Page 34 of Dead Man's Alibi

He made a noncommittal kind of noise because hewasworried she was going to do just that.

“I shouldn’t be more than an hour.I’ll text if it’s going to be more.”

“I’ll be here.”

She gave him a quick kiss then was out the doorway into the back.No doubt she’d speed demon her way to Bozeman in record time.Nate could only hope she got some actual information.A step forward.

They needed progress.Something to go on.

For all of their sanity.

She wasn’t gone more than five or ten minutes when Nate heard the bell on the front door clang.He glanced up from his computer expecting Cal or a neighbor wanting to gossip, or maybe a stranger wanting to hire them.

Nate stayed very still, absorbing the tableau in front of him.It was none of those things.

Hayes was bad enough.Especially with that damn detective badge hanging from his neck and the gun strapped to his hip.The two officers who flanked Hayes with guns drawn were… really not good.He didn’t know the one on the left, but he knew Brian Mathews on the right.

That prick had been an ass to Sam and Cal at different points over the past year, and Nate had never been able to hide he couldn’t stand the guy.

“If you’d stand up, take two steps away from the desk, Bennet.Cooperate with our officers and this can go as smooth and easy as you make it,” Jake said in a quiet but commanding voice.

Nate didn’t comply right away.Oh, he knew he should, but he also knew controlling the righteous fury coursing through him was just as important a step.

When Hayes put a hand on the butt of his weapon, Nate stood, though his hands curled into fists.

“If you’d be so good as to put your hands in the air,” Hayes said with such fake congeniality Nate had to remind himself tobreathe.

Getting under his skin was clearly Hayes’s aim, and Nate would be damned if he gave Jake Hayes what he wanted.

The two cops moved forward.The one he didn’t know began to search Nate while Officer Mathews held a gun pointed directly at him.Like he was some kind ofthreat.

The smirk on Mathews’s face told Nate everything he needed to know about this little farce.

“I’m not armed,” Nate said as bland as he could manage.“Is this some kind of search warrant thing or something?”

“No.Nate Bennet, I have a warrant for your arrest.”

The cop searching him pulled his wrists back.For a second, Nate fought the grip.But Jake looked so damnsmug, and Mathews jumped in, gripping his arm.Nate forced himself to breathe and relax and let the guy put the handcuffs on.

He wasn’t going to make a scene.He wasn’t going to fight this.Clearly that was what Jake wanted.

“I hope you’re not serious about this, Hayes.It’s going to look pretty bad if you are.”

“I’ve tried to make this as small a situation as possible.Not typical for the arrest of a murderer, but considering Sam is a close personal friend, I’ve taken a few risks here.I’d hate for Sam to hear about it secondhand, so we don’t have a SWAT team, and I’m hoping you can be a man and just cooperate.She’s been through enough, don’t you think?”

Yeah, he did fucking think.It struck him as worse, somehow, that Hayes was trying to spare her feelings.Nate might be glad of it on the wholesale, but it meant…

“So, you were what?Sitting out there stalking us?Waiting for your moment when she wasn’t here?”It left him feeling just as baffled as he was furious.

He remembered when Hayes had come to the house and Nate haddefendedhis behavior, even though he hadn’t wanted to.Even though he hated the guy.But surely the man was just doing his job.

Bringing up Sam?Now?

Apparently not.

Hayes said nothing while the cop tightened the cuffs, so Nate did the same.Kept his mouth clamped shut.He wouldn’t fight.He wouldn’t resist.He’d believe that somehow Cal would make Hayes pay for this.

And that would be retribution enough.Somehow.