Chapter Six
Cullen figured there wasn’t enough caffeine in the entire state of Texas to get rid of the fog in his head. Or the headache that’d been throbbing at his temples for the past six hours. Still, he tried, and downed his umpteenth cup of coffee.
Leigh was drinking a Coke, her beverage of choice to keep her alert, but at the moment she didn’t seem to be faring any better than he was. He saw her eyes droop more than once while she sat at her desk and typed away on her computer or sent texts to her deputies.
Apparently, the catnap she’d taken around 7:00 a.m. had been enough to at least keep her going, and she appeared to actually be getting work done. That included taking his official statement.
Cullen had managed some, too, in the chair next to her desk and while using a laptop that Leigh had lent him, but work was similar to coffee and his own catnap. No amount of either was going to block the images of Alexa’s dead body.
Or the fact that Austin still hadn’t returned his call.
Cullen had attempted the first call right after learning that Austin had been on the patio the night of the party. Something that Austin definitely hadn’t mentioned in their earlier conversation. Cullen had tried three more times to get in touch with Austin, but each had gone straight to voice mail. He left another voice mail on Austin’s phone at work.
It was possible the winter storm had caused some outages. Equally possible that Austin had just turned off his phone for the night and was now sleeping in. But Cullen needed to talk to his friend. So did Leigh. She’d made her own attempts to contact him, and Cullen knew those attempts would continue until she could have a conversation with him.
An official one.
Cullen didn’t believe that Austin was a person of interest in Leigh’s investigation, but he could tell from the terse voice mail messages she left for Austin that she suspected the man was guilty of something. Maybe the something was simply going out for a smoke. However, if Austin had used the patio for that, why hadn’t he just said so? Cullen didn’t know, but he just couldn’t see how this connected to what had happened to Alexa and Jamie. Austin could be reckless and cocky, but he wasn’t a killer.
And Cullen hoped he continued to feel that way after he heard Austin’s explanation.
He doubted Leigh’s deputies would give Austin the benefit of the doubt when it came to innocence or guilt. Neither would plenty of others in Dark River. Folks would want someone arrested for Alexa’s murder if for no other reason than so they could feel safe in their own homes. Austin wasn’t local, and worse, he had the disadvantage of being Cullen’s friend. The pressure to drag Austin in and hammer away at him would grow. Well, it would once the deputies and anybody else actually managed to get into Leigh’s office.
Right now, Leigh and he had the entire building to themselves since she’d sent the night deputy, Kerry Yancy, home several hours earlier. Kerry lived in an apartment just up the street so he hadn’t had to drive to get there. Good thing, too, because the street glistened with ice in the morning sun, and it was too dangerous to be out driving. It would no doubt keep away any visitors—including Austin. But judging from the messages Leigh had left for Austin, she wanted him to do a phone interview and then another one with him in person as soon as the roads were clear enough for that to happen.
Leigh stood, stretched and motioned toward the break room, a location that Cullen had gotten very familiar with since it was where the coffee maker was located. “I’m going to grab a shower.”
Cullen had already made use of the shower in the break room’s bathroom when he’d changed into his jeans and work shirt. Thankfully, he’d had some toiletries in the bag, too, and had even managed to brush his teeth.
“There’s stuff in the fridge if you want to nuke something for breakfast,” Leigh added, yawning.
Her eyes met his, something that she’d been careful not to do throughout the hours they’d spent in her office. It was as ifout of sight, out of mindwas the way to go. It wasn’t. And she no doubt got a full jolting reminder of that when her gaze collided with his.
She groaned, then sighed and shook her head. “I can’t get involved with you,” she muttered. But it sounded to Cullen as if she was trying to convince herself.
“So you’ve said.” He let that hang in the air, and it kept hanging until Leigh mumbled something he didn’t catch and walked away.
He followed her to the break room to get another refill on the coffee, and he settled down on the sofa to try to get in touch with Austin again. When he had no luck reaching him, Cullen checked the time. It was barely ten in the morning, but he was tired of waiting for Austin to return his calls so he tried Kali and cursed when she didn’t answer, either.
Cullen remembered Austin saying that Kali was spending the night with her folks, but he didn’t have their number so he moved on to the next call he had to make. To Mack, his ranch hand. The ever-reliable Mack answered on the first ring.
“How are things there?” Cullen asked.
“Tense,” Mack said after a short pause. “The hands are nervous because the deputies have questioned them.”
Cullen wished he could tell them that wouldn’t continue, but it would. Each and every one of them would have to make a statement. Especially Wilmer. “Did any of the others see Austin outside during the party?”
“No. And nobody saw the other man Wilmer described, the one in the coat who he got a glimpse of by your bedroom. I’m guessing it was someone at the party who stepped out?”
“Maybe. But there were a lot of vehicles coming and going, and he could have parked somewhere and walked to that spot.” He decided to go ahead and lay it out for Mack. “The guy in the coat could have been the one who killed Alexa.”
“Yeah,” Mack said after some thought. The wordtenseapplied to him, too. Cullen could hear it in his voice.
“How’s Jamie?” Mack asked.
“He’s doing all right.” Mostly, anyway. “He texted me after they finished running tests on him. He’s got a concussion but the doctor says the signs are good that he’ll make a full recovery.” Dr. Denton had confirmed that when he’d called Leigh earlier.
“He’s lucky,” Mack concluded, and Cullen had to agree.