Page 38 of Lead Me On
Chase frowned down at the paper, seeing letters but not words. Chase had lived in the next town over, so he hadn’t known much about the family. The only daughter he’d heard of was named Dynasty, and Jane couldn’t be more dissimilar. But Jane had said she was a stepdaughter, and there was a good chance that Mac had been married before. There could’ve been two or three or six stepsiblings wandering in and out of that house.
Whoever the hell Jane was, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. She was intriguing as a sexy librarian, and she was damn hot as a barfly, too.
His body perked up at the thought of her, but Chase just sighed and shook off the images flashing through his mind. He likely wouldn’t see her today and there was no point getting worked up.
He tossed back the last of his coffee and headed out to the hotel site. There’d be no blasting today, but he could get out there with a pickax and maybe get his muscles back to solid form. Two hours later he was pouring sweat and bleeding from a few tiny cuts in his arms where flying shards of stone had nicked him. White dust coated every inch of his clothing. He felt great, and the corner of bedrock was as perfectly angled as it would get.
He was solid again, and strong enough to dare a phone call to Jane. He tossed the pickax to his site supervisor and tugged his phone from his pocket.
“Hey,” he said softly when Jane answered. “How are you? Did your brother get his hearing?”
“Yes, some of the charges were dropped.” She sounded exhausted. “He’s now charged with possession, which we expected, and felony possession of a financial device, which I was hoping he’d avoid.”
“But nothing unexpected.”
“No, not yet. But…” Tension dragged her voice to a rough pitch.
“What is it?”
Her silence radiated uncertainty and distrust, but she took a deep breath and spoke very softly. “His attorney finally got her hands on the search warrant. The stolen goods listed belonged to two women. One of them is missing and the other one…the other one was killed three weeks ago.”
“Shit,” he muttered.
“He didn’t do it,” she rushed on. “He couldn’t have. Jessie might be a slacker and a thief, but he’s no murderer.”
“Okay. All right. They haven’t charged him with murder or assault or anything like that, right?”
“No, nothing. But they clearly suspect him.”
Chase rubbed a hand over his hair, afraid he was about to make a big mistake. “Look, you need help, right?”
“I… Maybe. I mean, yes. Yes, I need help.”
“I want to offer to introduce you to someone.”
“Who?”
“My dad.”
“Your dad?”
“He was an investigator with the state police.” Chase felt his jaw tighten over the words. That had been a lifetime ago, but his dad had been good at his job. He’d just gotten caught one too many times with an open beer in the car. The state police had been forced to let him go. “It would be complicated.”
“Um, because of the…”
“The drinking, yeah. He’s highly functional as long as you catch him before three. His mind’s still sharp. If you can get him copies of the police and evidence reports, he might see something. Something important. He used to be amazing at seeing things other people couldn’t see.”
“Chase,” she whispered. “I don’t know. I don’t want to cause any trouble for you.”
“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t think I could handle it. If you really think Jessie’s innocent…”
“I do. He’s no angel, obviously. At best, he’s a thief, but he’s got a good heart. If this investigation goes too far in the wrong direction… It happens all the time, Chase.”
“Then I’ll ask my dad to help. All right?” He waited. He’d hesitated to offer, knowing it would force him and his dad to spend time together. But now Chase held his breath, hoping she’d say yes. He wanted to help wipe that lost look from her eyes.
“Okay,” she finally breathed. “Okay, ask him. I’ll see what I can get as far as reports.”
“Good.”
