Or their very brief history together.
It was the whole package, even if that “package” was the assessment she’d been able to make so far. If Alexa and he had argued, if they’d had a fight that’d gotten out of hand, she didn’t believe Cullen would have struck the woman from behind. Nor would he have removed the murder weapon only then to leave the body in place. This very well could be a crime of passion, but she didn’t feel it in her gut that Cullen was responsible. Of course, she doubted anyone else was going to put much stock in her gut feeling.
Cullen scrubbed his hand over his face. “Will what happened between us get in the way here?”
Since she’d asked herself the same thing, Leigh didn’t blister him with a look or insist that nothing would get in the way of her doing her job. She couldn’t. Because, yes, their past might get in the way. It wasn’t like she could go back and erase memories of her first lover. Or the tangled mess that followed.
Despite her attempts to stop them, some of those memories came now. Not a gentle blur of images but crystal clear ones of Cullen’s naked body. He’d been a lot younger when they’d had sex. Just nineteen. But like the rest of him, his body had been memorable even then.
“Our past won’t get in the way,” she answered, hoping to reassure him, and herself, that it was true. Maybe if she said it enough, both of them would start to believe it.
Stepping around Cullen, Leigh went back into the bedroom and had another look around. No blood or signs of a struggle. It was the same for the sitting area and the adjoining office. Still, the CSIs might be able to find something.
“The bedroom door was open when you came up after the party ended?” she asked.
“Closed.” Cullen moved to stand beside her and followed her gaze as it skirted around the room. “Something’s missing,” he said.
That got Leigh’s attention. “What?”
He was already moving to the sitting area, specifically to a corner table next to a leather love seat. “A bronze horse statue. It’s a replica of Lobo,” he added in a murmur.
The name instantly rang a bell. In the short time that she’d been involved with Cullen, his favorite horse had been named Lobo. He had won plenty of competitions, and Leigh had heard through the grapevine that Cullen had been upset when Lobo died.
“How big was the statue?” she asked.
“About a foot high, and it was heavy.” He looked back at her then, and she didn’t have to ask what he was thinking. Someone had grabbed it and then used it to murder Alexa.
Leigh turned when she heard the hurried footsteps coming from the hall, and several moments later, an out-of-breath Rocky came rushing into the room. He didn’t have much color in his face, and he’d drawn his weapon.
“What’s wrong?” Leigh immediately asked.
Rocky’s chest was heaving, and it took him a moment to speak. “On one of the side porches,” he finally managed to say. “There’s been another murder.”