckle under either, though he did wonder what she’d told them about Dylan.

  Prickett opened the door leading into the small lobby. “I know you’re lying about your brother. With or without your help, I’m going to catch his drug-pimping ass.”

  “First a thief, now a dealer. Better make up your mind before you run off wasting your time and taxpayer’s money.” He plowed past the sergeant, wanting nothing more than to locate Evie and find a place where he could think.

  Although his brother had never been an angel—exc
ept in his father’s eyes—Dylan wasn’t capable of murder. And Deke didn’t think he’d gotten mixed up with drugs. Probably a bazillion other things, but not drugs and murder.

  At the sound of his voice, Evie whirled around in her chair. Worry etched her features before a smile of relief swiped it away. He didn’t give either of them an opportunity to indulge in an embrace. The less Prickett knew about their situation, the better.

  “Outside,” he said in a low voice.

  She seemed to understand, allowing him to guide her from the police station.

  Not until he’d put a block between them and the station did he ask, “Where’s Lisa?”

  “I sent her back to the RVs. Her headache had grown to the point of making her nauseous.” Evie slipped her hand into his. “Something’s not right. I wish she’d see a doctor.”

  “Lisa’s tough. Whatever’s wrong, she’ll get through it.”

  “You have a lot of faith in her.”

  “I suppose I do.” He glanced down at her. “You survived their interrogation?”

  “Amateurs. They have nothing on my brothers.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  “Why were you in there for so long?”

  “They thought asking the same question a hundred different ways would result in a different answer.” He halted and faced her. “I need to ask you something. The answer itself isn’t important—other than giving me a heads-up.”

  She placed a hand on his chest. “It was too dark. I didn’t see the person’s face. And I couldn’t hear what you said over Mrs. Mullins’s screaming.”

  Deke released a breath that had been trapped in his chest. “Why?”

  Shrugging, she said, “He’s family.”

  He cradled her face in his hands. “Thank you.”

  She rose up on tiptoes and kissed him. “You’re welcome.”

  The ease with which she kissed him sent a shiver tripping down his spine. She’d kept the intimate contact simple and reassuring—exactly what he’d needed.

  “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “Check on Lisa. See if we need to strong-arm her into seeking medical attention. Then I’m off to track down my brother, which means I’ll need to drop out of the MedTour.”

  She seemed on the verge of arguing but gave him a wan smile instead. “The tour won’t be quite the same without you.”