31. Colt

31

COLT

Annoyance pulsed through me as I took in Ridley and her ragtag group of helpers, none of whom needed to get caught up in this. Especially Dean. The kid was barely sixteen. And this investigation had gone from cold case to open and potentially lethal last night.

Ridley beamed up at me, that smile tilting to the side slightly and making me want to trace it with my tongue. “Law Man. How’s it going?”

Ezra choked on a laugh, and I sent him a glare. “It was good until I got a call about a certain podcaster back in the throes of her investigation.”

She slumped back against her chair. “Who narced?”

“Trey.”

“That bartender needs to learn a little about confidentiality,” Ridley muttered.

“He was worried about you. Because, oh, I don’t know…you almost got dead last night.” A fresh wave of rage coursed through me at the reminder. And a healthy dose of anger on its heels at Ridley for being so careless. I knew she’d keep investigating, but she could’ve flown a little more under the radar.

My accusation had her straightening and leveling me with a glare of her own. “I know. I was there. But now is exactly when I should be pushing. And I can’t do that if I’m locked up in your cabin in the woods.”

Ezra started coughing again, and Dean grinned, extending his knuckles for a fist bump. “Nice move, dude. Real protective-like.” I just stared in return, and Dean slowly lowered his hand. “Or not.”

I turned back to Ridley. “Go back to the cabin. Please.” The last word was an add-on, but I knew it was my only prayer of getting Ridley to go along with the request.

She faltered for a moment, and I thought I had her, but then she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I have things I need to do. But I’ll make you the same promise I made Trey, even though he’s a little traitor.”

I battled between laughter and frustration, finally going with a sigh. “And what was that?”

“I’ll be home before dark. Hell, before sunset, because I want to see the sun go down over that beautiful lake of yours. Might even grab a bottle of Ransom to share.”

Damn it. I was a sucker for a woman who appreciated a good sunset. Even more for a woman who had a taste for my whiskey. I stared at Ridley for a long moment, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop her unless I put her in a jail cell. Even then I wasn’t sure the bars would hold her. So I did the only thing I could.

“Be safe, Chaos. It’s going to piss me the hell off if you end up dead.”

She grinned up at me. “You say the sweetest things, Law Man.”

My feet rested against the railing of my back deck as the sun sank lower in the sky. Each millimeter it moved, my annoyance and worry ratcheted up a notch. Because Ridley still wasn’t back.

In the midst of my worry, I’d realized that I didn’t even have her damned phone number. But what I really needed was a tracker. One on that van and maybe one surgically implanted on her person.

As the logistics of that circled in my mind, Bowser’s head lifted and his ears twitched. Then I swore the damn dog grinned.

“It’s her, isn’t it?”

He lumbered to his feet and headed off the back deck without waiting for permission like he normally did.

I scowled after my dog. “Well, I’m not going to be quite that pathetic.” So I stayed right where I was. But my ears were trained for every little sound as I stared out at the lake’s glassy surface.

“Who’s a good boy?” Ridley’s voice wove through the air. “I missed you too. I might have an extra-special bone in here just for you.”

She was going to ruin my dog with her spoiling.

Then I heard feet crunching gravel and footsteps on the deck steps.

“Back by curfew and everything,” Ridley called.

I didn’t say a word. Still too damn annoyed that I cared so much.

She lowered herself to the chair next to mine, setting down a few bags. “I got whiskey, some Thai takeout, and a bone for B-man.”

I simply grunted.

“Oh, come on,” Ridley chided as she pulled out a massive bone and handed it to my dog. “You know I can’t stop working this case.”

“I know,” I said, still not looking at her.

“But that pisses you off,” she said, cutting to the chase.

I mulled that over for a moment before finally turning toward her. “It pisses me off that I care.”

Ridley’s blue eyes went wide as her jaw slackened. “I—you know, Law Man, you use the most insulting compliments I’ve ever heard.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped free. It released a little of the tension that had been thrumming through me. But not the source. Because that source was sitting next to me, her burnt-orange scent filtering through the air and invading my senses. “I hope you got some curry at least.”

She arched a brow in challenge. “Do I look like an idiot?”

“Chaos, you look like a lot of things, but an idiot isn’t one of them.”

A hint of pink stained her cheeks, and hell if I didn’t love knowing I affected her. She bent and went fishing in the bag, pulling out a carton and handing it to me. As I took it, our fingers brushed, and a zing of something shot through me. Not electricity, nothing as simple as that for a woman as unique as Ridley.

This was more. Like sparks detonating in a chain reaction through my bloodstream. Or a million and one nerve endings waking up after a century of sleep. Whatever the reaction, I was monumentally screwed.

I jerked the carton toward me. “Thanks.” My voice had a rougher edge than it normally did, and I forced my gaze to the food. Coconut curry. My favorite. “How’d you know?”

“Asked the girl who took my order. Figured, small town, you’ve likely been there before. So I asked if you had a favorite.”

I swallowed hard as I grabbed a carton of rice to go with the curry. “Em and I order from there a lot.”

Ridley stilled for a moment, likely taking in the fact that I’d mentioned my sister for the first time without her prodding. She pulled out her own carton of noodles and a plastic fork. “I’m really not an idiot?—”

“I know that?—”

“Just listen,” Ridley said, cutting me off. “I don’t have a death wish.”

That was good, but it didn’t seem like it from where I was sitting.

She spun her fork in the pad Thai, which looked like it was full of tofu. “I’ve been looking for cold cases similar to my sister’s for almost four years now.”

My hand froze, fingers tightening around the spoon. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course Ridley would be investigating her sister’s case.

“I’ve found twenty-three of them.”

My spoon dropped into my curry.

Ridley’s deep-blue eyes swam with pain. “And I think your sister was the first.”