Amber nodded. “Dr. Denton will be right back and I can let him know.” She shifted her attention to Cullen. “We just got a call from the Department of Transportation. The roads in and out of town are closed.”
At the exact moment Amber was relaying that info, Leigh got a text giving her the same alert. She hadn’t figured she’d actually make it home for hours anyway, but with the sleet projected to continue until midmorning, there was no telling when the roads would be clear enough to drive.
“I knew you’d be stuck,” Amber went on, still talking to Cullen, “so I just called the inn, and they don’t have any rooms.”
Leigh wasn’t actually surprised by that. The inn only had four guest rooms, and anyone who’d gotten stuck because of the weather would have already snapped those up.
“I could probably find you someplace to stay here in the hospital,” Amber added to Cullen.
Leigh didn’t smirk, but it was obvious that Amber’sinterestin him had gotten him that particular offer. An offer that Cullen apparently wasn’t going to accept.
“Thanks,” he said, “but Leigh and I are going to the police station.”
She was indeed heading there as planned. Not only could she get started on work, but if she had to crash for a couple of hours, there was a cot and a sofa in the break room. Though Leigh hadn’t counted on sharing such cramped quarters with Cullen. But she rethought that. Neither of them would likely get any sleep anyway, and this way she could go ahead and take his official statement.
“I need to bag the clothes you’re wearing,” Leigh said to him as they walked away from Amber.
Cullen’s mouth quivered a little. “I’m guessing it’s to cover all bases and not because you want me to strip down.”
She frowned. Or rather tried to do that. Leigh knew she didn’t quite pull it off. “Yes, to cover the bases. I can find something at the police station for you to wear.”
“I’ve got a change of clothes in my truck. I keep a duffel bag behind the seat.”
Now she did frown. “For sleepovers with admirers like Amber,” Leigh muttered, cursing herself the moment the words were out of her mouth. She so didn’t need to be bringing up Cullen’s sexual conquests.
“Well, actually, it has more to do with horses than admirers.” That sounded very tongue-in-cheek, and he let it linger a couple of moments before he added, “I’ve learned the hard way to have extra clothes because I often go out to other ranches to look at horses I’m considering buying. I can get pretty sweaty, and I don’t like driving back when I smell worse than the livestock.”
That explanation made her silently curse herself even more. Because it gave her a giddy little punch of relief to know that he didn’t make a habit of sleepovers. Then again, he could, and probably did, simply have his lovers come to his place.
Once they were outside, Leigh considered just walking to the office, but the arctic blast of air had her climbing inside Cullen’s truck when he opened the door for her. He started the engine and took the time for it to warm up, which thankfully wasn’t long. He pulled out of the very slippery parking lot just as Leigh’s phone rang.
“It’s Vance,” she relayed to Cullen, and she took the call, putting it on speaker. “Guess you got the alert about the roads being closed?” she asked Vance.
“I did, and Rosa was going to call Cullen to ask if it was okay if we all stayed the night here.”
“Tell Rosa that’s fine,” Cullen spoke up.
“Thanks, I’ll tell her,” Vance replied. Then, he paused. “Uh, I questioned some of the ranch hands, and I might have something.”
Leigh understood the subtext in Vance’s tone. She might not want Cullen to hear thesomething. But Leigh figured anything that came out of the investigation would soon make it back to Cullen’s ears anyway.
“What do you have?” Leigh asked Vance.
She heard Vance take a deep breath before he answered. “Wilmer Smalley is one of the ranch hands here, and he seems reliable enough.”
“He is,” Cullen assured them. “Did Wilmer see someone?”
“He did,” Vance verified. “He said that he spotted two people outside the house when the party was going on. One was at the back of the house, right about where Cullen’s bedroom is.”
“No one should have been out there,” Cullen provided before Leigh could ask him. “The catering staff would have come in through the kitchen entrance.”
“Yeah, that’s what Rosa said, too,” Vance verified. “But he saw a man there. At least he’s pretty sure it was a man, wearing a coat. He didn’t get a good look at him.”
“Height? Weight?” Leigh pushed.
“Wilmer couldn’t say. He got just a glimpse of him before the person ducked out of sight. He said he didn’t think anything of it at the time, that he figured Cullen had maybe stepped out for some reason. But he’s obviously giving it plenty of thought right now.”
Yes, he would be. But it helped that Wilmer hadn’t immediately thought it was Cullen outside the bedroom. Even with just a glimpse, the hand should have known if it was the big boss.