Page 6 of Crosscurrent

Gabe stopped beside the prep counter. “Marisa Vega just called me.”

Cara felt the tiny shift in her stomach before he even continued. New case energy. Haven Cove’s new chief of police wouldn’t have contacted Gabe about a local softball game.

“The Coast Guard pulled a body out of the surf below the Overlook this morning,” Gabe said. “Male. Mid-fifties. No ID.”

Wade was already wiping his hands on his jeans.

“She wants me to look at the trail,” Gabe continued. “Fresh set of eyes.”

“Mind if I ride with you?” Wade asked.

Gabe nodded once. “Was hoping you would.”

They headed for the back door fast enough the bell jingled twice after it slammed shut behind them.

Silence settled briefly across the bakery.

Piper lowered Agent slowly. “Okay, that definitely sounded murder-y.”

Diane pointed a spatula at her. “No murder-y at the prep counter.”

“Sorry. Suspicious-death-y.”

“Better.”

Cara tried to focus on the dough again, but couldn’t quite manage it. That little tingle in her stomach had arrived fifteen seconds after Gabe walked in and now refused to leave.

A case. Maybe.

Sweet & Sawyer hadn’t had real work in nearly three weeks, not since helping recover a stolen corporate laptop for a Vancouver consulting firm whose CEO had hugged Cara afterward and called them heroes. A perfectly nice job. A perfectly nice client.

Nobody had nearly died, though.

And unfortunately, that meant the entire team had been getting twitchy. Especially Cara.

Which probably said troubling things about her personality.

She dusted flour from her hands and glanced toward the rain-streaked windows. Somewhere beyond town limits, a body had washed up beneath the cliffs.

And Haven Cove’s brand-new chief of police had called Gabe for help.

The dough finally stopped fighting her hands and settled into smooth elastic folds beneath her palms.

She’d take it.

Though this time she didn’t entirely trust it.

2

Looking over the scene as his successor, Marisa Vega, had requested turned out to take less time than it took for Gabe and Wade to reach the scene. The Coast Guard already had the body onboard their surfboat and had as much video footage as they felt they needed.

He caught the tail end of the jetwash as the boat headed back to the marina. Vega and the department’s junior patrolman, Rick Cho, were winding up their own on-scene preliminary work. It quickly became apparent the chief had invited him out more as a courtesy, and a cover-all-the-bases plan. Not that it took long for him and Wade to make their own assessments.

Less than five minutes after walking the well-traveled site, Wade grunted. “Ready when you are.”

Twenty minutes later, they were back at the bakery. Wade snuck a hot snickerdoodle off the tray next to the oven and rushed down the stairs, Diane’s protest following him.

Tom was already halfway through committing a felony when Gabe followed. “Tell me you’re not running facial recognition on a dead guy the Coast Guard hasn’t officially identified yet.”