“Sheriff...”
Caitlin pretended she didn’t hear her deputy’s warning tone. This one time she’d let it slide. Besides, she was too damn busy already. She didn't have time to write him up for further insubordination.
Like Mase, it was her first murder. She couldn't blame him for being so antsy. Death had a habit of doing that to the best of them.
“Before you go, just one more thing.” Caitlin loped over to Lucas and grabbed him by the upper arm. The possessive stroke that followed wasn't quite professional, and he struggled not to jerk away from her. “I want to introduce you to our doctor. Dr. De Angelis also acts as our medical examiner. He’s going to be the one taking control of your husband’s remains.”
Tessa lost the last bit of her color in her too pale face.
Caitlin kept her hand on Lucas’s arm. “I’m sure you’d prefer we wait until you’ve had time to process what’s happened here today but, unfortunately, we don’t have the time. Sorry.” She wasn’t. “I’m going to ask if you’ll allow an autopsy. Because this is a homicide, we’ll get approval from the county judge if we have to. I hope it won’t come to that. It’ll speed things along if you okay it now.”
Tessa’s eyes flickered over to Lucas. Rimmed with red, with a trail of tears that tracked down her cheeks, he still thought the golden color was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Hazel, Caity said. She wasn’t even close. He met Tessa’s stare directly. His bag slipped from his hand, landed with a thump at his feet.
Something shifted in that moment. He couldn’t explain it. He might have imagined it. But when she shuddered, took a deep breath, nodded, Lucas knew it was because of him.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Do what you have to do.”
“He’s in good hands,” Lucas promised.
Taking her by the elbow, Walsh murmured to the woman before leading her out of the room. Lucas traced the shape of her as the deputy hustled her away from the crime scene, purposely blocking her from seeing her husband's body. Before he knew it, he was left alone with Caitlin and the murdered outsider.
Lucas gave his head a clearing shake. It didn’t work. He wasn’t sure he’d get the tear-streaked cheeks or haunted golden eyes out of his head any time soon.
Realizing that Caitlin still had her fingers hooked around his bicep, he shook her off. Her point was already made, though, and she took his sudden rebuff without comment. Behind his back, a small smile lingered on her lips as Lucas bent down to recover his medical bag.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she cast her gaze around the room. The smile transformed into a grim look of determination.
“Okay, now that she’s gone, we can get to work. I need a camera in here to get the photos before you move Sullivan. I need a sweeper to check for any evidence I missed my first run through. I’ve got to talk to Bonnie again, see if I can get a copy of her tapes. First, though, I gotta buzz Sly, get him down here.” She unclipped her radio from her belt, cursing as she did. “Why didn’t I hire another deputy when the budget said I could? I could’ve used another guy.”
Lucas shouldered his bag. “Don’t think I’ll help you and Sylvester with the processing. My job is to take care of the victim’s body. You can solve the crime on your own, detective. And,” he added, “you wouldn’t be down one man if it wasn’t for your knee-jerk reaction in sending Walsh home.”
“Okay, look. I’m sorry about the mystery crack from before, alright? And maybe I am being too rough on the kid. Hell, this one’s got me shook. Mase was right. Sly gave me a report that this guy’s wife was in the holding cell overnight, and Mase already stood up and vouched for this outsider. I’d love for her to be responsible for this, but how? Damn it, she’s smaller than me. Even if I didn’t believe my guys, I gotta believe my own eyes. It would’ve taken real strength to strangle this Sullivan.” Caitlin snorted. “I could snap her in half like a twig.”
“You sound pissed, Caity,” Lucas pointed out after a moment’s silence. They both knew that an angry sheriff was a foolish sheriff. She'd overlook something if she couldn't get her head on straight. “You really want it to be her.”
She almost lied. It wasn’t right for the head of Hamlet’s law enforcement to wish guilt on someone just because it wou
ld be easier. But this was Luc. She couldn’t lie to him.
“Okay. Yeah. Nothing against her and all, but yeah. I want it to be her.” She paused for a beat and put her sunglasses back on. “You know why?”
Lucas had known Caitlin long enough to understand the way her mind worked. “Because if she did it, then that means that one of us didn’t.”
“Someone killed Jack Sullivan. That's fact. And as far as I can tell, no one’s crossed out of Hamlet since the outsiders came in.”
Which meant that their peaceful little village now harbored a murderer.
So this was shock.
If it wasn’t for Mason’s steadying hand on her arm, Tess thought she might just drop. Her limbs were heavy, though her head felt weightless. She was bobbing along some vaguely familiar hallway, her eyes seeing yet unfocused. Every part of her that counted was back in that hotel room.
Jack was dead. If she told herself that enough, would she believe it?
She saw his body. She found his body. And still it seemed like some horrible joke.
Her hands were trembling. She folded her fingers into her palms, tightened her hands into fists to stop the shakes. She absolutely refused to fall apart. This was when she needed to be strong.
With a shudder, she straightened, determined to stand on her own two feet. She didn’t know these people. The deputy… she didn’t know this man. After last night, he already certainly thought she was a lush. Now she was nothing but a fragile disaster. He knew it, too. She straightened, and he continued to rest the warmth of his palm on her chilled skin, holding tight.